ASSOCIATE ARTISTS

Sara Krause is a local artist, mother of two, and elementary art teacher, from Marion, Iowa. She began making pottery as a high school student at College Community School District, and continued her studies at Kirkwood Community College, and then Coe College, where she majored in art with an emphasis in ceramics. Sara has a pottery studio at home, where she enjoys creating many varieties of wheel-thrown and hand-built pottery pieces. Her works include a variety of functional and decorative items, such as mugs, plates, bowls, spoons, vases, decorative trays, jewelry, magnets and ornaments. Her high fired works are food, dishwasher, and microwave safe. Sara’s designs are often whimsical and colorful, as she takes inspiration from nature, animals, her love of travel, and the interests of the youth she works with in her elementary art room. Sara enjoys incorporating a variety of textures, including hand-carved, stamped, and implied, as well as sculptural elements. Her collection includes a variety of Raku pieces. Raku is a specialized glaze firing technique, stemming from an ancient Japanese tradition. It is the unpredictability and rarity of success that drives Sara to push the envelope with her raku pieces, striving to test the limits of her design capabilities.

Gail likes to call her metal artwork "Permanent Paper." Creating three-dimensional images from a flat sheet by folding and bending, she explores the metal's kinetic movement. Whether it is stainless steel or rusted metal, for over 20 years she has celebrated, given thanks, mourned, laughed and sung with her artwork. Most recently Gail Chavenelle was awarded Best of Show for Dubuque's 2021-22 Art on the River with her ten foot "Resilient Generations."

Steve, a native of Cedar Rapids, now residing in rural Vinton, began his glass blowing skills a mere 18 years ago after observing a glass blower at an art festival in Madison, Wisconsin. After attending first a 2 week and then a 2 semester program at Kirkwood Community College, Steve designed and built his own glass studio. Once he honed his skills, he has won awards at fairs and events in Illinois and Iowa. He is represented by this gallery, the Cedar Rapids' Museum of Art and in Davenport and Des Moines.