Artists

Janette Hill

Originally from England, Janette has been in the States for 17 years. She began working as a freelance illustrator when she moved here, working mainly on children’s books. Janette has a background in publishing as a graphic designer and illustrator in England, so it made sense to focus on what she loved to do most, which was the art. Janette has since illustrated 18 books (under the name of Janette Louden).

She is self-taught as an artist and her style has changed and evolved over the years. She works in a lot of different medium and styles, from cartoon type digital illustration to the work that you see here today. There’s definitely some children’s book style influence in some of the pieces, but she is now exploring way more into abstract, whimsical marks on paper.

Janette loves colour and organic, repeated patterns that go on an adventure across the paper or canvas. She loves layer—hiding tiny details that draw the viewer into the piece. She enjoys the process. The discovery that there are always part of a piece that she dislikes, or feel like she screwed up, but, actually, in the end, when you look at the bigger picture (literally), it all comes together and becomes something beautiful. And in that, her own work has taught her to view herself and her life differently. Janette supposes that, in the end, is its purpose.

Karen Sako

Combining traditional art principles with exploratory techniques and materials, Karen Sako tackles the uncharted footpaths of contemporary art making. When she isn’t in her studio creating large abstract paintings she can be found on the side of a deserted road in the wilds of rural Wisconsin plein air painting.

Observing from life outdoors helps ignite her imagination in the studio. She brings that same enthusiasm and optimism to the classroom, where she continually invests her time and shares her trade secrets and findings with her students. Her goal is to ignite the next generation of pioneering creative visionaries and thinkers.

Karen holds a BFA in Visual Communications from the Illinois Institute of Art and is an accomplished abstract artist, graphic designer, and instructor.

For questions about Karen’s artwork email her at [email protected]

Nancy Harrer

Now residing in Wisconsin, Nancy is both a seasoned photographer and world traveller. Originally from Chicago some of her first artistic influences were from the urban environment in which she grew up.

Nancy left the mid-west for the San Francisco Bay Area to study Art History and Cultural Anthropology. Working weekends in open air markets for a living she became aware of what she terms “Living Anthropology”. The lives of diverse people coming together for a single purpose in short periods of time, sharing cultures, foods and history. This is one of the largest and longest lasting influences seen in her comprehensive body of work.

Nancy has always enjoyed cooking and food from around the globe. Another great binder of people and influence in her life.

She has been working with photography as well as part of mixed media art for the past 35 years. Nancy has been in shows throughout the Mid- West, California, Glasgow Scotland and Marbella Spain. Until recent years she was known for her work shot on Black and White film.

Many of the vegetables you see became fabulous meals that were cooked by chefs and friends and herself and consumed with great gusto.

For questions about Nancy’s photography email her at [email protected]