MontiArts November Newsletter

Novemberrrr

Hey Friends. I’m kind of happy about the cooler weather, how about you? Grab a pumkin spice, or whatever floats your late-fall boat, and your calendar and add some creative fun to your schedule. Near the end of the newsletter we have another artist profile for you, and this one has a very special announcement. No spoilers— you’ll have to read it to find out the SCOOP!

We believe as the days grow shorter and darker, it’s more important than ever to stay connected and make new creative friends, and take care of ourselves. Doing something creative, or even just getting out and seeing something new is a great way to do that.

Stay Curious & Creative. - Sue Seeger

Mosaic Bench Update

For now, if you’d like to check out these beauties, you can find them right behind our building at 213 W Broadway. As you can see, it’s also a great photo stop, so take advantage of this colorful setting. After the ground is completely frozen the benches will be making their way up Walnut and will spend the winter up against the windows at the East entrance Monticello Community Center. This means all winter you’ll be able to stroll the hallway and enjoy seeing the benches from inside— toasty warm. Next spring they will likely be moving to the Bridge Parks.

Join Us Tonight At 7 For An Artist Talk By Ron Siepel

We did an article about Ron in last month’s newsletter, so be sure to check that out if you missed it. He is such a wonderful guy, and his work makes us all appreciate the beauty of wood. We hope to see you tonight!

Do Not Miss This Class

Seriously guys— do not sleep on this one! Lori is such an engaging instructor, who truly belives in the power of creativity as a very healing nurturing element. Come learn some unique ways Lori can help you bring more of this into your life by discovering some new techniques.

Here’s a cool little video she made about it.

Here is a sign up link.

Drum Circle Rescheduled

Hey — We now have a Drum Circle! How cool are we? Actually, this is all thanks to Shawn Gellert. Anyone who’s been to our tues morning Open Studio knows Shawn as the effervescent creative lady who always has a big smile on her face. Shawn will be facilitating the Drum Circle on the 3rd Sunday of each month from 1 to 2:30. Reach out to her at the email above if you have any questions.

Come Hang Out— Free

Come make cards with us on Thurs Nov 21, from 6 to 9!

This was so popular last year we just had to do it again!

This is an Art Night Social for adults. All you need to do it show up. It’s an unguided activity that allows you to dig through our stash of cardstock, rubber stamps, inks, etc and sit around and make cards for a few hours and visit and enjoy a nice hot beverage.

Feel free to bring your own supplies, too. If you want to add to the stash pile— great! If you want to make any cards and donate them to the MontiArts Artist Market as a donation to MontiArts, that would also be very cool. Totally just an option— you do not need to do this.

Black Friday Weekend - MontiArts Holiday Artist Market

What a great chance to shop local right after Thanksgiving, and into December. Come support local artists and pick up some wonderful art for yourself or some really great truly unique gifts for friends and loved ones. All the art is $50 or less! Tell your friends! Heck— Bring your friends- even better!

We are holding our Arts Market in cooperation with another local artist- Mae Spencer, who is having a pottery sale the same weekend. Many of you know Mae, who has been creating pottery in her Otsego studio for many years. This summer, Mae was a big help when we were creating our mosaic benches too.

Two cool art shows to take in, right around here, right after Thanksgiving? You know you want to. See you there!

Artist Profile: Erica Witzmann

This month we’re featuring someone many of you know already— Erica Witzmann. Read on to find out about Erica’s creative journey. We do have some very big news at the end of this article, too.

SUE: Hi Erica! Thanks so much for argeeing to this interview. People really seem to enjoy learning about our local artists and all that they are up to and how it all works for them, so thank you.

ERICA: Of course! I always enjoy these profiles too, so I’m happy to be part of it all.

SUE: Would you say you grew up in a creative household? Were you always an art kid?

ERICA: Yes, for sure. My mom was a very creative person, and my dad was an architect, so I always had a very interesting mix of creativity growing up. My mom was always the creatively fun and whacky one, where my dad was very structured and an inside the box type thinker, but still as a designer- creative in his own way.

SUE: So your mom was more the wildly openly creative one?

ERICA: Yes, for sure. We were always making mud pies, making daisy chain hats and dandilion hats; always having a good time.

SUE: Did you have any siblings? Were they creative too?

ERICA: I have 1 brother, who became an accountant (laughs), so needless to say; we’re very different. He wasn’t creative, but did appreciate that in others.

SUE: Did you always know you wanted to go into art? I know you have an art history degree. Was that always your plan?

ERICA: Yes and no. I always wanted to go into art, but more as a studio artist. The college I went to didn’t have a very strong program, I now see in hindsight, but at the time, it just felt like that wasn’t working for me, so I changed direction towards museum studies.

SUE: Ah, so, not being in a great program caused you to doubt yourself as an artist, and begin trying to figure out a carrer that was proximate to art. “If I can’t make a living making art, maybe I can at least be surrounded by art?”

ERICA: Yeah. I definitely had the thinking we’ve heard others talk about so many times— I’m probably not good enough to really make it big as an artist, so I’ll need to find some job I can make money at. I liked the idea of proximity to the art world, thinking maybe somehow I’d make some connections that would help me.

SUE: That makes a lot of sense. So when you graduated, did you go straight into that line of work?

ERICA: Ah— no. (Laughs)

SUE: Whaaaaat? (Fake surprise)

ERICA: I know, right? I had to pay for my own schooling, so all through college I was going to school full time and working two jobs. I worked at a dry cleaners in the morning, and at Sportmart at night. I loved both jobs, and had a lot of fun making the money I very much needed for school. My dry cleaning customers were all professional people. One of them owned a furniture gallery that imported a lot of historical pieces from India and China during colonial times. When she found out i just granduated with an art history degree, she hired me to write-up the histories of the pieces they were offering. So I wound-up in the furniture world.

SUE: You just never know, do you?

ERICA: Nope. (Laughs) I was with them for over 10 years, selling and writing up pieces for them. It was great.

SUE: It sounds like your life in school was pretty much work, school, work, sleep. Really grinding it out.

ERICA: I would do my homework after working at Sportmart, but don’t get me wrong— every morning I’d load my car up with everything I needed for the day, and drive in from my perent’s house in Mound, where I lived during all 4 years of college. So i’d have my work outfits, my school supplies, and another outfit because as soon as my homework was done I’d meet my friends at MOA where we’d go to the dance clubs and dance into the early hours.

SUE: Oh wow. I guess I do remember having that much energy— way back then. (laughs)

ERICA: I think I lived on Mountain Dew and Cheerios. LOL

SUE: Sounds like not much of your own art could have possibly been happening during those years. When did making art come back into your life?

ERICA: During my years of being a young working adult, I always had my art supplies everywhere I lived, and would make time to do little paintings whenever I could. Then when I had kids, I had to put that away for a while again. It was just too hard to have painting supplies out with little kids running around, and I started doing daycare in my home too, so— yeah, no painting for me then.

SUE: This is a very real and common struggle for women artists. When you’d think about your own upbringing, were you motivated to try to bring that into your own family- that creative spark your mom provided for you? And how about your husband? Is he creative?

ERICA: My hsband would never say he is creative in any way, but he absolutely is. He loves doing woodworking, and is a great problem solver, which as you know requires creative thinking.

SUE: (laughs) Yes, he may not call himself creative, but when he showed up at GlowFest that year with his very own handmade Baby Yoda lantern sculpture he’d made all on his own at home— sorry, but the jig is up, James! He is a closet artist!

ERICA: I always did creative stuff with my kids too; making it a big part of our lives. All 3 of my kids are very different and into different things. It’s been fun to see them explore and figure it out for themselves. James has been a great partner in that too. He is an engineer, so has always added his persepective too, which is great.

SUE: And that kind of brings us to now. You’re a mid-career person whose kids are mostly grown; your youngest is in high school now. What does artist-life look like for you now?

ERICA: One thing I’ve learned, in part from The Artist Way which we’ve held a number of times here (A 12 week creativity workshop and book) is that I don’t have to wait for a lightning bolt of inspiration. I can put it on my calendar so I reserve time for myself in that way, and just do it. It’s inside me and I can tap into it whenever I want.

SUE: And you’re sharing more of your talents with us at MontiArts which we’re very happy about. Should we spill some beans? Is it time?

ERICA: (Laughs) If you think so…

SUE: You have been low key part of our team from the very beginning; being in the very first program we ran- the first Artist Way group way back in 2018, and you immediately started participating & volunteering right away.

ERICA: Yes, I remember taking Lily when she was just a kid to that activity at the Prairie Center when we were painting on donatated scraps of tar paper and stapling up little paintings on phone poles downtown. I was just so excited there was finally something art related happening right in my town! Wow have we come a long way!

SUE: And now your involvement with MontiArts is about to enter a much more expanded and official phase. You’ll be taking on the directorship as of Jan 1st. How exciting!!

ERICA: I cound not be more excited about this. It feels like a full circle moment for me, like my whole life has been pointing me in this direction.

SUE: You really are such a good fit for this, having always been such a community person here, being a scout leader, a youth group leader, and doing tons of volunteering, plus your arts experience. Are you planning any big changes we might notice right away?

ERICA: NO! I love MontiArts and all we are doing right now. I love that we are a program designed to build community and I’m really excited just to continue with the momentum we have. I know people are really loving what we are offering, so I want MontiArts to just keep its forward direction. The mosaics that we just did are a great example of the work I want to help continue. And we should tell everyone— you are not really going anywhere either, right?

SUE: Yep. I’ll for sure still be around. My role is just shifting to part time, and I’m handing over the reins to you and Ben, who will be also staying on as Assistant Director, I’ll be around a lot, as a lead artist on some of our big projects like Glow Fest, and next year’s mosaic projects, and just generally helping out. I’m looking forward to having more free time for my own art again.

But I’m really so excited for you to take this on Erica. I think you’re such a great fit for this position. Not just your art ability, but also your community mindedness, organizational ability, and leadership style. I love how welcoming you are to everyone who enters our spaces, and how much of yourself you share with our users. I can’t wait to see where you take MontiArts in the coming years.