MEMBERS' NEWS FOR 2026
MARY BETH DRABISCZCAK
Mary Beth is teach a plein air pastel class at the Peninsula School of Art in Door County next month. Titled "Plein Air in Pastels for Beginners with Mary Beth Drabiszczak," the class is scheduled for Saturday, June 20th, fr
om 9:00 - 4:00 pm.
Plein air, French for “outdoor” or “in the open air”, refers to the tradition of landscape painting in the nineteenth century. Today, this practice has become increasingly popular with annual events and festivals, encouraging artists to create work of local communities directly on site. This one-day workshop introduces the fundamentals of working with pastel en plein air to create a small thumbnail and larger extended study of an outdoor subject of your choosing.
For more information, click here.
PATRICIA DUREN
Patricia has one pastel painting juried in to the ‘64th Annual Wall-to-Wall Exhibit" at the Hardy Gallery,
PO Box 394 Ephraim, WI 54211.
The exhibit runs from May 22 - July 5, 2026.
Also her Art studio in Spring Green, WI will be on the Fall Art Tour this year, scheduled from October 16, 17, & 18, 2026.
See the Fall Art Tour web site for more information.
KAY BRATHOL-HOSTVET
Kay has numerous classes and workshops scheduled for 2026 - you can access the list here. The first class starts Tuesday, April 21, 10-4: Introduction to Painting with Soft Pastel at Heyde Center for the Arts, Chippewa Falls, 
WI. There are a total of eight workshops and classes to choose from, several are at the Clearing Folk School in Ellison Bay, WI.
Here is a sample of Kay's work - "Aglow."
Kay also invites WPA members to review this "Open Call" for the juried show, Arrivals and Departures, that she is helping with again. Feel free to share with others or to write back if you have any questions about my schedule, this show, or art in general.
Here is the website for the juried show, Heyde Center for the Arts Call for Art. The website has the Prospectus and details about registering.
MARCIA GORRA-PATEK
“Then…… and NOW”, a collection of art work by Marcia Gorra-Patek, is being featured at the Washington House Inn through April 30.
Marcia is an award winning artist and teacher, having work shown and recognized in Germany, Japan, France, Italy and throughout the U.S. Marcia studied art in Wisconsin, (her native state), Illinois, Michigan, New York, Minnesota, Georgia, Texas, as well as in France and Italy, receiving several degrees and certificates. She has taught workshops and courses at several universities, art institutions, and museums. She is also a retired art teacher of the Grafton School District.
One journey Marcia enjoys, is to continually challenge her preconceived artistic concepts and techniques. In the piece, “Then…and Now”, Marcia pondered the idea of time, as in seasons, and change. This painting is a repaint over an old, “what was Then”, to create the new birth, like Spring, the “Now”.
So, when selecting works for the Washington House Inn, Marcia asks that you please observe the time span as well as the variety of mediums represented by the other pieces shown. To Marcia, this also represents her challenges and achievements with both traditional and contemporary two-dimensional media and concepts. Marcia acknowledges that she repeatedly centers on close-up, minute details of her visual environments.
The larger, acrylic series is a sample of several pieces over a span of years, that help her express visual details of small, “intimate” landscapes. Feeling the textures, dancing with the compositions, and immersing the “self” in visual color contrast are meant to bring joy while reminiscing our natural world. Paintings representing various Cedarburg sites entice viewers to be “home”, even if they do not live here. The beauty of detail, texture and color, still plays important roles throughout the invitation to emotional ties with this historic town. You are invited to walk through and enjoy the works in this show through April 30. All work is for sale, and can be seen in the Washington Avenue entrance, as well as in the main lobby of the Washington House Inn.
PATRICIA DUREN
Patricia has a spring exhibit at Rountree Gallery in Platteville, Wisconsin.
There will be 2 Shows: The Drift (Annual Group Exhibit) & Sneak Peek (Invitational Sketchbook Exhibit)
The exhibit dates are March 12 - April 25th. The reception will be held on Friday, March 13th, from 4:00 - 7:00 pm.
The gallery is located at 120 West Main Street in Platteville.
Check the hours of the gallery below.
SYBIL KLUG
Join Sybil on January 23rd at the reception for her watercolors at Lakeview Library in Madison. See the information below:
PATRICIA DUREN
Patricia has an exhibit of her work up at the Spring Green Community Library, Spring Green, WI for the entire month of January 2026.
There will be 7 oil paintings and 13 pastel paintings on display.
JEANNE BRIL & JULIA PAGENKOPF
Jeanne and Julia both have paintings accepted into the current exhibit, "Echoes of the Deep: Water's Artistic Voice," at Nadiana Art Gallery.
The show will run through February 13 2026.
MEMBERS' NEWS FOR 2025
MARY BETH DRABISZCZAK
Mary Beth has been involved in a number of activities and events over the last couple of months, as well as future teaching plans.
She had the honor of participating in the 2025 Door County Plein Air Festival as a first-time invited artist. Here is her painting "Beneath the Bear." There were five pastel artists that participated in the Door County event this year. She has written an article for Artists Network on my experience at the festival and the work of the participating pastelists - (https://www.artistsnetwork.com/art-buzz/colors-in-the-open-air-door-county-plein-art-festival-2025).
Mary Beth will also be teaching a number of pastel classes/workshops in the coming months! Emily Runnerstrom has established a wonderful new business in Neenah, WI called Root & Runner Creative Space. Mary Beth offered an introductory class on how to begin using pastels for plein air work on Saturday, August 16.
And she is also be teaching a second iteration of Intro to Color with Pastels at MIAD in their Pre-College and Continuing Education program as a six-week Saturday course in the fall (October 18 - November 22). She first offered this course in the spring of 2024 with a full group of wonderful artists. Registration should open up sometime early this month. (https://ycpreg.miad.edu/search/publicCourseSearchDetails.do?method=load&courseId=1039547&selectedProgramAreaId=1012255&selectedProgramStreamId=1022214).
Additionally, she has a one-day offering of Pets in Pastel at the Wilson Center in Brookfield, WI on September 20 and Art Hub in Cambridge, WI on December 13.
JULIA PAGENKOPF
Julia will have a co-exhibit at Nadiana Art Gallery from September 19 - October 24th. Her co-exhibiter is JoEllen Lisinski.
Julia will be exhibiting pastels and watercolors, both landscapes and abstracts that reflect the theme of vivid, vibrant colors and patterns. The pastels include textures, stencils and unique mark-making. The watercolors are fluid, spontaneous expressions of abstract ideas.
The reception will be on Friday, September 19th, from 6:00 - 8:00 pm.
The location of the gallery is mentioned on the flyer.
Everyone invited !
CHRIS BEHRS
Chris will be teaching several upcoming classes. The first will be at the Richeson School of Art and Gallery in Kimberly, Wisconsin - 'Rocks and Water in Pastel" scheduled for Thursday, July 17th, from 9:30 am - 3:30 pm. Here is the link for more information: https://richesongallery.com/rocks-and-water-in-pastel/.
The second class is at the Cedarburg Cultural Center - "Plein Air Workshop" scheduled for Friday, July 25th and Saturday, the 26th, from 9:30 am - 3:30 pm. Here is the link for the workshop: https://www.cedarburgculturalcenter.org/
adult-teen-classes. You can sign up for one or both days. (This is the same one that is currently listed for early May but it was rescheduled.)
Chris has also been accepted into several new shows:
The Richeson75 Landscape, Seascape, and Architecture online show with the following painting, titled "Churning Surf."
And the '1st Annual Paint Wisconsin Juried Exhibition: A Tribute to Marilyn Fuerstenberg’ at two galleries; Roberta’s Art Gallery at UW-Whitewater and the Whitewater Arts Alliance, from August 7th to September 10th. The following paintings have been accepted:
"Rural Rain" "Day Is Done" "Slanted Perspective"
MARCIA GORRA-PATEK
Marcia will be the Artist-in-Residence at the Cedarburg Cultural Center for the month of April, and demonstrating on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 1:00 - 4:00 pm. (April 1, 3, 5, 8, 10,12, 22, 29.)
Marcia Gorra-Patek is an award winning artist and retired art teacher. Her work has shown and been recognized in Germany, Japan, Italy and throughout the United States. She studied art in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Minnesota, Georgia and Texas and abroad in France and Italy. She holds a master’s degree in fine arts from Cranbrook Academy of Art.
Marcia has taught art on every level, preschool through college. She has been a guest teacher and lecturer at the University of Iowa, UW Milwaukee, Michigan State, Concordia University and John Michael Kohler Art Center. She is a certified Suzuki Music Teacher. She has maintained her art, music, jewelry/metals studio for 40 years while teaching art for 17 years in the Grafton School District. During this time, Marcia was awarded and continuously nominated by her colleagues for art teacher of the year. She continues to teach art and music to community groups, art centers and museums. She is the current president of Wisconsin Pastel Artists. The artist’s recent collection of works, Great Pears of Herstory, is a compilation of portraits and self-portraits inspired by amazing women rendered allegorically as pears.
Marcia will also be giving a new workshop: Pear Portraits in Pastel, on Thursday, April 24: 1-4 pm. In this pastel class, participants will take inspiration from within to paint a pastel portrait of themselves or someone they admire… as if they were a pear, aka a self-peartrait or peartrait! Using mouth-watering colors of pastels, students will learn techniques to quickly create an “off-the-self” version of someone’s life! All supplies are included in the class fee. Click here for more details.
JEANNE BRIL
Jeanne is the Artist-in-Residence at the Cedarburg Cultural Center for the month of March.
Stop in! She will be demonstrating at CCC on the following dates:
Sunday, March 2: 12-3 pm, Tuesday March 4: 10 am-1 pm, Saturday March 8: 11 am-2 pm
Tuesday March 11: 10 am-2 pm, Saturday March 15: 11 am-2 pm, Tuesday March 18: 10 am-1 pm
Thursday March 20: 11 am-2 pm, Thursday March 27: 11 am-2 pm
Click here for more information about the artist and an upcoming workshop.
CHRIS BEHRS
Chris is providing a number of workshops at the Cedarburg Cultural Center and the Richeson School of Art and Gallery in Kimberly, Wisconsin. Here is the schedule and links for more information:
Beginning Charcoals, Saturday, April 5 9-3:30, CCC
https://www.cedarburgculturalcenter.org/product-page/4-5-beginning-charcoals-with-chris-behrs
Plein Air: Painting Compelling Compositions, CCC, Friday and/or Saturday, May 2 and 3 (participants can sign up for one or both days). Friday I will focus on city scenes and Saturday will focus on nature.
Grander Skies, Saturday, April 26 9:30-3:30, Richeson School of Art and Gallery
https://richesongallery.com/grander-skies-april25/
TOM JEFFERS
Tom has an exhibit of twenty-plus works, in various media, hanging through February at the Fiddleheads Coffee Shop in Grafton. It's a spacious shop, at 505 Wisconsin Ave, which is just south from the main drag that goes into town off 43. The reception for this show at Fiddleheads is on February 21 from 3:00 to 5:00.
All proceeds will go to the Boys nd Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee. Do stop in if you've a spare hour.
MARCIA GORRA-PATEK
Marcia has a current show at Big Apple Bagels in Grafton (1961 Wisconsin Ave, Grafton, WI 53024).
The title of the show is "It's All About Love", with pieces created and titled after love songs that date between 1960 and today.
The pieces can be seen every day Big Apple Bagel is open, ( 1961 Wisconsin Ave, Grafton, WI. 6 am - 5 pm, Mon - Fri, 6-4 Sat, 10-4 Sun).
The painting to the left in the poster is "Love Will Find A Way" - Pastel & Acrylic, 12" x 12."
