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Dane Arts

2025 Art Calendar

Curious By Nature

The twenty-fifth edition of our annual art calendar highlights the wonderful and talented artists right here in Dane County.

Cover: Jessica M. Gutiérrez

Selfie headshot of a smiling woman with black hair, and wearing wire rimmed glasses, a sleeveless black tank top, and large pink earrings.

About the Artist: Jessica M. Gutiérrez is a self-taught Nicaraguan-American Watercolor and Mixed Media Artist
residing in Madison, WI. Jessica’s work is enchanting, magical and vibrant. Her bold use of color, intuitive linework and flower-adorned subjects, creates an energetic, emotional and authentic composition. She is captivated by the pain and beauty that comes with the human experience, the wonder of creation in all of its manifestations, the importance of our ancestral stories and
the resilience of the human spirit. Jessica tells visual stories of her healing journey and utilizes the creative process as a deeply personal healing practice.

Watercolor of a black and white cat with yellow eyes against a colorful background of red, pink, and blue flowers.

Jessica Gutierrez, La Gata de Mi Corazon. My Alma Gemela, 2023, Watercolor on Paper, 9” x 12”

2025 Calendar Specs

Square image of the back of the Dane Arts calendar with thumbnail images of all twelve artworks
  • Desktop calendar - 8" x 7 ½"
  • Retailer Prices - $15 each (plus sales tax)
  • Artwork created by Dane County artists.

Revenues from calendar sales help sustain programs of Dane Arts (Dane County Cultural Affairs), an agency within county government created in 1977 to encourage public participation in arts, culture, and local history activities countywide. Your calendar purchase also helps to support local artists. For more information, please contact danearts@danecounty.gov

Scroll to the bottom of this page for a list of in-person Dane County sales locations.

Purchase Online: $19.72 (includes calendar, shipping & handling)

In-person Sales Locations

Calendars are available for sale in-person at the following retailers and municipal halls:

 

Meet the 2025 Calendar Artists:

 

January: Christy Nesja

Headshot of a smiling woman with short brown hair, black glasses, and a denim jacket

About the Artwork:
I’m an artist and graphic designer with a love for typography, letterpress and relief printing. Step into my studio and take a step back in time. I create my work on hand operated presses, the oldest from the late 1800s. My collection of early to mid-twentieth century ephemera inspires me, as does nature, my faith and the people I meet.
From an early age I gravitated to both artistic expression and letterforms. I find great satisfaction in using my hands to create: hand typesetting, carving images from linoleum and printing ink to paper. I also enjoy creating art that features the natural beauty I encounter in my home state of Wisconsin. 
In 1991 I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin–Stout with a Concentration in Graphic Design, and a Minor in Journalism.

Woodblock print of a landscape in winter with snow covering the ground, bare trees contrast against the white snow while a blue river runs through the center of the composition into the distance. A brown deer stands in the background and a coyote is curled up in the foreground.

Christy Nesja, The Trees Beckon, 2023, Printmaking (hand-carved linoleum), 11” x 14”

February: Jessica M. Gutiérrez

Selfie headshot of a smiling woman with black hair, and wearing wire rimmed glasses, a sleeveless black tank top, and large pink earrings.

About the Artwork: 
Jessica M. Gutiérrez is a self-taught Nicaraguan-American Watercolor and Mixed Media Artist residing in Madison, WI. Jessica’s work is enchanting, magical and vibrant. Her bold use of color, intuitive linework and flower-adorned subjects, creates an energetic, emotional and authentic composition. She is captivated by the pain and beauty that comes with the human experience, the wonder of creation in all of its manifestations, the importance of our ancestral stories and the resilience of the human spirit. Jessica tells visual stories of her healing journey and utilizes the creative process as a deeply personal healing practice.

Watercolor of a black and white cat with yellow eyes against a colorful background of red, pink, and blue flowers.

Jessica Gutierrez, La Gata de Mi Corazon. My Alma Gemela, 2023, Watercolor on Paper, 9” x 12”

March: Kati Fernandez Lambert

Illustration of a woman with long brown hair, glasses, and a blue long-sleeved shirt. She is holding a paintbrush in her right hand, and is surrounded by three white birds.

About the Artwork: 
Kati is a children’s illustrator and artist and the founder of Coyote Fire Arts (Nature+Art Outdoor Studio). She has a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a background in Nature Connection mentoring, outdoor and arts programming for people across the lifespan, as well as a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology from the
University of Wisconsin-Madison. Kati enjoys working with gouache, watercolor, colored pencils, ink, and digital tools to create pictures that include diversity, nature, food, faith
and wonder. If she’s not painting or drinking coffee, she’s tracking animals with her family at the pond behind their home on occupied Ho-Chunk land.

Illustration of a girl in a room looking through binoculars at birds perched outside her window.

Kati Fernandez Lambert, Winter Birder, 2022, Digital Media 8” x 8” 

April: Ren LaDassor

Photo of a smiling woman standing in front of a background of out-of-focus golden grasses. She has light brown hair and is wearing a rust-colored cardigan over a dark yellow top.

About the Artwork: 
When people see this work in my home they always ask, "Is that real?" The mix of embroidery floss and natural elements of wool and wood make for a curious intersection of nature and art. People always ask if they can touch it. It draws the viewer in to look deeper into the craggy corners of the wood and figure out where the wood ends and the moss begins.
I harvest small pieces from the ground in my neighborhood (I just happen to live in the Arboretum). I love  neighborhood and I love that a little bit of the Arboretum will always be in my art. When I teach moss embroidery I encourage participants to go into a woods that is meaningful to them and find a small piece that wants to be featured in their art. 

Embroidered textures making an abstracted composition of swirling shades of green around pieces of brown tree bark.

Ren LaDassor, Moss Study 1, 2021, Embroidery Floss, Felt, & Wood, 12” x 16”

May: Maron Massey

Black and white photo of a woman sitting on a chair with a paint palette in her lap painting a large canvas.

About the Artwork:
As a local artist, I love to draw inspiration from nature and landscapes around me. I find beauty in bright colors and unique color combinations. When I create work, I hope the viewer first notices my color palette, and then images secondary. I enjoy finding balance, using different colors and patterns to keep the viewers eyes flowing throughout my paintings. 

Abstract floral composition with pink, orange, and purple flowers over a yellow, and blue background.

Maron Massey, Golden Hour in the Garden, 2024, Acrylic on Canvas, 36” x 40” 

June: Briana Richardson

Photo of a smiling woman with short dark red hair, wearing a dark red top with white flowers. She is standing in front of a tree with yellow leaves and red berries.

About the Artwork: 
Briana Richardson is an artist, educator, and entrepreneur. Briana works full time as a painter, and as the owner of Briana’s Bright Meditation. Briana has led artist residencies in the schools, taught workshops on printmaking and other techniques, given lectures, participated in panels at conferences, worked as an artist mentor, and most recently participated in group and solo gallery shows around the Madison area. You can contact Briana at brianarichardson83@gmail.com. Briana also has original artwork and products
for sale at artworking.org/briana-richardson 

Painting of two periwinkle blue flowers with smaller light blue flowers and green leaves in the background.

Briana Richardson, A Blossom of Hope, 2024, Watercolor and ink on paper, 5” x 7” 

July: Pamela Grabber

Photo of a smiling woman wearing glasses, a sun hat, and a pink top.

About the Artwork: 
Whether it’s vegetables and flowers grown in my garden, familiar domestic objects, or landscapes I’m immersed in, I’m especially interested in capturing my
place in time through the medium of paint as I explore these timeless images in both Plein air and a la prima approaches. Working in my home studio, I enjoy exploring the grisaille technique which is a method of applying colored glazes of oil paint over a black and white under painting. This method requires several days of drying time between layers and I find the winter best suits this practice for me. As I paint in oils, watercolor, acrylic, and gouache, my intention is to convey a sense of solace, wonder, and peaceful contemplation born from my direct
interaction with Creation and natural light.

Painting of a lighthouse overlooking a body of reflective water with a row of green, leafy trees in the background.

Pamela Grabber, Solstice Light, 2023, Oil, 8” x 13” 

August: Barbara Zellmer

Photo of a smiling woman with blonde bangs, wearing red-framed glasses and a dark grey top.

About the Artwork: 
I’ve had a lifelong interest in creating art, but life and the need to make a living got in the way. Since retiring from the Department of Natural Resources, I now have the opportunity to paint!
My work is focused on landscapes. Working in oils, oil pastels and gouache, I use color and texture to convey movement and light. There is often a tension between a creative attempt to lay down a more abstract impression of what I’m seeing, with an underlying
need to more closely “follow the rules” to create a more technically accurate
representation. I’ve participated in the Wisconsin Regional Arts Program - receiving honorable mentions and a statewide award for my paintings. I’ve also shown my work at a number of shows at the Hardy Gallery in Ephraim Wisconsin, and at the Peninsula School of Art in Fish Creek Wisconsin.

Semi-abstract painting of a grouping of green trees on vibrant yellow-green earth and a blue-sky background.

Barbara Zellmer, Through the Oaks, 2023, Oil on Linen Panel, 6” x 8”

September: Charlotte Easterling

Photo of a smiling woman with long dark brown hair, wearing a black leather jacket.

About the Artwork: 
Charlotte Easterling is an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, and she’s also Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) by descent. Her design and illustration style are informed by her heritage as well as a wide range of interests and a habit of becoming fascinated by various subjects and exploring them exhaustively. Her work is about nature and our place in the world.

Charlotte seeks to invoke curiosity and wonder with her work. She does this through images that convey the many shared experiences that can help us feel like part of the bigger whole: visions of beauty, witnessing the turning seasons, or perhaps a moment of affinity with a wild animal or a nighttime sky.

Digital illustration of two silhouetted figures looking at a night sky. One figure is pointing at an aurora borealis in the sky while three transparent figures representing ancestors are visible in the lower left side of the image.

Charlotte Easterling, She Watches the Sky, 2024, Digital illustration, 16” x 12”

October: Karen Faller

Photo of a smiling woman with brown and grey hair wearing a white top.

About the Artwork: 
I'm a mixed-media encaustic painter - painting with beeswax, tree resin & pigments - who incorporates photography, printmaking, and found objects in my art. Originally from Canada and now living in Madison, WI, I studied and worked as a biologist in British Columbia and New Zealand before working as an artist. On a general level, nature themes are interwoven
throughout my work, often incorporating local flora and fauna, or that of places I've lived or visited. In a broader sense, I like to explore a few different themes including a sense of belonging to a certain place, moments of change, patterns, the weathering of time, and the idea of impermanence. I’ve been working with encaustic for the past 6-7 years and enjoy the versatility of the medium and the ability to bring different processes into the making of each piece.

Textured painting of a crow in flight above an abstracted field of orange and red grass-like plants. The background is beige and the crow is surrounded by a thin black circle.

Karen Faller, No Man’s Land, 2024, Mixed media Encaustic – Painting, with photographic & collage elements, 12” x 12” (Detail of a 12” x 24” artpiece)

November: Jane Ferris

Photo of a smiling woman wearing glasses, a dark blue hat, and a sleeveless dark blue top. A beach is visible in the background.

About the Artwork:
I’ve always been curious and in constant need of expressing myself though music and art. Whether be it through an art song, opera aria, oratorio solo or now as my voice ages out, a watercolor painting. My artwork reflects the thoughts I have of these special
moments in time and while painting these moments I come alive again and I hope my viewers will see something special and inviting in them.

Watercolor of an autumn wooded scene. A figure walks along a path with a black dog, surrounded by orange and green trees.

Jane Ferris, Pleasure Drive with Wilma, 2023, Transparent Watercolor, 13” X 9 ¾”

December: Sara Meredith

Photo of a smiling woman wearing a light green hat, glasses, a white a green dress, and a green jacket. Green foliage is visible in the background.

About the Artwork:
Sara Meredith, AKA Smere Tactics, creates bold interdisciplinary artwork including small mixed media accessories, large scale painted relief cut wood panels and prints, and larger immersive art installations that invite exploration.
Curiosity drives her work, and open ended questions play an integral role in that process. Here are a couple:
●  How can we restore balance and practice reciprocal relationships with the ecosystems in which we live?
● How do we support and care for each other (including all the organisms we share this world with)?

To explore these questions, Sara’s creative research investigates the intersections between ecology, social justice, environmental advocacy, culture and psychology. It’s important that the
resulting works create space for open exploration and understanding to take root. Pieces are constructed through a combination of relief cutting, printmaking, risograph printing, painting,
drawing, collage, and assemblage using sustainable or repurposed media and materials.

A composition of overlapping transparent black line-drawn birds in various poses against a textured white and blue background.

Sara Meredith, Wellnest #3, 2021, Risograph print on cardstock, 8” x 8”