New work by VIVA Member Mark Herrling

VIVA Members are invited to submit a piece that explores the concept, the feeling, the color, the mindset of “BLUE”

Scratchboard

I have a motto that I live by: “My Only Desire is to Inspire.” This is why I do what I do. It is always my hope that you look at my art and feel a spark of desire to go out and do something that brings you joy. While doing that, your creative passion will spark others, too. I want my art to brighten someone's day. To make them feel a connection to the rhythm of the Universe. To understand that they are a little tiny piece of it all.

Print Maker / Potter

Within my printmaking work, I aim to explore themes that might help myself and the viewer understand how we interpret, experience, and interact with the natural world around us, and how we tell stories to make sense of our worlds. I am interested not only in how humans impact the world around us (often to devastating effect), but also how the natural world impacts humans, our history, our cultures, and our experiences. While we often perceive ourselves to be separate from the natural world, we are in fact constantly living in relationship to it.

Woven and Coiled Baskets

My pine needle work is created using long leaf pine needles that come from the Carolinas, Georgia, or Florida. The raw needles are placed in a water and glycerin bath and roasted slowly for several hours at a low temperature. The needles retain the glycerin, this strengthens them. If I choose to use color in the needles, dye is added to the glycerin bath. Once this process is finished the needles are placed on drying racks and rotated on a daily basis until they are completely dry. They are then ready to be coiled into a vessel using various embroidery-type stitches. Not always, but often I will use a base (wood, ceramic, wire form) as an anchor for the needles and stitches when I begin a piece.

Watercolor

Oil and Acrylic Painter

StevenBeselerArtstudio.com

Photographs

Ceramist

VIVA Gallery in Viroqua presents the 13th annual Artisan Market. The market will include the creations of a guest artists in an array of different media along with new work from VIVA member artists. The market is a perfect place to find special, one-of-a-kind gifts for the holidays.