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Elizabeth Tanner

Actor; Choreographer; Dancer; Director; Singer; Teacher / Instructor

Kraig Thayer Rasmussen

Visual Artist: Painting

My relationship to the natural world was sparked at my grandparent’s cabin on Bay Lake. I loved going to the cabin as a kid and playing in the forest and water. My family lived on a small lake in Shoreview, and I had an appaloosa horse. I loved reading about indigenous people interacting with their horses like family. I almost always rode bareback and loved exploring the farmland around us. In the60’s I was influenced by the emerging environmental movement for clean air and water. The realization that Mankind was having such a detrimental impact on the natural world motivated me. I have carried those concerns with me for over 50 years and they have always influenced my subject matter. In 1973 I bought 120 acres in Ottertail County. I considered myself the steward of those rolling fields and maple forest. This period expanded my concept of how to treat the natural world around me. Today, back in the cities, accelerated climate change reinforces those beliefs. I paint primordial elements: rivers, lakes, fields, forests and the sea. I have a particular affinity for rivers and their metaphorical endlessness. These elements are indeed alive and in flux. They were here long before and will be long after our brief lifetimes. These days I like to sketch while solo kayaking. I expand those color drawings into oil paintings in the studio. By painting imagery of our vanishing flora and native landscapes it is my hope they will remind us of the beauty that resides off the beaten path. “We are nature too.” ~Shakespeare

Leslie Thomas

Author / Writer; Poet

Leslie Thomas lives in the St. Croix Valley. She coordinated a creative writing project dedicated to the Mississippi River with a St. Paul non-profit organization. Her article “Writing the River” was featured in University of Minnesota’s Open Rivers journal. Her poem “Restoring Prairie” won 4th place in St. Paul Almanac’s Break Through writing contest. Recent poetry publications include the anthologies Planet in Peril from Fly on the Wall press, Paws Healing the Earth from River Paw Press, and The Trumpeter, Journal of Ecosophy. Leslie holds an MSc in environmental history from The University of Edinburgh. She is inspired by the places she loves; prairie and woodland trails, rivers and her garden.

Ruth Thompson-Klabunde

Visual Artist: Fiber Art / Fine Craft

I have combined my background in Biology, Floral Design and the love of flowers with the ancient and versatile medium of wool to create whimsical and colorful vases. These designs emanate from my heartfelt connection to sea, sky, the love of nature and the need for color. As I arrange the whisps of wool on the table I have in my mind’s eye the perfect image. After rolling and fulling the fabric I always astounded at the results. One never knows what will exactly happen. These vases can be used for flowers, branches, dried grasses. Some of the vessels are transparent enough for candles. The glass is recyclable, the wool and silk will biodegrade. Enjoy this visual and tactile piece of art

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.

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