Keokuk Art Center’s “The Eyes of March” Artists Spotlights

Please join the Keokuk Art Center’s celebration of professional and budding artists’ exhibit titled “The Eyes of March” throughout the month of March. This eclectic show will be a crowd pleaser with eleven different artists from the surrounding area exhibiting their work. The public is invited to attend a special reception to celebrate the artists will be held on March 7th from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Keokuk Art Center’s Round Room Galleries located at 210 N 5th Street.

The following artists will be showcasing their talents with a few art pieces:

Diane Berner: Diane Berner, a southeast Iowa native, does not claim to be an artist, but she loves to put herself in front of beautiful things and tries to capture moments to share with others. She lives and works as a teacher in Keokuk. Last year she won the Vince Seaver award for best photograph in the May competition show.

Dee Brown: You might recognize Dee from her work in the school district, or from helping her husband Noel at community events, or from her “hilarious” jokes on Facebook, but you may not know that she is a talented amateur photographer! Dee takes inspiration from nature, getting up close and personal, looking at what most people don’t consider worthy of a second glance. . Flowers, birds, and weeds are her favorite subjects, because if you look hard enough, there is beauty in everything.

Carla Celania: For over 45 years, Carla has dedicated herself to the intricate art of pysanky, creating exquisitely decorated Ukrainian Easter eggs. Her work is regularly exhibited at the Keokuk Art Center, and she has shared her expertise with pysanky classes through the Artist in the Schools program and at the Keokuk Art Center for more than 30 years. Carla is currently the secretary for the Keokuk Art Center Board and will be teaching a class with KAC board member Louis Orozco on March 22nd at the Keokuk Art Center.

Renee Donley: Renee lives near Lima, Illinois. Her art journey started in 5th grade when she entered an art contest and won. Drawing was her focus all through high school and college. After college she got married and set art aside to raise a family. Renee said, “It’s been a dream to have art as the focus again. Since COVID caused us to be homebound, I decided it was time to pick up a paint brush again. I have been enjoying watercolors, acrylics and colored pencils. My subject concentration started as flowers, but now there is a wide range of subjects with the occasional art commission. Along with this dream comes joy and great pleasure when I see the face of the new owner of my art. I am truly grateful for this journey and the art opportunities that have come my way.”

Jeff Ludwig: Jeff is an art teacher at Warsaw high school. He studied art in Korea for one year. He has a bachelor’s degree from Northeast Missouri State University in art education. He is also owner and operator of Ink Invasion tattoo in Keokuk Iowa. A lot of Jeff’s artwork revolves around the surreal, wildlife, and native American. He has been a high school art teacher for 34 years and 26 years of tattooing.

Tom McKay: Tom is a lifelong resident of Keokuk. Although having an early interest in art, he did not actively practice until later in life. His art education came from informal workshops with notable watercolor artists Wendell Mhr, Tom Lynch and Alvaro Castagenet, among others. His interests are local landscapes, historical subjects and botanical art.

Michelle Mortimer: Michelle is a Keokuk designer and multimedia artist. She studied apparel product design at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. Her current focus is fiber art and
beadwork, and she takes her inspiration from the colors and textures in nature in an attempt to
bring more beauty to the world. You can find her vending locally most weekends with her
business lavenderNdaisies. Michelle will also be the new Executive Director of the Keokuk Art Center.

Lydia O’Neal: Lydia did very little art of her own during the years she taught as she was busy with family and making examples to use in her classroom—at one point the two teachers had over 3000 examples created for the lessons they would teach each year. When she was nearing retirement, Lydia started to use the open studio at the Keokuk Art Center exploring glass fusing. She also began doing pencil sketches just as value studies. Those “sketches” morphed into finished drawings that she worked on for several years, but her wrist gave out and she had to give it a rest. Lydia enjoys watercolor and pastel workshops, but she still has not “gotten back” to using oils—her forte in college. Both Lydia and her husband Tim have BFAs, but they are life-long learners who have taught themselves much of what they are currently doing.

Tim O’Neal Tim has worked almost exclusively with colored pencils while his children were growing up because it was clean and quick to pick up and put away-the kids respected his “studio” set up in the corner of the living room. He worked on large drawings using layer upon layer of Prismacolor. His work was frequently recognized at local shows and even internationally by the colored pencil society. After retirement, Tim set out to relearn everything he knew about color when he switched to oils. He paints every afternoon in a real studio now and still gets recognized regularly in area shows.

Roxanne Puga: Roxanne has always been attracted to art: color, composition, shape and texture. She’s taken art classes with some really great teachers over the years including Sandy Meyer, John Preston, and Carleen Atwater, to name a few. When she was introduced to pastels by Gin Lammert she felt like she had found her medium. She said, “I was very sporadic about painting and spent more time quilting at that point. It wasn’t until I retired from my job as a teacher librarian, that I got serious about painting. I’ve been painting regularly for almost three years now. (I actually finish the pieces now!)

Trisha Render:Trisha is a Keokuk Native and has always had an eye for the creative arts and has expressed her artistic abilities in many different forms. In addition to painting and drawing as a child, she has also grown up dancing at Top Hatter II Dance Studio, owned by her mother, where she has worked as a choreographer and music editor. As an undergraduate at the University of Iowa, she double majored in Film Studies and Ancient History and made several short student films. Since then, she has picked up two Master’s degrees and currently works as the Youth Services Librarian at Keokuk Public Library. In addition to leading arts and crafts programs with children at the library, she continues her work in performing arts, crochet, and painting while her son and three cats look on.

Nancy Underwood: Nancy Underwood grew up in Fort Madison, Iowa and is now retired from the U. S. Navy. She began her art education when she lived in Wilkes County, NorthCarolina. She attended classes leading to a degree in Fine Arts at Surry Community College and then Carteret County Community College. Nancy’s artwork is reflective of her surroundings and having relocated to Keokuk, IA a few years ago, she has traveled around the region looking for the beautiful places to take inspiration from for her artwork. She is an avid birdwatcher and frequently travels to see bird migrations and takes many photos for reference use. She enjoys depicting beautiful places and has painted many works inspired by photos she has taken. Nancy can be reached at [email protected] or 252-269-2399. You may also see additional work posted on Instagram, Nancy Underwood.