MAKE A WISH

I was approached in 2016 by the Make-A-Wish Foundation to participate in their Wish Ball through the Wish Art Program. The Wish Ball raises money each year for ‘wishes’ granted to critically ill children across the country. The Wish Art Program finds artists of all mediums to work with Wish Kids to create a piece of art that is auctioned off at the Wish Ball. Working side-by-side, one-on-one with these kids solidified my belief in the power of art. I’ve worked with boys and girls ages ranging from 5-16. We’ve discovered my process seems to work across the gamut. We meet, greet, talk, draw, color, laugh,decide what we are going to build, then head into the studio!

DOUBLE DIGIT DREAMS

Aiden wanted to create the 10-pound bass that kept eluding him in the lakes of Minnesota. From his drawing, we created a reality. He told me he was shocked at how much he learned from our studio time!

Heart Table

Alecia just had a new heart put in, she wanted to represent that in her piece. Because of potential problems that come with a new heart combined with welding…we decided she could make a mosaic with no physical issues! She and I giggled about our similar ways of thinking so we decided to make a functional piece!

Elizabeth

Kinetic garden sculpture made of stainless steel and copper. Balanced on stainless steel rod allows Elizabeth to catch the wind and move as fairies tend to move! Make-A-Wish child Elizabeth was quite instrumental in the design and even learned to weld! She twirls at 6’ high.

CLEAF

Annika told me her favorite flower was a dandelion - “...and it's NOT the yellow dandelion, it’s the white one!” She exclaimed precociously. We colored and drew and ended on this 10’ stainless steel sculpture. Cleaf brought $10K at Wish Ball 2016.

Puppy corn

Luke came in with markers-a-blazin’! He and his 2 springer spaniels were the talk of the sessions…so…along came Puppy Corn. Puppy Corn was lucky enough to receive Luke’s late springer spaniel, Gypsy’s collar. It sounded like Gypsy lived a long, very exciting, beautiful life!

BEAUTIFUL

Kyra drew this lovely image to work from. Her positive attitude made it fun to create the image of herself and her adventurous side drove us to mount the image on a used saw blade!

Toby Turtle

Teddy was fascinated by turtles and told me he wanted a pet turtle that he would name Toby and a turtle it was! Together we formed the 30” shape for Toby’s shell, drew on steel to create “shell bump” shapes, and then welded it all together!(a MAW donor purchased the piece from the auction and gifted it back to Teddy!)