Author / Writer Artist Categories

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Colleen Baldrica

Author / Writer

Colleen Moran Baldrica is an official Chippewa (Ojibwe) Tribe member of the Pembina Band, from the White Earth Reservation in Northern Minnesota. She has worked for more than 28 years in public education, and holds advanced degrees with an emphasis in School Counseling. She has lived her entire life in the St. Croix River Valley, and currently resides in Stillwater, Minnesota, with her husband. Colleen worked in education for over 28 years; presently she mentors writers, leads drumming circles, does presentations, actively volunteers. Colleen is the author of “Tree Spirited Woman.”

Elissa Cottle

Author / Writer; Poet; Teacher / Instructor

Elissa loved to promote achievements & stories of conscientious businesses, organizations and professionals. She provided writing expertise for entrepreneurs, builders, artists, planners, designers, health care providers, government, nonprofits and more. Her talent for putting art in business and organization writing came from a lifelong pursuit of creative writing. She was a published poet and taught creative writing classes for adults. Shortly before her death in 2021, Elissa published a book of poetry, The Receiving Quilt: Poems.

Diane Dettmann

Author / Writer

DIANE DETTMANN is the author of Courageous Footsteps: A WWII Novel and Twenty-Eight Snow Angels: A Widow’s Story of Love, Loss and Renewal. She is also the co-author of Miriam Daughter of Finnish Immigrants and a contributing author for the national Women’s Voices for Change organization in New York City.

Kathleen Melin

Author / Writer

Kathleen Melin is the author of By Heart, a memoir of progressive education (Clover Valley Press 2008). Her creative and journalistic work has appeared in national and international publications including The Baltimore Review; EssayDaily; Feminist Parenting; A Woman’s Place; Dance, Somatics and Spiritualities; Eric Utne’s Cosmo DooGoods Urban Almanac; and others. She holds an MFA from the University of Minnesota and has worked in education as a teacher, presenter, and passionate advocate for people whose choices have been limited by class, gender, and geography. She has taught at the University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin, Summit School for the Arts, Wisconsin Indianhead Technical Institute, conferences, festivals, libraries, galleries, and farms.

Sue Rowe

Author / Writer; Storyteller; Teacher / Instructor; Visual Artist: Drawing Illustration; Visual Artist: Mixed Media; Visual Artist: Painting; Visual Artist: Photography

My art illustrates tiny bits of life lived, metaphorically, by a large variety of particular bears. Their faces and bodies have been the main focus of my art for many years, but, as I seldom have specific plans for the final images, the results often surprise me as much as anybody. I enjoy using the power of line and color to depict subtle ideas created in everyday living. The bears and their surroundings have the ability to illustrate stories, most often without words; but frequently as I work sentences form and are drawn on the piece. The bears’ lives, therefore are more fully revealed. These creatures have tales to tell and secrets to shed. They, like many of us, have mixed emotions about relationships, food, survival and life in general. I very much like overhearing observers’ chuckles, sighs or gasps of personal recognition. If my bruins provide a giggle or provoke some serious pondering I consider that we, as a team, have done our good deed for the day.

Victoria Bradford Styrbicki

Author / Writer; Choreographer; Dancer; Storyteller; Visual Artist: Drawing Illustration; Visual Artist: Installation; Visual Artist: Sculpture

Victoria Bradford Styrbicki is an artist and cultural producer working across the lines of performance, research, and activism. She is a Louisiana native and thrives on place-based work that connects with the “social choreography” of a people—their movement both physical and conceptual toward greater connectivity. After earning her Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Victoria worked extensively in this field in the city of Chicago, moving after ten years to the Twin Cities in Minnesota where she now lives and works.

Barbie "Babs" Vidana Luepke

Author / Writer; Choreographer; Dancer; Storyteller; Teacher / Instructor; Visual Artist: Drawing Illustration; Visual Artist: Mixed Media; Visual Artist: Painting; Visual Artist: Photography; Visual Artist: Pottery/Ceramics; Visual Artist: Sculpture; Crafty

Occasional Offerings: Encouraging the Creative Genius in YOU! Thomas Merton, the writer and poet, stated: “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” YOU are a work of art. There is no other YOU. So, with that in mind, I have created guided ArtPlay, ClayPlay and DancePlay. While we may begin with similar ideas, we expand to express what is inside us. Intuitive. Interpretive. This helps us discover new things about ourselves. It may be letting our inner child out to play (permission granted!), or reignite a passion we set aside and intended to revisit with someday. I encourage you to make that someday NOW. Simply put, adults don’t play enough! Here, we do. Come join us! I look forward to being your Creativity Coach in upcoming ArtPlay, ClayPlay and DancePlay, creating, experiencing, glowing and growing right along side you. I also host other amazing instructors who share their passion. Check the website often, as new and amazing things happen to pop up. See you in the studio! Barbara Vidana Luepke Art is too important not to share ~ Romero Britto

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