Susan Martin’s idea for her winning Arts on the Square poster came through mentoring another artist.
“I’m teaching Scott Krueger,” she said. “I’ve been mentoring Scott for about one year, first with carving and now painting.”
Krueger has trained Martin’s dogs and is a self-taught artist.
While helping Krueger come up with ideas for his own art, she came up with some ideas of her own for this year’s Arts on the Square Poster Contest.
“For the contest, I narrowed it down to paints and palettes,” she said.
The paints and palettes serve as the border of an artist, who looks just a bit like Martin.
It comes as no surprise that the name of her entry is “Inspiration.”
Martin, however, was surprised to win the poster contest. “I never thought I’d win,” she said.
Each year, the Waupaca Community Arts Board, which is the sponsor of the arts festival, holds a poster contest. The winning design is then used to promote the event.
This is the second year in a row that Martin’s entry was chosen the winner of the contest. The poster will be available for purchase at several festival locations and retail stores.
Arts on the Square will be held Aug. 19-20 on the city square.
Martin has an unending curiosity about human behavior and relationships. She also has a love for pets. All of those things are often incorporated into her work.
She loves to play with color, design and composition, and enjoys working narratives into her pieces, which are often whimsical and tongue-in-cheek.
Martin is scheduled to demonstrate painting techniques with Krueger and Robin Zuege, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 17, at Embellishments in downtown. Their artwork will also be available for purchase that evening.
Artists will be at various area businesses that night, which is several days before Arts on the Square begins.
Martin continues to take classes and work on her carvings and paintings. When it comes to her carvings, her newest interest is creating carvings of saints.
She is among the area artists who recently began meeting weekly at the Waupaca Senior Center. They meet there from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays. After Labor Day, they will switch to meeting at the center on Tuesday afternoons.
Martin says she has been supported to do her best at the adult classes she takes and at Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon meetings.
She was an elementary teacher for 35 years and liked to incorporate art into her classroom. She retired in 2005.
Each spring, she volunteers for the Waupaca Fine Arts Festival. She is also a member of the Bay Area Watercolor Guild, Door County Art League, Mid-Wisconsin Chippers, Oshkosh Fine Arts Association and Wisconsin Visual Artists.
Her work is for sale at the Blue Dolphin Gallery in Door County, Bohlin Gallery in Mineral Point, Center for Visual Arts in Wausau, Amherst Coffee Company in King, and Simpson’s Restaurant, Cronies Cafe & Espresso Bar and The Green Fountain Inn, all in Waupaca. Her folk art carvings and acrylic and watercolor paintings can also be viewed at www.bluedolphinhouse.com and www.susanmartinartist.com.