Opening Day, Tenth Anniversary Year

 We are ready ready ready for the 2015 season!  We opened on July 22 of 2005, so this is Prairie Oak Artisan's 10th Anniversary year!















Karma Grotelueschen's  fiber art has its own corner here, with both framed and unframed works available.  She will be demonstrating her fiber art again at Fall Art Tour on the third weekend in October.

We have a fresh supply of roving for felting or spinning and knitting needles and crochet hooks of bamboo.  As usual, we offer felting classes on Friday evenings at 5 and Saturday mornings at 9.  A class for 2 or more is $25 per student or $30 for a private lesson.  You can choose to learn to felt a scarf, a vase, or flowers.
 

 We have pottery in blues and by Ellen Judson and glass by Nathan Gieseke.

 Up front of the gallery, we have gathered all the garden related things, such bird houses, vases, garden ornaments.  These sorts of things make great Mother's Day and Father's Day gifts!

 We have had pottery by Cindy Wilkins every year since opening in 2005 and are proud to be getting even more in soon. Now though, we have bowls and platters and chip and dip sets with the oak branch edging that she developed just for us!

Frames and lanterns and miniature greenhouses display sterling silver  and copper earrings, bracelets, pendants, brooches, and necklace assemblages, all handmade in a studio in nearby La Valle, WI and finished right here in the gallery.  Matching and coordinating pieces are available for special occasions and gifts.

 Randy Pfeifer is a wood strip canoe builder with a workshop in La Valle, Wisconsin, on Lake Redstone, and he also hand crafts beautiful wooden canoe paddles.

 Brooms are by Bob McCann and the mercats are by Sheri Lee Butler.

 Lane Bacon of Verona, WI makes some really fine wood boxes.  We will have trays and vases soon!

Block prints by Karma Grotelueschen include some that are hand colored with pastels.

2015 is the year of the basket. We have baskets by Jamie Lee Weber, Sandra Andreesen, and Joy Luckhardt Klehm.  This is the finest selection of really well made baskets we have ever had!

Weekend Felting Classes at the Gallery

 Felting classes are available every Friday evening, from 5 to 6:30 pm or 7 to 8:30 pm and every Saturday morning from 7:00 to 8:30 am or 9 to 10:30 am. 
Felting a Vase:  We felt around a small glass cylinder vase so that it can be used for fresh flowers or to force branches. 

Felting a Scarf:  We wet felt a scarf with about an ounce of fleece and warm soapy water.  Thse scarfs are warm and durable and can even be given as a gift.

Felted Flowers:  We use bits of roving and hot soapy water to wet felt flowers and leaves and tendrils and attach them to pin backs.  They can be used as lapel pins, hat pins, to decorate knit mittens or gloves, as holiday ornaments, as gift ties, and anything else you can think of.  Each student usually get between 3 and 5 flowers finished.  

These classes are $30 each for one person or $20 each if there are two or more participating.  The gallery can accomodate about 6 people for a class, so feel free to form a group!  If you are the first person to sign up, you get to choose what we make.  If more people sign up, your cost drops to the group rate. 
Bring a bath towel if you can, and a used plastic bag to take home your damp project.
Join me at Prairie Oak Artisans on Friday evening or Saturday morning and explore the fun of felting!

I can also teach you how to make felted 'paintings' but this class takes 2 sessions and costs twice as much.  They can be on the same weekend or on different weekends.  I have a collection of photographs of flowers, leaves, trees, and ferns that students choose from as the subject of their 'painting'.  During the first session, we wet felt the background mat and any petals or leaves or other pieces that we can.  During the second session, we needle felt the picture together, adding yarns and fleece to build up the 'painting'. 

I will also teach a group class in the Chicago suburbs, Mineral Point, Reedsburg, the Dells, and anywhere nearby or in between.  Find a room at your park district, library, community center, office building, church, recreation center, fitness club, and we can hold a class for up to ten people.  In good weather, we can work outdoors, but we should have a back-up location in case of bad weather.

Form a group, find a location, and lets felt together!