Our instructors are drawn from a wealth of talented teachers, including nationally known artists from across the country and across the street. They are innovative craftsmen and artists who enjoy trying new techniques and love sharing what they do with their students.
If you are an experienced art, craft, writing, or performing arts instructor and are interested in teaching at Shake Rag Alley, click here for more information.
Sarah Rehmer was born and raised in the western suburbs of Chicago, and currently lives in the Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago. In 2003 Rehmer earned her BA in Graphic Design and Photography from Dominican University in River Forest, IL. She found her love for working with pages from old books while auditing a class post-graduation at the university. Rehmer is a FY2012 Illinois Arts Council – Professional Development Grant recipient and her work is held in private collections in around the United States, Canada, Italy, and Norway, as well as Institutional and Corporate collections in Illinois and New York. Rehmer teaches classes and workshops around the Midwest and on occasion a little further away.
Workshops
Lorraine Reynolds is a multidisciplinary artist specializing in the transformation of recycled materials. She works primarily in fiber, collage, assemblage and installation. Her creative practice is deeply rooted in an intimate connection with the local environment, utilizing materials gifted by her surroundings. Through her art, she reveres the legacies of the past, seeking to nourish our collective spirits and find meaning within the ceaseless cycles of existence ‚Äì embracing both life’s vitality and its poignant transitions. Believing in the profound potential of art, Lorraine sees it as a catalyst for healing, guiding both creator and observer through the realms of loss and trauma, offering a passage toward solace and understanding.
With over 30 years’ expertise in the apparel industry, Lorraine’s passion for textiles and vintage apparel fuels her artistic expression. Alongside her studio practice and teaching engagements, she works full-time as a Design and Product Development Consultant.
Lorraine earned her MFA in Visual Art from Vermont College of Fine Art and has showcased her work both regionally and nationally. Her commitment to the arts extends to her community involvement, having contributed to the board of Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts as a past president.
She resides in Mineral Point, WI with her husband and her extremely affectionate German Shorthair Pointer, Ziggy.
Workshops
I now live in a small town of Hopkinton, Iowa. Spent most of my adult life taking all kinds of craft classes. The ones I enjoyed I practiced a lot so I could master them. Some of the crafts I really enjoyed most include carving, knitting, tatting, Hedebo, papercutting and Zentangle. I try to incorporate some of the crafts together. I have really enjoyed putting Zentangle on carvings. When people see them, they ask me to teach classes. I really enjoy passing along the craft to others.
Workshops
I am interested in making mixed media books and found object assemblages that bring together disparate materials into a balanced form. A little visual peace. I have had many jobs in art and science, most involved teaching. My education is varied including botany and teaching creative thinking. Now my husband, Patrick and I own and operate Two Fish Studio and focus our energy on our granddaughter, garden, and studios.
Workshops
Jamie Rogness is a highly creative and versatile artist who works in a broad range of mediums, predominently using natural materials. She is a master woodcarver, working with both hand and power tools to create intricate sculptures from tree branches and exquisite designs on ostrich eggs. Her concrete leaf castings are beautifully realistic. She has taught a variety of classes at the annual Woodlanders Gathering at Shake Rag Alley for over 10 years, including handsome, handmade lampshades with a touch of nature.
Workshops
Reflection of who I am as an artist keeps bringing me back to one word, evolution. I have always loved art – I drew and painted as a child, and as I got older, the transition into adulthood left me little time for creative expression. In my 30s, another major transition into parenthood gave me the unexpected inspiration to return to art. Spending time with my sons and seeing the world through their eyes, moved me to pick up the paint brush again and express color with renewed wonder for the world around me.
Nature is my subject matter, whether literally interpreted through landscapes and still life or abstractly represented by the textures and depth of oil and cold wax medium. Like the evolution of my life experiences, I love to explore and imagine the journey of objects and am inspired by history, age, and patina.
I am a member of several Artist Organizations including: River Arts Inc.,The Wisconsin Alliance Of Artist and Craftspeople, Wisconsin Visual Artists, and Mount Horeb Area Arts Association.
I have my work represented full time by The River Arts Gallery and The Paoli Mercantile. Along with this I have been a guest artist displayed in numerous galleries and exhibitions, and participated in local art fairs for numerous years.
Over the years I have demonstrated and talked about my work and the techniques I use to create with Cold Wax. After several inquiries, and a little encouragement from a few people, I have added teaching classes to my list of artistic endeavors. Instagram: @summitartstudio
Workshops
Sarah Sadie believes community needs creativity and creativity needs community, and we all need new stories. She’s a poet, writer, and creative visionary who lives on a continental divide in a small town in Wisconsin. Winner of the Lorine Niedecker Prize, the Posner Prize and a Pushcart Prize, and nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award, she grows tomatoes in buckets and teaches and facilitates workshops and classes with the aim of helping creatives find their new stories and next steps. Her poetry has been published widely and collected into five books including a letter press edition from Red Dragonfly Press. Online, she can be found holding An Inviting Space on Substack where she shares reflections, invitations and prompts with her readers and hosts an ever growing circle of creative practitioners, artists and writers.
Workshops
How to Make Interesting Messes on the Page: A Workshop on Revision
I started working with metal in 2000. I moved in and took over my husband’s small motor repair shop and began fabricating lawn ornaments. I began incorporating blacksmithing into my work after going to a thresher man’s show. My husband built me a forge and we started going to every blacksmith event we could find. Afterward, I would go back to my shop and practice what I learned from the demonstrator.
In 2005 I was introduced to copper. It was the same thing all over again. Learn and practice. I enjoy working with both metals. Blacksmithing may have been my first love, but copper is my passion. I most enjoy the design and teaching others how to create pieces in copper. I cannot admit that I am self taught for I have learned from demonstrators and the many friends who have encouraged and supported me. I am fortunate to be able to teach, demonstrate, and share what I have learned over the years – to pass it on, as they may say. My husband and I are members of IVBA, UMBA, IBA, ABANA and SOFA. I have enjoyed every minute of learning both of these fine crafts.
Workshops
Nick Scheuer has been carving birds since he was a Boy Scout 40 years ago. He has developed a coloring system as popular as his rustic, whittled, carving style. His colorful songbird carvings may be seen at Longbranch Gallery in Mineral Point.
Workshops
Carve a Tufted Titmouse Looking Down at a Cat on the Ground Below – Woodlanders Gathering
Sandra Schoen is a visual artist and art educator based in Madison, Wisconsin. She creates drawings, paintings, and artist books that explore themes of place, memory, and community. Her work has been shown across Wisconsin in both solo and group exhibitions, and is included in the permanent collection of UW Health Eastpark Medical Center. Schoen holds a BFA and an Art Education Certificate from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In addition to her studio practice, she leads community-based art projects focused on social connection, youth voice, and creative placemaking.
Workshops
Zine Making Workshop: Share Your Voice in Print
Sandy is a sculptor, writer, art gallery owner, and former documentary and public affairs producer/executive producer for PBS, public television in Houston, Texas and Hartford, Connecticut in the days when video tape was 2 inches wide, cameras weighed 100’s of pounds, and editing was done manually from one enormous machine to another.
She owned her own television production and public relations company, Great Scott Productions, in Berkley CA.
She served as development director and executive director of the Donna Reed Foundation for the Performing Arts in Iowa and was also a member of the Board of Economic Development for the state of Iowa.
Sandy and her late partner, Judy Sutcliffe created Longbranch Gallery in Mineral Point in 2000, started the Woodlanders Gathering in 2001, and founded Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts in 2004. She continues to serve as a volunteer, participant, and co-instructor for Shake Rag Alley and owns Longbranch Gallery.
Workshops
Linda Seebauer Hansen is an artist and educator working in metal to create sculpture and jewelry. She earned an MFA at the University of Wisconsin – Madison and BA from the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse. Linda’s teaching experiences include: Metals Department Head at the Worcester Center for Crafts, MA, and faculty appointments at St. Catherine University, St Paul, MN, University of Wisconsin – Whitewater and Madison, and Milwaukee Area Technical College. She has also taught youth and adult enrichment courses at Quench Jewelry Arts in the historic, vibrant Northeast Minneapolis Arts District and the Minnetonka Center for the Arts, MN. Her curiosity and innovative nature took her to a residence and two assistantships at Penland School of Crafts, NC and provided a scholarship to attend the Women’s Art Institute at St Catherine University followed by a teaching assistant. She has over ten years experience as an arts leader working for two small local, culturally rich Minneapolis based nonprofit organizations. In addition she exhibits in a variety of shows and works with clients on one-of-a-kind commissions. Her achievements also include: scholarship to attend the Women’s Art Institute at St. Catherine University and invitation as a teaching assistant; the Barrett Morgan Award for exemplary leadership and teaching at the Worcester Center for Crafts, and an Individual Fellowship Award from the Wisconsin Arts Board. In addition to her metal work, Linda pursues mixed media sculpture and works on paper in her St. Paul, MN studio, and is the Communication and Engagement Specialist for the Department of Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Macalester College.
Workshops
Helen Shafer Garcia is a painter, a mixed media, book arts and ceramics artist, and an award-winning illustrator. Helen’s watercolor illustrations have graced the cover of brochures, garden articles, and advertisements of numerous international resorts and magazines for more than 30 years. Awards include four San Diego Press Club First Place Awards of Excellence in Illustration for San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles Magazine. Her works and articles have been published in Southwest Art; Cloth, Paper, Scissors; San Diego Home and Garden Lifestyles, and Studios magazines. Helen holds a BA degree in fine arts with an emphasis in illustration and ceramics. She is a signature member of the San Diego Watercolor Society and teaches watercolor and mixed media workshops internationally and across the U.S.
Workshops
Carole Spelić grew up with educator parents and no television, so since childhood she’s been making things in 2D and 3D. She graduated from Bates College (ME) with a BA in Fine Art and earned her MA and MFA from the University at Albany (NY). After graduate school, Carole lived in Manhattan, New York City for 17 years where she was assistant coordinator for the state university system’s Studio Semester in New York program.
She’s retired from her Senior Lecturer position in the Art area at the University of Wisconsin – Platteville as well as from being Program Director with Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts, and is now enjoying life as a full-time artist, musician, workshop leader, and gallerist. Carole and her partner, painter Richard Moninski, own and operate Green Lantern Studios, a gallery of fine art and handicrafts in Mineral Point.
Recent exhibitions include work at the Museum of Wisconsin Art (West Bend), The Pump House (La Crosse), the Nohr Gallery (Platteville) and other regional venues. Her current artwork demonstrates a lack of fear of materials and processes.
Workshops
Perfect Placemat Pairs – April
Perfect Placemat Pairs – November
Rustic Gothic Hexagonal Side Table – Woodlanders Gathering
I have a BFA in Drawing from Northern Illinois University in Dekalb Illinois. I have been teaching Moku-Hanga workshops since 2017, teaching at Shake Rag Alley in Mineral Point, WI, The Clearing Folk School in Ellison Bay, WI, and The Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago IL. My work can be found at Longbranch Gallery in Mineral Point Wisconsin and on Patreon at http://www.patreon.com/cw/alfreddrawsbirds.
Workshops
By profession I have been an RN for 40+ years. I have been an avid maker my entire life. I have pursued fine art and crafts programs at my local community college for 30 years. I have been a rustic woodworking instructor teaching Girl Scouts and Girl Scout Leaders going back 20 years.
Workshops
Cyn Tennant is a self-taught painter/sculptor/assemblage artist living in Ada, Michigan. She has taught numerous classes over the last 10 years in the west Michigan area. Cyn’s style of art is quirky and twisted with a heavy dose of humor reflected in her Halloween-themed pieces; her teaching style emphasizes humor and encourages students to step outside the box and create totally unexpected artwork! She suffers from essential tremors, so rest assured that she understands and can help each student manage their own dexterity challenges.
Workshops
Born November 5, 1955 according to hospital records in Oakland County, MI. Unremarkable and otherwise normal youth/upbringing in suburban Detroit, undergraduate degree from Kalamazoo College, MFA pursuit @ University of Michigan. Married to Cyn Tennant 1983 @ Ann Arbor, MI, moving shortly thereafter to Grand Rapids, MI. Proud father and chief corruption officer for both our sons, career in plastics manufacturing management/sales in both Grand Rapids and Budapest, Hungary. Currently retired but working full-time in a pro bono role as VP of marketing, engineering and logistics at http://www.cyntennant.com, specializing in measuring twice-cutting once, safety enforcement and adhesive/attachment technician, proudly hanging on to all my fingers and toes (so far). In the workshops I have been fortunate enough to participate in, Cyn will expand your mind and creative boundaries, and I will help make sure we avoid unwanted collateral damage by respecting generally accepted laws of physics.
Workshops
Bob Tuftee has been blacksmithing almost 30 years now. “I started out making ironware for my camping gear doing Mountain Man rendezvous events.” Bob lives in LeClaire, Iowa, and has done all kinds of blacksmithing, including forge work for his business, Upper Mississippi Valley Mercantile Company. He has sold to re-enactors across the country and has also sold ironware to movie and production companies. He has been the village blacksmith at Pioneer Village in Scott County Park, Davenport, Iowa, for the past 25 years, plus teaching and leading workshops at the Old Blacksmith Shop at the Galena History Museum in Illinois. Bob is an active member of ABANA (Artist Blacksmith Association of North America), IVBA (Illinois Valley Blacksmith Association), and UMBA (Upper Midwest Blacksmith Association), and is currently a board member of UMBA. He has taken several advanced blacksmithing classes throughout the years. Most of his blacksmithing work is done in a coal forge. Bob retired in 2012. He worked almost 45 years in skilled trades as a millwright and certified welder, the last 28 at Alcoa in the Davenport area.
Workshops
Sherry Viktora is a senior instructor in silver metal clay. She brings a love of nature and gardening to her art and an enthusiasm for sharing to her teaching. She combines metal clay with glass and organic materials to create unique work. After receiving PMCC certifications and art clay instructor certification, Sherry retired to become a full-time senior instructor. Sherry’s work has been published in national art and jewelry magazines and can be found at Longbranch Gallery in Mineral Point.
Workshops
Fine Silver Leaves & Pods from the Garden
18 Shake Rag St.
Mineral Point, WI 53565
(608) 987-3292
