The [Love, Art] gala gives people an opportunity to visit with and support local artists. We will publish official bios for each of them at the gala, but we thought we'd share some ways that they have made a direct impact on our organization and for that we are thankful.
Jessica Haugen (Sweet Stem Floral Design)
Jessica's website states "Flowers are my passion!" and she runs her business out of her home in Davenport. She was our KAAP Featured Artist in April of 2021 and also sponsored and hosted a "make your own bouquet" activity at our October Artist Reception at Wild Roots. She is working on creating special arrangements that you can take home on February 5th right in time for Valentine's Day and takes orders and delivers in the Kindred community!
Amanda Hagen (Heartstrings Art Studio)
Amanda has been a "KAAP Featured Artist" with the Kindred Area Arts Partnership and also was our premier artist to display her work in Kindred at Wild Roots Venue with our Art @ Wild Roots program. She was also one of the very first artists who took a chance on displaying her work with us at the Kindred Public Library when we were a brand new organization! We are excited to have her with us at the gala.
Roxanne Westman (Roxie's Place Photography)
Roxie is our current "featured artist" with the Kindred Area Arts Partnership's Art @ Wild Roots program - click here to read more about her current display! We are planning an Artist Reception at Wild Roots Tuesday, February 15 from 5-7 p.m. so be sure to watch for that information soon. Roxie is another one of our artists that has been with us since the beginning, displaying her beautiful work with us in our early years of hosting an Art Crawl. She recently joined our Community Artist Relations committee so we're excited to have new ideas to grow our local artist outreach. So excited to see what North Dakota landscape photography she will bring to display and sell at the gala!
Karen Bakke (Karen Bakke Art & Design)
Karen Bakke is back at the gala for the second year in a row. We are grateful she took a chance on us when we auctioned her off with a "Dinner with an Artist" event held at Dr. John V. Vinych's last fall! We also sold a blank canvas at the 2020 gala where she worked with the buyer to create their vision of a long horned cow. Karen has agreed to be auctioned off with the dinner at John's again this year. She will offer her custom canvas option to be purchased at the gala and unveiled at the dinner as well. In the photo below, you'll see Karen also has a gift for painting beautiful murals.
Jon Offutt (House of Mulciber)
We are excited to add Jon to our list of gala artists this year. We are also planning to host him as an artist for our Artist in Residence (AiR) program this May at Chalkfest '22 at the high school! Jon is a glass blowing artist and will bring his mobile glass blowing studio to Kindred and spend two days with our students and community demonstrating his craft. Jon's bio states "He is a strong voice for the arts and creative-thinking disciplines, and he believes that arts contribute significantly to the quality of life for our youth and ultimately, for our community." That lines up closely with what the Kindred Area Arts Partnership believes in as well!
Trudy Torgerson
Trudy is another artist that KAAP has had the pleasure of working with since our first event six years ago. Trudy is a good example of many artists in our community who create in addition to having a full-time non-art related career! She is retiring this month from nursing and is looking forward to having more time to devote to her craft. Trudy is available to hire as a decorating consultant and also creates with paint, epoxy and arranges live and faux flowers. She has designed floral arrangements to sell at the gala each year, volunteered her time to collaborate with our art teacher and Kindred students to make clay vases (pictured below) and also painted clear vases one year that were sold with flowers.
Ken Omundson (KO Clay)
We are excited to welcome clay artist Ken to the gala this year! His work is featured at Gallery 4 in downtown Fargo and he loves to make functional pieces that can be used in everyday living. Read more about his pottery in the Design & Living August/September 2021 issue. Ken is thinking about creating cups for the gala event that say Kindred on them! Make sure and swing by his table to say hi.
Liz Walberg (Liz W. Designs)
As we keep finding our gems of local artists in the community, you may remember C. Lizzy's storefront nestled on Broadway in downtown Fargo for years! Liz Walberg, the artist behind C. Lizzy's, lives in Leonard and has grandchildren in the Kindred school system. Liz is a self taught artist who enjoys working with metal and making jewelry. We are excited to announce she will be an artist in our Artist in Residence (AiR) program later this month demonstrating her craft in the high school ag and art classrooms at Kindred High School. We look forward to having her at the gala event and also look forward to sharing more information about her time in our school.
Kate Baldock (Kate M Baldock)
Kate is a special artist for us to welcome this year as she is one of our own - a graduate of Kindred High School! She is an abstract artist and we are excited to welcome her into our elementary art classroom for our Artist in Residence (AiR) in January 2022. She will talk to the kids about her work, the different stages of a painting and perhaps even demo how an artist creates all while answering questions from the students. She is bringing several large art pieces to the gala for sale and display and also is willing to work with you to create the perfect piece for your home.
We're so excited to have all of these artists with us for the evening!
A special thank you to our Artist sponsor the Podolak Family (artist Kate Baldock's family!) and our Love, Art sponsors Clothes Mentor Fargo, Lathem Hi-Tech Seeds, Next Generation Gaming and Viking Homes.
Join us! Tickets and sponsor opportunities available here!
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