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3 women share their creative gifts with world

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Keepin' it sweet

Keepin' it sweet

By Andrea Busche

Herein the Northland, we are surrounded by many talented people. Photographers, writers, gardeners, painters, sculptors, musicians, graphic designers, educators and many more creatives coexist here, dwelling under the wide and welcoming umbrella of the artist.

Today, we introduce you to three Duluth women who are following their passions in a variety of interesting ways:

Esther Piszczek, a retired attorney, is an artist, art teacher, writer and blogger.

Karleen Tjepkema, a retired teacher, is a master gardener, fiber artist and musician.

Sue DeNio, who has long worked in education, pours her creative energies into the students she mentors through National History Day. Under her tutelage, several students have gone on to become national champions.

Esther Piszczek

For Piszczek, her professional life has taken several fascinating turns.

“I am a retired lawyer,” she said. “I practiced law for 11 years before leaving it to live more creatively. For most of my legal career I was an appellate attorney. When I stopped practicing law, I began writing creatively.”

She also spent some time as a writer.

“After I arrived in Duluth in 2012, I spent a number of years writing for the Duluth Budgeteer, The Zenith News and The Woman Today,” Piszczek said. “My favorite assignments were profile articles about interesting people.”

Piszczek tells us about her current career as an artist and teacher.

“I am a fine-line pattern artist in addition to being a certified Zentangle teacher,” she said. “Zentangle is a method of fine line pattern drawing that is non-representational (i.e., it doesn’t look like a boat, a landscape or a fish).

“My medium is pen and ink,” she said. “I enjoy drawing on paper, mirrors, glass and wood. I love taking my original artwork and flipping and rotating it electronically to create mirrored repeats. I’m always surprised by the new and interesting patterns that form using this simple graphic design technique. I’ve used this process to print my patterns on fabric creating silk scarves, a dress and a skirt, both of which my niece designed and sewed for me.

“I’ve also used this technique to create stationery and origami stars,” Piszczek. “In fall 2019, I taught a Community Education class called ‘Tangled & Folded,’ where students drew a tile with me and then I turned their artwork into origami paper that we then folded together in a second class. Each student left the class with their own artwork folded into an origami star.”

Esther's Zentangle-inspired art fabric pattern, Whirlwind, began with her original drawing on a 3.5" square paper tile. She used simple graphic design to flip and rotate the pattern and had the fabric printed at Spoonflower.com. Her niece Vivian Ayo designed and created the dress she is wearing in this photo.

Piszczek teaches introductory and advanced Zentangle pattern drawing classes through the Duluth Community Education program. Since April 2020, she has also been teaching twice-weekly Zentangle classes via Zoom. Last year, Piszczek also created and taught a pilot class called “Nia Meditation” through Duluth Community Education. She also maintains a monthly art blog: twinportsart.blogspot.com.

Piszczek’s artwork can be viewed at Duluth Fine Pianos, Master Framing Gallery in Duluth and Art on the Planet in Superior.

To create her original piece, Surf, Esther Piszczek used white paint pen to draw on a round piece of reclaimed glass. An Arrowhead Regional Arts grant helped her to double frame this approximately 38" square piece for her solo show at Pizza Luce in August 2015.

Karleen Tjepkema

After spending 25 years in Port Wing, Wisconsin, Tjepkema now resides on Duluth’s Park Point. She worked as a teacher for many years, and also operated a bed and breakfast. She is now finding her second wind as an artist. Tjepkema’s favorite forms of art include gardening, fiber art and music.

Tjepkema tells us a bit about her teaching career.

“Teaching has always been a passion of mine, be it in a classroom of high school or middle school students or teaching a workshop in one of my favorite mediums: handmade paper, silk fusion or bookmaking.

“As a business teacher, I began my classroom teaching in central Minnesota and Colorado. Once we moved to Duluth, I taught at Central, Morgan Park, Denfeld and East, ending my career at Woodland, where I helped set up a state-of-the-art networked computer lab in the new addition. An early retirement in 2000 gave me an opportunity to focus on an ‘encore’ career with the creation of Garden House B&B and on my artwork.

“After spending 25 years of planting and caring for numerous perennial flower beds at Garden House B&B in Port Wing, Wisconsin, I am now developing gardens at our new home on Park Point which will include some favorite grasses and shrubs,” she said.

“My artistic endeavors involve working in mediums that allow me to engage in the entire process,” she said. “This began with weaving fabric for the garments that I designed; gathering fibers for making handmade paper, books and dimensional fiber pieces; painting with thread; and now watercolors. As I sell these works, I find it difficult to let go as they become part of who I am — my children. But my purpose is not to become a commercial artist. Any sale just goes to help finance the next project.

“Music becomes another art form, and a part of each day, as I practice the piano and clarinet,” she added. “It is an honor to be a participant in the Twin Ports Wind Orchestra at UMD and the Twin Ports Symphonic Winds.”

Sue DeNio

Sue DeNio works as History Day Program Associate–Northeast Region. National History Day is the overall national program, while an affiliate, National History Day in Minnesota, is based out of the Minnesota Historical Society. National History Day in Minnesota is a co-curricular program for students in grades 6-12 that focuses on historical research and analysis about a topic of their choosing.

“History Day is teacher-based, meaning the teacher initiates it, and as staff, I can then help assist them,” DeNio explained. “So, if a school does not provide the program, it means no teacher has decided to offer it. Of the teachers I work with, I'd say we mentor each other, with new ways to help students with skill development, topic ideas, and resource ideas.”

DeNio tells us about her tenure with the program.

“I first heard about History Day as a parent in 2001,” she said. “Soon after, I incorporated it into the gifted and talented program at Fergus Falls Middle School, where I was academic challenges coordinator.

“From 2002-2007, six student projects advanced to NHD, with one of them winning National Group Performance first place. While at National, and knowing my husband and I were

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