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Local Arts Icons
Golden Valley has a high level of creative and maker diversity, including standout architecture, art design and development. And with so much great art being made and featured in our community, our list of local arts icons continues to grow.
Golden Valley Orchestra
Over the years, the Golden Valley Orchestra has grown into a large classical ensemble and provides a supportive atmosphere for students, adults, composers, and soloists to explore their passion for making music for the community. They continually work to be arts advocates and bridge the gap between youth orchestras, the Minnesota Orchestra, & the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra as well as other professionally paid arts.
Paintings, sketches, and drawings in this collection come from the weekly Open Studio class offered through the Golden Valley Parks and Recreation 55+ program. For just $1 per week, seniors can bring their favorite medium or project and create! Open studio attendees will be available to guide you through your project. Open Studio is offered every Friday, 9–11:30 am, at Brookview. For more information, contact 763-512-2366.
After getting her degree from LA’s Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, Koehnen pursued her passion for filmmaking by writing, producing, acting and directing short films, and had her full-length feature RAISING THE DEAD (a.k.a. DON’T TELL) successfully produced by Peer Oppenheimer Productions starring Alison Eastwood. Continuing to expand on her multifaceted creative endeavors, Koehnen recently left her editing career in Los Angeles to pursue filmmaking and screenwriting full time. She is currently developing and writing a television series SUMMIT AVENUE inspired by the Empire builder, James J. Hill.
Amy Sands
Amy Sands is an artist who has resided in Golden Valley for nineteen years. Her work has been included in prestigious exhibits such as the 8th International Printmaking Biennial of Douro, Portugal, 2018 and 2016; Global Print 2016, Douro, Portugal and Prints Tokyo 2012 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan. Sands’ work has won a number of regional, national and international awards and belongs in the permanent collections of the Biennial of Douro, Portugal, New York Public Library, Pratt Institute, Montefiore Hospital, Renaissance Graphic Arts, Inc., Manhattan Graphics Center, Metropolitan State University, Buena Vista University, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Central Lakes College, and in the collections of many private parties.
Sierra Pauley was born in a small rural town in Iowa. After graduating high school there, she studied fashion merchandising and design at Iowa State University. She also studied in Rome for five months, where being constantly surround by art really enhanced her creativity and helped her express those new inspirations through digital art and photography. Pauley’s work is influenced by the art movement of the late 1960s, which shows through psychedelic effects and colors. Shortly after receiving her bachelor’s degree, she moved to Los Angeles where she practiced digital art and exhibited for the first time at a RAW Artist Showcase. Since moving to Minneapolis, she’s been able to focus more on her art, creating artwork for album covers, posters, graphic tees, and experimenting with video art.
Stephanie Alicia Chen is an artist and designer who studied through the University of Southern California’s Roski School of Art and Design and the University of Virginia School of Law. She aims to combine her artistic passions with her legal profession to lead creative change into people’s lives.
Chen’s award-winning art has been exhibited in Los Angeles and the Pacific Northwest. Chen’s artwork is characterized by color and whimsy—each piece has a different story to tell each individual viewer. She works both digitally and on traditional canvas and paper. Contact Chen by email for more information.
Matt developed his keen sense of observation studying drafting, architecture, stained glass, photography, graphic design, drawing, painting, and sculpture. He pairs this eclectic background with his love of re-envisioning and connecting seemingly unconnected cast-offs and oddities into whimsical robot forms. Matt’s art is featured around the world, and celebrated locally with articles by the Sun Sailor Newspapers and Minnetonka Magazine, juried art shows awards. When he’s not working on his art, he is running the Minnesota Art Truck®.
Through vibrant oil pigment, Greg Lecker shares his impression of natural and man-made landscapes. We travel through an enchanting, ever-changing environment of visual stimulation. In direction, intensity, and color, the quality of light changes throughout the day and night. From season to season too, the illuminated environment is transformed. Throughout his practice as an architectural lighting designer for the past twenty-five years, light has been his medium. In his paintings, Greg uses light and color to render three-dimensional space on a flat piece of paper, wood, or cloth.
Coco Connolly is an American painter, living in Golden Valley, Minnesota, specializing in watercolor. Her works describe her environment, the landscape, and people around her. Her style blends precise line work and impressionistic flowing watercolors. The landscape studies dwell on the atmospheric qualities of the prairies and farmland in the Midwest, while the botanical works are opportunities for meditative reflection.
Jodi Reeb
Jodi Reeb lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota and has been a full-time artist and teacher for over 23 years. She has taught printmaking, acrylic and encaustic painting as well as book arts. Her artwork has been shown nationally receive numerous awards and is in many private and corporate collections including Wells Fargo Mortgage, Target Corporation, UnitedHealthCare Group and the Hilton Hotel among others.
Perpich Arts High School
Perpich Center for Arts Education was born as the Minnesota Center for Arts Education in 1985, created by the state legislature at the urging of then Gov. Rudy Perpich. It was renamed in his honor after his death in 1995. Minnesota is one of only a handful of states in the nation with a dedicated state agency supporting arts education.
