Our Team
Mara Hanel, NWMAC Director
Mara Hanel, Executive Director
Mara (formerly Lunde and Wittman) has been the Executive Director of the Northwest Minnesota Arts Council forever. Yes, that long! She estimates that she knows 1,000+ wonderful artistic people who love to live in Northwest Minnesota, just like herself. She grew up in East Grand Forks and was very active in all the arts, including dance, drawing, trumpet, piano, singing, photography, fine craft, theater, and creative writing. For many years after graduating from college in Duluth, Mara combined Arts Administration with visual art and textiles with some choreography here and there.
Mara is happily married to a man who loves to be active in church with her, travels the world, parent, and works on art together in their spare time. Mosaics, stain glass, gardening and landscape design are current passions for them. “We thoroughly enjoy our blended family of seven plus a dog. Yes, we need that huge SUV that I drive around for our full family, as well as to move art displays. Love our lake time and get-aways for adventure… that often include theatre, a quiet walk through a museum, and observing top notch sports, and strolling outside… spontaneous, relaxed fun, barely any TV.”
The arts and service to others in the arts is part of every single day for Mara. Her art and the artistic expression of others is what makes her life so rich, and full of meaty topics for discussion. “Visual art, performing art, creative writing, they can all handle those hard topics. Art can create an amazing emotional response, transformative. It awes me with its expression of beauty. Enough said? Love my job working with artist and The Arts.”
Kristin Eggerling
Kristin Eggerling, Promotions Specialist
Kristin works as a freelance writer and community activist. She is a published author -- Breath of Wilderness: The Life of Sigurd Olson. She loves the process of research, interviewing, and telling the story of places and people. She serves on a number of boards, including the local library board and regional and state boards focused on sustainability, conservation, the arts and community development. She loves travel, good food, films, reading and spending time with her family. In addition to writing, she creates mosaics and mixed media art. "Art is so important for our society as a whole, and for each of us as individuals. It has the power to transform our lives and regularly does."
Trey Everett, Showcase Specialist
Trey Everett, Showcase Specialist
Trey is a Visual Artist. He mostly works with pen and ink, which includes calligrams (images made with words), lectionary art, editorial cartoons, and commissions. He also enjoys indoor and outdoor mural work.
Trey grew up in the Missouri Ozarks and has lived in Crookston since 2006. He has worked in the religious world for much of his life. From 2006 to 2019 he was the Co-Director of the Minnesota Institute of Contemplation and Healing as a retreat leader and healing art instructor. Most recently, he worked in the Crookston school system as a long-term English substitute teacher.
Currently, Trey’s focus is on his spiritual direction practice, healing art workshops, graphic recordings, and his visual art career. He has volunteered and/or worked with the Queen City Art Festival, Crookston Youth Association (The Cove), Hope Coalition suicide prevention group, Crookston Library Board, UMC Art Committee, volunteer Crookston art teacher, and the Crookston High School Play and Musical Art Director.
Trey’s artistic abilities and creativity come naturally. He comes from a long line of talented artists. Nevertheless, he has studied, worked, and honed his skills over time and continues to develop them. He studies accomplished pen and ink artists, as well as world-renowned tattoo workers and muralists for inspiration, to learn techniques, and to help develop his unique style. His reading interests, meditation practices, and spirituality greatly affect his art. Listening to particular artists like Tom Petty, Josh Ritter, and Stevie Nicks, bring out the inspiration and creativity and helps transcribe the deep hidden stirrings of his heart and mind into visual images.
Trey has been called the “Tea Master” over the years. He holds the title jokingly, but he does brew jasmine tea almost daily in his little Chinese Yixing tea pot. He has developed a contemplative tea ceremony practice that he’s used with many groups over the years. The ceremony helps focus on having a welcoming attitude toward whoever and whatever life brings our way as well as being attentive to all our senses, i.e. living in the present moment.
Trey is very excited to work with the Arts Council. “Art is so important to me and now I have the opportunity to assist and get to know artists in our region. The idea of collaborating with other artists and helping them with some of their art dreams is fantastic. Creativity is powerful! It moves us out of our anxious, neurotic minds into the deeper, calming place of our heart. I’m grateful to have this opportunity to promote and delve into creativity with others.”