Join us for an afternoon art reception for Wendy Lacska and David Spohn, two very talented local artists who are collaborating to bring their joint exhibit, “The View From the Valley”, to Freedom Park in Prescott! This fun, free event provides you with the opportunity to view Wendy’s lovely landscape oils on linen, and David’s distinctive solar plate etchings. Together, Wendy and David have created a unique art exhibit that reflects the beauty of the river valley. This will be your opportunity to meet the artist, ask them about their techniques and creative choices, and about why this region is the focus of much of their art. Light refreshments provided.

Wendy Lacska   

Artist Statement and Biography

For the past 25 years my husband and I have lived outside of Hudson, in the beautiful St. Croix River Valley. Ever since I was a child I have been in love with the natural world and that love has fueled my life as an artist. The view from my home studio is of towering white and red pines. Trails and roads provide access in every season to this beautiful landscape to which I am so deeply connected.

Earlier in my life, I was an art teacher and then I became the administrator of an arts high school.  Now I spend my time immersed in the study and practice of painting.  As a member of Project Art for Nature, I work with a group of artists to promote the stewardship of the environment. My area of focus has been the St. Croix River watershed. Additionally, I have come to love the farmlands surrounding the valley. I’ve been getting to know the people of the land and their stories which I feel is adding a new dimension to my work.

My purpose as an artist is to create paintings that are beautiful and meaningful, that speak to people in some way. For me, painting bridges the physical, sensual world and the unseen world of memory, feelings, and the spiritual realm. In the end it is all about feeling connected to each other and to the land. I want my work to help people feel that connection.

David Spohn

Artist Statement

My themes have always come from the healing power of nature. The medium I work in and have worked in for almost 50 years is intaglio printmaking, the art of etching. For the last 10 years I have created solar plate etchings, a medium more environmentally sustainable and healthy for both the environment and the artist than traditional etching. In 2013 I was honored with a McKnight Fellowship for the Arts by the East Central Regional Arts Council for a series of etchings, The Dragonfly Suite, a visual study of the dragonflies native to Minnesota’s North Woods. In 2014 I was awarded an Artist at Pine Needles residency by the St. Croix Watershed Research Station at Marine on St. Croix, MN to continue this work.  In 2018, I was again awarded a McKnight Essential Artist Award from ECRAC, to support my next project, Small Worlds, Life in the St. Croix River Valley. The work in this exhibit represents the fruit of these fellowships.

Biography

Growing up in Chicago in a family of writers, editors and educators, his art early on gravitated toward books. In college David discovered the art of etching, a process of drawing, printing and making editions. Since then, his life’s work has taken him from the Midwest to the West Coast and finally to Minnesota, with most of this time spent designing, illustrating and writing books, and working at printmaking in his home studio as well. He worked thirty-one years as the art director for Hazelden Publishing, retiring early in 2013. His work is included in both public and private collections regionally and nationally. David is also the author/illustrator of 4 children’s books, and lives with his wife Sandy in Lindstrom, MN.