The Arts: Jenni Schmit
A Reflection of The Spirit
Having 3 beautiful children, I have found myself through the years in awe of their abundance of youthful energy, wishing that I could capture just a moment of it. The windmill’s canvas reflects the time our oldest son, Alex and friend, painted his entire (including dressers) room black and red with a huge letter “A” on one wall. We were all amazed at how two teenagers could create such a powerful image. 
During Jim’s and my process on this project, we maintained a fun yet focused attitude. . We kept it simple by streamlining our mediums, vibrant red, to enhance the glass mirror and silver to compliment. The tile on the canvas is in a triangle shape representing Alex, Tricia and Jake, their infancy, adolescence and young adulthood. They are and always will be my greatest creation. They are a mirror of myself.
“Here’s looking at You Kid” is fitting personally, as described above, as well as for our representation of a simpler time; when the power of love was enough to shine through the silver screen in black and white.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed working with Jim on it! 
 Jim Slattery:
As a child I had learning disabilities. I am 58 years old, and In the 50’s & 60&S they didn’t know anything about dyslexia. I was determined to learn how to read. Thanks to my grandmother, who impressed in me that reading was a power that no one could take away from me. My solution was, to rip out all of the pictures from my 1st and 2nd grade books and teach myself to read. From this, there is a love of words that I carry with me to this day.I was labeled and put in special education classes. I knew that I didn’t belong there. In high school I would hide out in the library. I owe a great and wonderful debt to librarians. I would walk into the library, pick up an encyclopedia, sit, read and learn. So, I owe my education to the Encyclopedia Britannica, those librarians, because I wouldn’t get nailed for skipping out of classes. I think they knew that something was wrong but, they couldn’t put their finger on it. Yet, they knew that I was learning in my own way and protected me. I would also hideout in the basement where there was a potter’s wheel. If you put a kid, clay and potter’s wheel together, you get pots. There I discovered another love.
My older sister Mary has always been my artist hero. With her I could do no wrong as I long as I was doing art.
It wasn’t until my mid thirty’s that someone suggested that I should take a class that was offered at MATC for people who may be Dyslexic. My sister and I took the class together. We discovered we both were. It answered many questions and validated what we were dealing with. I am verbally, audio and visually dyslexic. With that knowledge, I was able to stop taking it personally. It answered why I had trouble talking in full sentences. Why I had read lips all my life. Why I could read some things and not others. Or even why I couldn’t read or write cursive, or read a telephone book, or was challenged trying to dial a telephone.
I am still challenged in many areas. Yet, there was one thing I could do. That was to learn how to speak in full sentences. I took a year long course in public speaking which opened a whole world for me. Since then, I have addressed and taught large classes of people. As all of this was going on, I was also diagnosed with severe and persistent mental Illness. To the present day, I have been public about the illness and very private in dealing with my symptoms.I have always looked at my disabilities as a back handed God given gift. I believe when something is taken from one end of the spectrum there is a gift given at the other. Mine was to learn about my disabilities. Relate the experience and solutions from self education. Then teach and speak to people with and without mental illness.
My volunteer and work highlights:
·         Owned and operated the hair salon Escapades on Williamson St., Madison, Wisconsin.
·         Served on the original steering committee for Madison Aids Support Network, did extensive fundraising, and public awareness.
·         Spoke out at the Carter Center about the negative stigma of mental illness within the entertainment industry.
·         Was commissioned to design and present a piece of jewelry for Rosalyn Carter.
·         Started an art project at an Episcopalian church for the homeless and folks with severe mental illness.
·         Served 3 years as a VISTA* volunteer. Volunteered in Service to America. Taught recovery dialogs to people with mental illness.   Started an art teaching project and gallery in north Georgia featuring the art of people with mental illness.
·         Worked for 8 years for the Cobb- Douglas Community Service Board in Georgia. Working in systems change. Starting and teaching art to adults living with developmental disabilities. Expanding the art project to Include three DD sites and one for challenged children and teens. Taught a non artist staff how to teach art to the people we served. 75% of whom were non- verbal. Much of the work having to be taught hand over hand techniques.
·         Was on loan to mental health to teach recovery dialogs to customers with mental illness. Taught staff of all levels the old medical model vs. the new medical model. From” They can’t’’ to, “They can” with proper supports.
·         Spoke to college students and around the state on my personal experience of mental illness from the inside.
·         Due to funding cuts, the art project was closed down.  Because of my own health issues, I moved back to Wisconsin.
Personal Goals:
·          Every project that I have started can be duplicated.   
·         What I have done in Evansville is, started a cottage industry
·         where people with multiple disabilities promote other artists with or without disabilities. Which can be duplicated anywhere.
·         Cottage industry is a direction that the national mental health consumer movement wants to explore as a viable option for people living with severe and persistent mental illness 
·         To start a teaching art studio that works with people with or without disabilities·         Escapades Hair Salon and art gallery support the funding for the materials at the studio.
·         The priority for Escapades is to establish an ongoing hair clientele by appointments that are looking for an intimate environment where their needs come first.  608-445-1699
Artist Statement & Windmill:
·         For the years that I have worked with my friends with developmental disabilities,9 times out of 10 their favorite color was red. To keep them fresh in my mind, I keep something bright red around me. And the windmill is red for them.
·         As a hair stylist, I would be lost without a mirror.  I see mirror as being silver.
·         My mother always wanted to be a singer. Instead of lullabies, she would sing the popular tunes of the fifties. She was in love with the silver screen.
·          Mirror reminds me of the disco days and all of my friends who died of AIDS.
Artist Quotes:
Only God can create. I am simply a tool
Everyone is entitled to their pain. What is a paper cut to one person can be a gaping wound to another. Respect both. Courage is not the absence of fear. It is having fear and doing it anyway.
Visit Jim on Facebook at “Escapades Gallery”.
 Or drop him a line at 608-445-1699.
Jim Slattery/ Artist Bio.
As a child I had learning disabilities. I am 58 years old, and In the 50’s & 60&S they didn’t know anything about dyslexia. I was determined to learn how to read. Thanks to my grandmother, who impressed in me that reading was a power that no one could take away from me. My solution was, to rip out all of the pictures from my 1st and 2nd grade books and teach myself to read. From this, there is a love of words that I carry with me to this day.
I was labeled and put in special education classes. I knew that I didn’t belong there. In high school I would hide out in the library. I owe a great and wonderful debt to librarians. I would walk into the library, pick up an encyclopedia, sit, read and learn. So, I owe my education to the Encyclopedia Britannica, those librarians, because I wouldn’t get nailed for skipping out of classes. I think they knew that something was wrong but, they couldn’t put their finger on it. Yet, they knew that I was learning in my own way and protected me. I would also hideout in the basement where there was a potter’s wheel. If you put a kid, clay and potter’s wheel together, you get pots. There I discovered another love.
My older sister Mary has always been my artist hero. With her I could do no wrong as I long as I was doing art.
It wasn’t until my mid thirty’s that someone suggested that I should take a class that was offered at MATC for people who may be Dyslexic. My sister and I took the class together. We discovered we both were. It answered many questions and validated what we were dealing with. I am verbally, audio and visually dyslexic. With that knowledge, I was able to stop taking it personally. It answered why I had trouble talking in full sentences. Why I had read lips all my life. Why I could read some things and not others. Or even why I couldn’t read or write cursive, or read a telephone book, or was challenged trying to dial a telephone.
I am still challenged in many areas. Yet, there was one thing I could do. That was to learn how to speak in full sentences. I took a year long course in public speaking which opened a whole world for me. Since then, I have addressed and taught large classes of people.
As all of this was going on, I was also diagnosed with severe and persistent mental Illness. To the present day, I have been public about the illness and very private in dealing with my symptoms.
I have always looked at my disabilities as a back handed God given gift. I believe when something is taken from one end of the spectrum there is a gift given at the other. Mine was to learn about my disabilities. Relate the experience and solutions from self education. Then teach and speak to people with and without mental illness.
My volunteer and work highlights:
·         Owned and operated the hair salon Escapades on Williamson St., Madison, Wisconsin.
·         Served on the original steering committee for Madison Aids Support Network, did extensive fundraising, and public awareness.
·         Spoke out at the Carter Center about the negative stigma of mental illness within the entertainment industry.
·         Was commissioned to design and present a piece of jewelry for Rosalyn Carter.
·         Started an art project at an Episcopalian church for the homeless and folks with severe mental illness.
·         Served 3 years as a VISTA* volunteer. Volunteered in Service to America. Taught recovery dialogs to people with mental illness.   Started an art teaching project and gallery in north Georgia featuring the art of people with mental illness.
·         Worked for 8 years for the Cobb- Douglas Community Service Board in Georgia. Working in systems change. Starting and teaching art to adults living with developmental disabilities. Expanding the art project to Include three DD sites and one for challenged children and teens. Taught a non artist staff how to teach art to the people we served. 75% of whom were non- verbal. Much of the work having to be taught hand over hand techniques.
·         Was on loan to mental health to teach recovery dialogs to customers with mental illness. Taught staff of all levels the old medical model vs. the new medical model. From” They can’t’’ to, “They can” with proper supports.
·         Spoke to college students and around the state on my personal experience of mental illness from the inside.
·         Due to funding cuts, the art project was closed down.  Because of my own health issues, I moved back to Wisconsin.
Personal Goals:
·          Every project that I have started can be duplicated.   
·         What I have done in Evansville is, started a cottage industry
·         where people with multiple disabilities promote other artists with or without disabilities. Which can be duplicated anywhere.
·         Cottage industry is a direction that the national mental health consumer movement wants to explore as a viable option for people living with severe and persistent mental illness.
·         To start a teaching art studio that works with people with or without disabilities
·         Escapades Hair Salon and art gallery support the funding for the materials at the studio.
·         The priority for Escapades is to establish an ongoing hair clientele by appointments that are looking for an intimate environment where their needs come first.  608-445-1699
Artist Statement & Windmill:
·         For the years that I have worked with my friends with developmental disabilities,9 times out of 10 their favorite color was red. To keep them fresh in my mind, I keep something bright red around me. And the windmill is red for them.
·         As a hair stylist, I would be lost without a mirror.  I see mirror as being silver.
·         My mother always wanted to be a singer. Instead of lullabies, she would sing the popular tunes of the fifties. She was in love with the silver screen.
·          Mirror reminds me of the disco days and all of my friends who died of AIDS.
Artist Quotes:
Only God can create. I am simply a toolEveryone is entitled to their pain. What is a paper cut to one person can be a gaping wound to another. Respect both.
Courage is not the absence of fear. It is having fear and doing it anyway.
Visit Jim on Facebook at “Escapades Gallery”.
Or drop him a line at 608-445-1699.

 

The UMYG (United Methodist Youth Group) was established last fall.  We are a very active and dedicated group of high school students and youth leaders.  Some of our projects have been baking for a bake sale, May baskets, a scavenger hunt, a Madison concert, a teacher appreciation dinner, summer Bible study, attending a Brewer’s game, eating lots of pizza and now, a windmill entry.  UMYG is open to new members in grades 8-12.  Contact the church for more information.
The United Methodist Youth Group windmill team consists of members Claire Marshall, Mariah Calley, Min Park, Dylan McVay and Curtis Graham.  Leaders and helpers are Anne Rosa, Marcia Kremer, Kris and Chris Anich, Mike Mikkelson, Mike and Carol White and Mary Calley.
It all began with our fearless leader, Marcia Kremer, who wanted to know, “Do you want to have a windmill entry?”  With only a few “Yeses”, Marcia gallantly proceeded with the entry.  Anne Rosa, an interior decorator, volunteered to head up the group. 
The process began by compiling a list of 20 great ideas.   Discussion narrowed the choices by slashing and combining ideas, to form our entry “CREATION”.   
Each piece of the windmill has significance to our existence here on earth.   The blades, hand-painted, depict our sun; the tail shows night.  Blue and green supports indicate sky and ground.  An old mesh crate was coerced into becoming ‘clouds’; raindrops drizzle down from them.  Suspended in the center is a hand-painted globe.   A tile created by hand, displays the Biblical saying, “In The Beginning…  The door and the grapevine are mentioned numerous times in the Bible. Growing up from the bottom is a heavy grapevine painted in golden verse.  A heavy wire dove flies through the sky symbolizing peace and love.  Our creation hails our creator. 
We hope you enjoy this group effort as it is displayed on Main Street.  We have certainly enjoyed the camaraderie and imagination it took to create it.

 

Our windmill is “Trailing Ivy” created by Cheryl and Tim Mani sponsored by Cheryl Ann’s Stained Glass and Crafts. The windmill is a mixture of live and silk flowers with hand painted floral designs.

Cheryl and Tim Mani are Evansville residents. Cheryl (Matteson) Mani was raised in Janesville and Tim Mani was raised in Evansville. Tim is a retired electrician and Cheryl is a RN at the Janesville VA Outpatient Clinic.

Cheryl and Tim volunteer their time and love for flowers at the Evansville Golf Course, the 2nd Street entrance to the Lake Leota Park and 2 floral beds on Hwy14. Landscaping and gardening are Tim and Cheryl’s “dirt therapy” (hard work but fun to do and a creative way to relieve stress). Our reward is the thank yous of Evansville residents and golfers for making their environment a little cheerier.

We both thought this would be a fun project that we could do as a team and hopefully give a little something back to our community.

The windmill is titled "Lost Machine".  I have always loved archeology and I think that the piece in general has an antique look, like a survivor from a previous age.  The idea of windpower isn't new and I look at my rendering as the remains of a lost civilization, something unearthed and rediscovered by us.  If you look at the 'ghosts' as representative of people our size, the windmill becomes massive.  It stands as a gathering place of this long gone group of people and it is still haunted by the ghosts of those once lived and worshiped or worked there.  I like the idea that I don't really know if its an old temple, or  factory, or gathering hall.  Regardless, it is a glimpse of the past and isn't understood at one glance...it is an enigma.

Gayle Puhl Artist Bio
Gayle Puhl, 61, born in Illinois, has been an Evansville resident for thirty-three years.  She works as a study hall supervisor at Evansville High School. She also drives a van for the Ringhand Bros. Bus Co.
Her daughter, Gayla Mellin, lives in Evansville and has four children, three graduates of EHS and one attending the Middle School.
Last July Gayle displayed some of her collection of Sherlock Holmes items at the Eager Free Public Library.  She has been a Sherlockian for 45 years and is a member of several scions, including the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes, The Criterion Bar Association, and The Original Tree Worshippers of Rock County.  In 2005 she created a 2006 Sherlock Holmes-themed calendar entitled “If Watson Wrote For TV”.
Gayle is interested in architecture.  Several of her drawings of Evansville buildings hang in the Eager Free Public Library.  In 1988 she issued a 1989 calendar featuring line drawings of local Evansville houses.  Gayle is self-taught, but talent runs in her family.  “My aunt and several of my cousins are wonderful artists.”
Gayle likes living in Evansville because her family is here and she loves the houses of the Historic District.  “I have always been interested in the 1860-1910 era and the beautiful buildings and homes in the Historic District are excellent examples of that time,” she says.  “My sister in Illinois thinks I live in a Norman Rockwell town and I can’t disagree.”
“Windmill Webs”
My goals in decorating this windmill were to achieve something interesting, different and that sparkles in the sunlight.  I think I have done that. 
I was raised on a farm in northern Illinois that had two full-sized windmills.  We kids even built a clubhouse in one of them.  I thought they had a wonderful, graceful design.  I wanted to show how things in the natural world, like spiders and butterflies, interacted with man-made objects like windmills.  That is why I didn’t use paint.  I gathered together many found objects and also used beads, stones, and flat marbles of glass.  I used wire to mimic the spider webs.  I imagined what would happen if a colony of farm spiders took over an abandoned mill.  Anyone who lived on a farm is familiar with spiders and their webs.  They can be very beautiful when they are touched with dew in the early morning.  I tried to show that in the spider web design on the vane behind the moving blades.
I picked up objects from many places.  I had been working on the windmill for a week when I went back to Goodwill Industries in Janesville where I had picked up lots of little things to use in the design.  Two of the most important materials I was working with were wire and flat marbles.  That day I found a three-inch spider made of wire and flat marbles.  It was like a sign that I was on the right track.  The next week I found the beautiful stained glass butterfly at Goodwill.  Previously I had found the steel man-and-horse, the owl trivet, and the blue and purple glass suncatcher all at Goodwill Industries
Places like Goodwill and St. Vincent de Paul were great places to find the little decorative things I used on the windmill.  I decided to use found objects, along with the beads and stones, because they, along with the windmill, are indicative of man’s existence alongside the other species on our planet.  Insects, spiders, animals, birds and fish interact with us everyday.  The bird suncatcher, the owl trivet and the butterfly have as equal a right on the windmill as the figure of the man on a horse.
The flat glass marbles add sparkle and color.  The different churches in Evansville display lovely stained glass windows.  I wanted to capture a little of the beauty I have seen in those windows, along with the memorable church windows I saw in Europe.  The windows I saw in York Minister, Great Britain, date back to the middle ages.  Ever since men had learned how to create colored glass, it has been used to make pieces of art.  The colors brought out by the actions of the sun’s rays still fascinate the viewer.  It is a wonderful example of human art enhanced by Nature’s workings.
When the blades revolve, the flat marbles on them create an optical illusion of spinning lines, an added and unexpected bonus of the design.
Most of the bells on the windmill are made of brass and came from India.  I put them in so the wind could make a little Aeolian music and demonstrate another one of nature’s qualities.
The stones, both polished and natural represent the earth.  The beads stand for the colors in nature.
I love to read.  One of the most famous spiders in literature is Charlotte from the children’s book “Charlottes’ Web” by E. B. White.  I couldn’t resist adding a panel with the message “Some Pig” to the windmill.