Customers and ArtWorks members have been faithfully greeted for more than three years by a green and blue piano residing next to the gallery door.  Friend piano, after much wear and tear, has had to leave his/her beloved spot.  Assisting in its departure, Ted Rogers, Melisse and David Carr, Gail Stanek, and Darlene and Terry O’Connor were honored to be given the gift of piano’s interior workings while dismantling and getting it ready for its next adventure. 

Removal of the piano has been done in preparation for the move of ArtWorks itself, which should be happening in February.  In the meantime, ArtWorks has changed to winter hours, closing  Sunday and Monday.  Open hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.  Still located at 111 Stephenson Avenue, next to Rocconi’s Ace Hardware, we hope to see you soon.

Artworks announces promotion of its third annual Mystery Art event. Twenty 10 inch by 10 inch works of art in varying media will be wrapped and displayed on the main wall of the reception room. Twenty tickets will be sold for $35.00 each beginning November 1 and continuing until the event begins. An exciting unwrapping occurs at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 1st. Only twenty tickets can be sold.

The person who purchases ticket number one will get the first opportunity to select a work of art, ticket number two gets the second chance, etc. This will begin promptly at 6:00 p.m. Ticket holders must be present or have designated another person to make the selection for them.

A public open house begins at 5:30 p.m. on December 1 and continues until 7:30 p.m. Free beverages will be available, and many artists will be present.

Stop in to purchase your ticket at ArtWorks from 11:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. on any day except Sunday. Artists donate their creations and all proceeds go toward continuing the good work that ArtWorks does in the community.

 

 

ArtWorks member Gail Stanek has been honored with acceptance of her creation, “Spotted Dove”, into the Wm. Bonifas Fine Art Center’s Northern Exposures Show. This juried show has hundreds of entries with less than half usually accepted.

ArtWorks member Sharon Schmeltzer’s “Red Sails”, awarded a purchase prize last year, is featured on this year’s Northern Exposure mailings.

The public is invited to visit the Bonifas Center in Escanaba from November 10 until December 21 to help celebrate the creativity found in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The opening reception and awards presentation will be held on Thursday, November 10 from 7:00 until 9:00 p.m.

ArtWorks and Friends is being featured in the Studio Gallery of the Bonifas Fine Arts Center located at 700 1st Avenue South in Escanaba, MI.  A portion of the show is shown above.  The public can view the exhibit from September 13 until October 25  Tuesday through Friday from 10-5 EDT and on Saturdays from 10 until 3.

Artists participating are Suzanne Fraker, Ted Rogers, Sue Huotari, Mary Ann Cimock, Linda D. Phillips, Marilyn Phillips, Alysa Diebolt, Karen Larson, Darlene Strand, Audrey Carlson, Gail Stanek, Joan Game, Christine Burns, Melisse Carr, and Toni Mendina.

Alysa Diebolt, a resident of Rock, is the featured artist at an Open House at ArtWorks on Thursday, October 13, from 5:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m.  She is an award-winning artist who creates masterpieces from glass by fusing it in a kiln.  She has been in over twenty different Midwestern art shows and has sold hundreds of pieces.

Alysa is a recent graduate of Northern Michigan University, where she majored in Marketing.  She felt that the study of marketing would help her with her passion for glass.  This has turned out to be true and, at the age of twenty-two, she is able to compete with other artists who have been creating art longer than she has been alive.

“A large portion of my work revolves around the concept of functional beauty.  I believe that every day people go through life using many products, and I work to make sure those products are both useable and visually attractive,” says Diebolt.  This can be seen in the different products she creates:  bowls, candleholders, vases, jewelry, wine accessories, and platters, as well as jewelry.

The public is invited to attend the open house at ArtWorks, a gallery and gift shop owned and operated by local artists.  It is located at 111N. Stephenson Avenue in Iron Mountain.

 

Susan Priem of Spread Eagle, WI will be the featured artist at ArtWorks new artist reception on Thursday, August 18 from 5:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m.  The public is invited to meet Susan and view her unique one-of-a-kind jewelry and stained-glass creations. 

Susan started working with stained glass as a hobby ten years ago.  The hobby grew into restoration and new construction in homes. Eventually, she designed new windows and restored historical windows in three area churches.

Susan also became interested in making lampwork beads with a torch, working with fusing glass, precious metal clay, and most recently working with metals.  All of these interests combine to make unique one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry.

Susan lives in Spread Eagle, WI, with her husband Randy.  She shows her work in two galleries, sells in five shops, and participates in numerous art fairs.  ArtWorks is located at 111 Stephenson Avenue adjacent to Rocconi Ace Hardware.

The public is invited to view the work of Rebecca Langlais at a reception scheduled for Thursday, July 14, at ArtWorks from 5:30 until 7:30 pm.

Rebecca  is currently a senior at Finlandia University in Hancock, Michigan, studying Digital Art. She anticipates graduating next year with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree. Rebecca graduated from Denfeld Senior High School in Duluth, Minnesota in 2008 and has visited a number of cities across the country including New York, Boston, Minneapolis, and Chicago. She attended the Houghton County Arts and Music Festival in June.

Rebecca’s focus is on  illustration and digital/graphic art using various abstract themes.

Art produced by ArtWorks members and Friends is on exhibit in the Olive Craig Gallery of the Alberta House located in Sault Ste Marie, MI June 1 until June 30.

The Olive Craig Gallery in the Alberta House periodically sponsors exhibitions to show the public what artists across the Peninsula are creating.  In many ways, Michigan’s entire Upper Peninsula is an artists’ colony.  There is something about its beauty and remoteness that both attracts and produces artists while promoting a strong network of mutual cooperation and support among them.  ArtWorks is the result of just such a network.

The Exhibit “ArtWorks and Friends” is a mixed media exhibit including the work of artists from Kingsford, Iron Mountain, Channing, Norway, MI, and Spread Eagle, WI.

Artists exhibiting include Darlene Strand, a multi-media artist and photographer; Gail Stanek, an award-winning sculptor as well as a two-dimensional artist; Julia Dawson Calkins, who paints in watercolor, prismacolor pencil and acrylics; Ivy Coan, a musician and fabric artist whose quilts and collages reflect her sense of humor; Karen Larson, a prize-winning potter; Toni Mendina, an artist and instructor in colored pencils; mother and daughter Marilyn and Linda Phillips, who work in graphite, watercolor and batik; Christine Burns, photographer; Melisse Carr who works in graphite, colored pencil, and water media; Sharon Schmeltzer who works in water media, oils, and creates jewelry; Ted Rogers, a retired language teacher who has had great success with his whimsical carvings in cottonwood bark; and Audrey Smith who creates with glass and hand-made paper beads.

Alberta House is located at 217 Ferris Street, one block west and one-half block north of the Sault post office, and is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  Admission is free of charge.  For exhibit details or more about Alberta House, log on to www.saultarts.org.

Tree Sculptures from Frannie Weigelt of northern Wisconsin are now on display and for sale at ArtWorks.  A special reception to welcome her work was held on Thursday, June 18.

ArtWorks will be open Monday through Saturday from 11:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. CDT.  Watch for additional special event hours.