Spark the power of art

Trinity Reither has lived in Delano since she was four years old. She started her art career by helping teach paint classes with local artists when she was fourteen. She attended Delano public schools for all of K-12.

Trinity was heavily involved in band and art programs in high school and graduated in 2020. She now attends University of Mary in Bismarck ND and is majoring in both Psychology and Theology.

Wendy Franklin may get lost in her craft when she’s making pottery, but she’s hardly zoning out.

As she’s throwing clay, Wendy thinks about you and how you’ll use the piece. Will the mug’s handle nestle comfortably in your hand? Will its rim feel good on your lip? When she paints designs onto fired pieces, she channels the outdoors that are her element, gardens she’s grown, adventures she carries. Mixing her own glazes and colors, she calls in the BWCAW’s Northern Lights, borrows scenes from Minnesota’s divergent seasons, and stirs the waters and skies she memorizes when open water swimming. She knows that functional dishware is the dishware that gets used! Functional art introduces into a home dishware that gets both used and loved.

Wendy and her husband, Mike, raised two sons, and she’s run an in-home childcare business in Delano for well over a dozen years.  They share their home with their Irish doodle, Ruthie and cat, Stanley.

Wendy credits the Delano Community Ed program for fueling her love of ceramics. The seeds had been planted long before: Her mom paints beautiful floral watercolors, her brother crafts wooden boats, and her grandma did oil paintings and crafted with stained glass. Wendy found her creative niche at the potters wheel playing in the mud. 

Facebook page:  Wendy's Wheel @wendyloofranklin

I always wanted to do pottery. Finally in my 50’s I started and have been at it for over 20 years. All my work is done at the Minnetonka Center For the Arts in Orono. The turtle was accepted into the Minnesota state fair competition and the rooster cookie jar only made it through the first round. I have worked on the wheel but prefer hand building. Earth tones and flat glazes are my definite preference. The totems have been very popular so many family members have them. At one time I did sell but not any more as I usually make one of a kind and keep them or just give away.

Tamra is a true Minnesotan who lives in Independence, MN where she has spent most of her life exploring the nature around her which inspires her art every day. She works for Great River Regional Library which helps appease her love of books and literature. She also works at Fall Harvest Orchard because she loves all things Farm, and All Seasons Sports because spending time outdoors is a priority.  Tamra is a liason between the library and the Delano Area Council for Arts and Culture, a member of the Buffalo Art Guild, is an art teacher at a new creative community house in Maple Plain called Underbrush, and happily thrives surrounded by creative ventures and local art gatherings.  Tamra teaches art to children through Delano Community Education and teaches art classes for children and adults through the Library as well.   She shares her love of nature with her family and spending time outdoors with her cats and chickens.  She lives with her husband and has two adult sons, who have given her more pride than she can handle.

  Jill has been an artist since childhood; drawing is one of her earliest memories. She earned an undergraduate degree in art education and psychology from Buena Vista College in Storm Lake, Iowa and went on to earn a graduate degree in Educational Psychology and Counseling from the University of South Dakota. She worked as a child and family counselor for many years. Throughout this time, her artwork was a hobby for personal gratification. 

Read the DHJ article on Jill HERE

 Woodward’s work as a family and child therapist has influenced her art. Her favorite subject matter is children. Jill likes to paint them alone in everyday yet ideal situations; when they appear to be unaware of an observer, when they are most truly themselves. She strives to achieve a serene and subtly dream-like quality in her work. Her paintings appear to be real and at the same time, not true. As Nietzche said, “We have art in order not to die from the truth.” 

 Emily Lynch Victory is a painter enthusiastic about pattern and  mathematics.  Emily has degrees in both mathematics and fine art, and   loves combining the two.  Originally from Minnesota, Victory currently  lives in Tampa, Florida with her husband and three young, energetic,  art-loving boys.  

Since earning my BFA degree in Glass and Metal from Carnegie Mellon University in 1981, I have made it my life’s work to capture and share my view of the amazing natural world that surrounds us. I honed my craft as a glassblower, cold worker, lamp worker and carver before finally pursuing my passion for cast glass sculpture.

All of my glass sculptures are hand-finished in my Delano, MN studio, where I welcome visitors to learn about kiln casting, an art form rarely practiced in the Midwest. I am also available for commissions and teaching opportunities, including private lessons.

For information about works in progress or to discuss a custom project, please emaildjrglass@gmail.com or call DJR Glass Studio at (407) 405-3210.

 Sarah Flicek has been an artist all her life. Creating has always been healing, spiritual and a connection to the world & the kindred human spirit. 

Through the medium of fine metal and mastering the skills of traditional metalsmithing, her metal work is a perfect convergence of her love of learning, tinkering, exploring and challenging herself. It answers her innate need to be precise and the freedom and creativity of being an artist. Sarah resides in Delano, MN with her three boys, Logan Owen & Mason.

See more of Sarah’s work at www.felixery.com.

I find beauty in weathered surfaces that show a history of human touch and the evidence of time passed. Using acrylic paint, ink jet printouts, sheet music, brush and palette knife, I look for surprising results while experimenting with technique and color combinations. I enjoy working large and piling on the paint, viewing the progress and deciding what to change from across the room.

A founding member of the Delano Artist Guild and Maple Plain Artist Co-op, and a member of the Women’s Art Resources of Minnesota (W.A.R.M.), I display my work in local festivals and businesses and my online gallery. I’ve contributed to shows at Flow Art Space, Your Art’s Desire, Coloplast, The Paul Whitney Larson Gallery, The Show Gallery Lowertown, and Studio 144.