Beloit Art Center presents artists Suzanne Stewart and Patsy Lauer in June.
 
The Beloit Art Center First Friday Reception for the new exhibits will be held on June 3rd from 5 to 7. This reception is open to the public, and refreshments will be served. Come hear the artists, Suzanne Stewart and Patsy Lauer, talk about their creations starting at 6:00 p.m. Have some room on your wall? Many will be available for purchase.
 
Suzanne Stewart will be featured in the Main Gallery. She has lived in Illinois most of her life. After graduation from Galesburg High School, she attended Olivet Nazarene University where she studied art. She finished an Associates of Arts degree at Miami Dade Community College. As a mother of four, art took a back bench for ten years, but then she got a BA degree majoring in Studio Fine Art and Educational Studies from Knox College in Galesburg.

She taught art at the elementary, junior high and high school levels for over 20 years, most recently at Rock County Christian Elementary School. She has shown her work at the Galesburg Civic Arts Center, Junction City Arts Fair in Peoria, the Loft in Morrison, and the Villager Gallery here in Beloit.

“I have loved doing art since I was a small child and my grandmother gave me a pair of scissors and a Montgomery Wards catalog and let me cut pictures to my heart’s content. That and the paint-by-number sets my mother bought me hooked me into loving the process of making art. I went from drawing to quilting, sewing and woodcrafts until the age of 36 when I decided to return to college. It was there I fell in love with the fine arts and have been on this journey of discovery and learning and experimenting with a variety of mediums.
 
“As a teacher, I have had to diversify my skills and practice many art methods. I heard this old saying again recently: “A Jack of all trades and a Master of none is still always better than a Master of One.” Suddenly I didn’t feel so bad that my portfolio of art was so varied. After all, variety is the spice of life.”
 
Featured in the Bell Gallery in June will be Patsy Lauer from Milton, now living in Beloit. With a career as hairdresser behind her, she searched for a new passion in retirement. At first, she painted on old windows and put them in her salon. She then enrolled in a watercolor class but quickly switched to oil paints, learning that she was able to work on a painting and change things where she wanted. She paints landscapes, flowers, and some animals. She says, “I have been motivated by the Open Studio group at the Beloit Art Center on Thursday nights. My two grandchildren love to come to Grandma’s. The first thing they say is, “Can we paint?” They really enjoy it, and it has given them an outlet they can also pursue.”
 
The June exhibits will be available to view through June 24th.  The Beloit Art Center is free and open to the public.  Hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday and Monday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Parking is in the street. For more about current exhibits and upcoming classes visit https://www.beloitartcenter.com/gallery-exhibits

Coming in May, Beloit Art Center is pleased to host a painting exhibition of two sisters, LuAnn Widergren and Lynette Redner, who often plein air paint together. A First Friday Gallery Reception will be held May 6 from 5-7pm, with an ArtTalk, at 6pm.  Join LuAnn and Lynette as tell of some of their adventures and what they've learned out in the field.  

​BELOIT ART CENTER MAY 2022 EXHIBITS  

Sisters LuAnn Widergren and Lynette Redner often plein-air paint together, which means painting outdoors. They will be the featured artists in the Main Gallery in May at the Beloit Art Center at 520 East Grand. A First Friday Gallery Reception will be held on May 6th  from 5 to 7 p.m. with an Art Talk at 6 p.m.  Join LuAnn and Lynette as they talk about their adventures of painting out in the field and what they've learned about coaxing nature to come alive on canvas.

Featured in the Bell Gallery will be Lori Huntoon, a hydrogeologist, whose art represents various aspects of the water cycle. “As a geologist and educator, I enjoy bringing nature into every art form. My focus in my professional and personal life has always been all-things-water. The photos in this exhibit depict various aspects of the water cycle in our surroundings.”
 
The two May gallery exhibits have a feeling of perfect synchronicity and will be available to view through May 27th.  The Beloit Art Center is free and open to the public.  Hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday and Monday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Parking is in the street. For more about current exhibits and upcoming classes visit https://www.beloitartcenter.com/gallery-exhibits