Art Circle will exhibit at library

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The River Falls Public Library will host an exhibit by the Art Circle, a group of nine Minnesota women artists, who came together three years ago, determined to encourage and support each other in artmaking.

The exhibit runs from Sunday, Jan. 10, through Feb. 7. There will be an opening reception from 2-4 p.m. on the first day of the show.

All the exhibiting artists have been members of WARM, the Women’s Art Registry of Minnesota and have been involved in some capacity in that organization’s mentor program.

The two-year mentorship process allows a protégé to interview and select a paid mentor from WARM’s membership. After meeting individually with their mentors once a month, the process culminates in a big exhibit, according to mentor Alis Olsen.

“The young artists are clamoring to get into [the program],” Olsen said adding that there is usually a waiting list.

River Falls area artists can become WARM members and take advantage of the benefits the organization offers. For more information on becoming a member, call the office at 651-292-1188 or e-mail info@thewarm.org.

The Art Circle, as a subset of WARM, includes both mentors and protégés and meets monthly to allow members to share news about their art careers, provide feedback to each other on their current work, and discuss exhibit opportunities as well as plan their own shows.

Nine artists

Although the women have much in common, they have different backgrounds and points of view.

They are: Alis Olsen, an environmental sculptor and teacher who explores humanity’s relationship with nature; Mary Perkins, a photographer and three-dimensional artist dedicated to sustainability, who tries to capture the spirit of people, places and things; Karen Klein, who uses photomontage process to create glimpses of dreams and memory; Amy Egenberger, an educator and curriculum consultant who makes doll-like figures from found objects and textiles; Erin Jordahl, primarily a clay artist whose experience as an attorney and lifelong advocate for animals is often expressed in her art; painter Karen Gustafson, whose images of textiles reflect her fascination with the composition of matter and the science of space and time; photographer Judy Bracci whose black and white images express her interest in poetry, music, and psychology; Gloria Larsen, who creates three-dimensional assemblages with layers of meaning using paint, charcoal, colored pencil, printed images from hand-cut blocks, and objects found in nature; and Kit Eastman, a textile artist who mixes the internal landscape of thought, memories, and imagination with the external landscape of nature and natural cycles.

There is no admission charge for the exhibit.

Call the library at 425-0905 for more information or logon to www.riverfallspubliclibrary.org.

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