Mississippi River Valley Art Directory spring art drive, May 5 & 6, 2012 is one of the largest self-guided art tours in the Mississippi Valley. The tour stretches from Dubuque, Iowa to Galesburg, Illinois. The drive boasts 50+ stops representing over 400 artists and more than 30 variations of media. A special invitation to interact with the artists in their creative space, a private gallery or home studio, or their preferred retail location is not extended every day. Some locations may offer an artist demo or discussion sessions throughout the day. For specific details at each location go to the spring map page at www.MRVAD.com
There are some incredible story lines:
Billie Davids' art is now printed on fabrics around the world
Beth Ann Magnuson carves, etches and dyes eggs, as well as hand cuts paper silhouette portraits.
Christine King creates her own precious metal jewelry designs for jewelry stores
The Rockers produce original custom glass designs
Judy Gray's painting style completely changed while dealing with chemo
365 Days on a Farm provides beautifully dyed natural fibers; mohairs, wools, llama, etc. They also teach the lost arts of tatting, knitting, crocheting and felting.
Jillie Swanson specializes in oils of color!
Lisa Jones takes things from our past and creates new furniture for today's use
Charlotte Arvelle has an imaginative approach to fused glass
Connie Zink is an internationally known porcelain doll maker
Ann Moody creates large knitted personalized Christmas stockings to order
Mary Chambers creates & hand batches a line of all natural beauty products
Jerri Crabtree-Frisk catches the perfect facial expressions on canvas
The tour entices the art enthusiast to visit as many locations as possible by offering a MRVAD Drive Passport! Each visited merchant marks their designated box on the passport, found on the map (print one at MRVAD.com). The "art drive tourists" with the most marks will receive a $25 gift certificate. The gift certificates are good for one year, at any drive participating art location.
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