Art Wander of Carver County 2012
Art Wander of Carver County 2012
Waconia and Carver County has so much to offer! I began discovering the area when my family moved here eight years ago. Creating this blog as a bridge to the community, I have interviewed just a few of many who make this community as vibrant as we all know it to be.
“It has been said that art is a Tryst, for in the joy of it maker and beholder meet.” ~ Kojiro Tomita
This was one of the quotes printed on the Art Wander brochure. Quotes are beautiful, meaningful and we want to post them where we can see them every day. However, this quote need not be posted on any wall in my office or home. Meeting the artist and the art: the melding of the artist, their work and the “art place” brought this quote to life for me and became an experience!
Walking through sculptor Deb Zeller’s studio, a life-size work-in-progress took center stage. The clay was soft to the touch. A book was opened to a page to show the bronzing process. I discovered a master mold maker comes to her studio to build the mold on site instead of having the piece shipped to the foundry. Nancy and Laura Anderson opened their beautiful Victorian home set back along the Crow River. Three artists were invited to share their work: Chris Kegel hand crafted furniture, Katie Trent stained glass mosaics and Richard Krogstad landscape painter.
An additional delight while walking through this “home gallery” was tasting home crafted pepper jellies. Rhonda Tesch, whose work you can find at the Mocha Monkey, asked you to choose your favorite rock from a tray filled with every shape and color rock you can imagine and drop it in a glass jar. How fun to stop and sort through the rocks. My choice was a small piece of white quartz. This was her way to find out at the end of the day how many had visited her home and studio. Jane ASK Bodahl not only opened her home she invited us all to stroll through her perennial gardens. As you walked through the gardens, her oil paintings were prominently displayed in this garden gallery. One unforgettable structure was a grape arbor tunnel created from grapes planted in the 1930’s by the original owners of the home. The aroma of the grapes drifted through the gardens.
Galleries, art shows and art fairs bring the artists’ work to you. What you do not get is seeing the home, the studio and the artist, making the creative experience complete. Meeting the artists in their homes, their studios, here is where you can see the passion they have and the love of what they create. This gave their work more meaning and more dimensions. Art Wander gave me the opportunity to meet some of the most generous, creative and alive people. In conversations about their art, their work and their process, I also found out wonderful pieces of history that surrounds some of the homes they live.
The “wandering” gave way to its own beauty seeing different areas of our county I have not seen. Being able to take the time to “wander” was such a joy through the gravel roads, taking me through cornfields, rolling hills, vistas, the Crow River and the fall colors that sometimes I am sad to say, I am so busy I miss. All of this added to the impact of meeting the artists, seeing their work set in the landscape of our county. What inspires them where they live, transferring and expressing that inspiration into works as diverse as the landscape.
Each home, each studio, each garden were unique beautiful environments that “fit” their artistic style as well as the medium they were working. How their homes, their studios and their gardens were extensions again of their creativity and creative process.
Whether you attended Art Wander of Carver County or not, I invite you to explore through the icon at the left and experience a small portion the works of the talented artists in our county!
Waconia and Carver County has so much to offer! I began discovering the area when my family moved here eight years ago. Creating this blog as a bridge to the community, I have interviewed just a few of many who make this community as vibrant as we all know it to be.
“It has been said that art is a Tryst, for in the joy of it maker and beholder meet.” ~ Kojiro Tomita
This was one of the quotes printed on the Art Wander brochure. Quotes are beautiful, meaningful and we want to post them where we can see them every day. However, this quote need not be posted on any wall in my office or home. Meeting the artist and the art: the melding of the artist, their work and the “art place” brought this quote to life for me and became an experience!
Walking through sculptor Deb Zeller’s studio, a life-size work-in-progress took center stage. The clay was soft to the touch. A book was opened to a page to show the bronzing process. I discovered a master mold maker comes to her studio to build the mold on site instead of having the piece shipped to the foundry. Nancy and Laura Anderson opened their beautiful Victorian home set back along the Crow River. Three artists were invited to share their work: Chris Kegel hand crafted furniture, Katie Trent stained glass mosaics and Richard Krogstad landscape painter.
An additional delight while walking through this “home gallery” was tasting home crafted pepper jellies. Rhonda Tesch, whose work you can find at the Mocha Monkey, asked you to choose your favorite rock from a tray filled with every shape and color rock you can imagine and drop it in a glass jar. How fun to stop and sort through the rocks. My choice was a small piece of white quartz. This was her way to find out at the end of the day how many had visited her home and studio. Jane ASK Bodahl not only opened her home she invited us all to stroll through her perennial gardens. As you walked through the gardens, her oil paintings were prominently displayed in this garden gallery. One unforgettable structure was a grape arbor tunnel created from grapes planted in the 1930’s by the original owners of the home. The aroma of the grapes drifted through the gardens.
Galleries, art shows and art fairs bring the artists’ work to you. What you do not get is seeing the home, the studio and the artist, making the creative experience complete. Meeting the artists in their homes, their studios, here is where you can see the passion they have and the love of what they create. This gave their work more meaning and more dimensions. Art Wander gave me the opportunity to meet some of the most generous, creative and alive people. In conversations about their art, their work and their process, I also found out wonderful pieces of history that surrounds some of the homes they live.
The “wandering” gave way to its own beauty seeing different areas of our county I have not seen. Being able to take the time to “wander” was such a joy through the gravel roads, taking me through cornfields, rolling hills, vistas, the Crow River and the fall colors that sometimes I am sad to say, I am so busy I miss. All of this added to the impact of meeting the artists, seeing their work set in the landscape of our county. What inspires them where they live, transferring and expressing that inspiration into works as diverse as the landscape.
Each home, each studio, each garden were unique beautiful environments that “fit” their artistic style as well as the medium they were working. How their homes, their studios and their gardens were extensions again of their creativity and creative process.
Whether you attended Art Wander of Carver County or not, I invite you to explore through the icon at the left and experience a small portion the works of the talented artists in our county!
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