[MAQUOKETA, IA] Maquoketa Art Experience has created a Study in Portraits month scheduled for June 6-19 that offers something for everyone. June programming includes a mezzo-relief sculpture workshop with renowned wood sculptor Fred Cogelow, a public painting demonstration by internationally acclaimed painter Rose Frantzen, and a portrait writing workshop by Free River Press Executive Director, Robert Wolf.

Fred Cogelow: Mezzo Relief Sculpture Workshop

In conjunction with the International Woodcarvers Congress in Maquoketa, Iowa, award-winning wood sculptor Fred Cogelow will teach a five-day workshop at Maquoketa Art Experience, June 6-10, exploring the creation of ¾ Profile Portraiture in Mezzo-Relief. Fred Cogelow is considered by many to be the greatest wood sculptor working in the United States. A self-taught reductive carver, Cogelow has been winning awards and honors throughout the Midwest and across the country since 1983. His work is included in private collections in Norway, Sweden, South Africa, and across the United States. This workshop is designed for an advanced carver/sculptor. Students interested in this workshop should possess a skill level of moderate to advanced, or at least an appreciation of anatomy, detail, and engineering. As a part of Cogelow's visit to Iowa, a 6-foot sculpture of Zona, a life-sized woman sculpture piece will be on display at the Dubuque Museum of Art, June 6-11. Cogelow will enter Zona into the sculpture competition at 2011 International Woodcarvers Congress June 13-19 in Maquoketa. The June workshop is the last one that Fred Cogleow will be teaching until 2014. Registration information is available at www.maquoketa-art.org or call 563.652.9925.

Rose Frantzen: Portrait Painting Demonstration

Internationally acclaimed Iowa artist Rose Frantzen will offer a portrait painting demonstration on Saturday, June 11 at Maquoketa Art Experience. All ticket holders will enter into a drawing to serve as the model for the portrait and will take the finished portrait home with them at the end of the day. Doors will open at 10 a.m. with the drawing for the model at 11 a.m. You must be present to win. No one under 16 years old is eligible to participate in the drawing, but those under 16 are invited to purchase a ticket to observe the demonstration at a separate ticket price.

Frantzen is the creator of the Portrait of Maquoketa collection, a 180 piece community portrait series painted using volunteer models from her home town. Portrait of Maquoketa was on exhibit at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in 2009-2010.

The painting demonstration will consist of painting a live model while Frantzen discusses her painting process, and her experience judging demonstrations at national events. The proceeds from this event serve as a fundraiser for Maquoketa Art Experience, a non profit arts organization whose mission is to build community through arts outreach. For ticket information visit www.maquoketa-art.org or call 563.652.9925.

Robert Wolf: Portrait Writing Workshop

Free River Press executive director Robert Wolf has designed a three-day portrait writing workshop, scheduled for June 17-19 at Maquoketa Art Experience. This workshop is created for people of all ages, and while the practiced writer will find it useful, the workshop was designed with the amateur in mind.

Wolf is the author of Heartland Portrait, a collection of stories created from portrait writing that explores sense of place and captures the voice of America's heartland through storytelling.
The aim of this portrait writing workshop is for each participant to complete at least one portrait of a person or place at the end of three days. The basis for the work is in storytelling, with the storyteller's emphasis on imagery (visualization) and dialogue. For those participants who want to expand beyond their comfort zone, Wolf encourages experimentation. This may include the use of fragments or employing techniques used by contemporary poets. Registration information is available at www.maquoketa-art.org or call 563.652.9925.

For further information about Maquoketa Art Experience's Study in Portraits month or to participate in the workshops or purchase tickets for the portrait demonstration, contact Paula Neuhaus at maquoketaartexperience@hotmail.com or call 563.652.9925.

Maquoketa Art Experience programming is made possible in part by a grant from the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs.

# # #

(MAQUOKETA, IA) Maquoketa Art Experience (MAE) welcomes fine art photographer Sindi Mueller to their artist-in-Residence Program with an opening reception and exhibition on Friday, April 1, 7-9 p.m. at 124 S. Main Street in Maquoketa. Mueller joins working artists Rose Frantzen, Thomas Metcalf, and Charles Morris as a permanent resident artist. Maquoketa Art Experience is a not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to bringing accomplished artists to Maquoketa for short- and long-term residencies, workshops, and exhibitions.

The April 1 event features an exhibit by Sindi Mueller entitled "Unveiling" that offers an exploration of kinetic photography and a study in rural and urban landscape photography. Sindi's kinetic work, photography in which the camera is moved while the shutter is open, captures light, color, motion, and abstraction. Her landscape work explores color, shape, light, and texture of nature in her home state of Iowa, as well as the magnetism of the Chicago urban landscape.  Sindi's landscape images have been published in the Maquoketa Sentinel Press and Bellevue Herald Leader. Her first solo exhibit was held at Darkroom in Chicago entitled "Seduced by the Darkness" in December of 2010.

Sindi Mueller is a native of Dubuque, Iowa. She studied at the Chicago Photography Academy where her mentor William Benson inspired her to create photographs that did not appear to be photographs at all. This study revealed a world of surrealism, abstraction, and interpretation resulting in an exploration of kinetic photography.

As a resident artist Mueller will instruct classes and workshops at her studio and gallery space at 124 S. Main Street in Maquoketa. The instruction will be at various skill levels to inspire photographers to think outside the box and create a new form of photographic fine art.

The public is invited to attend the event and welcome Sindi Mueller to the Eastern Iowa art community. For more information contact Paula Neuhaus at maquoketaartexperience@hotmail.com or by calling 563.652.9925.

Maquoketa Art Experience programming is made possible in part by a grant from the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs.

#  # #

Maquoketa Art Experience will display all paintings and drawings that artists create of scenes along the Grant Wood Scenic Byway and will host a landscape painting workshop focusing on the region presented by renowned pastel artist Ellen Wagener.

Maquoketa , Iowa, July 30, 2010: In conjunction with the return of Ellen Wagener for a weekend landscape workshop, Maquoketa Art Experience (MAE) announces an upcoming exhibition that will consist of paintings and drawings that depict scenes along and near the Grant Wood Scenic Byway.

Exhibition Dates: August 23rd through September 19th, 2010

Location: Maquoketa Art Experience Studio and Gallery, 124 S. Main Street , Maquoketa , IA 52060

Hours: Monday-Thursday: 11-5pm, Friday-Saturday: 11-7pm, Sunday: 12-5pm

Workshop Dates: August 20th, 21st & 22nd, 2010

Location: Maquoketa Art Experience Studio and Gallery, 124 S. Main Street , Maquoketa , IA 52060

Cost: $295 for the weekend, $95 for Saturday the 21st at Tabor Home Winery.

For more information or to register: Call 563-652-9925.

Workshop deposits can be mailed to PO Box 993 , Maquoketa , IA 52060 .

The Grant Wood Scenic Byway Landscape Show will be on display from August 23rd through September 19th in the spacious galleries of Maquoketa Art Experience on Main St. in downtown Maquoketa.  Any and all artists are invited to tour and paint along the Byway from Stone City, the home of Grant Wood's summer art colony, through Anamosa, Maquoketa, the Maquoketa Caves, through Andrew, then Springbrook, and on to the beautiful Mississippi River views at Bellevue.  Paintings depicting scenes along and near the Byway can be brought to Maquoketa Art Experience at the close of Ellen Wagener's landscape workshop, from 5 to 8pm on August 22nd.  Artists, who cannot deliver their works at that time, can call MAE at 563-652-9925 to make arrangements for delivery prior to that time.  Owners of original paintings that show scenes from and near the Byway can also place those works on display.

A map of the Byway is available online at http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/2183.

The paintings and drawings that are brought in for the exhibition do not have to be for sale, but a sales price can be listed if the artist so chooses.  Maquoketa Art Experience will take a 25% commission on any sales.  Only original paintings and drawing will be accepted.  No photography and no prints/reproductions will be accepted for the show.

Ellen Wagener's summer landscape workshop is the third of four seasonal workshops offered by MAE focusing on the natural resources and beauty of Eastern Iowa .  Dewitt native Ellen Wagener is best known for her large pastel landscape paintings of Iowa and Arizona , her new home.  She returns for a second year to MAE to share her masterful skill of the basics and fundamentals of pastel painting, focusing on working processes including sketching, idea-generation, composition, and color palettes.  Special emphasis for this workshop will be given to pastel techniques in the creation of cloudscapes and attention to atmospheric conditions leading up to a final composition.  All of the painting outings will occur along and near the Grant Wood Scenic Byway.

This three-day workshop is well suited for both beginning artists and "seasoned masters" and will also include an optional bonus afternoon on Thursday, August 19, to join Ellen in a trip to the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art's Marvin Cone exhibit, "The Sky's the Limit".  This thirty-work exhibition, tracing Cone's work from the 1910s to the 1940s, will be used later in the workshop to explore and discuss the many ways and styles that Cone used to capture the majestic power of "cloudscapes" and his fascination with the sky that is portrayed in his paintings.  A trip to the studio of Grant Wood, Turner Alley, and dinner in Cedar Rapids will also follow.

In addition, artists who cannot attend the entire weekend workshop are invited to sign up for a single day, Saturday, August 21st.  From 9am to 5pm a plein air painting outing led by Wagener will be held at nearby Tabor Home Winery.  The fee for this single day is $95.

Participants in last summer's first annual MAE Ellen Wagener workshop had this to say:

"She (Ellen) is an excellent teacher. She is unusually willing to be open and sharing with all her techniques and methods that she has worked out for herself over a long period of time...To be able to interact with artists at (her) level of achievement is a real privilege."  - Marcia W.

"As an attendee at the Maquoketa Art Experience Workshop...The learning experiences were interspersed with opportunities abounding for participants to expand their horizons.  It was a truly worthwhile encounter."  - Grace Z.

"The (Maquoketa) Art Experience is a great space for a workshop, and you are most fortunate to have artists of such high caliber and skill to be working in your area - it is indeed exciting."  - Linda F.

Biographic Information:

Ellen Wagener received her B.F.A. from the Corcoran School of Art in Washington , D.C. in 1989.  Her work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums including the Des Moines Art Center , Phoenix Art Museum , Tucson Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, and Art in Embassies, Vilinus , Latvia , and J. Cacciola Gallery, New York City.  Her work can be found in many private and public collections, such as the Figge Art Museum , Davenport , Iowa , Tucson Museum of Art, MasterCard Corporation, New York City , and Iowa State University , Ames , Iowa .

Information about Maquoketa Art Experience:

Maquoketa Art Experience is dedicated to bringing accomplished artists to Maquoketa , Iowa for short- and long-term residencies, workshops, and exhibitions.  Springing up in one of the Grant Wood Scenic Byway communities, Maquoketa Art Experience exists to nurture artists and provide opportunities for developing art-related businesses in the area.  Recognizing what Grant Wood saw in Iowa , Iowans and the surrounding landscapes, the artists and board of Maquoketa Art Experience are dedicated to creating easily accessible resources for Midwest artists.  Similar to the Stone City Art Colony of the last century, Maquoketa Art Experience is committed to supporting arts and artists by creating local opportunities for artists to nurture and expand their talents and skills within the inspiring landscapes of Eastern Iowa .  This project is made possible by the Iowa Community Cultural Grants and the DNRBOG grants.

For more information: www.maquoketa-art.org or phone: 563-652-9925.