Gallery


 

Heather A. Houzenga

Browse through Heather's collection, click here.

A native of Thomson, IL, Heather A. Houzenga spent most of her childhood drawing and as she grew she learned to also paint. Though her art teachers, and family, encouraged her, she was never formally taught until going off to college where she took a few art classes.

Attending Coe College, in Cedar Rapids, IA, Houzenga spent the spring of 2000 studying in New York City and initially graduated from Coe in 2001 with a BA in English Literature, and in 2003 accomplished a BA in studio art. In 2005 she received teacher certification for K-12 in both disciplines.

She is currently engaged in her third year, employed by the East Central Community School district, in Miles, IA, teaching K-5 art and 9th grade English.

Houzenga serves as president for the Artists Cooperative of Savanna and spends most of her school vacation time volunteering along the Mississippi Gulf Coast for Hurricane Katrina survivors.

Artist's Statement

My art has grown, evolved and taken its form from a vast number of things. While the materials I use may vary, a majority of my work serves a central theme, the struggle within the 'self', with societal constraints, religious piety and love gained and lost. I enjoy sitting quietly, observing the intricate novelties and quirks that each person and thing exhibits, the natural and the concrete. Midwest Sunset
by Heather A. Houzenga

I have found that through art my frustration and inspiration with the world around me can be loosely conveyed and if I am able to stir a person to begin to question life, then the piece I have created has accomplished its mission.

Mark Thoele

Browse through Mark's collection, click here.

Thoele has a variety of work experience in art. Originally from the area just south of Milwaukee, WI, Thoele began his artistic career by drawing caricatures of neighborhood children. He received his formal art education at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. He gained experience in ceramics while in the US Air Force in Iceland. He moved to this county in 1987, did illustration and sculpture work for Facemakers, Inc. and was also employed as the artist/manager of a graphics shop in Iowa before establishing his own studio on the 100 year old farm where he resides with his family and does graphic design work for hire.

His earliest experience was with charcoal and colored pencils in landscapes and portraits, but he now works to create image generation and manipulation that is computer enhanced and rendered. His current preference is for the versatility and flexibility of computer images that can be manipulated in any direction to create surreal imagery. "Artist Rene' Magritte calls this magical realism," he said. "It relates to common images, but is out of context in such a way that the viewer is forced to consider its meaning." He is also interested in 3-dimensional modeling, animation and incorporating multimedia into his surrealist endeavors.

When asked if there had been any famous artists that he felt had influenced his work, Thoele replied that he "deeply respected the work of the surrealists, especially Rene Magritte and Joseph Cornell. I also enjoy the graphic work of Roger Dean and admire the brevity of the sumi-Emasters and Maxfield Parish." He said all these and local artist Jim Warfield had been very influential in encouraging him to keep working. Official Hazard of my Big Brother's Private Eye
by Mark Thoele.

He hopes that his work will evoke an emotional response in people. "Even if it is only fleeting," he said,"as in a visual poem or haiku, I will feel it has been successful."