Current Artists

  • She/Her
    My painting is a means of communicating how the physical body feels at a specific point in time through an imagined visual anatomy. I developed this process by studying medical imagery and experimenting with ways to portray internal health. I am interested in how it feels to have a chronic illness or pain, or a very healthy body. How some bodies are visible and seen for their physicality and some are walking around in pain and no one knows. Illness and less than perfect health is viewed as a failing that must be hidden. And yet, physical health is an all-encompassing part of our lives. When the human figures are placed in environments visual narratives occur. This allows me to explore social impacts upon one’s health as well. This results in a combination of silhouetted expressionistic figures in slightly abstracted environments.

  • He/Him
    Duane Penske was a primitive artist working in Vesta, MN 1961 - 2014. His work explored daily rural life, spirituality and the farm crisis of the 1980s.

  • He/Him
    John Stumme is a Minneapolis mixed-media artist who paints on a variety of surfaces, most notably mulberry paper, archival tissue paper, and silk. Once the materials have dried he will either tear and compose them into abstract nature pieces or into backgrounds for his figurative work, like the ones for his Bodies of Resistance collection.
    John finds wonder in the flowing together of diluted acrylic paints on various surfaces. He observes how colors blend and textures occur organically as the paints dry and decides when and where he needs to add additional paint. Intuition is an important part of this process. John enjoys working with face, body and nature images because of their tangible connection to life and living. John’s mother, who died two years, was an artist. He sees her hands when he looks at his own and feels her spirit when he views his finished work.
    While John has no formal arts education he has sought out and benefited greatly from the guidance of some gifted Minneapolis artists including Susan Shields, Suzanne Beck and artist, mentor, and friend Deborah Foutch. John is forever grateful to his husband, Kyle, for buying him a class to Deborah’s Artist Way class for his 50th birthday. It awakened his artist soul and John has not stopped making art since.

  • She/Her
    Stefanie Schmid is a multi-faceted and award-winning artist with a focus on fine art, design, and teaching.  She draws inspiration from the outdoors, and from her senses.  Schmid’s artistic approach is rooted in nature where she seeks solace in the woods of northern Minnesota and Wisconsin.  Her paintings reflect her inner world.  Overall, Schmid’s art is a testament to her versatility, creativity, and dedication to her craft.  Two of her notable pieces “The Great Thaw” and “Failing Visibility” won a blue ribbon at the Maple Grove Arts Center in 2023 and 2024, and she has been interviewed for a segment on PBS.

    Follow her process and keep up with what’s new on Instagram: stefanie_schmid_artist

    Website: etsy.com/shop/StefanieSchmid

  • She/Her
    Based in Isanti, MN, Samsonette is an artist whose work radiates diversity and stands out with a distinct style and character. Her versatility and eagerness to embrace various forms and mediums give rise to a vibrant spectrum of works. These pieces, drawing influence from lithography and graphic design, keenly observe both the natural world and human nature. Through her exploration of texture and materials, and her nuanced interplay between figure and abstraction, Samsonette exhibits a bold approach to both subject matter and artistic medium.

  • She/Her
    My work is deeply rooted in the exploration of personal experiences, memories and the human connection to nature. Through blend of analog photographic processes, mixed media techniques, and the transformative power of memory, I strive to create imagery that evokes the viewers own memories, feelings, and experiences.

    My creative process typically begins with finding an image associated with an emotionally charged personal memory on my old cell phones, cameras, or film and using that image to create an instant photo. To me, instant photos are not only a popular way of quickly capturing a moment in time, but they have a particular aesthetic in their imperfections that evokes a sense of nostalgia. Then I “touch” the memories and manipulate them through the emulsion lift process, and frequently integrate them with other media such as graphite or watercolor. The resulting pieces often become vague, distorted, and/or transformed during the process, often adding new sensations, feelings, or abstractions. What was originally an old memory associated with a particular situation in my life has become something new and taken on new meaning. Sometimes this is a way that I work through painful past events and can be a healing process for me.

    Despite the personal beginnings of each piece, it is my goal that the viewer can find a piece of themselves in my work, and that the experiences I've embedded within the art become shared memories that foster a deeper understanding of our collective human experience.

  • She/Her
    Sue Cranston’s art is often about documenting details from her 1970's & 1980's childhood. Her paintings depict vegetables, florals, animals and most especially, sentimental items from childhood. Cranston is particularly fond of bikes, trikes, roller skates, vintage school chairs, Pyrex mixing bowls and all things related to Brownies and Girl Scouts! Sue Cranston lives in River Falls, WI and works full time as a high school art teacher in St. Paul, MN.

    My “School themed and Girl Scout themed” artwork started to develop when I learned about the extraordinary printmaking artist Kathe Kollwitz. I am in awe of the way Ms. Kollwitz captured emotion and a range of human experiences with her printing techniques and charcoal drawings. The honest imagery influenced my very first linoleum block print of a school girl wearing a plaid jumper uniform. After experimenting with mixing mediums, I learned how to digitize my artwork and transform photographs of my printmaking prints and my paintings.

  • She/Her
    Donna Budzinsky creates characters of people she has met using vibrant colors and abstracted features. Her work has a nostalgic factor that brings viewers in. The details she includes provide personality and depth, emphasizing the fun-loving quirkiness that exists in each of us but is often hidden. Donna takes her inspiration from the simple aspects of our personalities and amplifies them in wondrous ways. Donna lives and works in Minnesota.

  • They/Them
    I specialize in whimsical art and advocacy that delights humans of all ages. Using a unique mixed-media style, I combine traditional watercolor technique with dynamic and expressive character design. Together, let's color our world into the just, equitable, and joyful place we always dreamed it could be.

  • They/Them
    Raven Gizhibaayaanimad Mae of Whirlywind Artworks is a Mixed, Queer, Fat, genderfluid, Two Spirit, visual and mixed media artist. Born and raised in Minnesota they have dual citizenship with the US and Red Lake Nation of Ojibwe/Anishinaabe. Committed to community building and the healing power of art they held (pre-pandemic) weekly Art It Out events. These weekend events were meant to create social spaces and local community for creative dabblers and artists to gather together and create in a common supportive space. They work to weave emotive narratives of their experiences and local events into their work. Their favorite mediums are inktense pencils, water blendable oil pastels and acrylics

  • She/Her
    Artist Shirlene Perrin's paintings reflect her fascination with outer space and science fiction. The space we can see from earth, from satellite images, images from Nasa, the imagination of creators of science fiction films old and new, galaxy and space related art all inspire her work. A love of the outdoors also inspires her work as well as the hope that other worlds as beautiful as Earth exist. The James Webb telescope imagery brought a new “look” to images of space we have become accustomed to viewing and are also an inspiration as you can see in her paintings “James” and “Webb”.

  • She/They/Their
    My mixed-media narrative paintings colorfully encourage reflection on our relationship to home. I am intrigued by the erosion of private and public spaces and how exploring our relationship to place and time through spatial disorientation can subvert normative ideas about gender, sexuality, and racialized subjects. Through painting “private” spaces and objects used in domestic settings I challenge how women’s expertise is often confined to the “Four F’s”— food, fashion, family, and furnishings— to expand our cultural attitudes for more expansive understandings. My work engages home and belonging, presence/absence, and what perpetually remains at the margins of societal focus; the evidence and social impact of women’s/femme labor inside and outside of the home. I draw on themes of Xicanx feminism, domesticity, intimacies, iconography, and historical erasures to teach viewers something new, while simultaneously providing visual pleasure.

  • She/Her
    I was born and raised in Tasmania, the island state of Australia, and now dye, spin, and weave on the family farm in rural Buffalo, Minnesota.

    My wearable art is rooted in my love of color and texture and the joy of following where the fiber takes me.

    I am intentional about minimizing textile waste, which has influenced the evolution of my weaving process, from reclaiming and dying cotton yarns, to techniques for eliminating loom waste, to saving every scrappy thread and yarn trimming to incorporate into future handspun yarns.

    Dyeing yarns for weaving led me to explore fabric and clothing dyeing, including tie dye and shibori techniques.

  • She/Her/We
    My art reflects insider dialogue, existential curiosities and pain, and human experiences. My inspiration comes from my travels, raising my children, my childhood, nature, local and Swedish lore, and observing and experiencing human behavior. Both photography and painting are the media I use to express myself. Although I have been a practicing artist since 1994, I have been reviving my passion for experimental processes since retiring as a professional photographer in 2009 and returning to graduate school for art psychotherapy.

    With a 1970’s Land Camera, the love for instant analog imagery was born. Tapping into the foundation of expressing soft imperfect memories, felt human experience, and personal wonder. My paintings often depict deeper, surreal, dreamlike imagery. Imagery that is visually complex and offers hidden meaning for those who wish to study and are inspired by the need to understand and contain observed or felt emotional pain.

  • She/Her/We
    Robin Getsug, LMFT, ATR-BC

    I have been making art all of my life. I am a mixed media photo collage artist , and painter.

    I have been involved with many community arts projects with a social justice lens.

    Besides making art, my full time work is therapy and art therapy. 

    I am a licensed marriage and family therapist and a registered and board certified art therapist.

    I love to travel and find beauty and inspiration wherever I may go.

    I have three grown, highly creative children and a canine companion , Lucille.

  • She/Her
    My artwork explores the conflict between the modern human experience and human nature. I seek to expose the arbitrary boundaries that serve to divide humanity from each other and the natural world.  Recognizable forms simultaneously appear and disappear intertwining with plants or other organic elements suggesting that aside from social constructs, there is little separating us from each other and the universe at large.  This results in artwork that occupies a space between reality and fantasy.  I apply maximalist tendencies to a minimalist philosophy.  Intricate patterns, layering, and an obsessive amount of detail co-exist with simplicity created by not over-sharing.  My paintings are colorful and indulgent depictions of high society, representing both the allure and depravity caused by abundance.  My drawings often depict working class characters to represent scarcity through minimal color and disappearing forms.  While society tells us money and power are noble pursuits, my work tends to paint the life of luxury as the life less fulfilled. 

  • She/Her
    A local artist, I earned my BFA at the University of Minnesota.  While I identify as a painter, ceramicist and jeweler, my current focus is painting.  My work is abstract, with imagery that comes to me as I paint.  The images involve emotion, a sense of place, empathy for our world and the greater good.  There is an idea in flux.  Painting happens.  Sometimes a kitty appears.  

    My kitty paintings were inspired by a jungle kitty who I fell in love with while on an 8-month residency in Hawaii.  Working on  paintings and mono-type prints on paper, I created an expressionist body of work that has kept blossoming since returning to Minnesota.  

@Rosesculptor

  • eHoltART is the studio name for the work done by Erin Holt (she/they).  

    Erin is a Minnesota based artist who has been making and teaching art in and around the Twin Cities metro area for the better part of fifteen years. They have worked both independently and alongside leading Twin Cities arts organizations to deliver programs, classes, exhibitions, trainings, and events at schools, community spaces, festivals, libraries, museums, galleries, public parks, busy street corners, emergency housing shelters and more.  They are passionate about removing barriers to access the arts, introducing people to high quality materials and fine art techniques, and igniting a love of art and artistic practice in artists of all ages and ability levels. She believes art gives our lives color, art captures the ephemeral, art uplifts marginalized voices, art challenges us, and art heals. 

    Artist’s Statement

    My work is, first and foremost, personal.  Sometimes I’m drawing the surreal shopping mall I see frequently in my dreams and other times I’m lovingly carving the blind eyes on an ancient Greenland shark.  I’m as likely to spend 12 straight hours creating a tiny collage with precisely placed papers as I am to be up to my elbows in mud hunting for wild clay deposits.  No matter where the creative compulsion of the day takes me, I maintain an internal conversation with myself, constantly exploring the edges of of my creative impulses, sussing out the the many spindly roots of my fascinations. 

    I am interested in the human body: How far back can we trace its ancient evolution?  How can it pose with so many points of articulation?  What are the ways that celebrate and revile our bodies?

    I am interested in the utility of objects: How do we develop personal connections with mundane things?  How can we welcome beauty into the everyday?  Can a functional object be beautiful?  Is beauty a function in and of itself?

    I am interested in houses and homes: How do we live and where?  Who gets to live securely and safely, and who can only dream of such a luxury?  How does one build a home for themselves?

    I am interested in lizards.  I think they’re cool. 

    In everything that I do, I’m always hoping to trigger a moment of introspection in those who view and interact with my work.  I want them to have a chance to be curious, to experience wonder, to be transported by a sliver of color or a hint of texture. I want those who come into contact with my work to develop personal fascinations of their own, and hopefully make art of their own someday that I can enjoy in turn.

    EMAIL ERIN

    Resume

    Education
    Training from the Kennedy Center as a part of their Partners in Education program, Washington DC2020-2022
    Coursework in the Minnesota Center for Bookarts Certificate program, Minneapolis MN2017-now
    Graduate Apprenticeship with Professor Ruthann Godollei, Macalester College, St. Paul MN2013
    BA in Studio Arts and Anthropology from Macalester College St. Paul MN 2013
    Coursework in Art and Anthropology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand (February-June) 2012

    Selected Exhibitions
    Moving Pictures - Juried Print Exchange and Exhibition - St. Ambrose University, Davenport IA2019
    7 Deadly Sins - Juried Exhibition, NCECA Participating Show - Carleton College, Northfield MN 2019
    Art of the Eye - Juried Exhibition - Kenosha Creative Space, Kenosha WI2018
    Parts of a Whole, IV - Juried Exhibition - Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis MN2017
    The Wor    kshop - Collaborative Installation with Samantha Leopold Sullivan - Studio Payne, Minneapolis MN 2017
    The Land Machinist - Collaborative Installation and Show for Sad Boys Pop Up Gallery - Hamline University, St. Paul MN 2016
    Wondrous Transformations Print Exchange - Group Exhibition at SGCI conference -PNCA Commons, Portland OR2016
    The River: Memory and Metaphor on the Mississippi - Juried Exhibition - Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis MN2016
    Parts of a Whole, III - Juried Exhibition - Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis MN2016
    Animalia International Print Exchange - Group Exhibition - The Milk Factory Gallery, Bowral, NSW, Australia2016
    Iowa State University Postcard Print Exchange 2014 - Iowa State University, Ames IA2014
    Dirty Dozen: The 2014 Calendar - Group Exhibition - Living Proof Print Collective, Minneapolis MN2014
    Only Natural - Solo Exhibition - The Ledge Gallery, Minneapolis MN2013
    Quiet Nightmare - Juried Exhibition - The People’s Gallery, St. Paul, MN2013
    Artists of the NCC - Group Exhibition - Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis MN2013
    Animalia International Print Exchange - Group Exhibition 2013-2014
    The Milk Factory Gallery, Bowral, NSW, Australia
    Il Bisonte Gallery, the Oltrarno, Florence, Italy
    Urbandale, Iowa Library, Iowa
    Art for Shelter III - Benefit Sale and Exhibition - Burnet Gallery, Chambers Hotel, Minneapolis MN2013
    Mock-Up: Senior Capstone Show - Group Exhibition - Law Warschaw Gallery, Macalester College, St. Paul MN2013
    Student Show - Juried Exhibition - Law Warschaw Gallery, Macalester College, St. Paul MN2012
    4th Biennial Undergraduate Showcase - Group Exhibition - Hopkins Art Center, Hopkins MN2011
    Student Show - Juried Exhibition - Macalester College, St. Paul, MN2010
    Les Farrington Best 100 Juried Art Exhibition - Juried Exhibition - A to Z Gallery, St. Paul MN2009

    Selected Collections
    MALL (Minneapolis Art Lending Library), Minneapolis MN 2019
    Permanent Collection, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia2014, 2016
    Macalester College Permanent Collection, Macalester College, St. Paul MN2013

    Publications
    Godollei, Ruthann. How to Create your own Gig Posters, Band T-Shirts, Album Covers & Stickers: Screenprinting, Photocopy Art, Mixed Media Collage, and Other Guerilla Poster Styles. Voyageur Press, 2013.

    Teaching and Related Experience
    Artist Instructor, Rum River Arts Center, Anoka MN2023-now
    Artist Instructor and Demonstrating Artist, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis MN 2019-now
    Artist Instructor, Ceramics, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis MN2011- now
    Community Programs Manager, Artistry MN, Bloomington MN2020-2023
    Artist Instructor, Artistry MN, Bloomington MN2019-2023
    Vice President of the Board, Friends of Highland Arts, St. Paul MN2018-2022
    Youth and Community Artist Instructor, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis MN2015- 2021
    Guest Lecturer, Plastic Plate Lithography, Macalester College, St. Paul MN2015, 2016
    Departmental / Curatorial Assistant, Art & Art History Department, Macalester College, St. Paul MN2013
    Ceramics Technician and Studio Assistant, Macalester College, St. Paul MN2010-2013

  • She/Her

    Kyle Renell brings a bold, intuitive energy to her work, often blending abstract forms with raw emotional texture. Her pieces are layered, expressive, and deeply personal—exploring themes of vulnerability, strength, and transformation. Kyle’s creative process is guided more by feeling than form, allowing her work to evolve organically and powerfully.

    Kyle holds a Post Baccalaureate Certificate in Integrated Studio Arts from Iowa State University in Ames, IA, and studied under Hazel Belvo at the Grand Marais Art Colony for 20 years. Her artistic vision is deeply inspired by the work of Remedy Vara, Hilma af Klint, and Janet Sobel.

  • Mixed media artist.

  • He/They

    Chuck Martens is a Minneapolis based artist who photographs natural scenery and man-made structures that strike him as he wanders through cities, parks and gardens. Inspired by classic paintings, he creates photographs that are simultaneously familiar and imagined. Each image goes through an iterative process as he makes and undoes digital adjustments until the image renders the same beauty and intrigue he

    encountered on his walk.

  • She/Her

    Angela Martinez is a mixed-media artist whose work is deeply rooted in personal identity, family, and the cultural intersections of everyday life. As a wife to a Mexican immigrant and a mother navigating the layered realities of raising a bicultural family, Angela draws from the rhythms, struggles, and beauty of her lived experience. Her pieces reflect themes of resilience, motherhood, migration, and belonging—often expressed through layered textures, bold colors, and symbolic materials. Whether incorporating traditional motifs or reimagining domestic objects, her art becomes both a sanctuary and a statement. Angela’s work honors the quiet strength of women, the complexity of cultural hybridity, and the sacredness of personal narrative. Through each piece, she invites viewers into a space that is both intimate and universally resonant—where memory, love, and identity are not only preserved, but powerfully transformed.

  • He/Him

    I am a queer artist who sees the world as a colorful place, and I want to show that through my art. Spending time in nature inspires me to make more art. Nature is very beautiful and diverse. The forests and grasslands that are all around us blossom with an assortment of plants, fungus, and animals. Humans are part of nature, so it makes sense that we thrive in diversity. I enjoy using a lot of bright colors in my paintings to show the beautiful world that is all around us.

  • She/Her

    As a self-taught painter, my artistic journey has been a personal exploration of shapes, colors, and the emotions they evoke. Over the past few years, I’ve embraced the bold, abstract, and geometric, channeling my fascination with the interplay of form and color into compositions that challenge perception. Working primarily with acrylics, I create patterns and shapes that transcend the everyday, inviting the viewer into a world of interpretation, memory, and feeling.

    My work is heavily influenced by the De Stijl and Constructivist movements, both of which emphasize harmony, structure, and abstraction. Through these inspirations, I aim to push the boundaries of how we experience art by balancing structure with spontaneity. I hope to inspire moments of reflection in those who engage with my pieces, letting them discover their own interpretations and connections to the abstract forms.

  • She/Her/They
    A lot of my artwork is inspired by the relationships around me, the ups and downs of how they flow. I’ve used my art as a way to channel heartbreaks, love, happiness through surrealism and abstraction. I love to take aspects of nature and pair it with other things that may not naturally occur together but to create something unique and to give viewers a chance to look deep into it and think about the meaning of it. 

    I am at my core a lover girl and there are a lot of times where my romantic relationships influence my art in positives and negatives. Painting what I feel in my relationships allows me to take a step back and paint what I feel in my life and those relationships. There are times where it has been more challenging to finish a piece but painting my love and my pain for myself and those around me has allowed me to heal from past hurt. Painting allows me to slow down and process what I feel and seeing it in a picture allows me to feel it in all of it’s essence. Those paintings are most often the ones I hold closest and then other times I will paint something on a whim and it will turn out amazing with no intended deeper meaning until I take a look at it later and I see the deeper meaning. I think that art can hold something special for everyone whether we realize it initially or not. Creating is simply us pouring our hearts and deepest thoughts into a everlasting piece of art.

    To be vulnerable with ourselves and others can most often be the most beautiful but terrifying piece of art of all. There have been many times where it was easier to allow my art to speak for myself rather than actually saying it out loud. Emotions can be so complex and even hard to understand at times, which is why I love painting my emotions. We can’t always see our own emotions and by painting, it allows us to feel and see them. And as a result of me painting my emotions, I’ve created a gorgeous piece of art from it.

  • They/Them
    Ki is a biracial, queer, human-passionate artist who focuses primarily on creating content that: reflects what it’s like being these, dabbles in fantasy works, and/or revolves around anything relevant to being in the moment. 

    Also known as “Gawki” across the web, they work entirely as an independent artist. They paint, draw, design, kickstart, self-publish, run a bi-annual online store, and travel around to sell their ware like a traveling merchant. They currently reside in Minneapolis.

  • Landscape and Sunset photographer.

  • His work lives in the liminal space between grit and grace, neon and shadow, always pulsing with a quiet intensity. Whether capturing the haunting silence of midnight streets or the fractured beauty of forgotten places, his photography carries the weight of story. His writing, often echoing the cadence of Tom Waits, Nick Cave, and Dylan Thomas, adds another layer—equal parts confessional, street sermon, and cinematic whisper.

    Based in St. Paul, Arvin is a co-owner of Calendula Gallery and a monthly columnist for The Downtown St. Paul Voice. His lens is loyal to the city’s undercurrent, revealing the moments that others miss.

  • She/Her

    Boldly going where I have not gone in a very long time! This is a new adventure for me in my recent retirement. Enjoying the hunt for thrifted denim clothing and trying every upcycled arting process that I can come up with. Delving back into my true love of wheel-thrown and hand-built pottery. Hoping you enjoy the journey as much as I am.

  • He/Him

    Published freelance Illustrator and comic book artist.

  • He/Him

    I have had the good fortune to travel to some incredible places and witness breathtaking beauty.  The goal of my photography is to share that beauty, whether it is the majesty of natural landscapes, the amazing animals that populate them, or the beautiful cities I have visited.

     In a time when people are focusing on the things that separate us, I hope to help people take a moment to appreciate the beauty of the world that unites us.

Show Your Art With Us

For many, artists this is the first step to a strong career.  For others, it is a means to address the many barriers that exist as artists seek opportunities. Our artists reflect diverse artistic visions providing visitors a rich, entertaining and intellectually challenging experience.

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