Instructors
My educational background is in interior design. However my path led me to art instruction. For the last eight years I have implemented and instructed a kindergarten through eighth grade art program for our local parochial school. Currently I am on the board of directors for the Austin Area Art Center. I have done a number of commissioned art works, some of which have been sold nationally. I have always had the desire to create. I am a self taught artist working in wide variety of mediums including: mural painting, fiber arts, doll making, gourd art, pottery, jewelry, glass, and sculpture. I am continually trying something new. I have a wide range of tastes and styles in art from very traditional to avant-garde. I tend to be expressive in my work. I am more interested in what I feel, then what I see or know. MY hope is to share my enthusiasm for art and encourage awareness about artistic forms of expression and communication.
|
I am a graduate of the Commercial Art and Technical Drawing program at South-central College in North Mankato, Minnesota and have worked for such companies as the Taylor Corporation and National Recognition products.
Over the years I have won numerous prizes including Grand Champion awards at the Mower County Fine Arts competition in both 2006 and 2009, the City Purchase Award at Austin’s Freedom Fest show in 2009, as well as many other prizes at area art shows. In 2008 I was a judge for the Owatonna Festival of the Arts and was accepted into the Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts exhibit in 2010. I am an old-fashioned farm boy from rural Minnesota. My down-home personality and love of nature are reflected in my numerous works of wildlife and country living. I also have a wild imagination and love to draw fantasy and comic book style art with fantastic characters and lively action. My favorite mediums are pencil, pen and ink, watercolor and colored pencil. |
I taught art at the Austin Community College for 28 years and for ten years in the Jr. and Sr. High Schools in Austin, Mn.
I have a Masters Degree from the University of Minnesota with an emphasis in Painting and Art History. Additional graduate work was done at the University of Colorado, Mankato, and St. Cloud State Universities, and I have studied with noted artists Max Weber, Millard Sheets, Dong Kingman, Carl Morris, Richard Diebenkorn, Ralston Crawford and Cheng Kee Chee. Awards have been received for my work in oil, acrylic, watercolor, printmaking, ceramics, sculpture, and fiber. I have work in a number of private collections on the East and West Coasts, in the Midwest, Canada, and Europe. He has exhibited at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Art Institute, Tweed Gallery in Duluth, Mason City McNeider Museum, and Rochester Art Center as well as in Austin Area Art Center, Albert Lea Art Center and Naeve Hospital. |
My first commission, at twelve years old, was a lithograph of my home town church.
That being an inspiration, I moved on and attended Minneapolis Art Institute. As the years have gone by I have attended many workshops presented by Rose Edin, Ellen Jean Detterich, Karlyn Holman to name a few. I have been appointed to Austin Area Art Center Board of Directors in 2009 I received the City Purchase Award in 2010, I was appointed as a liaison to the Paramount Theater Board of Directors and Austin Area art Center. I have received many ribbons through the years. I was the winning recipient for the Historic Hormel House contest. This brings joy to the art of creating. I enjoy expressing myself in many mediums, including watercolor, oils, acrylic, charcoal, penciland pastels. I still find watercolor my most interesting challenge. Each day is a new inspiration. |
Inspired by a
deep appreciation and love of nature, Joni uses paints and brushes to
create images of beauty on canvas drawn from the visual feasts that
surround us. This current collection of paintings is created with oil
paints on various canvas surfaces. She finds the texture and
maneuverability of this medium works well in painting “en plein air”
with nature’s unpredictable conditions as well as in the protected
environment of her home studio. The progression of turning
those puddles of paint into beautiful images can take just a few hours
or several days. Capturing that perfect moment before the light changes
when working outdoors often necessitates a quick plein air painted
sketch on small canvases, with refining touches and finishing in the
studio. The small plein air paintings along with the artist’s
photographs are used as references for larger studio creations.
Her paintings reflect the softer side of our outdoor world bringing beauty, peace and tranquility to the viewer. Joni Finnegan’s work is widely owned both privately and in the corporate setting. You can find her original paintings, gift cards and giclee prints locally in juried Sales galleries: § Bluff Country Artists Gallery in Spring Grove, MN § Cornucopia Art Gallery in Lanesboro, MN § Artists home studio - Finnridge, rural Lanesboro, MN § Lanesboro Local Downtown Lanesboro, MN Joni and her husband Wayne reside near Lanesboro Minnesota. You can view additional paintings, current class and future gallery exhibition dates on her website: www.jonifinnegan.com |
Tammy Schneider has been drawing since she was old enough to hold a pencil, crayon or whatever was handy. Her mother was a natural born artist too, and they sat many times at the kitchen table where her mother would encourage her along. Later, Tammy took the full course from Art Instruction Schools of Minneapolis that filled in the blanks with what she needed to know.
Tammy was very fortunate to take private instruction from Dalton Shourds King in Gulf Port, Mississippi. Shourds taught her how to use color, which at that time, was oil paint. Tammy now paints in acrylic, oil and watercolor and does graphite drawing. She has received many awards over the years, and her paintings are owned in private collections and businesses including Hormel's, JC Hormel Nature Center, Cooperative Response Center (CRC), St. Michael's Lutheran Church, and the City of Austin for their 150th celebration. The painting for the City of Austin was an oil painting of vignettes of past and present, and showed familiar Austin buildings and sights. Freeborn-Mower Cooperative Services of Albert Lea has a mural she did which is 6' by 12' of the early days of electricity installation in farms. That hangs in their lobby. Presently she does videos demonstrating drawing and acrylic painting for Ashdown which is for Brushstrokes TV, a website based in the United Kingdom which has many venues of hobbies and crafts that they offer magazine publications and web instruction. Tammy’s work can be found locally in Austin Area Art Center, Lou's Forever Frames and James Krom's Natural Images (subway level under the Marriot in Rochester, Minnesota. |
Barb is a self - taught artist who works in a variety of mediums, her favorite being pottery and jewelry making. She also loves working with acrylic and watercolor paints. In almost every instance, her art is inspired by her love of nature and the outdoors. She tends to like working with a more earth - tone palate, and loves the cool blues of water and sky. Even in her jewelry making, she leans more towards natural materials like stone, copper and silver. She loves to work with her hands and "feels at peace with the world" when she is "in the zone". She also feels less frustration when she picks up her hammer and forges a piece of copper into a piece of wearable art. When she sits down to her pottery wheel, she virtually becomes one with the clay. She finds it theraputic and calming to the spirit. The learning process is forever ongoing, and will never become routine. There's way too much yet to be discovered.
|
|
Local artist specializing in portrait drawing and Minnesota sports figures.
|
Marcus Moller
Welcome to the art work of S.E. Minnesota pastel artist Marcus Moller. The work you see here are the culmination of years of practice from scribbling to sketches to illustrations and graphic design which all essentially contributed to a keen eye for composition and graphic imagery. Landscape, wildlife, western/native American and portrait have been his general subject matter but Marc is always reaching out for new challenges. Moller found his strength for art in the pastel medium in 2009 when he exploded onto the art scene finishing second in an international arts contest through The Artists Magazine. Since that time he has won numerous art awards nationally and locally. Today Marc instructs pastel painting privately, through art centers and community education as well as a featured instructor on brushstrokes TV. Followers of Moller’s work can view his art at several galleries and Art centers in Southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin. One can also follow his progress online by visiting his website at www.marcus-moller.artistwebsites.com. Bio: I am a self taught artist using keen observation and experimenting with different techniques and mediums to learn and grow in my art experience. Throughout the years I have experimented with various mediums including drawing, pen and ink, watercolor, charcoal, oils and colored pencil. In 2010 I discovered the wonderful vibrancy and opacity of pastel where in my passion is now directed. Using light, shadow and values I push myself to convey images of atmosphere in a dramatic, subtle, and sometimes solitary perspective. My efforts over the past few years have gained me the recognition and admiration of my peers from whom I have learned so much from. My work has also won many awards as well as been a published artist in the Artist Magazine. My work can be viewed at several galleries throughout SE Minnesota and western Wisconsin. I invite you to join me on my journey as I continue to hone my skills and explore my medium and subject matter. Phone: 651-327-3626 Email: mmollerartstudio@yahoo.com |
Gallery Hours
Wednesday Through Sunday
Noon To 4:00 pm
(subject to change)
Located inside Oak Park Mall Austin, Minnesota (507) 433-8451
In cooperation with the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council, Inc. through funding from the Minnesota State Legislature
and in cooperation with The Austin Area Foundation and The Hormel Foundation
Website designed by MouseLogic Design Austin, MN. mouselogic@hotmail.com
Wednesday Through Sunday
Noon To 4:00 pm
(subject to change)
Located inside Oak Park Mall Austin, Minnesota (507) 433-8451
In cooperation with the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council, Inc. through funding from the Minnesota State Legislature
and in cooperation with The Austin Area Foundation and The Hormel Foundation
Website designed by MouseLogic Design Austin, MN. mouselogic@hotmail.com
