Thief River Falls Photographer Bert Foster won a merit award in this year’s annual NW Art Exhibit. Bert has been a frequent exhibitor in our exhibits and has received grants from the NWMAC. Bert spoke about the camera he uses and the technical aspects and preferences of his work. He prefers landscape photography and recently started including humans. He and his wife, Christine Foster had an exhibit together at the NWMAC Gallery a few years ago. Listen to hear more about Bert’s photography and much more!!

Ada Borup West High School Art Teacher Jodi Peterson spoke about the glass art process, the connection she feels to ancient glass blowers, her philosophy, how Aikido inspires and directs her, striving to find balance and harmony, teaching, and the classroom. Her fused glass piece “Vintage Fish” won 3rd place at the NW Art Exhibit in Warroad. Jodi explained how fused glass is created (taking sheets of glass and melting a ceramic kiln; then putting it in a mold and slumping it into a shape that she likes). The vintage fish has decals embedded in it, a process that she recently started experimenting with. Her work with glass includes fusing, slumping, casting, and making glass beads.

Jodi’s business, Wolfnest Glass Works, is in a studio above her garage at home where she has a kiln and she teaches bead making.

Jodi was joined by her students Lillian Hansen, Sydney Schneider, and Kerstyn Lindsey. Lillian received 1st place in the student category for her ceramic piece “Bon Jour Cat Teapot.” Sydney won a merit award for ceramic hand called “Ow!”; and shared that the finger kept breaking off the ceramic hand she had created so she decided to include that into the description and make it the focus of her piece. Kerstyn won 3rd place in the student category for her mosaic piece “Great Blue Morpho” a blue butterfly. She won an award for another mosaic piece that she submitted to the state art competition.

Listen to hear more!

Warroad Artist Holly Ellsworth-Crowther spoke about winning 1st place in the Annual NW Art Exhibit in Warroad for her mixed media painting “Forest’s Queen.” She approached creating this piece wanting to just work on something that she fully enjoyed. She’s always loved nature and folklore and loves to incorporate a lot of elements of the forest into her work. The piece is magical and whimsical and includes leaves and pinecones to give 3D and textural elements. The dress in the painting is made out of leaves. The forest queen embodies the spirit of nature and the feeling of being in the forest.

Holly loves creating watercolor illustrations (fantasy-esque), oil paintings (portrait heavy), and recently fiber arts (needle felting with forest found materials) utilizing a full array of different elements. Moving here from Utah, she came from a creative and supportive family and it’s been a core part of her identity. She’ll be teaching workshops in the near future and has an Etsy shop called MossyFernStudio. Listen to hear more!

Roseau Jewelry Artist and Winner of the NW Star Award Becky Rosenkrans talked about receiving the award, creating jewelry, her creative process, her shop, and more!

She received the award on Saturday, April 25 at Warroad RiverPlace in Warroad during the NW Art Exhibit Awards Reception and Program for her jewelry artistry.

Rebecca (or Becky) has been creating one-of-a-kind jewelry for over 30 years since 1994. . Becky handcrafts new pieces of jewelry or recreates old into new with Greek and Italian leather, beads, crafted chain maille, glass, stone, silver, crystal, and vintage goods.

Becky is the owner of Bead Gypsy, a shop in Roseau where handmade goods and original art from over 20 artists are sold. Located in a 1905 former bank building, the store is a haven for artists and arts lovers who live and visit the region. She readily shares her knowledge, creativity, and talents and is a tireless advocate for fellow artists. 

Rosenkrans grew up in a creative family , including her mother Frances Karlsson who was a well-known painter from the region. For over 14 years she worked with the court system as a Guardian ad Litem, which was an intense and sad job. She had always loved jewelry and found that creating it helped her relieve stress and worry from that position.

Becky especially enjoys creating the design and repurposing items. She’s made earrings from old, galvanized steel she collected from the old, torn down Roseau grain elevator and vintage cookie tins. She reshapes old silverware to magically transform into beautiful pendants and bracelets. Another example of this is when her husband discovered her mom’s copper boiler buried behind the garage. Becky and her siblings bathed in this boiler as toddlers and later used it to soak their clothes before washing as they grew up. After digging up and cleaning the vessel, Becky flattened it out and created hundreds of pieces of jewelry from it. One of the pieces was on display at Warroad RiverPlace. She admitted, “it was the most fun and creative things that I could do.”

Becky shared advice for aspiring artists. “Just start and let the creativity just flow. Find a mentor. Come and ask me and I’ll help you. Don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t work out. It makes you happy to create something with your own hands.”

The NW Star Award comes with $5,000. Artists can only receive it once as a lifetime achievement award. Funding for the Northwest Star comes from The McKnight Foundation. Three awards are given each year to recognize artists and arts advocates within our seven-county region who stand out in terms of artistry or volunteerism in the arts. Of the Year Award winners were nominated by area residents.

Congratulations, Becky! Listen to hear their entire conversation.