A MAS Update: Jason Ackman

Standard

The Midwest Artist Studios Project has spent the past three years traveling the Midwest interviewing 24 artists from 18 cities/towns. This project has been such a joy to create and to see how these artists have touched the lives of art students through online interactions, emails, and social media.

One of the areas we pride ourselves in is staying in touch with these artists and hearing what they are up to these days? For the next two-months the MAS Project will be spotlighting one of our 24 artists by sharing with you what they are doing in their studio as well as in their communities.

All three of our MAS publications are now available online.

Click here to buy your copy today!

_________________________________________________________________

Jason Ackman

2015 MAS artist from Illinois

MAS: In what ways have you benefitted from your participation in MAS?

JA: I have personally benefited from my involvement with MAS in a variety of ways. The project has introduced and connected me with a bunch of artists in my region of the US. Artists that I would most likely not known about had I not been involved with the work of MAS (Thank you!).

It has given me more opportunities to not only talk and share info about the work I do but the work of other outstanding and fascinating artists in the Midwest. This is a welcomed change since often times it seems that “real artists” are located in the major cities in the US, specifically out west and east.

I also believe it has given me a boost of confidence and encouragement knowing that a project like MAS is interested in telling some of my story as an artist. Not only as an artist, but an artist from the part of our nation that is often times overlooked when it comes artists making meaningful, significant work.

MAS: In what ways has your work and/or working environment changed since your MAS interview?

JA: My studio work has drastically changed over the past year. Shortly after the MAS team visited my studio I held my first solo exhibit. Once that exhibit closed my studio practice took a major shift. My practice has now become more about the social and community interaction with the arts. I have spent very little time making work or objects that would be seen in an exhibit. Instead, I have been focusing my energies on developing a local arts and cultural center as well as renovating a historic brick mansion (in a rural town of 150 people) into a future artist residency program. Although I have not been making work in the traditional sense, this new “work” has evolved into a practice of sorts. The communal aspect of creating has become more of a focus for me.

MAS: What is one thing you wish you’d said in your original interview, or what is the one thing that you hope the MAS audience remembers about your and your work?

JA: There are so many things I would have liked to have said 🙂 I don’t even know where to begin.

Visit Jason’s website to see more of his work.

All images copyright of the artist and used with permission.

ARTSPEAK RADIO live with Midwest Artist Studios Project founder, Frank Juarez, MAS artists Joe Bussell and Larry Thomas

Standard

Text and audio courtesy of Artspeak Radio.

This interview was aired on August 17 at noon.

MAS artists, Larry Thomas and Joe Bussell — Photo courtesy of Maria Vasquez Boyd

Founder of Midwest Artist Studio (MAS) Frank Juarez joins Maria by phone with artsts/educators Joe Bussell, and Larry Thomas.

Frank Juarez-Art Educator + Founder Midwest Artist Studios-MAS, “The project I designed is called the Midwest Artist Studios (MAS) Project. This project connects two areas-contemporary art and art education. The thought of traveling the Midwest and the idea of visiting studios was overwhelming. I knew I would not be able to do it alone so I was able to put together a team of art enthusiasts, Erika Block, writer, photographer Pat Ryan, and Jonathan Fritsch assistant.”

The Midwest Artist Studios™ Project is a three summer project established by a Wisconsin high school art educator, Frank Juarez. A team consisting of a photographer, writer, and assistant will travel the Midwest visiting contemporary visual artists who embrace the importance of Art Education, believe that their art experience was influenced or shaped by their K-12 Art Education and are following their artistic dream of art making. These visits will encompass a close and personal approach into the studio life of an artist. Artists will not only talk about their engagement in their art processes, but also discuss their rigorous work schedule, daily commitments, work ethic, artistic vision; to name a few.

After each summer the MAS Team will be creating a catalog and a curriculum workbook, which will contain lesson plans that compliment and reinforce the artists’ contemporary art practices. These lesson plans can be used to reinforce, supplement, or become an art curriculum for grades 6-12. A blog will house the MAS Team’s journey, behind the scenes footage, reflections, and photographs.

Our audience is very diverse just like this project. The Midwest Artist Studios™ Project will benefit anyone interested in Contemporary Art, Art Education, technology, social media, National Visual Arts Standards, and Literacy. We envision public, private art educators, home schools, core educators, IMC specialists, administration, districts, artists, professors and students utilizing this resource.

Artsts/educators from Kansas Joe Bussell and Larry Thomas, Karrie Dieken (North Dakota), Sharon Grey (South Dakota), Judy Boyer, Rachel Mindrup and Lori Elliott-Bartle (Nebraska), participated in the current MAS project.

Click the image to access interview

Click here to hear the interview with Frank, Joe, and Larry.

Final Thoughts from Frank Juarez: Year 3 MAS Project

Standard

Photo taken in North St. Paul, MN during our first day of road trippin’ in 2014.

My last road trip through the Midwest concluded on July 17, 2016 at approximately 6:00pm (CST). This one was one of the best road trips I’ve had with quite a few challenges during the 2,800+ mile journey. To date I have traveled to 18 cities/towns in 12 states driving 5,000+ miles in the span of a one-week increment during the month of July in 2014, 2015, and 2016.

When the idea of the Midwest Artist Studios Project came about inside my art classroom at Sheboygan North High School back in February of 2014 I never imagined where this would take me as an art educator and how it would change my personal/professional life. I knew that this journey was ambitious so I was fortunate to have worked with such an amazing and dedicated team; Erika Block (writer/editor), Pat Ryan (photographer), and Jonathan Fritsch (assistant). They were there from the beginning to the end no matter how crazy this idea was. This is an experience that I will cherish for a lifetime. I am truly blessed to have them in my life.

The MAS Project aims to connect art education with Midwest contemporary artists through studio visits, curriculum development, and opportunities for educator outreach.

I still have a lot of work ahead of me, but I wanted to take this opportunity to thank the following artists and arts professionals I met since 2014.

MAS artist, Josh Wilichowski, North St. Paul, MN
MAS artist, Vincenzio Donatelle, Minneapolis, MN
MAS artist, Jane Ryder, Oskaloosa, IA
MAS artist, Jamie Bates Slone, Kansas City, MO
MAS artist, Catie Miller, Kansas City, MO
MAS artist, Todd Mrozinski, Milwaukee, WI
MAS artist, Josie Osborne, Milwaukee, WI
MAS artist, Paula Schulze, Shorewood, WI
MAS artist, Suzanne Torres, Madison, WI
MAS artist, Mellissa Redman, Grand Rapids, MI
MAS artist, Kate Robertson, Ann Arbor, MI
MAS artist, Jenniffer Omaitz, Kent, OH
MAS artist, Ellie Honl, Bloomington, IN
MAS artist, Jessica Anderson, Jacksonville, IL
MAS artist, Jason Ackman, Rushville, IL
MAS artist, Krista Svalbonas, Chicago, IL
MAS artist, Emmy Lingscheit, Urbana, IL
MAS artist, Karri Dieken, Valley City, ND
MAS artist, Sharon Grey, Rapid City, SD
MAS artist, Jody Boyer, Omaha, NE
MAS artist, Lori Elliott-Bartle, Omaha, NE
MAS artist, Rachel Mindrup, Omaha, NE
MAS artist, Joe Bussell, Kansas City, KS
MAS artist, Larry Thomas, Kansas City, KS
Consuelo Cruz, Belger Arts Center, Kansas City, MO
Maria Vasquez Boyd, Artspeak Radio, Kansas City, MO
Marissa Starke, Kansas City Artists Coalition, Kansas City, MO
Beverly Ahern, H & R Block Artspace, Kansas City, MO

This project was supported by a grant from the Kohler Foundation, Inc (2014-2016).

This video is about MAS 2016 artists sharing their thoughts on being our featured artists. Running time: 10:55.

L to R: Frank Juarez, Jonathan Fritsch, MAS artists Karri Dieken, and Ellie Honl in Omaha, NE (2016)

MAS 2016 Gallery

MAS founder/art educator, Frank Juarez being interviewed by Artspeak Radio host, Maria Vasquez Boyd

MAS artist, Jody Boyer (NE)

MAS artist, Sharon Grey (SD)

MAS artist, Lori Elliott-Bartle (NE)

MAS artist, Karrie Dieken (ND)

MAS artist, Lori Elliott-Bartle (NE)

MAS artist, Sharon Grey (SD)

MAS artist, Larry Thomas (KS)

MAS founder/art educator Frank Juarez and MAS artist, Joe Bussell

MAS artist, Joe Bussell (KS)

MAS artist, Jody Boyer (NE)

MAS artist, Rachel Mindrup (NE)

MAS artist, Karrie Dieken (ND)

MAS artist, Joe Bussell (KS)

MAS artist, Sharon Grey (SD)

Click here to view our photos from the road.

You can now follow us on instagram.com/midwestartiststudios or like us on facebook at facebook.com/midwestartiststudios.

Get your copy today of the 2014 & 2015 MAS Catalog/Workbook by clicking here.

Day 4: View from the Road

Standard

Follow the Midwest Artist Studios on Instagram

We are about half way through our last road trip to North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas. This has been such a great experience thus far. One of the things we enjoy about this project is that we have no idea what the artists’ studios look like. We sure have seen quite a range from a studio housed in garage, basement, art center, warehouse, university, attic, barn, former bookstore, house, and a one-bedroom studio apartment from the past two years. Regardless, these are magical places in which artists create their vision.

“A studio can be anywhere” – Emma Anderson, freshman

Our first day started with a visit with MAS artist, Karri Dieken in her studio at Valley City State University to driving to Rapid City, SD where we visited MAS artist, Sharon Grey at her home studio the following day. In Rapid City we stumbled upon Art Alley, where the alley was covered in graffiti. We have never seen this in my life. It felt as if we were part of the artwork. Such a neat experience. Today we visited two studios in Omaha. In the early AM we drove to MAS artist, Jody Boyer‘s home studio and then to the studio of MAS artist, Lori Bartle Elliott at Hot Shops.

During our 1800+ miles to our destinations we were able to take detours to see some amazing sights such as the Badlands in Interior, South Dakota to the Old Market Business District in Omaha, Nebraska. We still have three more studio visits with MAS artists, Rachel Mindrup, Joe Bussell, and Larry Thomas to do before we head back to Wisconsin.

Listen to what MAS artist, Karri Dieken has to say about being part of the Midwest Artist Studios Project.

Here is a snapshot of what we experienced to date.

Studio visit with MAS artist, Karri Dieken

On the road

Art Alley in Rapid City, SD

Studio visit with MAS artist, Sharon Grey.

Art Alley in Rapid City, SD

e_a_s_t_1 spray painting a mural at Art Alley

Studio visit with MAS artist, Jody Boyer

The Badlands in South Dakota

On our way to Omaha, Nebraska

Studio visit with MAS artist, Lori Bartle Elliott

Let me take a selfie with Jonathan Fritsch, Karri Dieken, Frank Juarez, and Pat Ryan

Welcome to South Dakota

The MAS krew: Jonathan, Pat, and Frank. Not pictured: Erika.

Sunset to Omaha, Nebraska

The Badlands in South Dakota

This project is supported by a grant from the Kohler Foundation, Inc.

Introducing the 2016 MAS featured artists

Standard

I am extremely excited to be heading into Year 3 of the 3 year project, the Midwest Artist Studios™ (MAS) Project. I will be traveling this summer to the following states to visit the 2016 MAS featured artists; Karri Dieken (ND), Sharon Grey (SD), Jody Boyer (NE), Lori Elliott-Bartle (NE), Rachel Mindrup (NE), Joe Bussell (KS), and Larry Thomas (KS).

These artists were selected based on their responses to an online survey focusing on Art Education, body of work, and a Skype interview.

Throughout the studio visits I will be introducing you to 7 amazing and talented artists from the Midwest working in printmaking to painting, sculpture to mixed media and collage to installation art.

Click here to read a collaborative reflection from this past school year’s MAS Project.

This project is supported by a grant from the Kohler Foundation, Inc.

Join me on this MAS adventure via facebook.com/midwestartiststudios or subscribe to the blog, midwestartiststudios.com.

– Frank Juarez, art educator and founder

________________________________________________________________________

Karri Dieken

Web: www.karriadieken.com

Here are two questions asked on our survey and the artist’s response.

Please share one positive Art Education experience that you had in middle school, high school or college.

I have always known I was going to be a teacher, how I was going to get there and the full time line. Up until my final year of college, it was then, that I met a professor who changed the way I will forever look at teaching. Rita Cihlar Hermann was a professor of photography, she engaged all students in the course dialogue, creation or work, and developed a safe work space. I never, thought college would be a place with bullying, I found out during my final year of school that there were so many students who didn’t quite fit in. This is where Rita, helped them see they had a full potential, and a place in art, where they could share their stories and belong. She incorporated interdisciplinary curriculum, innovative uses of technology, and group work where all the members actually participated. It was as if she had some magical power over the students, where everyone wanted to participate and create to the best of their ability. Her magical power was positivity, and using positive feedback during critiques, she modeled behavior on acceptance and free speech without hurting another person. During this last year I was exposed to new forms of art and photography and how they could be created to make one piece of work or a body of work. That we as a class were a team and once we worked together we were un-stoppable. Today, I use many of the teaching methods facilitated my Rita. It is through kindness and positive feedback that we see the greatest gains, building strength through confidence and trust, this is what allows for the opportunities to take risks and not fear art. Its with this that I share art in my classroom, exposing students to a world they shouldn’t fear. The biggest gain has been seeing so many students share their creative voice!

Why is Art Education important today?

Art is a way to pair our thoughts and ideas in multiple forms, mediums, methods. Its something that everyone can do! Through art education we will open doors for future scientist, mathematicians, doctors, accountants, and so much more. With out art education in schools, children loose the opportunity to express themselves through visual images and creative solutions. We can look at Adult coloring books and see that art is essential in balancing our everyday lives. Art is a necessary part of our lives, and is essential in our K-12 and college schools. Art is the butter to our dry toast!

Artist Statement

As a mixed media artist, she is interested in fibers and polymers as mediums for documenting moments in time, considerations for collecting data, re-creating patterns, and engaging in community based performances and installations.

Relying on the repetition of imagery found in relationship to domesticity of common place and nostalgia. With the use of various techniques within handmade art making practices. Her work is about making marks via material exploration. She works with both traditional fibers, to cast porcelain, to found material sculpture. Resulting products range from cross stitched food, domestic interior installations, prints and paintings about “home.” Dieken, references outdated technological use of communication with everyday objects and repeated patterns. Type writers, telephones, sewing machines, and bicycles become surrogate objects within each narrative space. Much of the work is instigated by a collection of narratives informed by life experiences growing up in the Midwest to current daily interactions. The labor intensive repetitive work is an act of meditation, remembrance and homage to her Grandmother and Father.

Bio

Dieken grew up in the badlands region of the Midwest, inspired by the landscape, heritage, craft and the hand-made. She earned an MFA from Washington State University in 2010, and a BSED in Art from Black Hills State University in 2007. She has studied printmaking, sculpture, photography, and ceramics throughout her education.

Since 2007, her work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions across the United States, New Zealand, Germany, and the Netherlands. Her work has been included in exhibits at the Plains Art Museum, Museum of Art WSU, Boise Art Museum, Essex Art Center, Dahl Fine Art Center, and the South Dakota State Museum of Art. A selection of her prints have been acquisition into the permanent collections at the Museum of Art WSU, Boise Art Museum, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, and the Missoula Art Museum. She continues to participate in select print exchanges and sculpture based installations exploring narratives of nuclear family, midwestern heritage, and childhood in rural America.

All images copyright of the artist and used with their permission.

________________________________________________________________________

Sharon Grey

Web: shadesofgreyillustrations.com

Here are two questions asked on our survey and the artist’s response.

Please share one positive Art Education experience that you had in middle school, high school or college.

I chose my college in order to study under one specific instructor that I had admired since childhood, Mr. Dick Dubois. It’s hard to express what a positive experience painting with him was in a single experience; he was gruff, and hummed to himself, and rarely gave compliments, so when you received one, it made you light up. Watching him paint was like magic. One early assignment I remember with him was drawing a face. He was teaching the boy next to me in the usual terse, unapologetic manner: “well, and you can see you’ve messed the nose up, can’t you. Yes. And the head here is wrong, and that makes these eyes too close together, so really the whole thing is just a bit of a disaster, isn’t it.” Then he looked over at my drawing, which was going well, and went back to the boy. “Don’t even look at hers. It’s no use comparing yourself to Sharon. She’s just…crafty.”

Why is Art Education important today?

First and foremost, art is important because it is the expression not only of how one individual views the world, but it captures and defines whole cultures, time periods, and histories. To that degree, it transcends the simple existence of any one piece and becomes something worth risking one’s life to save. You need look no further than the actions taken by individuals in wartime to see the truth of that. People stayed to sandbag the Last Supper as bombs were dropping all around them. They risked death to enter active war fields to find art that was stolen by Nazis in WWII. They even strapped themselves to their beloved cathedrals equipped with rakes to brush away bombs before they could explode and destroy the rotunda and the art within. We all know instinctively that art is precious. Art education is important because it is the breath that keeps the fire stoked. It is skill that must be learned before it can be used to create the masterpieces, and the drive to stay inspired. If either one is lost, art is as well.

Artist Statement

I always enjoyed drawing people, and my first priority even as a child was to make realistic art, so I suppose it’s natural that my work today focuses on realistic renderings of people. I tend to shy away from the traditional portrait, however; if my subjects are looking at the viewer, it’s meant as a sort of challenge, or invitation to experience the world from their point of view. So, while my work is usually of people, it’s really more about the person’s relationship with the world around him or her. That’s why you often can’t see the faces, or if you can, they’re looking away, looking at something you can share in with them, whether that’s something magnificent and other-worldly or as simple as falling snow.

I also love to capture moments of childhood—the simpler the better— and elevate them to something memorable. Children in my paintings are doing everyday things: feeding ducks, sitting by a tree, playing on the floor, splashing in water, but just by virtue of painting that moment, it becomes important. Of course, that’s not to say that my painting made the moment important—it always was. But only through artwork can we freeze time and examine a second that happened long ago, and in so doing, remember what it is to be a person. Most of life is hum-drum moments, and I paint children more than adults simply because they are much better at enjoying their lives minute to minute. I see that as a good reminder for all of us. Live life in the present, appreciate every bit of it, applaud the beauty that you see. And remember to care; for the world, for animals, for each other—just care.

Sharon Grey, Backstage, watercolor, 22X28, 2016

Influences

I watch people constantly, and it’s people who inspire me to draw and paint. My children, my sisters, and my parents are my most common subject matter, primarily because they’re the ones I have pictures of, but in painting a person doing something universal, I am trying to capture that experience more than the individual. Style wise, I was hugely influenced by my first and greatest watercolor teacher, Mr. Dick DuBois, and by the work of my two other favorite watercolorists, Nita Engle and Steve Hanks. I also enjoy traveling, and try to put as much as I can of the world that I’ve seen into my work.

Bio

I was born and raised in the Black Hills of South Dakota in Spearfish. That is where I spent long summers doing things that you can do for free or cheaply, like inter-tubing in the glacial creek, walking to the library, reading in my “treehouse” of three planks of wood nailed to the branches of a black walnut tree, or going camping in a tent. I sketched constantly, and had dreams of becoming a street artist and living in Florence. Instead, I attended the local college and studied painting and drawing with Dick Dubois, transferred briefly to Baylor University, and went back home to finish my art degree. From there, I taught art and tutored the high school boys at a Challenge Academy in Waco, then moved to Rapid City and taught at Girls Inc. until my first daughter was born. At that point I discovered that I could work from home as a freelancer and have a life where I get to draw and paint all day AND stay in pajamas! To that end, I have been an freelancer now for eight years and have illustrated over a dozen books for kids, but my primary love is still painting my own watercolors. I stay busy as an active member of the Northern Plains Watercolor Society and the SCBWI, and have added two more kids to the stack as well. They enjoy spending long summers in the Black Hills doing things you can do for free or cheaply.

I did make it to Florence last summer as well, and put my dream of being a street artist to rest once and for all. I hadn’t envisioned quite so much standing and selling my art to tourists when I had the dream, which just goes to show you, life is best lived as it comes to you. There is no such thing as the good life; there are many, many varieties.

All images copyright of the artist and used with their permission.

________________________________________________________________________

Jody Boyer

Web: www.jodyboyer.com

Here are two questions asked on our survey and the artist’s response.

Please share one positive Art Education experience that you had in middle school, high school or college.

At the age of twenty when my father became ill with cancer, I was already a bit lost in college, and chose to leave school to assist him with treatment. When I got a scholarship to college, I thought I wanted to be a scientist, but found that 1) my brain did not work as systematically as I needed to be successful in the traditional sciences 2) that I had deferred my interest in the arts to societal ideals of what success should be.

During his treatments my father gave me a camera, and I became very fond of the process of documenting and framing the world. When I returned to finish my undergraduate degree, I found support in the arts for the way my brain processes information, and found support to overcome many of the academic struggles I had in my first two years.of undergraduate studies. I found a path that supported outside the box thinking, and even encouraged you to explore concepts and ideas that seemed irrational and nonsensical. The visual arts supported my desire for experimentation and discovery, and gave me a sense of pride and accomplishment for what had previously been characteristics that made me different or weird.

Why is Art Education important today?

The visual arts give students opportunities to develop and foster strengths that are not supported in other areas, and gives many students an opportunity to shine who may struggle with the written word and traditional academic strategies. The visual arts give students a wide variety of ways to tell stories, share knowledge and develop a deeper understanding of themselves and others.

Additionally, in the arts taking risks is encouraged and necessary. exploring a wide variety materials, techniques and processes is vital to the physical and cognitive development of kids. And in the 21st century, when almost of information is negotiated through a visual interface, teaching students to be producers of visual content in addition to consumers of visual art gives them the tools to innovate and create the future.

Artist Statement

Over the last fifteen years I have explored interests in personal memory, landscape, cinema and a sense of place. Science has always appealed to me, but I am far too subjective to withstand the rigors of its objectivity. My life thus far has been a beautiful and poetic mess. At twenty, when my father was diagnosed with cancer, he gave me a camera. This had a large impact on me, and I became very fond of how the lens can frame, reconfigure and interpret the everyday world.

However, I have never been fully satisfied with the lens alone or the idea of the real story. The scientist in me continues investigating and experimenting with new tools for creating images and objects. Technology and the reconfigured image: Paints and pens, hammers to heat guns, antiquated and digital cameras, toys to electric trains, and computers, with all their 21st century possibilities. I use all of these in my studio.

If someone was to ask me what I like most about Art it is ideas. The way an artwork and its formal constructs can symbolize a conceptual gesture, a philosophical theory or entire narrative without the written or spoken word. These are some of the things I think about when asked why I am an Artist.

Jody Boyer, Forest for the Trees

Bio

Jody Boyer is a visual artist and arts educator originally from Portland, Oregon. In her studio practice she explores the broad interdisciplinary possibilities of traditional and new media with a specific interest in personal memory, cinema, landscape and a sense of place. She received her B.A. in Studio Arts from Reed College, her M.A. in Intermedia and Video Art from the University of Iowa, and her K-12 teaching certificate at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Her artwork has been shown nationally, including at the Des Moines Art Center, Womanmade Gallery in Chicago, and the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts and in such publications as Review and Art in America. She also collaborates with Russ Nordman, Associate Professor of Media Arts at the University Nebraska-Omaha on a variety of visual arts and education projects. Together they are raising two children and live in the Loess hills of Western Iowa.

She has taught in a variety of P-16 environments including Universities, public schools and community nonprofits throughout the Midwest. She currently teaches art education and digital art courses at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and visual arts at Norris Middle School. In 2014 she received the Caucus of Social Theory in Art Education’s Social Theory in Practice Award for K-12 Art teachers, and was selected 2014 Nebraska Middle School Art Educator of the Year by the Nebraska Art Teachers Association.

All images copyright of the artist and used with their permission.

________________________________________________________________________

Lori Elliott-Bartle

Web: lorielliottbartle.com

Here are two questions asked on our survey and the artist’s response.

Please share one positive Art Education experience that you had in middle school, high school or college.

I recall working on a large painted mural with friends in second grade as we learned about dinosaurs. Designing and painting that mural reinforced the science ideas we were exploring about that time period, ecosystems and environment. I still enjoy working across disciplines and allowing ideas from history, geography and biology to inspire and inform my artwork.

Why is Art Education important today?

Art education helps develop critical thinking, problem-solving skills and appreciation for good design, it lends itself to most disciplines. It also helps instill the idea that all sorts of art can enrich our daily lives.

Artist Statement

I’m a painter and printmaker who finds inspiration in prairie landscapes, travel and moments from daily life. While most at home under wide open skies and unobstructed vistas, I allow my curiosity to lead me to other terrains and cultures with an interest I honed as a professional journalist.

In recent work, I’ve focused broadly on aspects of landscape, and especially the prairie. I take a daily look at the patch of big bluestem growing in my small, urban front yard. This graceful, resilient plant reminds me of the subtle changes in color, texture and line that Nebraska’s native prairie landscapes provide.

This work is more abstract than earlier paintings, and the materials I use now are more diverse. I mix softened beeswax with oils and pigments and apply many layers. Mixing these materials allows me to create paintings that hold depth, complexity and texture, some of the same qualities about the prairie that I appreciate. My painting process is physically active. I use rollers, wide blades and brushes to apply paint, then blot, scrape and carve with knives and points to reveal underlying colors. These lines and colors convey motion and emotion. The qualities that link all my work — whether mixed media, oil painting, or printmaking — include a strong emphasis on simplified shapes, saturated color and high contrast.

Lori Elliott-Bartle, Wind Across the Sandbar #2, cold wax and oil on birch panel, 15×15”, 2014

Bio

I took a circuitous route to art-making through journalism and public relations. For the last eight years, I’ve painted full time, usually at my studio on the third floor of Hot Shops Art Center in Omaha, Nebraska.

Born in Berkeley, California, I grew up in a small town in south-central Kansas. I earned a journalism degree from the University of Kansas and a master’s in social sciences from the State University of New York at Binghamton. I worked for 15 years in journalism and in higher education public relations. After taking a watercolor class at a local museum in 2000, I made painting a priority.

I’ve been involved in several artist groups and have been an active member with leadership roles in the Artists’ Cooperative Gallery in Omaha since 2008. I have shown in local and regional galleries and have work in private collections across the United States, as well as in China and in Norway.

When I’m not painting, I enjoy dining out with my husband, attending the ballgames of my two teenaged children, and playing fetch with our dog.

All images copyright of the artist and used with their permission.

________________________________________________________________________

Rachel Mindrup

Web: www.rmindrup.com

Here are two questions asked on our survey and the artist’s response.

Please share one positive Art Education experience that you had in middle school, high school or college.

My high school art teacher introduced copper plate etching to me my senior year. I absolutely loved it and when I went to college I realized how much she had to improvise to make that happen when she didn’t have all the facilities a university has for printmaking. It made me realize not just how resourceful she was, but that it would have been a lot easier for her just to have us draw or do something that didn’t take so much preparation. I still love etching and I credit her with that.

Why is Art Education important today?

I am a painter and when I am immersed in the act of painting or drawing I am accessing a very different portion of my brain. I am very much in the present time and I believe it is good neurologically speaking for students to be allowed time to create in that space of their brain as well. Creating art, especially with new media allows students to engage in “play”. Often the process is just as rewarding as the whatever the final product ends up being. I find that even if a painting does not turn out, it typically will, in some way, inform another.

Artist Statement

Many Faces of Neurofibromatosis (NF)

The art object and human subject oscillation, represented so personally, is what gives portraits their powerful grasp on my imagination. It is the idea of duration − or earthly immortality – that gives such a mysterious interest to the painted portrait. Studying the history of portraiture techniques has allowed me the ability to begin to integrate those concepts into relevant contemporary narratives.

My son Henry who was diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis (NF) at four months old has been the motivation behind my series. Neurofibromatosis encompasses a set of distinct genetic disorders that primarily causes tumors to grow along various types of nerves but can also affect the development of non-nervous tissues such as bones and skin. Neurofibromatosis causes tumors to grow anywhere on or in the body. An incurable and progressive genetic disorder, NF can lead to disfigurement; blindness; skeletal abnormalities; dermal, brain, and spinal tumors; loss of limbs; malignancies; and learning disabilities.

Because it is difficult to think about portraits as art and not primarily as the person represented, my “Many Faces of NF” series aims to portray people with NF as individuals first and their genetic complications as second. The individuals selected for this project are from all over the world as NF is worldwide in distribution, affects both sexes equally, and has no particular racial, geographic or ethnic distinction. Consequently, NF can appear in any family. Each person portrayed in my project has not only donated to help find a cure for NF; each has also carefully mediated the way he or she wants to be presented in the oil portrait.

In that regard, I am merely a conduit. It is simply my job to make introductions by use of current social media platforms mixed with my traditional painting background. Through this series of paintings, I transform genetic complications into something secondary and portray the individual personalities first. Using social media as a connection, my goal is to raise funds, educate the uniformed, and ideally help find a cure for NF.

Rachel Mindrup, Hayley Shooting Photos, Oil on Canvas, 30″ x 24″, 2015

Bio

Rachel Mindrup, is a professional artist and art educator. She received her BFA from the University of Nebraska – Kearney and then continued with atelier studies at the Art Academy of Los Angeles. She received her MFA from the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University. Her current painting practice is about the study of the figure and portraiture in contemporary art and its relation to medicine. She currently teaches in Omaha at Creighton University, Metropolitan Community College and the Joslyn Art Museum.

Mindrup’s client list includes: Kiewit Corporation, Boys Town, Creighton University, Boys Town National Research Hospital, and the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences. Her artwork is held in many private collections including those of Primatologist Jane Goodall and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

All images copyright of the artist and used with their permission.

________________________________________________________________________

Larry Thomas

Web: www.larrythomasart.com

Here are two questions asked on our survey and the artist’s response.

Please share one positive Art Education experience that you had in middle school, high school or college.

Wow, that is a tough one because I had so many. But I did a series of drawings when I was a senior in college. It was about the relationship between people, trees, transformation and deception. I had been studying art history and discovered the myth of Apollo and Daphne. Bernini’s version in particular struck a real chord in me. It was a break through moment for me. The idea of deception and camouflage continues in my work today 40+ years later.

Why is Art Education important today?

Education and the arts in America are under attack. There is a growing movement of people who don’t understand the importance of art and the humanities in the overall education of civilized people in this country. There is a growing push to make educationonly about vocational or technical training to get jobs.

Walter Isaacson said that “Science can give us empirical facts and try to tie them together with theories, but it’s the humanists and the artists who turn them into narratives with moral, emotional and spiritual meanings.” Art gives the narrative and meaning to data science provides for us.

Artist Statement

At first glance my work might appear quite abstract. Closer inspection reveals glimpses, fragments, or passages of potentially more recognizable shapes. Utilizing the traditional mediums of paint, printmaking and collage with the contemporary medium of digitally generated images, I explore the concepts of perception, deception, invisibility and camouflage, both visually and metaphorically.

Larry Thomas, Glimpse 50, Mixed Media Collage, 8” x 8”, 2015

Bio

Larry Thomas received MA and MFA degrees from the University of Iowa. He’s been in over eighty regional, national, and international exhibitions and in more than sixty corporate, public, and private collections including the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art. After a 40 year teaching career he is retired and Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts at Johnson County Community College where he taught for his last 25 years. He is represented by the Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art Gallery in Kansas City, MO.

All images copyright of the artist and used with their permission.

________________________________________________________________________

Joe Bussell

Web: www.joebussell.com

Here are two questions asked on our survey and the artist’s response.

Please share one positive Art Education experience that you had in middle school, high school or college.

I was very lucky to go to a high school that had 6 full time art faculty. When I was a Junior my painting instructor asked if I was thinking about art school and if so she would help me put together a portfolio. She took me to check out the Kansas City Art Institute and Kansas University. It was the first time I truly envisioned myself as a real artist.

Why is Art Education important today?

Without peers and instructors an artist’s failures may mean they will go down for the the count and never get up again. With the support of colleagues and teachers that artist has the opportunity to learn that failure is part of learning. In addition school gives the artist a chance to make professional contacts, fill them with intellectual fuel and impress upon them the importance of discipline and learning skills that will carry them through a lifetime of art making.

Artist Statement

These paper giants are mixed medium paintings that contain subjective associations that allow me to question the world in poetic abstract terms. By building up pools of paint then scraping it to the ground I am able to overlap recognition with the unknown, fusing memory with the present.

Joe Bussell, Scrape Series 72, Acrylic, 22″x52″, 2016

Bio

Hippie, gay activist, AIDS advocate, gypsy, art educator and ex-pat have described Joe Bussell over the years but artist defines him.

In 1979 Joe received a BFA in Painting from Kansas University. From that time to the present, Joe has lived in London, on both US Coasts and a variety of US cities in between. He’s received 2 MFAs, one in Painting the other in Ceramics from Washington University in St. Louis. He taught art for 8 years, 5 at Washington University and 3 at Johnson County Community College. His work has been represented by a variety of galleries from New York City to Santa Fe and his work has been exhibited throughout the US and Europe. In addition to working at a myriad of art related jobs, Joe also worked in an AIDS hospice for 6 years, all the while keeping his studio practice current and vital.

All images copyright of the artist and used with their permission.

Announcement: 2016 Featured Artists for the Midwest Artist Studios Project

Standard

I am happy to announce our 7 featured artists for our last year of the Midwest Artist Studios Project. They are Karri Dieken (ND), Sharon Grey (SD), Lori Elliott-Bartle (NE), Rachel Mindrup (NE), Jody Boyer (NE), Larry Thomas (KS), and Joe Bussell (KS). Soon I will be providing more information on these artists via this site. Stay tuned.

Congratulations, Karri, Sharon, Lori, Rachel, Jody, Larry, and Joe!

–Frank Juarez, art educator and founder

Impressions on the Midwest Artist Studios Project

Standard

Here are the thoughts of a high school freshman on the Midwest Artist Studios Project. This project has a bigger impact on students who have been exposed to this project that I would have ever imagined. I was impressed on how this student was engaged in this process. – Frank Juarez, founder.

I was fortunate to get a chance to work with him during our freshmen art class. I thought that the program that he has created at home is a great way to get high school kids involved with the arts. Usually when I think of art and artists, as I’m sure is common with most people, I think of two types of people. I think of the tortured artists, like Van Gogh. The other type of artist would be the classic painter, who always seems to have died before appreciation for their art developed.

Previous to the discussion with Mr. Juarez, I would not really think of being an accomplished artist as something attainable for people today. It seems as though we see accomplishment for artists as something that can only be attained after death. Mr. Juarez helped me see that success in art is not limited to past generations, but there are actually many successful artists who create masterpieces in my own community.—Ursula, class of 2019

Shadows: Enter the Light – Todd Mrozinski (WI)

Intro Art students painting their shadows.

Intro art students working on Shadows: Enter the Light

Midwest Artist Studios Project in Ojai, California

Standard

This spring break MAS founder and art educator, Frank Juarez, is participating in a visiting artist program at The Thacher School in Ojai, California. He will be working with Mrs. Liz Mahoney’s beginning to advanced art students. He will be introducing students to the Midwest Artist Studios Project through a series of art lessons, which highlights artists living in the Midwest. In addition, he will be Skyping the artists into the classroom so that they can have the opportunity to interact with them via a critique and/or Q & A.

Some of the artists introduced are Year 1: Todd Mrozinski (WI) and Jane Ryder (IA) as well as Year 2: Jessica Anderson (IL) and Jenniffer Omaitz (OH).

Timeline:

Please note – images will be added each day of the residency.

On March 25th, he spent the day getting to know the art students. Mrs. Mahoney’s students are fabulous, talented, and eager to learn more about art.

Day 1

On March 28th Advanced Art students and Intro Art students were introduced their respective artists, process, and media. Artists discussed were MAS artists, Jenniffer Omaitz (OH) and Todd Mrozinski (WI). After the presentation, students began to either set up their still life for Folded Gestures: Playing with Form and Space lesson or deciding what the subject matter would be for their Shadows: Enter the Light lesson, respectively.

Folded Gestures: Playing with Form and Space – Jenniffer Omaitz (OH)

Shadows: Enter the Light – Todd Mrozinski (WI)

______________________________________________________

Day 2

On March 29th, Studio Art students were introduced to the work of MAS artist, Jane Ryder (IA) followed by planning out their composition on paper. They are asked to create their own ecosystem based on observation, personal ideas, and using technology. The Intro Art students began working on their shadow paintings. Colors chosen consisted of a limited color palette with a dark tone, mid tone, and highlight of their choosing.

Studio Art students planning out their compositions.

Intro Art students finishing their shadows.

Intro Art students painting their shadows.

______________________________________________________

Day 3

On March 30th students continued to work on their assigned projects. Some students used today to catch up while others began to add color to their projects. It is interesting to see how they take the information presented and make the work their very own with their own ideas and interpretation.

Advanced art students working on Folded Gestures: Playing with Form and Space

Intro art students working on Shadows: Enter the Light

Studio art students working on Be One with Nature: Painting your Surrouding

______________________________________________________

Day 4

On March 31st, the art students had its first Skype session. Intro art students had the opportunity to talk to MAS artist, Todd Mrozinski (WI) about his work, process, and a brief critique/ Q&A with the students. Below is an excerpt from their session.

About Todd’s work

The shadow series started on the one year anniversary of my father’s death. Wanting to connect with him, Mrozinski started to paint his portrait based off of a black and white photo from when he was a young priest. He had not painted a traditional portrait in years and soon was frustrated. Disgruntled, he laid on the couch until his wife entered the studio. She saw the large amount of dark acrylic paint mixed on the palette and asked if she could cover the canvas so it would not go to waste. He agreed and took a nap. When he woke up, he noticed the warm light coming in through the front door. He looked out at the tree shadows and realized, in that instant, what he needed to paint. He took the dark canvas off the working wall, laid it on the ground, knelt down and traced the tree shadow directly onto the canvas. He realized as life is to light, death is to shadows, one cannot be without the other. His dad was showing himself in a different form and he felt his presence profoundly. The shadow series began.

Mrozinski’s work is a record of what is going on around him in the present moment. His subject matter is his family, friends, house and yard which he records and adorse on a daily basis. The beauty and power of shadows, the mysterious and ever changing light that creates them and their ambiguity and implied meaning continue to inspire me and infuse my work. Each painting begins by tracing the object’s cast shadow directly onto the canvas and is an actual size record of time and space. He is constantly amazed how a single outline can capture a gesture, mood and personality and how color and edge can create space, focus and mood. Each painting becomes a light infused container that preserves a moment, painted directly though the malleable and flowing medium of oil paint. Through drips, skeins and piles of paint, the surface becomes activated and glows with a light from within.

Intro art student skyping with MAS artist, Todd Mrozinski (WI)

Folded Gestures: Playing with Form and Space – Jenniffer Omaitz (OH)

Studio art students working on Be One with Nature: Painting your Surrounding – Jane Ryder (IA)

Shadows: Enter the Light – Todd Mrozinski (WI)

______________________________________________________

Day 5 (Final Day)

On April 1st, the week concluded with Studio Art students skyping with MAS artist, Jane Ryder (IA). Students asked about the artist’s approach to her chosen medium (gouache), ways to stay motivated, artist’s current work, a brief critique between students and artist and a Q & A. The Advanced Art students kept working on their project, “Folded Gestures: Playing with Form and Space”. I can’t wait to see the final outcome from the Intro Art, Studio Art, and Advanced Studio art students. I would like to end this post with a huge thanks to Mrs. Mahoney (art teacher) and The Thacher School for having me and for their hospitality. This experience was fabulous and memorable.

About Jane’s work

Jane’s paintings are a right-brained approach to observing, dissecting, and recording the objective subject matter found in the lakes, rivers, prairies, and forests of south central Iowa. As her intimacy with the land surrounding her evolves, so does her approaches for depicting the complexities of varying terrains and the plants and animals that occupy them.

Each of her gouache paintings is a fictitious ecosystem that has been broken down into a series of vignettes. Each vignette describes the decay, growth, and interaction between the flora and fauna of that imagined place. Although bold colors, re- peating patterns, and flattened space make the paintings appear fantastic in nature, each scene is based off an observation.

She is constantly inspired by the complexities of the natural world. Her work is an ever evolving narrative about the interconnectedness of all things and the functions of an organism in a community of plants and animals.

Studio art student skyping with Jane Ryder (IA)

Folded Gestures: Playing with Form and Space – Jenniffer Omaitz (OH)

Studio art students working on Be One with Nature: Painting your Surrounding – Jane Ryder (IA)

Meditation Drawings at Sheboygan North High School with MAS artist, Jessica Anderson

Standard

On March 14, MAS artist, Jessica Anderson, spent the day at Sheboygan North High School connecting with students through her project, Meditation Walking, as the basis for her meditation drawings that she facilitated with Drawing/Painting II, AP Studio Art, and Senior Art 2 students. Jessica is one of our Year 2 MAS artists.

Jessica’s artist statement states:

Part research, part design, part invention – my work navigates the boundary between mind and body through a re-contextualized lens of science, medicine, and biologic phenomena. Reminiscent of laboratory investigations, my invented scenarios answer questions with questions and provoke participatory explorations of the individual self.

Taking the position as neither a skeptic nor a promoter, my research examines the role of holistic healing practices in contemporary culture. I am interested in individual relationships within these mechanisms of health and provide viewers with opportunities to test their own boundaries of belief. Reframing practices such as a detoxifying footbath, a chi activation machine, and phenomenological exercises, my re-contextualization of existing treatments heightens the tension of purpose, and provides viewers with neutral environments of investigation.

Merging factual information with reinvented application allows me to expand the dialogue of cognitive occurrences. For instance, EMDR therapy asks patients to lean their head to the left to access thoughts and to lean their head to the right to access feelings and emotions. Redirecting this information, I then ask: Is there a discernible difference between these two cerebral directions when drawing a line?

It is a question that can only be answered through experience, observation, and communally applied analytics.

In my work, invitations for experience occur through demonstrative videos, interactive objects/devices, evocative statements of research, and performative exercises. Together, each of these installation elements create a multi-dimensional environment of investigative viewing, biologic questioning, and experiential answering. By repositioning scientifically grounded phenomena into the context of a gallery, information begins to transcend ratiocination and calls upon a physical conversation between mind, body, and personal experience.

Katie, drawing/painting II student, writes, “the meditation drawing experience was very different from what I was expecting going into it. My mind works in a very mechanical fashion so I thought that I would not be able to relax and have my hand wander for a period of time. I found myself having completely letting go. Tracking time was impossible. When just sitting and doing nothing, 10 minutes felt like an eternity. Time was called when I thought we were only half way through. After completing the session, I felt more relaxed, more confident in my decisions, and more sensitive to my surroundings. I would gladly doing this again and recommend it to anyone.

Abrille, drawing/painting II student, writes, “I felt that with this meditation drawing it was weird. At First, it was different because I never done it before. I learned that basically letting your mind take over your hand. You do not exactly create something recognizable. I thought this idea was cool because I never thought you could meditate through art. I was pretty excited with trying something new. In the end Id did get comfortable with doing this. By the time we were finished I was really relaxed, but when I opened my eyes to see what I drew it was unexpected.

Brittany, drawing/painting II student, writes, “Jessica did an amazing job! It was a great experience. I would do it all of the time. I felt refreshed. My mind was at peace.

Mikayla, AP Studio Art student, writes, my experience during the meditation drawing was calming. I wasn’t thinking about what I was drawing, but more what I was feeling. This process taught me that to create art, I do not need to always necessarily think it through, but express how I’m feeling. I also learned that meditation drawing is the releasing of one’s mind. The thoughts and expressions in our minds flow directly into our hand and create an image on paper. When introduced to this process I was very interested. It seemed very stress free and enjoyable. After it was all done, the meditation drawing session made me feel very relaxed. I was also quite surprised by how my drawing looked. It pretty much was a bunch of scribbles, but nonetheless very enjoyable.

Running Time: 14:17 with a 6:21 introduction by Jessica.

Get your copy today – Year 2 Midwest Artist Studios Project

Standard

The catalog contains 66 pages with studio images and full interviews with our featured Midwest artists: Mellissa Redman (MI), Kate Robertson (MI), Jenniffer Omaitz (OH), Ellie Honl (IN), Jessica Anderson (IL), Jason Ackman (IL), Krista Svalbonas (IL), and Emmy Lingscheit (IL).

The workbook contains 96 pages with color illustrations and grades 6-12 lesson plans inspired from our studio visits with our Year 2 Midwest artists. This includes access to our Backroom on our MAS site, which gives you access to artist videos, a gallery of images, and the option of contacting the artist for a Skype session with your students.

Published by the Midwest Artist Studios™ Project, 2015

Catalog design by Erika Block of Creative Studios

Limited Qty: 100

(Stock code: MASCATWKBK15)

Click here to purchase this catalog & workbook

This project is supported by a grant from the Kohler Foundation, Inc. and the Wisconsin Art Education Association.

Orders will be shipped within 7-10 business days of your purchase.