Coulee Region Art

Pump House Holiday Bazaar
Local Arts and Crafts for Holiday Giving

The highly successful annual Pump House Holiday Boutique returns!  This is your opportunity to find unique quality items for gift giving or pampering yourself.  Come share in the holiday spirit and local art at the Pump House.  Local artists and artisans from around the region bring their works to the Pump House just in time for the holiday season.  You’ll find jewelry, photography, embroidery, stained glass, hand-dyed batiks, books, paintings, cards, dolls and metal work.

Friday, November 20:  12pm to 7pm
Saturday, November 21: 10am to 4pm
Sunday, November 22: 12pm to 4pm

For more information about this event or other events contact the Pump House through this link or call 608-785-1434. (press release from The Pump House)

In Today’s Spotlight meet Cedarose Siemon, although primarily a painter she also does sculpture, ceramics and black and white photography. Here is her artist statement from her website:

To investigate and uncover what is within the complexity of emotion genuinely, is why I create.
When I began painting in 2007, I awoke to a well inside that had water and life. My first paintings tended to be of the darkness I was in and the inner peace I wanted. The discovery of this world inside of me through painting has remained the direction of my painting. Throughout, my paintings have been a language of symbols, a visual way to begin to understand my internal world. By paying close attention to the painting, more is revealed about the specific emotion. To conclude the investigation and uncovering of an emotion I write in poem form, which then accompanies the painting.

My main focus in Art is in painting, however, I find that there is a lot to discover about the process of creating and expression of meaning in every medium I’ve worked in.

The intention I have for the viewer is for something within them to be stirred. An energy or emotion ignited that could create a gap in the viewer’s constant flow of busyness, where a glimpse of the world inside of them may arise.

To see her painting “Self Reflection” click on the Local Area Artists box below.

Artist Bio.
Cedarose Siemon is an art student, focusing in painting, at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and will graduate in May, 2010. She received a Bachelor’s of Science from Warren Wilson College in Biochemistry and Biology(2005). Cedarose has completed training in Shambhala Arts an Eastern view on art and life. She had a solo exhibition from Sept. 8-Oct. 7, 2009 titled, “To Study the Self” at Murphy’s Mug and library at UW-La Crosse, WI. Painting for her is a language of symbols, a visual way to understand the elegant complexities of her internal/emotional world. The artists she draws from are Edvard Munch and Andrew Wyeth. Cedarose’s paintings try to adhere to a personally genuine expression, requiring that content and form come primarily from within herself. Her expressive style blossoms from her use of cold wax and palette knife, allowing for spontaneity and freshness, and revealing the beautiful movements of the paint. She intends on applying for an MFA program this winter. While in the sciences Cedarose experienced an unhealthy prioritizing of the brain over the heart. Cedarose’s vision in art is to reverse this by demonstrating the power of the heart.

Yesterday while reading through some links on another art blog I came across My Art Space.com. I think this is a pretty awesom site. It is an online art community with more than 50,000 artists, collectors, students, teachers, gallerists and curators and critics from around the world.  Although it is a “membership” site, it is FREE and open to everybody. As a member you can create a profile of yourself and upload an unlimited quantity of your work including images, music, audio naration and video.

My Art Space also offers a news letter, forums, interviews, art news, contests and links to other sites of interest. Check it out.

I have added this site, as well as some other new ones, to Coulee Region Art’s Artist Resouces/Links List. If you haven’t seen that lately or didn’t even know it existed click on this link. You can also access the list any time by clicking on Artist Resources/Links under “Categories” on the main page of Coulee Region Art Blog. The list has over 50 links now. If you have any or know of any that are not on the list please email them to me at jguin@wkbt.com and I’d be glad to add them to the list.

Ten Thousand Villages
6th Annual Festival Sale in La Crosse
November 20 & 21

Looking for beautiful and unusual holiday gifts that give back to our world? You can feel good about shopping at the Ten Thousand Villages Festival Sale

Fair Trade handicrafts for sale include textiles, pottery, onyx, wood carvings, jewelry, toys, and a wide variety of gift and holiday items. The Festival Sale is a unique mission project, not a fund raiser, and every penny of sales benefits third-world artisans and their families.

Friday, November 20
Noon - 7 p.m.
Saturday, November 21
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

First Presbyterian Church
Fellowship Hall (lower level), 233 West Avenue S, La Crosse
Free admission and parking

Since 1946, Ten Thousand Villages has supported the work of tens of thousands of artisans in more than 30 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Ten Thousand Villages provides vital, fair income to Third World people by marketing their handicrafts and telling their stories in North America. Artisans, who would otherwise be unemployed or underemployed, earn sustainable income through fair trade.

As a founding member of the International Fair Trade Association, an organization that includes over 200 members in 55 countries, Ten Thousand Villages is part of a worldwide movement striving to improve the livelihood of disadvantaged people in developing countries through the expansion of fair trade.

Ten Thousand Villages is a nonprofit, self-supporting alternative trading organization (ATO). ATOs are non-governmental organizations designed to benefit artisans, not to maximize profits. They market products from handicraft and agricultural organizations based in low-income countries.
Learn more at http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/home.php

For more information, contact:
Carol Lloyd Neill - 787-4536 (day), 782-0282 (evening)
First Presbyterian Church - 784-4248

(press release from Ten Thousan Villages)

Cornucopia Art Center in Lanesboro, Minnesota will present “Elevation: A Regional Group Exhibition on Grain Elevators,” a juried show featuring work by 17 artists.  The Exhibition will run Nov. 20, 2009 through Jan. 10, 2010;  it is FREE to the public. On Friday, Nov. 20 there will be an opening reception from 6-8pm at Cornucopia Art Center, in partnership with the Fillmore County Cattlemen’s Association.  This event is FREE to the public, with many of the artists present and mini beef sandwiches and beer being served.  On Saturday, Nov. 21, from 1 to 3pm, kids and families of all ages are invited to the gallery for a Kids Create!  Family Art Project:  seed mosaics;  this event is also FREE to the public.  Then beginning at 5pm at The American Legion Post #40 in Lanesboro there will be a fish Fry, with proceeds benefiting both Cornucopia Art Center and The American Legion.

The exhibit is sponsored by the Mennesota Beef Council, and supported by Root River Ag Services of Lanesboro, the Parkway Pub, the Minnesota State Arts Board, and the Fillmore County Cattlemen’s Association.  Cornucopia Art Center is located at 103 Parkway Avenue North in Lanesboro, MN.  Current hours are Tuesday through Saturday 10 am to 5pm and Sunday from 11am to 3pm.  (Gallery is closed on Mondays and for holidays:  Thursday and Friday Nov. 26-27, and Thursday, Dec. 24, 2009, Jan. 4, 2010.)  Cornucopia Art Center is a professional, not-for-profit organization that serves as a regional catalyst for artistic excellence and educational development in providing meaningful art experiences for people of all ages.  for more information contact 507-467-2446 / info@lanesboroarts.org  or www.lanesboroarts.org