Displaying Artists
Every year, members of Art of the Lakes are given the opportunity to display their artworks in the gallery. On this page of the website, you are able to learn more about our current displaying artists! We hope that you see some familiar faces and discover someone new!
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Becky Albright
mnfishart@gmail.com www.facebook.com/MnFishArt/ “As a fiber artist, I have always been fascinated by various surface design techniques. Applying this interest to gyotaku seemed a natural extension. I have been making gyotaku fish prints for several years. The first fish I rubbed was in my sister’s kitchen so I could record the size of a trophy walleye for my nephew’s visiting friend from Alaska. I now offer my original gyotaku art and reproductions for your enjoyment. I hope you appreciate nature’s beauty of fish as you see them up close and personal.” |
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David Beddow
dbeddow01@msn.com “I started painting as a hobby a few years ago after being introduced to the process through art classes with my twin daughters. I enjoy the rural bucolic landscapes and the quiet lake scenes that are so abundant in Minnesota. I use mainly acrylic paints but have started to use oils more as I have gained more experience through practice and taking lessons. My plan is to continue to paint more as time allows and expand into abstract art also some day.” |
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Coleen Behm
flashbehm@gmail.com “I have always appreciated color, texture, and working with my hands, however, a career as a social worker and raising our family were priorities during most of my adult life. In 2000 I took my first art class at Southwest State University in Marshall, MN. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I had a passion for pottery! My glaze choices tend to be colors that I see in nature and I fire my pottery in an electric kiln. My drawing and painting experience also has its origins at Southwest State University.” |
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Naomi (Noni) Bjorklund
naomibi@runestone.net “Noni first began painting with watercolor in 2007, where she took every workshop she could. The artists who taught these workshops includes June Young, Karen Knudtsen, Calvin DeRuyter, Grace Haverty, and more. After studying at the Alexandria Technical College in 2009, she began to explore copper enameling of jewelry. A common theme through her diverse set of interests and mediums is her love of vibrant, intense color.” |
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Rod Broding
broding@arvig.net “Rod Broding grew up in southwestern Minnesota. He graduated from Pipestone High School, St. Cloud State College, The State University of Iowa, and Luther Seminary (St. Paul, MN). Rod married Marilyn with whom they enjoy three adult children, six grandchildren and two great grandchildren. They also enjoy dancing, fishing, gardening and writing. Finally, he has become brave enough to admit to being an artist.” |
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Judi Celaschi
judicelaschi@gmail.com “I started promoting the arts when I owned a store named Yesteryear in Jamestown, ND. Yesteryear was an arts, craft and gift shop. Fortunately, there was space for a classroom where I taught various forms of folk art and painting with oils. We also had regular guest artists that offered watercolor, oil and china painting workshops. Yesteryear closed in 1982, and I took on a new career in travel. With over 35 years in global corporate travel management, I retired and have returned to my first love which is painting. Oils is my preferred medium, though I also love the freshness and spontaneity of watercolor. I found in my travels around the world, that I most often found myself enjoying the gardens, flowers and simple architectural settings. Hence, my favorite compositions are still-life and most likely will have flowers. I am a resident of Arizona, however live on Hancock Lake in Minnesota in the spring, summer and fall – enjoying nearly every season. It’s our little piece of ‘paradise’!” |
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Winnie Collins
twcollins@arvig.net “Winnie was an Art Major at the University of Minnesota. She did not pursue her art other than personal projects in her home as she supported her husband’s career working and managing his office for 20 years. As a result of a watercolor class, a summer 2000 workshop offered by Art of the Lakes, she has continued to paint. She enjoys painting landscapes and distinctive architectural buildings of the Battle Lake area. She has joined multiple painting societies and won prizes at juried shows.” |
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Millie Conard
johnmillie@gctel.com “Working from pencil sketches of the lakes, farm country, trees and still life is my favorite approach to painting. After many hours in the studio, paintings begin to evolve from the sketches. Rather than tiring of my surroundings I continually find more subjects to paint or paint a familiar subject with subtle changes or variations.” |
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Della Conroy
dellaconroyart@gmail.com “A musician by training, Della Conroy has also found a place in the visual art world. In building a collection of work that reflects her interest in the beauty found in Western Minnesota, she paints scenes depicting the grasses, trees, rivers, and lakes found in that area. She has a strong feeling for the prairie landscape which she enjoys exploring with different mediums. Her soft but colorful landscapes exude peace, serenity, and calm.” |
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Duane Dahlvang
dahlvang2@cox.net “Duane has always enjoyed being creative in different ways by drawing, building and painting pieces of furniture, setting up displays in his grocery stores and artistic landscaping. Many years ago, his brother-in-law gave him some raw gourds that he had grown in his backyard in Tucson, AZ. A few years later he came across a book showing various ways to enhance raw gourds, converting them to pieces of art. He has developed his own unique style and has taught his technique to many other gourd artists.” |
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Peggy Dahlvang
dahlvang2@cox.net “Peggy took oil painting classes and has enjoyed painting on canvas for many years. Similar to her husband, Duane, she became interested in enhancing gourds and started painting, carving, and wood burning them. She uses several power tools for carving, a wood burner with a variety of burning pens, ink dyes, acrylic paints and transparent acrylics. She draws the designs on the gourds free-hand, burns the design and then applies the colors.” |
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Donna Dean
zippyddean@hotmail.com “Donna Dean’s watercolor art flows outside traditional lines - bold splashes, unexpected color, and textured beginnings lead the way to a representational outcome. ‘The excitement of spontaneously spattering watercolors on a clean white sheet of paper, and encouraging the colors to flow together to form a myriad of organic shapes is mesmerizing...This method is a wonderful challenge and, when it works, is extremely gratifying.’ says Donna.” |
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Janet DeMars
janetkdemars@gmail.com “Janet DeMars began her career in ceramics and printmaking while completing a Fine Arts degree from the University of Minnesota. She worked as a production potter and exhibited prints, paintings, and mixed media throughout the Twin Cities before moving to Arizona twenty years ago. Her continued study of paintings has led to exhibits, sales, and commissions. She has recently studied with Rembrandt stylists Greg Kreutz and Joshuah Fallik.” |
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Calvin deRuyter
calsportfolio@hotmail.com “I am a product of the Midwest. Home life remained structured, disciplined, and grounded in religious dogma. Schedules were rigid. Conformity was encouraged and valued. Exploration or experimentation, shunned and suspect. This ying-yang conflict affects me to this day. Often in my landscape painting, there is tension between the freedom of color and brush stroke against the solidness of the earth; the violence of the sky against a calm earth; or the chaos of earth against the serenity of the heavens. Sometimes I’m accused of painting two different paintings on the same sheet of paper – but in reality, I am painting the truth, the ying-yang that is deRuyter." |
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Clarice Dieter
cdieter@fedtel.net “Clarice’s Norwegian heritage prompted her to study the art of rosemaling and Hardanger embroidery. She has been rosemaling since 1977 after taking classes in the Telemark style though Community Education in Morris, MN. Since then she has taken classes from teachers from Norway including Han Wold, Sigmund Aarseth, Sigrid Midjas, and more. She now teaches glazing and rosemaling natural edge bowls.” |
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Sylvia Dudycha
sylviasdesigns@aol.com “When ideas come to me, I must try them. I admire complex structures, but for me, color and texture have always been the key elements. Work is mostly in fiber using whatever technique is appropriate for the particular piece. There is always a new idea out there to pursue. I hope others enjoy using what I have enjoyed creating.” |
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Judy Fairchild
deadlake5@msn.com “My name is Judy Fairchild and I have joined the Art of the Lakes Family as a clay artist. I started my love of wheel thrown clay at the Owatonna Art Center 15+ years ago and admit to being addicted. My husband and I spend the winters South in Owatonna, MN and the summers north at Dead Lake in Dent, MN where I became aware of the Art of the Lakes Gallery. I have been inspired by the artists I have met through AOTL and Owatonna Art Center to pursue this craft. I hope to enjoy my association with AOTL for many years and become inspired by the very talented artists I have met there.” |
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Judith Grooters
jgartstudio5@aol.com “Creating artwork is often a journey to find an individual voice or style. Always fascinated with the freshness and immediacy of traditional watercolor technique, I found watercolor with mixed media more stress-free and a good use of the techniques I’d learned as a designer. It incorporated the tools and principles of harmony and color; texture and pattern; and those of scale and placement. My collages are abstractions of nature often but at other times totally non-representational.” |
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Mary Gaslin |
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Marlys Griggs
“Marlys Griggs was born and raised in Wahpeton, ND. She started painting in oils in the 1970s. She took painting classes with Sister Mary Sand of the Hankinson ND Academy, and North Dakota State College of Science. Marlys is a member of the Art of the Lakes Gallery after discovering it through a friend in 2001. She has enjoyed a new adventure in watercolor with the art class instructor Mickey Edmonds. By attending workshops available, she hops to expand her knowledge in art.” |
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Lynn Hansen
LKHansen10@gmail.com “I started painting as a child. I try to help people see things they don’t see unless I point them out. I also want people to understand metaphors in nature. My work has quite a bit of variety because I enjoy conquering a technical painting challenge. Consistent style, genre, and subject matter are not important to me. The challenge is the point. Even so I tend to paint landscapes because I enjoy living in them while I paint. Sometimes I just like to paint my family! My paintings often begin as sketches I develop in Photoshop from my photos. Sometimes the photos themselves say it all.” |
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Jillayne Hanson
jillaynehanson@gmail.com www.artbyjillayne.com “Jillayne Hanson is a self-taught artist in her favored medium of soft pastels. She has always had a passion for drawing and painting. As a young girl in St. Paul, MN, she would take a bus to the St. Paul Arts and Science Center and the McKnight Center for the Arts. Her post-secondary education was an Associate Degree in Commercial Art from the St. Paul Technical Institute where she trained in the various aspects of art (life drawing, composition, art history, etc). Jillayne has continued to develop her skills and has expanded to acrylic paintings and drawings. She has taught as an “artist in residence” at the high school level, and led community classes. She has led a full adult life of raising her children, foster children, managing group homes, and raising and training Morgan horses. Her passion for her art has been a means of expressing her love of life and her own world view. Her main themes are Midwestern landscapes, still lives, portraits, wildlife, and spiritual work.” |
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Jean Harney
jeanharneyart.com "Over 35 years ago I began painting in oils on canvas or masonite. Several years later I discovered acrylic paints and loved acrylics on paper and gradually switched over to watercolors which is now my medium of choice. Along the way I learned the printmaking form of serigraphy (silk screen) and interchanged that with painting for about fifteen years. After many years, the hard physical work that comes along with serigraphy caused me to give up the practice. However, I still paint and enjoy my summers on Ottertail Lake.” |
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Grace Haverty
gracehaverty@hotmail.com “Growing up in the New York City area afforded Grace the opportunity to visit the Brooklyn Museum of Art as well as the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Although she loved art she never even gave a thought to pursuing a career in that field. Grace worked for an advertising agency on Madison Avenue until she and her husband Michael were married and moved to the Chicago area. She started taking art lessons when her children were very young. After years of studying, Grace is now a signature member of the National Watercolor Society, Transparent Watercolor Society of America, and more.” |
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Annette Hochstein
sasafras@arvig.net “Annette Hochstein lives near Battle Lake, MN. Born and raised in Omaha, NE, she has always had a great interest in art. Photography, collages, painting, and mosaics are just some of the mediums she has worked with. In July 2004, she directed a community art project, sponsored by Art of the Lakes, which has resulted in the creation of a mosaic mural. This mosaic can be seen at the corner of Lake Avenue and Main Street in Battle Lake. Recently, she has devoted most of her time to working on mosaics - the art form that she feels is her passion.” |
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Phyllis Joos
pljoos@hotmail.com “My ‘hobby’ became a way of life and the art often becomes an obsessive passion but the most joy comes in the creation. When I begin a piece I usually have an idea of what I want it to look like but then it takes on a life of its own as the piece progresses. The usual themes in my work relate to women, aging, personal experiences and the intricate interaction between human life and nature. I work in a varied range of printmaking processes but prefer etching. The imagery is often in a colorful palette with multi layers and textures.” |
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Kristi Kuder
kristi@kskuder.com “False facts. Fake news. Alternative history. How do people deal with the contradictory, uncertain, and illogical aspects of life in a highly systematic and self-evident society? As a sculptor and installation artist, I apply fiber and textile processes to wire and wire mesh in response to these diametric conditions. My work is often about the illusory boundaries and deceptive places in our lives—our incongruent memories, biased sense of reality, and conflicted relationship with nature and the world at large. I’m intrigued by the process of comprehension and understanding within this context.” |
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Barbara LaValleur
6125782422 barbara.lavalleur@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/barbara.lavalleur.1 www.unheralded.fish/author/barbara-la-valleur/ “I'm a 1963 graduate of Battle Lake High School where I was Class Clown and a 1972 graduate of Moorhead State College now Minnesota State University, Moorhead where I was the first person to major in Mass Communications. After positions as editor of Carib Magazine in the US Virgin Island and Chief Photographer of the Wahpeton-Breckenridge Daily News, I spent 20 years in Europe, the last 18 in Germany. I freelanced full-time for seven German newspapers the last few years. Currently, I live in Edina, MN, and along with my daughter, own my grandparents' farm between Ashby and Battle Lake. I'm one of 55 artists in the 2018 AOTL Studio Tour showing over 55 years of my international photograph which includes black and white and color prints as well as canvas prints and framed plus unframed photos from the local area, region, state, US, Cuba and Europe. In 2018, I have one-woman photo exhibits in MN, ND & IA and have participated in shows in several galleries.” |
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Nancy Little
nalittle321@gmail.com "I started painting about 5 years ago. We live in Maple Grove and spend summers at our lake home a mile outside Battle Lake on West Battle Lake. I mostly work in watercolors, but started in oils. I pay closer attention to shapes and colors. I also work with glass making mosaics yard and garden art." |
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John Mehl
johnandormehl@gmail.com “I’m John Mehl, currently living on a small lake near Battle Lake, MN. My wife, Ann, and I retired here some years ago. In 2007, I started my carving hobby by making some Scandinavian horses, which my sister painted - for several years these sold at a store in Minneapolis. I’ve expanded my carving to small characters and spoons, both of which are based on Scandinavian designs. Much of my art is now glass mosaics, as I learned the medium through the 2014 Battle Lake street art project.” |
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Lou Miller
luj07miller@prtel.net “Lou Miller’s painting career and involvement with the Art of the Lakes Gallery started in early 1999. She retired from the Federal Cartridge Company in Anoka, MN after 25 years of service and now lives with her husband in a home on Leon Lake near Phelps Mill. Lou started painting in oils and watercolor thanks to a neighbor who invited her into her art studio. Her main focus is watercolor paintings of still lifes, florals, fish, and landscapes.” |
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Faythe Mills
faytheam@charter.net www.faythemills.com “After graduating in 1990 from North Hennepin Community College with a Graphic Design degree, Faythe started her own business in Glenwood. Graphics by Faythe was born from her passion for art - working in pastels, watercolor, inkwash, pencil, and acrylic. She has illustrated over three children’s books. Faythe has two grown sons and five grandchildren. They have all appeared in some of her illustrations or artwork.” |
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Fritz Nelson
fritznels24@gmail.com “I’ve been making pottery works since I was a child, and have been taking classes on and off since the first grade. I love working with clay because you can really do anything with it, like hand building a piece or throwing it on a pottery wheel.” |
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Lucy Norman
halfpint12350@gmail.com “The Lightbenders Glass Studio has been creating art from sparkling light since 1982, telling stories in stained glass hundreds of families, companies, and congregations who have commissioned the studio to capture their vision. Lucy started the business as a custom beveling and new stained glass window business, but soon her husband Jon joined as a designer and builder. Lucy has a talent for texture and colors. The couple also works with wood to create woodturned pottery.” |
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Jodi Peterson
7013612982 wolfnestglassworks@yahoo.com www.wolfnestglassworks.com “I find glass to be an exciting medium. I have been working with glass for over 18 years and started Wolfnest Glassworks about the same time I fell in love with glass. I blow glass occasionally and mostly slump, fuse, and do flame worked pieces from beads to small sculpture. Glass is amazing, when it hot it moves like molasses and when cold it’s solid. Light gets refracted through glass to show dazzling color. When I work with glass, there seems to be a kinship with ancient glass artisans that touches me on a soul-filled level.” |
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Vicky Radel
3203043907 vradel@westtechwb.com www.vickyradelartist.com/ “Although I have always had an active interest in the arts, it has only been the last 10 years that I have actively engaged in artistic pursuits. I started with photography and various classes in painting and mixed media. It wasn’t until I took classes in encaustic painting that I felt she had found “my” medium. I was finally able to achieve the look and the feel I had been looking for and I was thrilled. I have further integrated use of R&F pigment sticks and photography and other pigment sources into my work and consider myself a mixed media artist with a focus in encaustic painting. In my experience with encaustic painting, the medium itself is as much a participant in the process as my own ideas. We work as co-creators of each painting. I am often surprised by the interactions of heat with the pigmented wax which will move and shape with my guidance, yet, often give birth to a texture or blending of color that is unexpected. The process is an interactive and interesting journey of discovery and joy. I live in the country with my husband and chickens and draw inspiration from the beauty of the prairie that surrounds me.” |
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Sue Roche
2182821407 “I was transferred to this area in 1994 to work at the Fergus St. Hospital long term chemical dependency program. When I was of retirement age I went into food service and currently I am one of the lunch ladies at Battle Lake School. I have always loved art and have tried every media, but oil painting is my favorite. In 2017, I started taking piano lessons - crossing off another dream on my bucket list. My husband, Bruce, and I live in Battle Lake, I have 2 sons in Minneapolis and a daughter in Fergus Falls.” |
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Marcella Rose
marcella@marcellarose.com marcellarose.com/ “Growing up on a western Minnesota farm spawned my lifelong love of all nature, in interconnection to the land and sky - and an infinite relationship to Spirit. Everything I create as an implement of Spirit speaks to the beauty - and potential - that life offers each of us. We all have the capacity to forge a path of our own choosing. To me, that path is one of relection, affirmation, and enlightenment. My work is built upon a central theme of my own life: in Gandhi’s words, ‘Be the change you want to see in the world.’ My heart has always resided with the expression of emotional, esoteric, metaphysical, and universal truths through painting and sculpture.” |
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Arlene Sherman
asherman@prtel.com “Arlene Sherman has been painting for about twenty years; using many mediums but her favorite is watercolor. Favorite subjects are painting florals such as poinsettia and pansies. She enjoys painting landscapes of Glendalough State Park and other subjects. Arlene has attended many workshops and spent much time developing her painting style through the study of books written by artists she admires, through practice, and through experience. Her perseverance has resulted in now having the joy of fulfillment in her own work and in the teaching of others.” |
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Jan Smith
jansmith@arvig.net “Jan Smith, a Battle Lake area resident for the last 11 years, displays two different forms of art at the Art of the Lakes Gallery. These two venues are writing and illustrating a historical novel and Scherenschnitte (or Wycinanki). She has written a book titled Rambling ‘Round Maine which is a fictional look at the daily life of a homesteading family of five in the year 1890, the year Phelps Mill began production. Scherenschnitte and Wycinanki is the art form of paper cutting. She learned the intricate form for her parents and has been practicing ever since.” |
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Mary Smith
msmith56334@gmail.com “For pretty much all of my life I have gravitated towards being creative with my hands. These creative activities included quilting, knitting, crocheting, stained glass, and macrame over a 50 year time period. I discovered the joys of basket weaving more by chance than by plan. I have worked to learn new techniques and perfect my skills since taking a “filler” basket weaving class in 2004. Having retired from my full time job in 2011, I am now able to focus on improving my skills and attend as many basket weaving courses as I can. Many of my baskets are for practical purposes.” |
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Dan Thimgan
2188625594 thimgan@digitaljam.com “For many years, I have enjoyed crafting original, copper foil technique glass creations — from windows and sun catchers to kaleidoscopes, mobiles, and stained glass accent lights. Apparently, I like to break glass into little pieces and then reassemble them. My wife, Sandra, and I are longtime residents of the Battle Lake area. In our former lives, we were educators.” |
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Sandra Thimgan
2188625594 sthimgan@gmail.com “I have always been interested in creating — my methods of creating have changed many times over the years. Presently my passions include creating unique jewelry using chainmaille, repurposed silverware, and especially hand building original fine silver and copper pieces. I also enjoy paper arts including origami, paper cutting, handmade cards, and book folding. I am always looking for new ways to be involved in artistic creation.” |
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Jon ‘JT’ Thompson
jtmaui2003@gmail.com “Jon 'JT' Thompson is a creative and resourceful Minnesota Native who lived on the island of Maui for many years, before returning to his home state. He loves mixing natural stone and driftwood with recycled materials and found objects to create affordable, one-of-a-kind, wearable art. His creations range from sea glass to industrial steampunk, and each piece gives upcycled a fresh new meaning. Each piece is created in the spirit of Aloha.” |
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Michael Weatherly
6123851851 mweatherly56235@yahoo.com mweatherly56235.wix.com/michael-weatherly www.facebook.com/Michael-Weatherly-Artist-645964185494648/ “I do not set out to produce art about one subject matter. I am constantly inspired by everyday events and my work tends to focus on things that reminds us of the natural world, things we see, people we have met, and places we have been. Art can speak to all of us, it can lift spirits, provoke memories, create emotions and connect the past to the present. I am mainly a printmaker working with mono-prints, wood and linoleum cuts. For me creating is a liberating experience, I love to see the effect of pressure and ink on the paper. I am currently working on a new series of large scale wood, linoleum, and mixed media prints. These large prints will range from 2/4/8 feet wide and 8/12/16 feet long would consist of both two-dimensional wall base prints and three-dimensional prints mounted on columns and other structures. I have recently been incorporating chine collé into my prints. Chine-collé is a special technique in printmaking, in which the image is transferred to a surface that is bonded to a heavier support in the printing process. One purpose is to allow the printmaker to print on a much more delicate surface, such as Japanese paper or linen, which pulls finer details off the plate.” |
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Brad Wegscheid
brad@wegscheid.net www.macaronicircus.com “Brad has been making art most of his life. He graduated high school from The Perpich Center for Arts Education in Golden Valley, Minnesota. After high school Brad went on to receive a bachelor of fine arts in graphic communication from Northern Michigan University. Brad spent over a decade doing commercial art in the midwest, working mostly with traditional commercial printed work. This print work included everything from newsprint, magazines, billboards, and cardboard displays. Currently Brad resides in Wadena, Minnesota focusing on ceramic sculpture and tile. Brad also does some illustration, woodworking, and graphic design.” |
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Donna Westerling
donna@trumanrc.com “Donna Westerling has been on a journey of self discover, spirituality, creativity, and healing for many years. In 1998, she discovered watercolor as a way to deal with the grief following the death of her father. It is through this that her world expanded and she has never looked back. ‘My hope is that others will enjoy my gift of art as I have… My paintings are inspired by others, prayer, and meditation. I love to paint landscapes, flowers, and angels. I find that there is always light that, to me, gives hope, tranquility, healing, and peace.’” |
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Sue Wilson
wilsonsupa@gmail.com “I began watercolor painting in 1996 after a 19 year career as a Registered Nurse. I have been married for 57 years; have 3 children and 9 grandchildren. Painting was one thing that I always wanted to try but never had time to do. Since taking my first watercolor class in 1997 I have continued my art education with classes, experiencing new media and working with other artists, as a member of SaddleBrooke Fine Art Guild, Southern Arizona Watercolor Guild, and Art of the Lakes Guild/Gallery in MN. I participate in 2 fine art shows each year in SaddleBrooke. I entered my first juried show with Southern Arizona Watercolor Guild at their Fiest Sonara Show at the Desert Museum, Tucson, AZ. I exhibit at Art of the Lakes Gallery in Battle Lake, MN each summer." |
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