 Hi, my name is Dan Rizai, I'm introducing the new upcoming exhibit, which is done by Water's Edge Artists and it's also a tribute to Kitty Klisch, who was a past president of our group. She had passed away in 2019 and I'm the current president of Water's Edge Artists and we are at Gallery 110 North in Plymouth and the upcoming reception for Water's Edge Artists show is the Friday the 9th from 5 o'clock till 7 o'clock. So that's this Friday and in coordination with the art show that we have in about 70 paintings, 10 of our Kitty's paintings, that we also have kind of a unique thing part of the tribute to Kitty, one of her gowns that's from Las Vegas that she used to perform or she used to wear when she performed in Las Vegas. So that's kind of a unique portion of this exhibit and we'll be showing her gown and a tribute to Kitty you know throughout the show here. And I just wanted to explain Water's Edge Artists somewhat, now we do paintings mostly outside of course a lot of us have studios as well but this is the setup that we would use when we're doing the paintings outside and we have the pallet here and canvas or board you may have and we would just paint outside whether it be rainy weather or winter weather spring or summer or fall it's a great thing to just be outside and do your paintings as you go and this easel has been outside at 10 below zero already and a lot of the artists that are in this group are very hardy and they will go out and paint in just about any kind of weather. Just a little history of Water's Edge Artists, we were founded in 2006 by our founding member Bonita Budic and this is one of her paintings that's in the show and this year actually marks our 15th year anniversary for Water's Edge Artists and what Water's Edge Artists does, we're painters for preservation and we work in coordination with different groups that preserve water and watersheds and also landmarks that have historical value as well. Monies that are made through the paintings and selling of the paintings, some of that is donated to different groups and that's what we've been doing for about 15 years and to date we have donated approximately $85,000 to these different groups that support our efforts and some of the groups that we've supported is Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust, Door County Land Trust and Wisconsin Maritime Museum and Woodland Dunes Nature Center and other environmental organizations who support our efforts in challenged watersheds and historic preservation. So that's what our founding member, her main goal was to support all of these different recipients that are worthy of our cause and supporting our cause. As a tribute to our past president, Kitty Klisch, we have borrowed this wonderful gown from her husband which will be eventually donated to Las Vegas at a museum after this show so this will be one of the only times you can see this unless you go to Las Vegas. Most of us know Kitty Klisch as an artist of course and a teacher she taught quite a while at the Plymouth Art Center here at Gallery 110 and another role that she had was a painting gallery show where she would actually do paintings in front, you know, step by step paintings in her show and she would also invite artists and interview them during the show. That was another role that she had and also working with the Plymouth Art Center, another role that she had is a tour guide. She would take people to plays and different musicals. She would organize that and get a bus together and go out to these different locations be it Chicago, Milwaukee, I attended one up in Green Bay as well and that side of Kitty is what most of us know as but her early days, her younger days in Las Vegas, you know, this is one of the gowns that she actually wore while she was performing in Las Vegas and not many people know that side of the story. We were sitting in an area, I think it was the Plymouth Art Center and we were just talking and chatting and a pretty young lady had walked by and I kind of just nodded to Kitty, you know, noticing the lady and she noticed her too. I said to her, well, I bet you probably, you know, looked that good when you were in your Las Vegas days and she kind of looked at me and she shook her head and she said, no, I was a lot prettier than that and that just, it was such a fun moment for me and that was before I seen, you know, one of her portraits of her in this gown and the portrait is actually a scene, an iconic scene to me that is a Marilyn Monroe scene, you know, that's how pretty she looked at that time when she was performing in Las Vegas and it's just a fun little time that I shared with her and she shared some of the past with me. Watershed's Artists, Painters for Preservation is an alliance of plenary artists dedicated to artistically recording historic, endangered or threatened places. As artist activists for 15 years and continuing, we as mission is accomplished by contributing portions of their sales to artwork, of our artwork to organizations that support watersheds and historical sites. The members engage with nature largely by painting and plein air, which means direct from nature. They may gather together, go far afield, or simply spend time quietly creating in their own backyards and communities. Artistically capturing and celebrating these wild, watery places and storied sites means being out in all kinds of weather. During seasons of sun and snow and solace and slumber, you can find them painting partners at each elbow or just around the bend. Sharing this unique sense of place and connecting with you, the viewer is at the core of what plein air artists do. Wea is an organization that focuses on this process going full circle. From painting and framing, selected pieces, to then exhibiting and promoting these artworks for the benefit of all involved. Now this painting here is kind of unique in that it has three triangles for the canvas and this one is by Kitty Lynn Klisch. It is named Cathedral Rock on Vortex and it's from Arizona and one of her excursions when she traveled. She did travel quite a bit and did paintings while she traveled. She did go to Ireland and I know some other countries as well in her excursions, but this is just one that's in the States. That's a wonderful piece and very unique in the three triangle shaped canvases. Now we are a plein air group but a lot of our group does paint in the studio as well or we take plein air studies and then paint from them studies a larger piece. And this may be one of the larger pieces that Kitty had done from a study. Here we have two paintings done by Kitty Lynn Klisch and the top one is entitled Cheboygan Falls and of course that was painted in Cheboygan Falls, Wisconsin. That was a piece that I had purchased from Kitty a while back. I think it's the only one in the show that's not for sale but that was done on plein air and painting on site. And then the lower painting here is Keele Dam in Keele, Wisconsin. I was actually with Kitty when she had painted this site and this scene outside. This painting, particular painting was done with a pallet knife and that's just the metal knife rather than a brush. The top painting was done with a brush but you can see the texture on this painting that when she used the pallet knife it really kind of stands out when you use the pallet knife and it gets a different effect than using a brush and that's something that I like to do too with the pallet knife once in a while just for something different. This particular piece that's in the show is one of mine, Daniel Reyes. It's entitled Stoners on the Beach and it was painted in Algoma, Wisconsin. And the Stoners I'm referring to is people that were walking on the beach that day. They would collect these larger flat rocks and one of them approached me and told me what they were going to do with the rocks. They actually collect these rocks that are flat enough to paint on them and then they go and hide the rocks in different random places and people can go find the rocks. They give them hints of where these rocks would be and it's just something from these Stoners that we're looking for rocks while I was painting that day in Algoma. But it's a beautiful scene of the Algoma area and this painting was done with a pallet knife rather than a brush and you can see the different textures especially like in the sky and the water you can really see the textures and it's amazing how detailed you can get with a small pallet knife which is a metal knife. The people in the scene were all done with a small pallet knife as well as the rest of the scene. This piece here is done by Cynthia Tampach. It's called Peaceful Morning and it really depicts to me what a waters edge artist is all about and capturing a scene with the water and she's got a crane in the scene as well. To me it's really done well and it depicts what waters edge artist is all about and raising money for different watershed areas and preservation of the water. Going back to Kitty when she had run our group as a leader she was instrumental in my development as an artist. I took one of her outdoor painting classes right at the Plymouth Art Center here right in the backyard of the Plymouth Art Center and then another one outside of Plymouth when I was first starting to paint. She was very instrumental in getting me started in the painting procedures and setting up an easel and knowing how to do it outside because it's a lot different than doing it in the studio. This piece here by Cynthia could be a plein air, I'm not really positive on that but it may well be a studio piece that she did off of a smaller plein air piece. Some other nice words with past presidents, one is Chuck Eaton here. Kitty has always been ready and set up to do whatever is needed to be done whether it was taking on the duties of treasurer or running all the meetings when I was out of town and our founder and artistic director of WEA or Waters Edge Artists, Bonita shares that Kitty's unbridled infusion of interest and enthusiasm of seeking and showcasing events and promotion opportunities was her special brand of caring considerations and support of art and artists. She organized, facilitated and her networking skills also in her pursuit of adventure and her genuine warmth was so welcoming to participants for a painting holiday in Ireland that Bonita and Kitty took part in. She invited Waters Edge artists to many times as guest speakers and demonstrators on her gallery works and City of Sheboygan productions show. We are eternally grateful that she shared all with Waters Edge artists and we salute and honor her generosity of spirit. Here we'd like to show the difference between water color and oils and in this first painting here that we're showing, it is water color done by Robert Thaker outing on the lake is this piece here and that's done plein air as well as this next piece here. This one is an oil painting done by Cynthia Tumpach. The title of it is Cave Point Landmark so we just wanted to showcase the difference between the water colors and the oils which are generally done on site for most of our works and I wanted to share the opening reception at the gallery 110 North is coming up which is this Friday on April 9th from 5 to 7 there will be entertainment for the full two hours and the artists will be present so it would be nice to visit and speak to the artists while looking at this event or looking at the artwork. The event lasts through the end of April and during the event too we're having a couple of paintouts which we'll be painting in the Plymouth area on April 9th through and the 10th I think the times for that is 9 till 3 in the afternoon so that'll be in Plymouth April 9th and 10th and then we'll be also Waters of Jarvis we'll be painting in Sheboygan April 16th through and the 17th again the times 9 o'clock till 3 o'clock and that's in Maywood Park in Sheboygan so by purchasing any of this artwork in the show with some 70 pieces you will be supporting water land water sheds and historical sites and you'll also be supporting the Plymouth Art Center of course it's putting on this wonderful show and you'll also be of course supporting the artists so stop by and and check out all these wonderful pieces this show is very outstanding in my eyes these artists are there's a lot of award-winning artists in this show so please please join us.