Bob Bloomberg

Robert Kocher was born and raised in Jefferson City, Missouri. Currently, he is a resident of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Robert received his Bachelors in Art and his Masters in Painting from the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO. Robert began his teaching career as an art teacher at Stockton College in Canton, MO. In 1959, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Art at Coe College. Today, he is a Professor Emeritus of Art and the Curator of Coe’s Art Collection. As a teacher, Robert has used many forms of media, but recently, he has concentrated on watercolor art. Robert gives a special acknowledgement to his wife, Joan and three children. Their love and support has enabled him to be the productive artist he is. During his leisure time, Robert enjoys painting, but he also enjoys spending time gardening, volunteering and visiting family and friends in a social settings.
 

Steve DeForest

"Not So Sure"

Art has been a part of Steve’s life so many years, but he became more involved with art when he decided to go back to college to finish his degree. Steve received his associate degree from Kirkwood Community College and his bachelor degree from Mount Mercy. Steve prefers to work with sculpture or 3-D, but also enjoys mixing media. He feels his specialty is landscaping design, particularly working with natural stone and water gardens. Currently, Steve resides in Cedar Rapids. He enjoys spending time with his son, participating in outdoor activities and music. Steve is also a part of the band 3, which is a groove-oriented power trio hailing from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Steve created a piece for Reflections called “Not So Sure”.

Roy R. Behrens
“Encircled Green”
 

Roy is a professor of art at the University of Northern Iowa, where he teaches graphic design, illustration and design history. He is a contributing editor of PRINT magazine, art editor of the North American Review, and founder of Ballast Quarterly Review. His other writings include five books and several hundred articles on art-and design- related subjects. Described recently as a “world authority on camouflage,” he has appeared in interviews on NOVA (PBS), Equinox (BBC), BBC Radio and on Living in Iowa (IPTV), and is often consulted about art and camouflage. His most recent book includes FALSE COLORS: Art, Design and Modern Camouflage (2002), and COOK BOOK: Gertrude Stein, William Cook and Le Corbusier and psychologist Adelbert Ames II, inventor of the Ames Demonstrations in psychology. As an artist, designer and illustrator, his books, periodicals and exhibition sites. Described by Communication Arts magazine as “one of the most original thinkers in design.” He was nominated in 2003 for the Smithsonian Institution’s prestigious National Design Awards.

Mary Snyder Behrens
"Tissue Sample:

Untitled #4"
 

Mary grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She studied at Mount Mary College and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and in 1982, received a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in Painting and Drawing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Over the past twenty-five years, Mary’s work has been included in scores of group exhibitions, both juried and invitational, in galleries and museums throughout the United States, England, Switzerland, Canada and Japan. It has also been featured in nearly thirty solo exhibitions at universities, art centers and museums through the country. She is represented in an increasing number of private and public collections, has received awards from the Ohio Arts Council and the Iowa Arts Council and since 1991, has been chosen for inclusion in every edition of Who’s Who in American Art.

Mary is resides in northeast Iowa, where she lives on a small wooded farm with her husband (graphic designer Roy R. Behrens) and a surfeit of curious creatures, both wild and tame.
 

Sara J. Peiffer Sorensen
“Window of Life”
 

Sara’s art career began with ceramics, she then moved on to oil paints, and finally watercolors. She has sold many paintings that are now on display throughout the United States. She also has works in the Women’s Center and the Endoscopy Unit at Mercy. Sara Sorensen graduated from Iowa Wesleyan College with a BA in Education. For five years she taught third grade for the Cedar Rapids Community Schools. She continued teaching first with preschool art for the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art and then cooking classes. Sara was a volunteer ceramics teacher for the St. Luke’s Psychiatric Department. Sara continues to give to the community by contributing her paintings to local charities and out of state charities. She is a member of the Linn County Cancer Board, Mercy Auxiliary Boards, Co-Chair of Art Exhibits at Mercy Medical Center, Cedar Rapids Symphony, a member of the Linn County Cancer Board, Mercy Auxiliary Board, Co-Chair of the Art Exhibits at Mercy Medical Center, and Ambassador with the Cedar Rapids Chamber of Commerce. She is a creative artist, an Iowa artist and a signature member of the Iowa Watercolor Society.

Kim O’Meara

“Quadratic Requation”

 

Kim is a resident of Cedar Rapids and is currently working in the Cedar Rapids Community School District as a lead teacher for the Home School Assistance Program. She has been a teacher for over 30 years. Kim also teaches an art making class to cancer survivors and their families. Although teaching is her profession, she also calls herself a renowned artist. Her area of choice is mosaic and jewelry making. She is also very talented in creating metal artwork and found object art pieces. Kim has her BA and BS in Art and Art Education from University of Iowa and her MA in Elementary Education. Kim enjoys traveling, folk music and spending time with family, but she tries to spend as much time as she can in her art studio.

Sharon

Burns-Knutson

“Fireflies”

 

Sharon is a resident of Cedar Rapids, Iowa and currently works as an art teacher in the Iowa City Community School District. She has created a unique art piece for Reflections that depicts her life as a child. Sharon's piece features a childhood memory about fireflies and the joys of being outside. This piece exhibits rich and vibrant colors that help to enhance her storyline in her art piece. She is a graduate of the M.F.A. painting program at the University of Iowa. Sharon has explored a range of subject matter and styles in her work, but she enjoys oil painting as her form of specialty.

Tara Moorman

"What A Wonderful World"

Tara Moorman is an accomplished artist and workshop instructor. Much of her artistic emphasis is on flowers, animals and landscapes, which she loves and abstracts, which give her total freedom. Considered a “colorist” by her peers she is a Signature Member of the Iowa Watercolor Society (IWS) and the Society of Layerist in Multi-Media (SLMM). Tara’s award winning abstract, “Heaven’s Gate” is featured in the 2004 book “The Art of Layering: Making Connections” a SLMM publication.

Tara, involved in art since childhood, studied with Betty Dickerson and Charles Sanderson at the Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, Kansas. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Kansas and utilized her art education in her marketing business, for many years. Since 1996 she has pursued her passion for creating fine art. Tara’s work can be found in private and corporate collections in 22 states. Her artistic spirit emanates from each painting.
 

Bob is the founder and director of the Expressive Arts program, working directly with staff and children. Bob received his Bachelor’s of Fine Arts at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and his Master’s of Social Work at Smith College in Massachusetts.

Prior to coming to Tanager Place 29 years ago, Bob worked at the Jewish Board of Guardians in New York, Hawthorne Cedar Knolls in Hawthorne, New York and at the Mental Health Institute in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.

Chuck Barth

"Donaji"

Charles Barth is an internationally known printmaker and mixed media artist living in Oaxaca, Mexico and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He has participated in over 500 national and international exhibitions since 1966 and received numerous awards and grants include a Howard Lester Cooke Foundation Grant for his work with NYLE Press in New York City and the Paper Press in Chicago. Barth studied at the prestigious Illinois Institute of Design in Chicago, Illinois State University and The University of Iowa. He is a professor emeritus from Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids where he taught printmaking for 30 years before retiring in 2003. His work in included in numerous books and museum and university collections including The Art Institute of Chicago, The Des Moines Art Center and The Philadelphia Museum of Art. He is affiliated with Campbell/Steele Gallery in Marion, New Ground Print Gallery in Albuquerque, La Mano Magica in Oaxaca, Mexico and with Olson Larsen Galleries in Des Moines.

Sue Hettmansperger
Untitled Piece
 

Sue is a Professor of Art and Drawing at The University of Iowa School of Art where she has taught since 1977. She did a graduate study at Yale University and the University of New Mexico before moving to New York City. Her work has been exhibited and collected nationally for the past 25 years and is included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Art, The Art institute of Chicago among many others. This fall she has a one person exhibition at A.I.R.; Gallery in New York City.

 Jim Jacobmeyer
“Untitled”
 

Art has been a part of Jim Jacobmeyer’s professional life for more than 30 years. In 1974 Jim began his career as a high school art teacher in Sydney, Australia. Returning to the states in 1976 Jim began a twelve year experience as an art teacher in a variety of institutions. In 1990 he was recruited to work in CRCSD’s PACT (Program for Academic and Creative talent) in the role as a Gifted and Talented Specialist and served in that capacity for ten years. Jim missed the art room and returned to his teaching at the high school level for Metro Alternative High School where he is still teaching today. Currently, Jim also shares his expertise as an adjunct instructor at Mt. Mercy College in Cedar Rapids. Jim is an active volunteer instructor in GWAEA’s “College for Kids Summer Program for Gifted and Talented”. He also is special instructor for the U of Iowa’s Wings Program for Gifted at the Belin Center. He is currently the president of the New Bohemia Group, Inc.

 John Paul Schafer
“Remains of a

Broken Home"

John Paul is a resident of Cedar Rapids. He has been a studio painter since 1990 and a commercial designer since 1994. John Paul specialized in oil, ink and watercolor. He loves to use mix media. John Paul also enjoys traveling, ethnic food and live music. The piece John Paul created for Reflections is titled “Remains of a Broken Home”.

Gae Sharp-Richardson

Gae Sharp-Richardson is a multi-media artist, specializing in recreating with found objects. She originally created the wire wrapped t-shirt dolls for the home and garden cable television station HGTV for the series "That's Clever" which aired the beginning of 2007. Gae and her husband own Temptations Fine Candies in Atkins - where they make fine chocolates, and a second retail store in Marion - selling their chocolate and Iowa wines. She does volunteer work for the steering committee for the Marion Arts Festival and anything else that Francis Marion Intermediate School art teacher, Karen Hoyt gets her involved in. Gae lives in Cedar Rapids with her husband, daughter and grandson, Eliot.

 

John graduated from Hobart College in 1972 with an English degree. He continued his education at Illinois State University receiving his Masters in Ceramics and Fine Arts. Currently, John is a Professor of Art at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He specializes in ceramics, sculpture and three-dimensional design.

John Beckelman

Marci grew up in Cedar Rapids, but has been a resident of Marion, Iowa for 26 years. Currently, Marci is employed through the Marion Independent School District and teaches children who have special needs. Marci began enjoying art at an early age. She recalls, as a child, sending one of her crayon pictures to the ever-so-popular Captain Kangaroo. This experience allowed her to always have a love for art. She has always participated in the arts by promoting, supporting or creating. Marci uses all types of media, but she really enjoys using acrylics, although recently she discovered the joys of working with colored pencils. Marci is currently the president of the Marion Arts Council and serves on the Marion Cultural Entertainment District Committee. During Marci’s spare time she enjoys creating art, gardening, cooking, camping and cross country skiing.

Marci Wright
“Peace Together”
 

Hugh Lifson
“Corso, Corso”
 

Hugh is a resident of Mt. Vernon and is a professor at Cornell College. Hugh is married and has two children. Hugh obtained his BA from Wesleyan University and his MFA from Pratt Institute. In his work he has used transparencies to overcome limitations of space and time. In the paintings, he uses a series of layers of plastic wrap which is both a metonym of our culture and has a resemblance to the old European oil glazing techniques of Titian and Van Eyck. On the works on paper, he uses the traditional techniques of pen, ink and graphite, coupled with transparencies constructed with Adobe Photoshop. Hugh’s work has been seen in many exhibition, collections and publications throughout the country.

Susan Stamats
“Spider Reflections”
 

Susan Stamats is a nationally and regionally known photographer. She is also an award winning hot air balloonist. Her work is primarily based in nature and this particular image is from the countryside near her home. There is a misty sense of calm about this image with the dew clinging to the spider web and the soft focus of the landscape in the background. Today that sense of calm is brought to children through the Tanager Art House.

Fred Easker is a Cedar Rapids native who has been painting the Iowa landscape for about fifteen years.  His work is included in museum, corporate and private collections throughout the Midwest and has appeared in a number of periodicals and books. He was recently featured on Iowa Public Television's Assignment Iowa:  Iowa Master Artists.  He was an Arts Midwest/National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship recipient in 1997. 

 

Fred Easker

For the last seventeen years, Velga has been intrigued by the process of bringing order and new meaning to discarded everyday objects by deconstructing and assembling them to create collages and assemblages which have an emphasis on pattern. Her current work focuses on materials associated with forms of communication, for example cancelled postage. Velga created a unique piece for Reflections that incorporates her current work, cancelled stamps. Her piece is called “Pansies - #3”.

An émigré from Lativa, a country with a strong craft tradition, she enjoyed a bi-cultural existence, which expanded her vision of the world and taught her not to accept the seeming obvious. Velga graduated from the University of Iowa with a Bachelors in Art, but has worked in the field of human services most of her professional life. After years working in the human services field, Velga now devotes her time to art. She currently has an in-home studio, but also has work displayed at Corner House Gallery.
 

 Velga Easker
“Pansies - #3”
 

Jane Gilmor studied at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago and The University of Iowa. She has exhibited nationally and internationally since 1976. Most recently she had a solo show at A.I.R. Gallery in NYC in 2005 and her film, Blind, was included in the Rural Route Film Festival in New York in 2006. In 2004 she was a Fulbright Senior Scholar in Portugal. She is included in books such as Lucy Lippard’s, Overlay: Contemporary Art and the Art of Prehistory; and Broude and Gerrard’s The Power of Feminist Art: The American Movement of the 1970’s History, Abrams. And Feminists Who Changed America, 1963-1976, B. Love, Univ of Ill. Press, 2006. Her work is in numerous collections including The Des Moines Art Center, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Bemis Foundation, and The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. She is affiliated with A.I.R. Gallery in New York and Olson Larsen Galleries in Des Moines. She is a professor of Art and Chair of the Art Department at Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids.

Jane Gilmor
“Jack’s Weeds”
 

Marty Brown
“Window Mirror”
 

Marty is an art teacher at Viola Gibson Elementary. She has been teaching art in Cedar Rapids School District for over 27 years. Marty graduated with a BA from the University of Iowa and is a resident of Cedar Rapids. Marty feels her specialty is working with clay, but also likes working with fabric specifically batik and quilting. Currently, Marty is a board member and treasurer for The African American Historical Museum. She enjoys gardening, biking, skiing, sewing, reading and loves doing puzzles. Marty created a piece for Reflections titled “Window Mirror”.

Lynda Black-Smith
“When you dream,

you can dance

like a feather!”
 

Lynda Black-Smith was a full time teacher of art and part time artist for 30 years. She is now retired and a part time art education consultant, an art methods teacher at Coe College and a FULL TIME Artist!! Lynda is currently a resident of Cedar Rapids and has her own in-home art studio. She loves working with all types of art, but mostly transformative sculpture – multiple media. She takes things that most people would consider “un-art” (like this old window and wire) and transforms them into art! So in other words, Lynda works with drawing, painting, sculpture and “concoctions”. Lynda has her Bachelors and Masters in art education. She believes much of her learning is from the children she taught in her years of teaching and really feels the kids taught her the most! Most of them arrive at school thinking they already can dance as light as a feather. When Lynda is not teaching or being an artist, she loves to being involved with music and theater.

Joyce Dietzgen

Biography coming soon

 Rick Edelman

&

Betty Feinberg

“Make a Blind Man See Three:

Betty’s Kitchen Windows”
“Make a Blind Man See Two:

Do’s & Don’ts”
“Make a Blink Man See One:

Avon Ruby Red on Your Head”
 

Rick is an artist who is well known in the Midwest for his surreal and intricate fantasy drawings of flying hammers and mysteriously animated shop tools. Rick graduated from Mount Mercy College and is a current resident of Waubeek, Iowa. Rick’s artwork has been displayed at Campbell-Steel Gallery in Marion, Iowa and at Olson-Larsen Gallery in Des Moines, Iowa. Betty Feinberg assisted Rick with this year’s Reflections art piece.

Jim Strickland

"Aspen Glow"

"Autumn Rays"

"Castle View"

Jim is a resident of Cedar Rapids and is currently employed at St. Luke’s Hospital working with children and adolescents. Since 1985, Jim has used art as a form of therapy for individual patients as well as art therapy groups. Jim received his degree in Education and Art from Mount Mercy College. Jim loves to work with pastels and colored pencils, but he feels he works best with watercolors. In Jim’s spare time he enjoys weight lifting, biking and attending bible study. The pieces that Jim created for Reflection are called “Aspen Glow”, “Autumn Rays” and “Casa View”.