On behalf of the Albert Lea Art Center Art and Garden Tour committee, the Art Center would like to thank all the artists and gardeners who so graciously gave their time and talents for a very successful Art and Garden Tour on July 13 and 14.

Thanks again to Tony Hill for his wonderful presentation on container gardening. It was great.

New this year, we reached out to our business community for advertising sponsorships.  Jensales did a great job with our new ticket brochure design. Garden Diva Design Studio offered a 20 percent off coupon to attendees, and Hills’s Gardens, Eat’n Ice Cream Shoppe and Plaza Landscaping & Garden Center provided ads. In addition, supplementary funds were provided by Thrivent Financial Services and the Albert Lea Seed House. Thank you to these generous business neighbors.

Gardeners again showed us their unique and beautiful gardens. Daniel and Kim Otten shared their beautifully canopied yard and spacious acreage with artist Ann Oliphant, whose oil paintings and colored pencil drawings were on display. Steve and Debbie Tubbs, whose landscaped style of gardening and inviting entertainment spaces is home to Steve’s pottery gallery, partnered with Molle Rued’s fairy gardens found throughout the gardens, along with her jewelry pieces. Jason and Joie Willner shared their gorgeous backyard, hardscaped terrace patio with beautiful plantings and large sitting areas with two artists: Bonnie Broitzman painting plein-air on location Friday evening and Patty Tewes demonstrating her jewelry making on Saturday. Carol and John Lang’s unbelievable yard is a Certified Backyard Habitat garden, displaying vibrant colors of flowers, plants, trees and bushes and hosted Ruth Olson’s photography, paintings and jewelry. Gunner and Lorna Berg’s mixed garden styles with its walkways laid with local bricks and art mixed in is truly enchanting. They hosted Carine Rofshus, a young artist whose art focuses on emotions, history and nature and who starts this fall at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago.

Thank you to those who participated in this annual fundraiser for the Albert Lea Art Center, the volunteers and business ticket sales sites. We thank the community for coming out to view the creativity of your neighbors and friends. We would also like to thank Donna Widenhoefer, who spent several years building the foundation for the Art & Garden Tour.

Beth Tostenson

co-chairwoman

Art and Garden Tour