Tomah Arts Guild Artist of the Month
(press release)
Mednis is Tomah Arts Guild Artist of the Month. Mara Mednis of Warrens, Wisconsin is Artist of the Month for May. Her artistic focus is to create unique, one of a kind, seed beaded jewelry and ornamentation.
She learned her love of intricate work, composition, and traditional arts from her parents. Her father,
Edmund, was a talented leather worker, as well as a traditional Latvian jeweler. He passed away in 1989. Her mother, Vera, was and is a lady of many talents. She is an award winning traditional Latvian weaver, a leather worker, a potter, and finally, a freehand machine quilter. Mednis tried her hand at many of these arts, but fell in love with weaving first, then quilting.
When the Latvian weaving market declined and Vera retired from quilting, she was no longer able to ride on her famous mother’s coat tails. Mednis went looking for a new artistic adventure. Her best friend dragged her along to a huge bead show in Milwaukee “just to look,” and that was the beginning. With all the intricate designs, the huge palate of shapes and colors and the beauty of the finished jewelry pieces - she was hooked.
Mednis launched the business to justify buying so many beads and to provide an outlet for all the finished pieces. She remarks, “Complex beadwork and bead weaving are art forms that I have fallen in love with. The symmetry and detail appeal to my OCD tendencies, and the color palate and design possibilities appeal to my artistic side.” Though she is competent with many stitches and techniques, she feels there is still a whole world of new things to learn and the ideas will always outnumber the amount of time available to play with beads. Many of her pieces are available on her Etsy website: http://www.etsy.com/shop/mara4931?ref=si_shop.
A “Meet and Greet the Artist” event will be held in the gallery from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 12th at
the Tomah Arts Guild Gallery, 907 Kilbourn Ave., Tomah. She is offering a 10% discount on all of her jewelry pieces through the month of May. For more information, visit the TAG website at: www.tomahartsguild.com.
“Collaboration Celebration” Exhibit
(press release)
“Collaboration Celebration” by Joan Nee and Pam Lee
La Crosse Community Theatre
118 5th Avenue North
La Crosse, WI
The La Crosse Community Theatre is presenting the play, “Blood Brothers,” May 4th -20th. For the duration of that show, Joan Nee and Pam Lee will have their artwork on display in the theatre lobby. They may not be brothers, or for that matter, even sisters, but they do paint together…at the same time, on the same paper.
The display can be viewed during normal Theatre hours (11- 5, Monday - Friday) and during performances of the play. Art is for sale and a portion of each sale is donated to the Theatre.
Bluff Country Studio Tour
The Bluff Country Studio Art Tour is this weekend. If interested here is a link to their website with all the information you’ll need.