Northfield All-School Exhibition Closes
2016-04-09 | Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
The walls are filled top to bottom with artwork from local students grades K-12! See the progression of fantastic arts education here in the Northfield community!
Exhibition Sponsor: The Sketchy Artist and Professional Pride Realty
2015-16 Gallery Season sponsored by:

"Connect" Exhibition Opens
2016-04-14 | Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
“Connect” – St. Olaf and Carleton 5th-Year Emerging Artists Exhibition
Every year, a select group of senior art majors are invited to continue their studies at St. Olaf College and Carleton College as part of a 5th year intern/apprentice program. The Northfield Arts Guild is proud to showcase these up-and-coming emerging artists!
This exhibition consists of various pieces created during the duration of their 5th-year experience, and features artists: Liz Brindley, Daniel Bynum, Tom Dunning, Gina Haugen, Ellen Kwan, Bridget Novak, & Leah Willemin.

Please join us for an artist reception on Friday, April 22 from 7 – 9 pm, with artist talks starting around 7:30 pm. The reception will also include an interactive performance piece by Liz Brindley.

Exhibition Sponsor:

2015-16 Gallery Season sponsored by:

Exhibition Closes
2016-05-14 | Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
Every year, a select group of senior art majors are invited to continue their studies at St. Olaf College and Carleton College as part of a 5th year intern/apprentice program. The Northfield Arts Guild is proud to showcase these up-and-coming emerging artists! The work in this show represents various pieces that were created during the duration of their 5th year experience.

Exhibition Sponsor:

2015-16 Gallery Season sponsored by:

Northfield HS Honors Exhibition Opens
2016-05-18 | Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
See the stellar work of Katherine Norrie’s students in the Northfield High School’s Honors Art class. Work submitted to the show comes in a variety of media.
Exhibition Sponsor:

2015-16 Gallery Season sponsored by:

Northfield HS Honors Exhibition Closes
2016-06-11 | Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States

Main Gallery & Member Gallery Exhibits Open
2016-06-16 | Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
“Color in Common”
New work by Lisa Anderson & Susan Feigenbaum

June 16 – July 16, 2016
This exhibit features paintings by Lisa Anderson and sculptures by Susan Feigenbaum. Meet the artists and learn more about their work at the Artist Reception on Friday, June 24 from 7-9 pm.

Lisa Anderson Artist Statement:
I love the process of putting paint on a canvas; I work in acrylics because I can quickly achieve multiple layers. I am infatuated with squares and rectangles reminiscent of windows and doors, and find sunlight through a window incredibly inspiring. I’m intrigued and indirectly guided, in my work, by shapes and shadows cast at different times of the day.
I am happiest when standing in my studio, burst in hand about to start a new piece; those first few brush stokes are so exciting and full of hope. As layers, colors, and shapes take form, I experience love, hate, awe, frustration anxiety, obsession, and finally satisfaction and completion. I don’t love everything that I finish, sometimes it seems I’ve simply liberated an idea. The resulting painting are chapters in my life’s story.
Susan Feigenbaum Artist Statement:
My ceramic sculpture connects the world of our everyday perceptions with the subconscious world. I handbuild my forms from earthenware clay. Crackling with color and tactile surfaces, my work is inspired by the unseen, creating an uneasy balance between innocence and darkness. Inspired by an archive of life experience, memory, and the mystery of the subconscious, my sculptural forms straddle the boundaries between the human, the animal, and the imagined.

Members Gallery
“Out And About”
New work by Elaine Schaffner
June 16 – July 16, 2016

A View For Miles

Artist Statement
The outdoors is an integral part of who I am. I aim to commemorate the beauty and serenity found in nature. I feel it is important to pause and appreciate our natural surroundings and remove ourselves from our manmade distractions. By putting these places and views on canvas, I allow them to be appreciated again and again. Nostalgia brings me back to the rural landscapes that I took for granted as a child growing up on the family farm in northeast Iowa. More and more, I am trekking out into nature with my plein air easel and oil paints to take on the challenge of painting outside and each time, I am humbled by the task of capturing the immenseness of our big, open spaces.”
Exhibition Sponsors:

2015-16 Gallery Season sponsored by:

Main Gallery & Member Gallery Exhibitions Close
2016-07-16 | Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States

"Small Comforts" Exhibit Opens
2016-07-21 | Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
The 2015-16 Gallery Season finishes with the “tiny” works of two Northfield Arts Guild members, fiber artist Peggy Hanson and ceramic sculpturist Emily Haskell.

“Small Comforts”
New work by Peggy Hanson & Emily Haskell

July 21 – Aug 20, 2016
Meet the artists and learn more about their work at the Artist Reception on Friday, Aug 5 from 7-9 pm.

Peggy Hanson Artist Statement:
I enjoy looking at the world in terms of images I can create with embroidery floss. Once an idea occurs, I search for drawings of the image I have envisioned. After sizing it appropriately, I transfer the image onto the linen and begin stitching. Embroidery is very forgiving and that’s one of the many things I love about it.
Emily Haskell Artist Statement:
I love to play with texture and color using carving, underglazes, and glazes to alter the surface of my work. The not quite predictable results in firing keep me intrigued and delighted; if a glaze crawls, crackles or has a weird texture-I seek to incorporate it into my work. My work since college has revealed that I have a bit of an obsession with things that provide shelter (boxes, umbrellas, blanket, etc.). These tiny abodes in this exhibition allow me to indulge that infatuation, while also playing with surface texture and color.

Members Gallery
New work by Karna Hauck & Katherine Norrie

July 21 – Aug 20, 2016

Karna Hauck Artist Statement:
The concept of mindfulness challenges us to focus, without distraction, on whatever is right before us. My intention is to be mindful whenever I am engaged with my art. As a public school art teacher, intentionality is a practice that I often get to observe in young people. There is both a beauty and vulnerability in these moments and our teacher/student roles at times reverse. I become the learner of what I observe to be an uninhibited creative act. This open approach to creativity is delightfully familiar to me as an artist and informs my art making process.
However, mindfulness can be difficult to achieve. When creating this series, I found myself naturally drawn to birds. This seems to be a recurrent theme in my life. For me, birds symbolize a curious freedom with the physical space they occupy. They enjoy a vantage point that is not my own and I imbue their world with limitless discovery. I see a kinship between my students’ unfettered approach to artwork and my imagined life of birds. And with their lesson, now I fly.
Katherine Norrie Artist Statement:
Katherine Norrie has been a visual art teacher at Northfield High School for the past 17 years. Norrie grew up on a farm just outside of Hector, Minnesota (roughly 85 miles west of the Twin Cities). Norrie went to St. Olaf and graduated in 1999 with a studio art major and a K-12 art education license. Norrie finished her Masters degree in education in 2005 at Hamline University. Norrie enjoys printmaking, jewelry design and mixed media pieces that incorporate pen, watercolor and acrylic paint. Norrie focuses on her love of flowers, the ideas around raising two young boys, as well as her rural Minnesota upbringing to create her current pieces. She lives in Northfield with her husband Jonathan and their two young sons: Emmett (9) and Wyatt (6).
Being a teacher is a wonderful thing. I get to help young people find their path and passion and I help to steer them in the directions of their dreams. I am often amazed at how many students are touched by visual art and it is often the only part of their hectic teenage lives that gives them pleasure and focus. At the end of the school day it is hard to find my own creative drive because I feel like I have just given it away to 100+ students for nine months. It is during the summer months that I am able to focus on my artwork and really recharge my batteries for the next school year. I have taken week-long art classes at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design for the past five years and these classes have been an amazing opportunity for me to explore what my own art making is all about. I have been able to explore printmaking, digital art and mixed media collage which have all found their way into my current ideas
I am excited to show you what I have been up to for the past few years. I have been busy raising two boys and much of my work has been inspired by the tangled-mess that motherhood has brought into my life. Before I had children I had a much more defined and clean-cut view of what my life would be, and since having a family with small people I realize that nothing can be planned or perfect. I guess that fact of life being a roller coaster of changes was always true and always present, but having a young son up in the middle of the night with a stomach ache or a summer deer tick infection are things that can’t be planned for or comprehended before it is part of your life. My pieces are soft, beautiful, meditative, tangled, messy, intricate, and colorful which I believe is all part of motherhood and my life at this point!

Exhibition Sponsor:

2015-16 Gallery Season sponsored by:

Artist Reception for "Small Comforts"
2016-08-05 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Chicago) | Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
Join us from 7-9 pm to meet the artists! Learn more about the “tiny” works of two Northfield Arts Guild members, fiber artist Peggy Hanson and ceramic sculpturist Emily Haskell. And featured in our Members Gallery, the recent artwork by Karna Hauck and Katherine Norrie. Light refreshments will be served.

“Small Comforts”
New work by Peggy Hanson & Emily Haskell

July 21 – Aug 20, 2016
This exhibit features embroidered drawings by Peggy Hanson and ceramic houses by Emily Haskell.

Peggy Hanson Artist Statement:
I enjoy looking at the world in terms of images I can create with embroidery floss. Once an idea occurs, I search for drawings of the image I have envisioned. After sizing it appropriately, I transfer the image onto the linen and begin stitching. Embroidery is very forgiving and that’s one of the many things I love about it.
Emily Haskell Artist Statement:
I love to play with texture and color using carving, underglazes, and glazes to alter the surface of my work. The not quite predictable results in firing keep me intrigued and delighted; if a glaze crawls, crackles or has a weird texture-I seek to incorporate it into my work. My work since college has revealed that I have a bit of an obsession with things that provide shelter (boxes, umbrellas, blanket, etc.). These tiny abodes in this exhibition allow me to indulge that infatuation, while also playing with surface texture and color.

Members Gallery
New work by Karna Hauck & Katherine Norrie

July 21 – Aug 20, 2016

Karna Hauck Artist Statement:
The concept of mindfulness challenges us to focus, without distraction, on whatever is right before us. My intention is to be mindful whenever I am engaged with my art. As a public school art teacher, intentionality is a practice that I often get to observe in young people. There is both a beauty and vulnerability in these moments and our teacher/student roles at times reverse. I become the learner of what I observe to be an uninhibited creative act. This open approach to creativity is delightfully familiar to me as an artist and informs my art making process.
However, mindfulness can be difficult to achieve. When creating this series, I found myself naturally drawn to birds. This seems to be a recurrent theme in my life. For me, birds symbolize a curious freedom with the physical space they occupy. They enjoy a vantage point that is not my own and I imbue their world with limitless discovery. I see a kinship between my students’ unfettered approach to artwork and my imagined life of birds. And with their lesson, now I fly.
Katherine Norrie Artist Statement:
Katherine Norrie has been a visual art teacher at Northfield High School for the past 17 years. Norrie grew up on a farm just outside of Hector, Minnesota (roughly 85 miles west of the Twin Cities). Norrie went to St. Olaf and graduated in 1999 with a studio art major and a K-12 art education license. Norrie finished her Masters degree in education in 2005 at Hamline University. Norrie enjoys printmaking, jewelry design and mixed media pieces that incorporate pen, watercolor and acrylic paint. Norrie focuses on her love of flowers, the ideas around raising two young boys, as well as her rural Minnesota upbringing to create her current pieces. She lives in Northfield with her husband Jonathan and their two young sons: Emmett (9) and Wyatt (6).
Being a teacher is a wonderful thing. I get to help young people find their path and passion and I help to steer them in the directions of their dreams. I am often amazed at how many students are touched by visual art and it is often the only part of their hectic teenage lives that gives them pleasure and focus. At the end of the school day it is hard to find my own creative drive because I feel like I have just given it away to 100+ students for nine months. It is during the summer months that I am able to focus on my artwork and really recharge my batteries for the next school year. I have taken week-long art classes at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design for the past five years and these classes have been an amazing opportunity for me to explore what my own art making is all about. I have been able to explore printmaking, digital art and mixed media collage which have all found their way into my current ideas
I am excited to show you what I have been up to for the past few years. I have been busy raising two boys and much of my work has been inspired by the tangled-mess that motherhood has brought into my life. Before I had children I had a much more defined and clean-cut view of what my life would be, and since having a family with small people I realize that nothing can be planned or perfect. I guess that fact of life being a roller coaster of changes was always true and always present, but having a young son up in the middle of the night with a stomach ache or a summer deer tick infection are things that can’t be planned for or comprehended before it is part of your life. My pieces are soft, beautiful, meditative, tangled, messy, intricate, and colorful which I believe is all part of motherhood and my life at this point!

Exhibition Sponsor:

2015-16 Gallery Season sponsored by:

"Small Comforts" Exhibit Closes
2016-08-20 | Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
The 2015-16 Gallery Season finishes with the “tiny” works of two Northfield Arts Guild members, fiber artist Peggy Hanson and ceramic artist Emily Haskell.
Exhibition Sponsor: Forget-Me-Not Florist
2015-16 Gallery Season sponsored by:

Mugged Show
2016-08-23 12:00 - 2016-08-27 22:00 | Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
August 23-27, 2016
Join us for a pop-up exhibit featuring unique mugs by 14 regional ceramic artists:
Marion Angelica, Christie Clarke, Joel Froehle, Jim Haas, Sonja Hillestad, Kristine Hites, Chris & Sue Holmquist, Glynnis Lessing, Kip O’Krongly, Donovan Palmquist, Sue Pariseau, Colleen Riley, Juliane Shibata.
This show culminates with Art & Ale – a fundraiser for the Northfield Arts Guild on Saturday, Aug. 27.

Members Show Opens
2016-09-01 12:00 - 18:00 | Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
Join us for the Northfield Arts Guild Annual Members’ Show! The exhibition features over 50 member artists including:
David Allen, Wendell Arneson, Bob Christy, Christie Clarke, Ruth Crane, Patsy Dew, Toni Easterson, Rachel Egeberg, Jill Ewald, Linda Ferber, Doug Foxgrover, Joyce Francis, Marj Gruszewski, Peggy Hanson, Susan Hayes, Sue Hammes-Knopf, Karna Hauck, Sharon Henry, Sonja Hillestad, Jane Horton, Todd Jacobs, Addi Johnson, Jay Johnson, Joannie Johnson, Kirsten Johnson, Becky Jokela, Jamie Kalvestran, Judy Kinstad, Marsha Kitchel, Judy Kutulas, Heather Lawrenz, Diane LeBlanc, Lucy Le May, Glynnis Lessing, Krisi Lillie, Tim Lloyd, Diane McDonald, Paula Moon, Mary Mitchell, Sharol Nau, Paula Moon, Riki Kölbl Nelson, Katherine Norrie, Sue Pariseau, Barbara Pendergrass, Kathleen Pilugin, Harry Popiel, Carol Richards, Judy Saye Willis, Juliane Shibata, Frederick Somers, Kathryn Sparling, Dan Tallman, Rebecca Tolle, Paul Walech-Roth…and more!

Meet the artists and learn more about their work at the Artist Reception on Friday, September 23 from 7-9 pm,directly following the Annual Members Meeting at 6 pm.
Gallery hours:
Tuesday-Friday, 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Saturday, 11:00 am – 3:00 pm

SEMAC Capstone Event
“Exploring Variations of a Bead-Woven Shape”
Sue Hammes-Knopf
Sept 1 – 24, 2016

This exhibition also features the capstone event of Sue Hammes-Knopf, recipient of an Established Artist grant from SEMAC for “Exploring Variations of a Bead-Woven Shape”. Sue will have an artist talk at around 7:30 pm in the Main Gallery during the Artist Reception.

Artist Statement
The idea of exploring variations of a bead-woven shape began in my, “bead weaving study group”. I learned how to weave a 3-dimensional star shape. In this initial star, I saw many distinct elements that could be explored. Within weeks, we were all making original beaded elements that were variations of the star! In this series of art jewelry, I will show you earrings, rings, necklaces and a bracelet that are created with bead weaving techniques. The beaded elements are inspired by the deconstructed star shape.
You will see:
– triangular shapes
– flattened points, (I call these “wings”)
– the “spine”, (the shape which supports the 3-dimensional star)
– partial stars
The possibilities are many but I have focused on a few in order to emphasize the variations and make my point.
You will see:
– different sizes of glass beads
– repetition of shapes
– color
– surface design
Enjoy!

This activity made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and culture heritage fund.

Members’ Exhibition sponsored by:

Northfield Yarn &

2016-17 Gallery Season Sponsor:

Sacred Space exhibit opens
2016-09-29 12:00 - 18:00 | Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
“Sacred Space”
New work by Michon Weeks and Patrick Judd

Sept 29 – Oct 29, 2016
This exhibit features new work by Michon Weeks and Patrick Judd. Meet the artists and learn more about their work at the Artist Reception / SEMAC Capstone Event on Friday, September 30, 2016 from 7-9 pm, with artist talks starting around 7:30 pm
Michon Weeks Artist Statement:
I often combine imagery of everyday objects with text from ancient stories as a way to evoke meaning and make connections between ordinary life and the sacred. Many of these large-scale paintings depict common objects found in my garage (tools, WD 40, bicycles, grill, etc.) combined with text from Ezekiel’s vision of the wheel from the Old Testament. I flatten the garage objects and turn multiple sides toward the picture plane, exaggerating rhythm and pattern. Am I inventing a modern myth where ordinary garage items have supernatural power? How does the text on the power tools, such as “ripping saw”, “24 tooth”, “Master Mechanic”, shape the text from Ezekiel’s vision? These are some of the questions I am playing with in the paintings. Drawing is central to the way I work. Transfiguration through abstraction has been my abiding interest. I experiment with various systems of abstraction, such as drawing within a grid of lines or dots, abstracting within negative spaces, or developing found images from a paint surface. These systems add structure and the element of chance to my work. Also, abstraction diffuses literalism.
Patrick Judd Artist Statement:
I have always enjoyed photography and have had a camera in my hand since I was 10 years. I attended school for film-making, but am self-taught in photography. I love the haunting look of infrared black and white photography, and enjoy using it to present landscapes in a creative way.

Exhibit Sponsor:

2016-17 Gallery Season Sponsor:

Artist Mixer at Loon Liquors
2016-10-13 17:30 - 19:00 | Loon Liquors, 1325 Armstrong Road #165, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
Brand new artist?
Been an artist for a long time?
Embarking on a new technique?
New to Northfield?
Lived here forever?
All of these are great reasons to be a pART of the Northfield Arts Guild’s first Artist Mixer of the 2016-17 season! Bring a friend, all visual artists welcome!
Enjoy appetizers & connecting with visual artists from our area.
Hand-crafted cocktails by Loon Liquors will be available.
Please RSVP by October 11 to heather@northfieldartsguild.org, or by calling (507) 645-8877
Loon Liquors
1325 Armstrong Road #165
Northfield, MN 55057

Studio ARTour
2016-10-15 10:00 - 18:00, 2016-10-16 10:00 - 17:00
The Studio ARTour is a co-operative venture among a group of artists in the areas around Farmington, Northfield, and Faribault. We open our studios to the public on the third weekend in October (in 2016: Oct 14,15 &16) and invite you to come out and see where and how we work.
This year we celebrate the 12th year we have put on the tour. It’s still getting bigger so we must be doing something right! This year features 21 studios and 40 artists. Most studios have several artists working in different media. The artists are glad to answer questions and provide information about the art. Some studios have demonstrations.
The range of work is amazing; weaving to welding, glass to gemstones, clay to carving – and paper in between. Whether you are a long-time collector, or are just looking for something unique, the studio tour is a perfect way to shop for fine art, and best of all the tour is free!
For more information, please visit the Studio ARTour website, and check out the FAQs. But if we didn’t answer your question feel free to email us atstudioartour@gmail.com
The Northfield Arts Guild is a proud sponsor and stop (Studio #20) on this studio tour!

Sacred Space Exhibit closes
2016-10-29 | Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
“Sacred Space”
New work by Michon Weeks and Patrick Judd

Sept 29 – Oct 29, 2016
This exhibit features new work by Michon Weeks and Patrick Judd. Meet the artists and learn more about their work at the Artist Reception / SEMAC Capstone Event on Friday, September 30, 2016 from 7-9 pm.
Michon Weeks Artist Statement:
I often combine imagery of everyday objects with text from ancient stories as a way to evoke meaning and make connections between ordinary life and the sacred. Many of these large-scale paintings depict common objects found in my garage (tools, WD 40, bicycles, grill, etc.) combined with text from Ezekiel’s vision of the wheel from the Old Testament. I flatten the garage objects and turn multiple sides toward the picture plane, exaggerating rhythm and pattern. Am I inventing a modern myth where ordinary garage items have supernatural power? How does the text on the power tools, such as “ripping saw”, “24 tooth”, “Master Mechanic”, shape the text from Ezekiel’s vision? These are some of the questions I am playing with in the paintings. Drawing is central to the way I work. Transfiguration through abstraction has been my abiding interest. I experiment with various systems of abstraction, such as drawing within a grid of lines or dots, abstracting within negative spaces, or developing found images from a paint surface. These systems add structure and the element of chance to my work. Also, abstraction diffuses literalism.
Patrick Judd Artist Statement:
I have always enjoyed photography and have had a camera in my hand since I was 10 years. I attended school for film-making, but am self-taught in photography. I love the haunting look of infrared black and white photography, and enjoy using it to present landscapes in a creative way.

2016-17 Gallery Season Sponsor:

Presentation: Northfield's State of the Arts
2016-11-03 18:00 - 20:00 | St. John’s Lutheran Church, 500 Third Street West, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
Join the conversation!

Fine Craft Collective opens
2016-11-04 10:00 - 18:00 | Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
The Fine Craft Collective is a seasonal cooperative show produced this year by Cathy Collison and Heather Lawrenz. The show featuring 20+ artisans is open every day from November 4 through December 24, 2016 in the Main Gallery.
Come see the latest artwork from 20+ local artists.
More information at finecraftcollective.com

Open Daily! Nov. 4th – Dec. 24 2016
Hours:
Mon – Sat 10-6
Sun 12-4
Special Events:
Grand Opening Reception: Thursday, Nov. 10 from 5 – 8 pm
Winter Walk Reception: Thursday, December 8 from 4 – 9 pm
Holiday Reception: Saturday, December 17 from 10 am – 6 pm
Northfield Arts Guild Gallery: 304 Division St. S. Northfield, MN

Small Business Saturday
2016-11-26 10:00 - 18:00 | Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
“Shop at the small businesses that help write the story of America.” The Northfield Arts Guild Gift Shop is great for unique gifts handmade by 100+ local and regional artists. Seasonal rotation means there is always something new, and our Gift Shop is open every Saturday!

A+ Marketplace @ Winter Walk
2016-12-08 17:00 - 21:00 | Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
The A+ artists and volunteers with A+ Marketplace, part of the Autism and the Arts programming at the Northfield Arts Guild will be selling their cards and ceramic works on the first floor of the Northfield Arts Guild’s Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street South, during Winter Walk from 5:00-9:00 pm.
Join us!

Storied Design exhibit opens
2017-01-05 08:00 - 17:00 | Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
Photographs by Timothy Schacker and The Jewell Wolk Quilt Project presented by Jean Wakely
January 5 – February 4, 2017
Meet the artists and learn more about their work at the Artist Reception on Friday, January 6th from 6:30-9 pm. Light refreshments will be served.
From 6:30-7:00 pm Jean Wakely will present the story of The Purple Sandwich Quilt from The Jewell Wolk Quilt Project created by her mother, Jewell Wolk.
At 7:30 pm Artist Talks featuring Tim Schaker, Jean Wakely and Barb Pendergrass

The Jewell Wolk Quilt Project is a collection of 11 story quilts by Jewell Wolk (1924-2011) of Cut Bank, Montana. The quilts depict a wide scope of topics from Jewell’s childhood memories, her children’s lives, women’s history and biblical storytelling.
Jewell was a student of life, a teacher at heart, and curious person about life. She found her quiliting passion after her seven children left home. She was a strong believer in the art form of storytelling, which she felt was becoming lost in the multi-media age.
As Jewell entered her 80’s, she was going blind. The object of her quilts is not perfection in art nor in stitch, but in the story it depicts. Each quilt tells a story, about 45 minutes in length. Her quilts have traveled extensively, have been widely published and documented, and have been used for many storytelling events. Her daughter, Jean is creating a booklet for each quilt, and presents a portion of the collection in this exhibition.
Tim Schacker Artist Statement:
I have always been interested in the design of a building as a statement about our culture and way of life. A stunning example of this is the entire city of Brazila, Brazil where an entire city was designed to reflect the values and culture of a modern Brazil. The same can be said when local communities design and build a house of worship that reflects the religious values of the religion and the age and time in which it was built.
The photographs in this portfolio were taken in churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples over the last 2 decades of my travels throughout the world. They share a common theme of reverence and faith to what I think ultimately is the same core value. When I was traveling with my family on the island of Santorini, Greece our guide stood on the worn steps of the local church we were visiting and took the hand of my eldest son and placed it in the worn grooves of the banister leading up to the church entrance. He asked him to feel all of the stories, all of the hope, all of the grief, and all of the joy of the people who had walked these steps before him into his church that had been built 500 years ago. He called it an almost perfect place. I didn’t think to ask why it was “almost” perfect but now believe that he wanted us to understand that how we interpret our faith and the way we live in that faith is through our own human eyes and imperfections. This body of work, which continues to grow and evolve, examines our houses of worship, through a lens of when it was built and how it has served its faithful overtime.

2016-17 Gallery Season Sponsor:

Exhibit Sponsor:

Free Lunch & Learn
2017-01-18 11:30 - 12:30 | Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
Free Lunch & Learn Opportunity:
Eat, relax, and be transported by the power of storytelling! Jean Wakely leads guests through The Jewell Wolk Story Quilt Project, a collection of 11 story quilts created over a period of 20 years by Jewell Wolk (1924-2011) of Cut Bank, Montana. The quilts depict a wide scope of topics from Jewell’s childhood memories, her children’s lives, women’s history and biblical storytelling. Jewell left her quilts to her eldest daughter, Jean, who manages the project in Jewell’s honor. At each hour-long Lunch and Learn, Jean will share Jewell’s artistic process and cover the stories included in one of her mother’s quilts, including time for questions from attendees. Guests should bring a bag lunch. Space is limited; please reserve your seat by emailing heather@northfieldartsguild.org or call 507-645-8877
Main Gallery, Northfield Arts Guild 304 Division Street
Wednesday, January 18 11:30-12:30 The Time & Life of Ruth quilt
Wednesday, January 25 11:30-12:30 Women of the Plains quilt
Saturday, February 4 11:30-12:30 The Purple Sandwich quilt

Jewell Wolk
Jewell was a student of life, a teacher at heart, and a curious person about life. She was also an extraordinary artist and creative storyteller. Born in 1924 to a German sodbuster farmer, Henry Otto Peterson and schoolmarm, Mary Blyth Peterson, Jewell was their third child of five. Jewell attended country school and Cut Bank High School. After high school, she was a telephone operator for the Cut Bank party line system. Jewell married Robert Walter Wolk and they raised seven children in Cut Bank. She found her quilting passion after her seven children left home. She was a strong believer in the art form of storytelling, which she felt was becoming lost in the multi-media age.

Each new quilt that Jewell made started with a question, launching Jewell on a research adventure. It would take her one to three years to fully develop the theme of each quilt.
As Jewell entered her 80’s, she was going blind, and eventually had to pack away her fabric, thread and needles and stop making her story quilts. The object of her quilts is not perfection in art nor in stitch, but in the story it depicts.

Each quilt tells a story, taking about 45 minutes to cover. Her quilts have traveled extensively, have been widely published and documented, and have been used for many storytelling events. Her daughter Jean is creating a booklet for each quilt, and presents a portion of the collection in this Storied Design exhibition.

Jean Wakely
Jean’s storytelling with her mother’s quilts has taken her across the county to many quilter and museum programs. Jean is currently creating booklets documenting each of her mother’s quilts and the stories they tell. To book Jean as a speaker, to find out more information about the quilts, visit www.StoryQuiltProject.com

Artist Mixer @ Loon Liquors
2017-01-19 17:30 - 19:00
Brand new artist?
Been an artist for a long time?
Embarking on a new technique?
New to Northfield?
Lived here forever?
All of these are great reasons to be a pART of the Northfield Arts Guild’s 2nd Artist Mixer of the 2016-17 season! Bring a friend, all visual artists welcome!
Enjoy appetizers & connecting with visual artists from our area. (As if you needed another reason to join us) that evening Loon Liquors will be celebrating the release of the product that started it all 7 years ago, their Lac Coeur Coffee Liqueur, in partnership with Peace Coffee Roasters. Come out and try a Lac Coeur based – or any – of their delicious hand-crafted cocktails!
Please RSVP by January 17 to heather@northfieldartsguild.org, or by calling (507) 645-8877

Free Lunch & Learn
2017-01-25 11:30 - 12:30, 2017-02-04 11:30 - 12:30 | Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
Free Lunch & Learn Opportunity:
Eat, relax, and be transported by the power of storytelling! Jean Wakely leads guests through The Jewell Wolk Story Quilt Project, a collection of 11 story quilts created over a period of 20 years by Jewell Wolk (1924-2011) of Cut Bank, Montana. The quilts depict a wide scope of topics from Jewell’s childhood memories, her children’s lives, women’s history and biblical storytelling. Jewell left her quilts to her eldest daughter, Jean, who manages the project in Jewell’s honor. At each hour-long Lunch and Learn, Jean will share Jewell’s artistic process and cover the stories included in one of her mother’s quilts, including time for questions from attendees. Guests should bring a bag lunch. Space is limited; please reserve your seat by emailing heather@northfieldartsguild.org or call 507-645-8877

January 18 11:30-12:30 The Time & Life of Ruth quilt
January 25 11:30-12:30 Women of the Plains quilt
February 4 11:30-12:30 The Purple Sandwich quilt
Jewell Wolk
Jewell was a student of life, a teacher at heart, and a curious person about life. She was also an extraordinary artist and creative storyteller. Born in 1924 to a German sodbuster farmer, Henry Otto Peterson and schoolmarm, Mary Blyth Peterson, Jewell was their third child of five. Jewell attended country school and Cut Bank High School. After high school, she was a telephone operator for the Cut Bank party line system. Jewell married Robert Walter Wolk and they raised seven children in Cut Bank. She found her quilting passion after her seven children left home. She was a strong believer in the art form of storytelling, which she felt was becoming lost in the multi-media age.

Each new quilt that Jewell made started with a question, launching Jewell on a research adventure. It would take her one to three years to fully develop the theme of each quilt.
As Jewell entered her 80’s, she was going blind, and eventually had to pack away her fabric, thread and needles and stop making her story quilts. The object of her quilts is not perfection in art nor in stitch, but in the story it depicts.

Each quilt tells a story, taking about 45 minutes to cover. Her quilts have traveled extensively, have been widely published and documented, and have been used for many storytelling events. Her daughter Jean is creating a booklet for each quilt, and presents a portion of the collection in this Storied Design exhibition.

Jean Wakely
Jean’s storytelling with her mother’s quilts has taken her across the county to many quilter and museum programs. Jean is currently creating booklets documenting each of her mother’s quilts and the stories they tell. To book Jean as a speaker, to find out more information about the quilts, visit www.StoryQuiltProject.com

Tim Schacker & The Jewell Wolk Quilt Project exhibit closes
2017-02-04 | Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
The Jewell Wolk Quilt Project (shown by Jean Wakley) and New work by Tim Schacker

January 5th – February 4th, 2017
Jean Wakley will show The Jewell Wolk Quilt Project featuring up to 11 story quilts created by her mother.
Tim Schacker Artist Statement:
I have always been interested in the design of a building as a statement about our culture and way of life. A stunning example of this is the entire city of Brazila, Brazil where an entire city was designed to reflect the values and culture of a modern Brazil. The same can be said when local communities design and build a house of worship that reflects the religious values of the religion and the age and time in which it was built.
The photographs in this portfolio were taken in churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples over the last 2 decades of my travels throughout the world. They share a common theme of reverence and faith to what I think ultimately is the same core value. When I was traveling with my family on the island of Santorini, Greece our guide stood on the worn steps of the local church we were visiting and took the hand of my eldest son and placed it in the worn grooves of the banister leading up to the church entrance. He asked him to feel all of the stories, all of the hope, all of the grief, and all of the joy of the people who had walked these steps before him into his church that had been built 500 years ago. He called it an almost perfect place. I didn’t think to ask why it was “almost” perfect but now believe that he wanted us to understand that how we interpret our faith and the way we live in that faith is through our own human eyes and imperfections. This body of work, which continues to grow and evolve, examines our houses of worship, through a lens of when it was built and how it has served its faithful overtime.

2016-17 Gallery Season Sponsor:

Opening Reception: A Bevy of Marks: Karen Peters, Justin Peters, and Mary Ellen Frame
2017-02-10 19:00 - 21:00 | Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
A Bevy of Marks
Featuring Mary Ellen Frame, Justin Peters & Karen Peters
February 10 – March 11, 2017
Karen Peters
Justin Peters
Mary Ellen Frame

Join us for an Opening Reception on Friday, February 10 from 7-9 pm; Artist Talks at 7:30 pm
Karen Peters
Bio:
Karen Peters is a sculptor and printmaker working out of her home studio on the North side of Minneapolis with her family and dog, Woody. She is a member of Ironhead sculptural services that brings foundry arts to the public. Most recently she participated in a group show at Rosalux Gallery and sold a body of work to the Southeastern Community College in Faribault, MN. She received her BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, receiving the Dolly Fitterman merit award her senior year.
Artist Statement:
Color and shape come together to form thoughts and ideas that are abstract in daily life. In the prints I place lines, circles and other shapes to organize these observations. Using color and size to create the tone and feeling of the print. I’m currently creating prints that use a reduction relief process. The linoleum block is carved away to expose the color printed previously, building the layers of the print. Once this is done you can’t go back — you can only move forward and work with the colors you have chosen.
Justin Peters
Bio:
Justin Peters is a sculptor working in Minneapolis. Creating freestanding cast iron and steel sculpture. He is a member of Ironhead sculptural services that brings foundry arts to the public, specializing in furnace operation. Freelance fabricator and welder at Atomic Props and Effects. Received a BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
Artist Statement:
Using images that have long lines pulled from agricultural and industrial machinery, wind turbines have a perceived amount of energy and movement. Blending the old wind mill base with the new shape of the wind turbine to think about, how capturing the wind has changed from a single farmer to a wind farm. Leaving some of the marks created during the process and fabrication used to create the sculpture, reminds the viewer of the hand built aspects of the piece. The surface is left for a similar reason, to show the natural oxidation of the materials used.
Mary Ellen Frame
Artist Statement:
I take great joy in all the combinations of colors, shapes and lines of the elements in whatever environment I find myself; I find novelty in their arrangements, how they are sometimes surprisingly juxtaposed.
There are so many different ways that plants express concentric circles and spirals. It’s amazing what water does to sand, how first and snow transform man-made objects as well as trees and weeds, how changing seasons give us shifting shapes and colors. Water, having no shape or color of its own, takes shape from vessels and wind action, from evaporation and freezing. It transmits and reflects color. Regularity is displayed in the spacing of plants of the same species, or leaf arrangements on individual plants and the clustering of fruit and seeds. Sometimes lines become more appealing when they deviate from parallel. There’s often a sweetness to fringes and frills and feathery texture. Leaves have such myriad veining, shapes, textures and edges that are scalloped, jagged, or smooth. We move through a visual feast.

2016-17 Gallery Season Sponsor:

Artist Conversation
2017-02-23 18:00 - 20:00 | Northfield Library Upstairs Pye Meeting Room, 210 Washington Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
Topic for February 23: How to prepare for a juried show
Jill Ewald, a Northfield, MN artist working in painting and drawing will kick off the conversation with a brief overview of her knowledge and experiences on this topic. After this introduction, the rest of the time will be for attendees to ask questions, and discuss their experiences, tips and ideas with the group.
Interested in attending? Please reserve your seat by emailing heather@northfieldartsguild.org or calling (507) 645-8877.

Join us for our monthly Artist Conversations! This is a time (every 4th Thursday from 6-8 pm) for emerging and professional artists to gather in a small group setting to discuss topics relevant to visual artists. These gatherings are free and open to the public, but as space is limited, please reserve your seat by emailing heather@northfieldartsguild.org or calling (507) 645-8877.
Each conversation will focus on one topic such as:

The business of art – taxes, taking payments, etc.
How to regularly show your work
Blogging for artists
Framing – simple DIY frames versus purchased frames – what works best?
Discussing local resources for supplies, such as handmade papers, presented byThe Sketchy Artist
What does success as an artist mean to you?
Activism & Art

Topic for March 23: How to apply for a grant
Have a topic to suggest? Please email your idea to heather@northfieldartsguild.org

Bevy of Marks: Karen Peters, Justin Peters, and Mary Ellen Frame Exhibition Closes
2017-03-11 08:00 - 17:00 | Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, United States
Karen Peter Artist Statement:
Process is deeply rooted in my practice. Process builds form; it provides a beginning and an end. My current sculpture pairs cast iron with wool elements to complete an idea. The work starts with a knit pattern; that is traditionally viewed as soft, comforting and flexible. Then the pattern is cast in iron and becomes rigid, inflexible and heavy. Once the cast piece has been cleaned and finished the wool component of the sculpture is created, using knit or wet felting techniques. This creates sculptures with sharp contrast in color and texture.
Sharp contrast that is intended to challenge the roles implied by process, materials and history. In this recent body of work, the soft object will support the rigid sculpture – challenging the ideas of strong and supportive.
The prints I’m currently creating use a reduction process. The linoleum block is carved away to expose the color printed previously, building the layers of the print. Once this is done you can’t go back – you can only move forward and work with the colors you have chosen. The content of the prints are color and shape, used to form thoughts and ideas that are abstract in daily life. In the prints I meticulously place lines, circles and other shapes to organize these observations. The colors and size of the prints define these feelings or expressions. I enjoy this process as it always pushes me forward.

Justin Peters Artist Statement:
Currently working with cast iron, concrete, and fabricated steel to form and shape sculptures that are representative of boats, air planes and wind turbines. Vessels that have a perceived motion or movement. Images that have long lines pulled from agricultural and industrial machinery. The true integrity of the materials used is important to show the process and fabrication methods used.

Mary Ellen Frame Artist Statement:
I take great joy in all the combinations of colors, shapes and lines of the elements in whatever environment I find myself; I find novelty in their arrangements, how they are sometimes surprisingly juxtaposed.
There are so many different ways that plants express concentric circles and spirals. It’s amazing what water does to sand, how frst and snow transform man-made objects as well as trees and weeds, how changing seasons give us shifting shapes and colors. Water, having no shape or color of its own, takes shape from vessels and wind action, from evaporation and freezing. It transmits and reflects color. Regularity is displayed in the spacing of plants of the same species, or leaf arrangements on individual plants and the clustering of fruit and seeds. Sometimes lines become more appealing when they deviate from parallel. There’s often a sweetness to fringes and frills and feathery texture. Leaves have such myriad veining, shapes, textures and edges that are scalloped, jagged, or smooth. We move through a visual feast.
Mary Ellen Frame

2016-17 Gallery Season Sponsor:
