Visual Artist: Drawing Illustration Artist Categories

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Jennifer Davenport

Visual Artist: Drawing Illustration

One of my favorite things about making art is immersing myself in a subject that I’m fascinated with or curious about, and then presenting it in a way that highlights the qualities I find beautiful. My latest body of work is a series of charcoal drawings depicting young girls in moments of concentration, exploration, and discovery. They were inspired by my daughter and other girls that I had met while assistant teaching for a year. As they played, I could see them using their imagination, trying things out, making connections. They hadn’t yet absorbed the expectations our society puts on girls in relation to gender and power, and hadn’t yet learned to doubt themselves. They knew their own voices and were truly themselves in these moments. To me, this is beautiful. These girls represent my own lifelong journey towards a kinder self-understanding and broader perception of the world we live in.

Debra Korluka

Visual Artist: Drawing Illustration

Icons are an essential part of Eastern Christian belief and worship, with the Holy Spirit as the Divine Iconographer. The icon, essential to contemplative prayer and practice, leads to a deeper communion with God, cultivating spiritual awareness and calling on the viewer to become one with God’s truth. The icon is a holy gift which is both a reflection of celestial glory and a concrete example of matter restored to its original harmony and beauty. I am second generation American with Slavic roots. Being an Orthodox Christian, I prayed before the icons and felt the mystery of holiness in the personages depicted. Icons brought me into a world of joy and contemplation, and icons transported me into a world where the laws of existence were far more harmonious than in our temporal world. The images spoke truths to me: everything visible assumes an invisible dimension, everything created assumes an uncreated perspective, everything purely mundane becomes deeply mystical. Korluka’s work is featured in her book Seeking the Face of Christ: the Way of an Iconographer. She offers classes in iconography and leads tours to Russia and other important sites for iconography.

Jill Marudas

Visual Artist: Drawing Illustration; Visual Artist: Painting

Throughout my life, I have admired the medium of watercolor. Given a Kodak box camera at age 9, I developed a deep love for photography and nature. Once I entered the world of watercolor, my photos became the source of inspiration for many paintings. I’ve learned however, that some photos do not translate well and are best kept solely as photographs. Typically, my paintings use bold color, contrasts and close-ups. My theory is you have to make mistakes to learn, mainly because watercolor is unforgiving. Some of my favorite pieces didn’t end up the way they were originally planned. With watercolor, you become very innovative in working around your mistakes! One of my favorite quotes I read somewhere is “If the horse your drawing looks more like a dog, make it a dog.” I love the special camaraderie shared with fellow painters and am involved with an evening painting group New Century Artists, White Bear Center for the Arts, ArtReach St. Croix and various workshops and classes in the Twin Cities area. My home studio is in White Bear Lake, shared with partner Steve, as well as a lab/pointer and 17-year-old cat…both adopted from the Humane Society.

Dennis Reynolds

Visual Artist: Drawing Illustration; Visual Artist: Painting

I enjoy creating art as a way to explore a deeper understanding of diverse experiences and our perception of places. You can often see in my two dimensional paintings as well as my public art environments, a desire to blur the lines between specific subject matter and abstract colors and forms. My most recent two dimensional work includes the use of pen and ink line work with the vigorous application of colors with oil paints. I like to explore the use of perspective combined with the effect of light and shadows to evoke movement and emotions. My work is often guided by diverse ways of understanding art including:  Narrative experience  Density of Meaning  Craftsmanship  Ethos  Innovation  Big idea In addition to creating paintings, I create large scale public art environments that results in responsive and innovative “places” that combine art + environment. As a single person practice, Mr. Reynolds delivers projects through his person a l hands on focus on process with a unique combination of – Innovative design analysis and perspective to understand the facts, goals and needs – Quick hand drawings to test a wide range of concepts – Facilitation of a creative process that includes a transparent interaction with diverse client groups

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.

Suzy Schaak

Visual Artist: Drawing Illustration; Visual Artist: Painting

David Spohn

Visual Artist: Drawing Illustration; Visual Artist: Printmaking

Originally from Chicago, I now live in Franconia Township, MN, where the beauty of the St. Croix River Valley has long inspired my work. I spent 31 years working at the Hazelden Foundation, where I was the art director of the book publishing division. I now enjoy working independently in my home studio, splitting my time between creating books (writing, illustrating, designing) and intaglio printmaking. I also work and exhibit with Project Art for Nature, an artist group that is a perfect fit for my artistic vision. My goal as an artist is to be a voice for the healing power in the beauty of our natural world by creating art that helps people to connect with this world in whatever environment they live. This connection is available to all of us when we learn to focus on the world as it is under our feet, right in front of our eyes. Whether drawing in pencil, ink or making etchings, my work has always involved print, either through books or intaglio printmaking. The common thread is that art for books and art as printmaking both involve drawing at the heart of the matter, and both involve art that is to be shared.

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.

Gabrielle Trom

Teacher / Instructor; Visual Artist: Drawing Illustration; Visual Artist: Painting; Visual Artist: Sculpture

Gabrielle Trom is currently in the United States and preparing for her upcoming residency at Chesterwood in 2021. Please visit her website www.gabrielletrom.com for information about commissions. Artist Statement “The beauty of art is the window it opens in our minds. Representational art is an interpretation of the world around us. If we wanted to merely create a copy of what we see we would snap a quick photo instead of making a painting or we would make a life-cast instead of sculpting a figure. When we interpret the world and we see or experience the interpretations of others, we create bridges with which to learn about ourselves and one another.” – Gabrielle Trom Gabrielle Trom was raised in the beautiful Midwest in the United States of America. Trom began formal training in watercolors at the Art Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota in 2008 and went on to continue her studies of drawing, painting, and sculpture at Bethel University. There, Trom was introduced to a variety of artistic mediums and basic concepts of design. In 2016, she left the States and headed across the Atlantic to begin her education in the academic methods of figurative drawing and sculpture at the Barcelona Academy of Art. She added oil painting to her studies at the academy in 2018 and, after she was granted a scholarship from the Art Renewal Center, was able to return to Barcelona to complete her sculpture studies in 2019. In June 2019, Trom won first place in the Richard McDermott Miller competition—a timed portrait sculpting competition held annually by the National Sculpture Society in the United States of America. Trom returned to Spain to teach sculpture at the Barcelona Academy of Art and to commence work on her first personal project. She began working on her first personal projects and competed in the National Sculpture Society’s first Dexter Jones Residency Competition. Trom won the competition, however, due to COVID-19 the residency was moved to 2021. Shortly after, circumstances involving COVID-19 caused her to move back to the United States. Trom moved to Stillwater, Minnesota and has most recently found a space to work in Studio Pintura at the Northrup King Building to practice sculpting and begin preparations for her projects at Chesterwood.

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

Joshua Wilichowski

Visual Artist: Drawing Illustration; Visual Artist: Mixed Media; Visual Artist: Painting

My work results from the search for a chink in a man’s façade, the little respites that are accentuated by a burst of honesty. These truths are often an inner commentary that contains personal affirmations, lamenting, failed goals, and miscued comebacks. It is a clear glimpse of a man’s personal substance without the muddiness of overcompensation. Albeit rare and fleeting, these truthful moments are used as a tool for coping with what is important. The exploration of this phenomenon has been in conjunction with what I consider to be machismo-related objects. Even through these items are mass-produced, they each contain character through age, use, and presentation. By juxtaposing these momentary truths against images of these parts and machines, I create allegories that document the search for identity and worth within the submission to a stereotype. I graduated from the University of Wisconsin –Madison with his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1998. I returned to Madison to earn both a Master of Arts and Master of Fine Arts with an emphasis in sculpture and drawing in 2006 and 2007 respectively. I maintain an active studio practice, and my work has been exhibited locally, nationally, and internationally. My newest research interest investigates connections between gender, societal norms, and transference. I currently live and work in Stillwater, MN.

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