Art Beat

Born in a refugee camp in Germany at the end of World War Two, Ariadne Anna Ill spent five years of her life “displaced.” The Zaļinskis family had escaped Soviet-occupied Latvia. The only roots young Ariadne knew were her family and the Latvian heritage they passed on to her.

The fight for women to get the right to vote will soon be remembered in glass in downtown Kalamazoo.

Pamela Paulsrud is recognized internationally as a papermaker, calligrapher, book artist, and collaborator. Her work includes smaller pieces and large-scale installations. But Paulsrud's greatest passion is an ongoing project she co-created called Treewhispers, an international collaboration about the human connection to trees.

Janice Marsh-Prelesnik was trained as a musician. But much of her life has been spent in holistic healing, as a midwife, a massage therapist, and a herbalist. Now, Marsh-Prelesnik uses the sonic experience of plant music in her expressive arts/music therapy practice with people in hospice and memory care, during bodywork sessions, and for deep relaxation and meditation.

Dawn Soltysiak says, "Makers have to make." The one-time real estate agent left that career and city life behind to preserve her sanity. The Fennville potter now lives on a farm raising chickens, peacocks, and livestock.