Ten mixed media artists join us this year!

Ken Bose
Skeeter Creek Fabricators
My fondest memories is from growing up on a farm in rural Iowa and is the inspiration of behind work. My mission statement is "Touched By The Past" and reflects in the Barn Birdhouses I replicate from recycled barn board and roofing tin that came off the structures I replicate. You also find where I attempt to capture the beauty of God's creation in my Handmade Butterflies that decorate the Iowa countryside. The family silverware that once brought elegance to the dinner table now brings its' elegance into the jewelry I make. The best part of what I do is seeing the pleasure my work brings into the lives of others.
 

Pam Dennis / Ryk Weiss
Flock 9 Studios
We began decades ago building willow furniture and baskets. This folk art soon evolved from functional to fine art wall pieces combining willow, pit-fired or raku clay, and copper. We marketed at high end art festivals nationally for 25 years, as well as the teaching numerous workshops which continues to this day. The past decade we have focused on installations, sculpture and conducting collaborative workshops in many communities culminating in a permanent public work. Our murals and sculptures have been exhibited and installed at public gardens, parks, schools, and museums. Our work explores the infinite variety of combinations possible in a few simple materials, bringing together our past experience with willow and weaving and the many textures possible with clay and copper. We try to make our work feel familiar, yet achieve a combination of forms not experienced before. In 2016 we added two more panels to a mixed media mural "Art On The Prairie" placed outside La Poste in Perry. These three panels were made to include tiles created with the public during the Art On The Prairie Festival in fall 2014.

Lacy Jennings
Lacy Jennings is a fifth generation resident of Van Meter, Iowa. She attended the University of Northern Iowa, received a competitive full scholarship through the Department of Art, and earned a B.A. in Art Education in 2004. Prior to becoming a studio artist, Lacy had 13 years of experience teaching visual arts at Perry and Adel Desoto Minburn high schools. Her formal training and teaching experiences have afforded her a diverse set of skills and interests across media and concepts. Artists Statement: I am curious about a great many things and find that all are connected rather than compartmentalized as current culture teaches us. Media is simply the vehicle through which concept is communicated. In my work, I choose media that best suits the concept. I am interested in capturing and creating opportunities to experience real and authentic moments. Currently, I accomplish this in two unique formats. I create Kinetic Quilts inspired by the mobiles of Alexander Calder and expand the experience of a mobile by utilizing the patterns, textures, and colors of quilting fabrics, stitching abstracted leaf and feather shapes, and connecting these forms to develop precarious compositions. Powered by natural air movement, my Kinetic Quilts foster meditative moments as they slowly rotate and change form. Observers are take pause and enjoy a focused moment as they watch the floating forms take on new compositions. The second area focuses on capturing, or more so recapturing, real candid moments and expressions, by translating photographs into pastel drawings. Cameras have become ubiquitous in our lives, though many of the most candid emotions and essential expressions of personality are discarded, buried in social media, or overlooked due to poor photo quality or composition. We have so many photos that we sometimes fail to appreciate or value what has been captured. I am interested in elevating moments captured through photographs to fully express real emotional reactions to everyday events. Through these drawings, I improve upon composition, remove clutter, and correct poor lighting and focus to create a display-worthy artwork that shows the true nature of the subject. ​

Brad Kiefer
B Kiefer Art.com
As long as I can remember I have enjoyed working with diverse and varied building materials.  In the summer of 1978, as I was beginning my senior year of high school, my parents decided to build a log home.  We spent the summer building the log shell of the cabin, at the end of this we concentrated on the interior.  My parents graciously gave me their trust and artistic license to build kitchen cabinets, doors, a kitchen light and stain glass window.  I believe this was the start of my interest with material use and design.

In early 2000 my wife and I started plans to build our own home in rural Boone County. The entire project from design to building the structure was a family project.

Again, I found myself enjoying artistic license.  One of the prime interests I developed during the building phase of our home was my fascination with material texture, and the use of natural and artificial light. I learned how I could use the two to create a mood and an aesthetically pleasing environment.  Extending this to the light designs, I use a mix of copper and wood.  For the light source I use a LED puck light that consumes 1.25 watts of power that gives a “Moonlight Glow” to the lamp.  I like to call them Moon Lights. I also use a 20 Watt puck light depending on the light effect I’m trying to achieve.

Michael Lundberg
MeekaMouse Art
Iowa native and horse lover, Michael Lundberg, received her bachelor's and master's degree in painting and 2-D mixed media from Iowa State University. Her master's thesis revolved around the artistic interpretation of the Moorish influences in the Iberian Peninsula. Her passion for horses and Spanish history led her to live in Salamanca, Spain, for six years working on a doctorate degree in art history at the Universidad de Salamanca. While living there, Michael continued her research and grew very interested in the rich patterns, ornamentation, decorative motifs and surface treatments of architectural structures and textile designs in the Iberian Peninsula and northern Africa. It is her belief that intricate patterns, texture and surface treatments not only visually stimulate and dazzle the eye, but also allow the viewer a moment of reflection and quiet contemplation; something desperately needed in a fast-paced world.
 

Vikki Morain
Warped Woman
Who knew? I'm an ARTIST! After successful careers in university teaching and sales, I found myself in a small Iowa town. Great! That gave me the opportunity to revive my weaving skills and to explore fascinations with fusing glass and turning wood. It's been fun to pass those passions on to others all ages through weaving and fusing classes in my home studio. It is so hard to wait until the glass kiln has cooled enough to safely open it and see what magic has transpired! It's the same with wood. Natural beauty reveals itself with every spin of the lathe. The result: artistic and functional items. Commissions and questions welcomed. I'd love to make something special and unique for you. Let's talk!

Rhonda Scott
​​Rhonda Scott Studio.com
Facebook Rhonda Scott Studio
Once a therapist, I am now an artist and teacher who believes that creativity is good for the soul. I design beautiful, functional jewelry using my own handmade glass beads, handcrafted metal focal pieces, natural gemstones, pearls, and up-cycled materials. I also create paper arts, including colorful marbled and paste papers and handbound journals. My work is varied but always driven by the process – I do work that I enjoy and that I want to teach others. I am particularly intrigued by one-of-a-kind, creative work that utilizes age-old methods. I hope my work inspires others to find their own creativity and to honor their own stories.
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Anna Segner
Anna Segner.com
Anna Segner is a painter, writer, drawing instructor, and a freshly minted MFA artist from the Integrated Visual Arts program at Iowa State University. This fall, Anna will be teaching drawing full-time at ISU. Anna graduated from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota in 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts in Literature with Writing Emphasis and Studio Art. Before graduate studies, she worked as a newspaper reporter in Owatonna, MN (her hometown). In her artwork, Anna incorporates critical animal studies and other research to question the human act of “toying” with animals and the artificial approach to replacing the lost wild. Anna has gained professional exposure through participation in both regional and national juried exhibitions and solo exhibitions. Currently, Anna is a part of a group exhibition, “Dear Earth” at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, IL. This summer, she is also thrilled to be working with ISU faculty on 20 Artists 20 Parks, an artist residency program celebrating the 100th birthday of Iowa State Parks in coordination with Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa Arts Council and Iowa State University. . . Statement:As children play with animal-based toys, they may learn to feel empathy for another species, yet they also displace the animals’ context, habitat, agency, and behaviors. Child’s play forms animal perceptions and misconceptions about natural context that is carried through into adulthood. Today we have more varied and more numerous artificial representations of animals than ever before; in both formal contexts and in play settings, these depictions often perpetuate the divorce from animal realities. It is troubling that as adults, animals are still often treated as toys—put where we want, admired when we are in the mood, ignored when we are fixated on something else, and tossed out when we outgrow them. While artificial representations are on the rise, ecosystems are disturbed by human impact, and biodiversity is dwindling. Ironically, as we long for a wildness that is less and less present in our daily lives, we replace it artificially in our homes. Fake plants in kitchens, giraffe patterned curtains in our living rooms, safari animal decals in our nurseries, stuffed animals in our bedrooms, and televisions roaring with animal life documentaries all create a false representation of “wild.” Clearly, humans value nature and animals, but humans have lost touch with true experiences of the wilderness. Toys are utilized in intricate still lives, assemblages, and installation to create work that considers animal toys as playthings stripped of agency and reduced to toy features. Many paintings depict animal toys among domestic spaces and everyday objects that also evoke nature themes, such as intricate wallpapers, patterns, and décor. Use of collaged textile and text speak to the illusion of these items. Mixed media paintings invite viewers to question the human act of “toying” with animals as well as reflect on the complexity of humans’ artificial approach to replacing the lost wild.
 
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Betty Chamness Trost
Three Smooth Stones.com
Betty Chamness Trost has a fondness for stones, bright colors, and textures. From Pacific Northwest beaches I collect naturally smooth stones then hand-paint them with brilliant dotted designs. Suitable for indoor/outdoor use. On other stones I hand-felt then hand-embroider them in glorious garden motifs. Each of my art stone pieces fit beautifully into the palm of your hand for soothing comfort and meditation.

Richard Wright
R Wright Studios.com
I use heat and welding to transform industrial material into both useful and artistic pieces of art.