As spring 2022 breaks over the land and snowdrops harken that spring is really coming.  COVID -19 numbers are dropping compared to the worst of times. (though infections and deaths continue so be careful!).  We are daring to emerge carefully from what has been a deep and difficult hibernation for the last two years.  The world has many challenges and difficult decisions that we have to face.  As always, I turn to my art, and the creative work of others to help me think about the world’s challenges.  

For the last two years making my art making was an end in itself.  If I could not share it virtually it did not get shared. However, I admit that my creative work expanded quickly to include looking for ways to teach, coach and exhibit virtually and to build creative community on-line too.  I am delighted to now have the facebook Cabin Fever Creative Community as a place I go each day to see what our. now global, creative community is up to.  (Check it out if you have not yet visited.  It’s a great group.).

I have been participating in virtually art opportunities throughout the pandemic. A few that are coming up include:  

The Crow Show, a virtual and in-person exhibition, at the Studio Door Gallery, San Diego, CA, on display March 3-31.  I am honored to have one of my watercolors, Spill, a 40×30 painting, in the virtual exhibition. You can review the entire online exhibition catalog here.

Virtual Artist’s Roundtable:  I am co-facilitating a virtual artist roundtable with community artist Gabrielle Javier-Cerulli entitled Collaboration as a Strategy in Contemporary Feminist Activist Art, on Saturday April 9^th, at 2:00 PM.  

Join us to hear from panelists: Angela Trudell Vasquez, Madison Poet Laureate; Meri Rose Ekberg, arts administrator; Maia Pearson, artist and community organizer; and artist and curator Beth Racette.

The virtual artist roundtable can be attended for free, along with all the other offerings that are a part of the April 7-9^th, virtual women’s and gender studies conference Centering Resistance: Imaginings of a New Feminist Future, co-sponsored by the University of Wisconsin System Women’s and Gender Studies Consortium and the Office of the Women’s and Gender Studies Consortium.  They have an amazing program planned. Check it out. Registration is FREE here.

The main topic of this blog post, though, is the March 2022 emergence of more face-to-face experiences where I join many other wonderful artists who are excited to share their artworks with you.

Wisconsin Biennial Exhibition 2022

February 12-April 24

Museum of Wisconsin Art (MOWA)

Artist Panel: Tools for Healing and Change ~Saturday, March 19^th, 2:00-3:00

I have the honor of participating on an artist’s panel entitled, Tools for Healing and Change, as a program of the Wisconsin Biennial 2022.  Please plan to join Biennial artists Jennifer Bastian, Lois Bielefeld, and Fatima Laster and me as we discuss creating our artwork in response to hardships and promoting change in uncertain times.  MOWA in partnership with Wisconsin Visual Artists (WVA), offers the exhibition features 54 works by 52 artists revealing the depth and diversity of contemporary American art viewed through the lens of Wisconsin.  

Watercolor Wisconsin Exhibition

December 15 , 2021-April 23, 2022

~ Racine Art Museum ~

I am honored to again have a watercolor included in the 55^th year of the Racine Art Museum recognizing the many incredible ways Wisconsin artists use water-media to express themselves. You can go in person, or see a virtual exhibition tour on the website and /or check out the exhibition catalog here.  (Please note the best of show artwork by the Madison artist Daniel Torres on the  cover of the catalog. He happens to be my step-son.)

Mark Your Calendars  

Upcoming Art Opportunities

Marquette-Atwood Neighborhood Art Walk ~ Sunday, May 1, 2022, 11:00-5:00

I will have my backyard studio open for visitors all day the first Sunday in May for the Marquette-Atwood Neighborhood Art Walk. I will be joining 26 other artists who will be opening their studios for the annual self-guided Art Walk through the Marquette and Atwood Neighborhoods in Madison. Plan to stop by if you are in the neighborhood!

Crossing The River Exhibition

~ Commonwealth Gallery, Madison ~ May 6-May 15, 2022 ~

Spring Gallery Night Reception: May 6, 2022, 5:00-9:00 PM

Crossing the River is an art exhibition by twenty artists from Wisconsin and beyond, including exhibitors from Alaska, Texas and Spain. We come together to consider death and dying as intimate and important parts of life and living. The artists/participants share visions beyond the fear and negativity that so often makes us turn away from looking at the end of life too closely. As a group the art shared will explore grief, loss, and endings but also beginnings that emerge out of change, as well as hope, comfort, transformation and transitions, spirit and mystery, and loving humor while thinking about the actions we can take to bring agency to people and the planet in difficult times. Join us for the MMoA Spring Gallery Night opening reception on Friday May, 6, 2022, 5:00-9:00

Participating artists are: Future Akins, Dallas, TX. Pamela Alsum, Madison, WI. Kelty Carew-Dunkelberger, Sacramento, CA. Ed Check, Milwaukee, WI. Gene Delcourt, Madison, WI. Gabrielle Javier-Cerulli, Madison, WI. Nikki Kinne, Fairbanks, AK. Helen Klebesadel, Madison, WI. Stacy Levin, Madison, WI. Leslee Nelson, Madison, WI. Brady Nichols, Madison, WI. Natha Pina, Madrid, Spain. Beth Racette, Madison, WI. Karen Reppen, Madison, WI. Paula Schiller, Spring Green, WI. Akeem Torres, Madison, WI. Daniel Torres, Madison, WI. Babette Wainwright, Madison, WI. Julia Weaver, Madison, WI. Barbara Westfall, Mount Horeb, WI.

Spring Watercolor Workshops At The Arboretum

Finally, Friday, May 31-June 3 I will be offering my first in-person watercolor workshops in Madison since 2019 at the UW Arboretum. 

Watercolor:  A Fresh Start, May 31-June 1, 10:00-3:00~ An introductory watercolor workshop designed for absolute beginners as well as for those who have had some experience painting with watercolor but need a refresher to gain the confidence to start again. 

Advancing Your Watercolors, June 2-3, 10:00–3:00 ~ A watercolor workshop for intermediate and advanced watercolor painters. Designed as a watercolor workshop for artists with some experience, interested in advancing their creative and technical approach to watercolor painting, and in expanding their subject matter. 

The workshops can be combined into a 4-day watercolor intensive. Enrollment will be limited and COVID practices recommended by the CDC will be followed.

Longer descriptions and registration information here.