ARTIST STATEMENTS

34th Annual Juried Show

Bruce Bartos  |  All One Again

Karlyn Atkinson Berg  |  Tranquility of Solitude and Memories

I am inspired by the writings of Garcia de Marquez, magic realism, and surrealism. Surrealists saw collage as a poetic activity of the unconscious mind. I follow this intuitive path, approaching the work as painting, not as an assembly of images or as an illustration. The juxtaposition of images need not be logical but valuable. The connection between humans, animals, and wilderness is a dominant theme, but I do not attempt to depict nature's reality; I create an abstract or metaphorical landscape using shapes, colors, and forms.

Lindsey Audrey  |  Maladaptive Daydreamer 

‘Maladaptive Daydreamer’ is the second piece of six in Lindsey’s upcoming debut collection “Paper Dolls; atypically designed personalities through the decades”. Neurocomplex humans may feel like aliens forced to adapt so that they can “belong”. Atypical personalities develop for survival, but in the process, they become so misunderstood, they become lost.

Nikki Besser  |  The Open Door

I’m a self-taught paper quilling artist blending realism and surrealism through intricate compositions built from thousands of meticulously-shaped paper strips-transforming emotion, vision, and spirit into dimensional works that invite wonder and reflection.

Linnaea Borealis  |  Under the Moon Dog

Linnaea Borealis is a Duluth based illustrator and art educator. Linnaea's work reflects the Arrowhead Region of Minnesota, as well as fantasy, whimsy, and surrealist themes.

Stephen Born  |  Our Time Together

From the photographic essay, A Tale of Two Lakes, this photo was taken on Trout (Wabana) Lake. By inserting a black beach chair into the water, my goal was to create a sense of isolation, loneliness, or regret.

Alexa Carson  |  Holding it All

I am a painter, a mother, a lover of all things wild and primal. Rehabilitating wildlife, foraging wild food, and birdwatching are just a few influences that have shaped my art. My recent work resides at the intersection of the natural world and figurative painting. These pieces tell the story of a weaving of threads- bird, insect, fungi, human... we are meant to weave together into something beautiful. Additionally, each species, each "thread", each individual being, is valuable– worthy of life, worthy of protection.

Naomi Christenson  |  Bouquet of British Soldiers

I’m inspired by the patterns and rhythms of life, and I create using color, movement and an intuitive approach to building compositions. I draw upon my formal training in art, design and dance in my work and allow these disciplines to inform my decisions in all media.

Denise Clemen  |  Mother Earth Consults Her Realtor

Decades into the digital era, we are buried in paper. Catalogues, mail, trash, magazines, etc. are sources of color and cultural context. My own handmade, hand painted, and hand marbled paper, as well as gel prints and photographs combine with ephemera to create a collaged world reassembled from chaos.

Jesse Dermody  |  Piano Tuner

As a full-time soul artist, I live my life for sculpture, poetry and music, having created thousands of pieces in each medium. I've had sculpture exhibits across northern Minnesota, including at The Nemeth Art Center (Park Rapids) and The MacRostie Art Center (Grand Rapids).

MacKenna Hanson  |  Binary Portrait (The Red Nose) 

My work is an intimate portrayal of what I am feeling, paying attention to, and thinking about. Using recognizable visual cues from art history, cinema, and Americana, I investigate the cultural forces which shape me. I paint because it is my most enjoyable mode of making.

Gina Jermasek  |  Toddler Entomology

Working in oil, I capture fleeting moments of beauty through light, color, and expressive brushwork. Drawn to people and the natural world, I focus on subtle gestures and atmosphere, creating intimate paintings that reflect grace, curiosity, and playful joy in everyday life.

Samantha Johnson-Purdie  |  Augury

I find it imperative to incorporate my love of science and nature into creating works of art. From watery depths to soaring skies, the creatures of our world have always fascinated me. Their internal structures, outward appearances, relationships with the environment, and even their interactions with humans, inspires my work.

Cam Kaleda  |  Tuesdays

I investigate how images shape meaning across digital and physical spaces through printmaking, mixed media, painting, and collage. Balancing precision with intuition, I explore layering and controlled imperfection that disrupt rigid systems. My work asks: how can images bridge distance, difference, and foster authentic human connection?

Jayson King  |  The Three Graces 2025

From growing up in Grand Rapids to managing an “Art of Healing” arts program in Minneapolis., my work always embodies intuitive and expressionistic process. Through color, movement and composition I depict the dual nature of our world. While creating I learn more about balancing chaos in my own life and more broadly to the viewer.

Krista Matison  |  Alone with the deep alone.

One reason people make art is that it describes things that words cannot. As the artist Philip Guston said “the only things you can really talk about in painting are impossible to talk about”.

Natalie McGuire  |  Wolf n Bear

My Photoziac creations are a heartfelt fusion of mixed media art—a beautiful, bold marriage of stunning Fine Art photography wrapped in intricately crafted, mosaiced frames. I passionately call these works my "commando Photozaics," a daring celebration of creativity that speaks to the soul and captures emotion in every detail.

Jerry Mevissen  |  Polaris

Kris Nelson  |  Caught

Used chairs are my canvas. I take something that has been discarded and give it a new artistic soul. Each painting becomes one with the chair. This integration elevates it from painted furniture to a sculptural narrative. "Chairish" the memories!

Jennifer Osborne Anderson  |  Protect Against the Vigilant 

It has become known that our government’s vigilance has become intense, searching for “dangerous citizens” and opportunity to take action. Surveillance cameras using AI technology and facial recognition software line our streets—the same streets we live and peacefully protest on. This painting was created as a reaction to this growing presence and exploring the belief that mother nature is here to protect us and give us strength, enveloping us so we can rightfully use our voice without fear of being watched, documented and labeled something we are not.

Wesley Rabey  |  2th

Christy Rybak  |  Don't Fear the Reaper

I am a painter, my medium of choice is acrylic paint. As an acrylic artist, I am drawn to vibrant colors, delicate details and bold contrasts. I believe this shows through in my work. The subject of my work is primarily portraiture. I find faces, of all shapes, sizes and species, fascinating. In this painting the expressions on the fox and the hare have an interesting contrast. The fox is trying to evoke fear in the hare and yet the hare stares down the fox unwavering.

David Samuelson  |  Sound of Glass

Amy Shebeck  |  Ectopy

My work attempts to subvert the grid-based structure of weaving through dye placement, optical illusion, and the interplay of multiple layers of weaving. I am interested in how working with and challenging the formal limitations of the medium can reveal a deeper imagining than what initially appears to be possible.

Dana Sikkila  |  What I Eat for Breakfast

My work displays through visual repetition, the obsessive relationship between the art making process and final products.

Samuel Spurgeon  |  Portrait of a Dancer

Samuel Spurgeon is an oil painter based in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. His neo-impressionistic paintings explore figure, portraiture, still life, and landscape through direct observation. Working exclusively from life, he emphasizes the tactile presence of brushwork and the human qualities of handmade painting within contemporary image culture.

Beth Stahn  |  Trickle-Down Eggonomics

Beth Stahn's work explores surrealism, the uncanny, and the tension beneath nostalgia. Through character-driven, staged photographs, she constructs boldly saturated surreal dreamscapes shaped by domestic life. Blurring autobiography and fiction, her images examine how familiar rituals and traditions can shift into spaces of subtle unease, revealing the emotional complexity hidden within the everyday.

Keith Thompson  |  Rafting

Beth Vander Heiden  |  Spirit Fire Under the Sky 

Growing up in Wisconsin, I developed a deep connection to nature, fueling my nightscape and landscape photography. I capture serene forests, waterfalls, and the majestic night sky, bringing their beauty to those who haven’t experience it firsthand. Join me on this journey, where nature and the cosmos reveal their boundless beauty.

Heidi Wanzek  |  Stillborn 

Creating allows me to speak an emotional language that translates the universal questions and everyday encounters of the human experience. Woven into our lives are traces of change, growth, birth, death, and rebirth. Noticing and working with these cycles is the essence of my practice. Through intuition and observation, I find my materials and subject matters rooted in my experience in becoming. As I work with materials, I explore how they fit into the stages of these natural cycles and how their materiality relates to the current human experience.

Noah Wolf  |  Winter Island - Rainy Lake, MN

The Northwoods in winter calls to me — stark, lonely, and quietly immense. My photography is an attempt to translate that awe into something worthy of contemplation: a two-dimensional encounter with a landscape that resists easy description.

Samuel Zimmerman  |  Makwa Doodem Ochigaadaa / Bear Clan Warrior

My work focuses on exploring my Ojibwe heritage – through reimagining the symbolism of the clan animals while incorporating the natural landscape of Lake Superior’s North Shore. In addition, I use paintings to continue the Ojibwe tradition of oral storytelling by sharing my experiences in nature, with family and others to celebrate in a visual form complemented by the stories in Ojibwemowin and English.

Eric Zuccola  |  Born of Wax and Rust

Eric Zuccola's works are covers for obscure albums that sell for four figures online. They are posters for the underground films movie nerds flock to at midnight screenings. They are ads for the off-brand products of a capitalist society in decline. They are portraits of celebrities that never were but one day might be. They are realistic depictions of uncanny things.