Grand Marais Art Colony

Karin Kraemer has a BFA in hot glass from St. Cloud State University and a
MFA in ceramics from Southern Illinois University. She moved to Duluth several
years ago after living all over the country, working and exploring, developing
her work, making pottery and traveling. Karin loves to camp, garden and cook.
These elements all come together in her work which celebrates everything from
individual flowers in her garden to landscape, good friends and making food.
Stephen Krasemann traveled the globe searching for wildlife with the
Illustrations Division of the National Geographic Society. In 2001, he switched
to painting full time and parked his easel between the Yukon Territory Mountains
and the Lake Superior forests where he creates oil paintings from first-hand
experiences. Stephen is a charter member of Artists for Conservation and
Worldwide Nature Artists Group. His work is featured in public and private
collections throughout the USA and Canada.
Jo Ann Krause has a Masters of Education from the University of Minnesota
and is a retired educator who taught elementary school and K-6 Art. She enjoys
the experience of working with creative children of all ages during summer art
sessions and private lessons. In her spare time she likes to work on printmaking,
collage, jewelry, and fiber arts.
Jeanne Larson has taught workshops and classes in both traditional watercolor
and mixed watermedia/collage for many years in the Twin Cities and regional
art centers. She’s been represented by several of the finest galleries in the region
for over 20 years, has won awards and been a featured speaker for many arts
organizations and societies. Her original paintings are included in corporate and
private collections in homes and businesses in the USA and abroad.
Gretchen Lisdahl started working with glass in 2002. Her first love was lampworking,
and since has expanded her glass skills to stained and fused glass, mosaic
and more. She has been working at Peachie’s Stained Glass for nine years. She
considers herself blessed to continue to learn more about glass every day. Glass
bead making continues to be her favorite media and she suspects it always will be.
Dan Neff was born and raised in northeastern Minnesota. He took a
Community Education class on torch-working glass followed by a two-year
apprenticeship program learning the basics of the craft. After completing his
apprenticeship, Dan began demonstrating his torch-working at festivals and fineart
shows. After finishing his undergraduate studies at University of Minnesota,
Duluth, Dan traveled around the country to learn from world-renowned glass
marble artists such as John Kobuki and Gateson Recko.
Judd Nelson has been creating forged and welded sculptures since he was 17
and completed his formal training in art at the University of Minnesota. He has
taught at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts as well as in Native American and
public schools around the country. Judd also worked as a lead builder at Home
Time, a national public television show. www.juddnelson.com
Jon Neuse’s basic principles of art are experimentation and artistic judgment.
Most of his imagery is abstracted from remembered landscape. He manipulates
formal artistic elements to force competing images into lasting and taut
relationships. “It’s difficult to make abstract art,” he says, “because there are no
– nor should there be – definite rules for how to proceed. For me, art without
playfulness is not serious art.” Neuse has been teaching art to adults for the past
35 years.
Sally Nystrom graduated from St. Catherine’s College. She furthered her
studies with extensive classes in art history. She began teaching in 1996 in a
private studio with Sally Brown (a WARM founder) and on her own, including
for the University of Minnesota’s Split Rock program for 16 years. When Sally is
not teaching, she works on a series of figurative oil paintings. She shows her work
in Minnesota and Wisconsin. She is part of “The Rain Collective,” a professional
artist group.
Kimber Olson creates art textiles from various materials that she dyes, prints
and paints. She’s worked exclusively with cloth since 1997 when she discovered
the practice of surface design. Intense color, unique patterns and rich textures
are hallmarks of her work, which has been exhibited locally and regionally. She
recently completed a master’s degree in theology and art at United Theological
Seminary where her studies explored the intersections of art, creativity and
consciousness.
Mary Pettis has been recognized as an eloquent and respected teacher.
Classically trained, she has taught for 35 years in Wisconsin, Minnesota,
Tuscany, Venice, France, and for Plein Air Painters of Hawaii in Maui. She has
been juried into, and won, awards in national painting events and exhibitions
in New York City to Scottsdale and Maui. Mary has exhibited at the Palais de
Nations and at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. For more info about
Mary, visit her website at: www.marypettis.com
Joanne Price is a Minnesota artist specializing in relief printmaking. In
addition to exhibiting work internationally, Price was the recipient of the
2009–2010 Jerome Book Arts Fellowship grant through the Minnesota Center
for Book Arts (MCBA). She worked at Highpoint Center for Printmaking for
more than seven years and organizes exhibits for the Wood Engravers’ Network.
Currently, Mrs. Price teaches Printmaking and Typography at Augsburg College
and is the Exhibitions Manager for the MCBA.
Jerry Riach owned and operated The Raven Gallery in Minneapolis for
10 years. He studied drawing at the Edina Art Center and printmaking at
Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Highpoint Center for Printmaking and
with Charles Beck. Jerry now lives in Little Marais, where he has a printmaking
studio. His work is mostly inspired by nature and includes etching, drypoint,
woodblock, wood engraving, and collagraph printmaking as well as drawing.
Jayne Richards grew up in Grand Marais and completed her BFA from
University of Minnesota, Duluth. Her Rock Series in pastel and acrylic have
shown at the Johnson Heritage Post. She also shows her work at the Grand
Marais Art Festival. She taught graphic design at the Minnesota School of
Business and currently works as a free-lance graphic designer, doing volunteer
work for the Make-a-Wish Foundation and graphic support for the WJ Thom
Company Promo Products.
Sue Robinson is an artist, commercial illustrator, and educator. Her passion
for the natural world is reflected in her project choices, such as illustrating the
flora and fauna of the Everglades and Dry Tortugas for the US Park Service.
She created “The Superior Experience” for the US Superior National Forest and
illustrated two books on the Boundary Waters by Michael Furtman. For 15
years, Sue taught middle school/high school visual art. She delights in guiding
students on their path toward “personal voice.”
Karen Rognsvoog has been dyeing natural fibers and growing plants for dye
since the mid 1970s. She’s always been interested in the colors of nature. Boiling
plants, weeds, flowers and bark for use with fibers became a passion. Rognsvoog
teaches at various art and craft centers in Minnesota and Wisconsin including
the North House Folk School and Minnetonka Center for the Arts. She is a
professional pianist, teaches piano lessons and watercolor painting.
Kathi “Peachie” Schmid started her obsession with stained glass in 1984. In
1991, she turned her obsession into a career by opening Peachie’s Stained Glass.
She has taken professional classes in every facet of hot and cold glass working,
and continues her education every chance she gets. Glass fusing particularly
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