Member Spotlight Artists Chosen For Display At Thelma

Thelma Sadoff Center for the Arts (THELMA) has announced the featured artists in the 2018 First Quarter Member Spotlight, each one a THELMA member with work to be displayed alongside pieces from the permanent collection.

THELMA is proud to present the works of Tony Mertens, Mary Wehner, and Walt Sinisi to their guests and audiences in the debut of the Member Spotlight program. Their work will be on display from January 2 until March 31 on THELMA’s lower level.

Tony Mertens has been working in the metal industry for over 30 years. Mertens’ commercial background is evident in his artistic work in that his pieces are built heavy and structurally sound.

His work includes functional items such as railings, pot racks, and window grids, as well as sculpture. He incorporates fabrication techniques as well as blacksmithing. Mertens likes to mix metals such as copper and aluminum into his work, as was done for his Member Spotlight piece, Nate. 

Mary Wehner paints and writes poetry from her home on Lake Winnebago in Fond du Lac, WI. She is drawn to story and landscape with strong elements of color and abstraction. Her piece, Color in the Myth, is one of two paintings in this quarter’s Spotlight display.

“For me all story is myth and all myth is story. I am a storyteller even in my most abstract paintings. I begin with color, composition, line, value. A story presents itself in its most basic form, I fiddle and title it as I see it forming. Color in the Myth tells the observer to create their own story. The painting has origins in my travels in the Middle East and the mysteries of that culture,” said Wehner.

Walt (Darko) Sinisi was born and raised in Croatia, and moved to the United States when he was 12 years old. Sinisi eventually began using a paint brush as a means of inner expression.

Sinisi’s painting, Submittal, implies that there is more to life than the present. Submitting to something greater than one’s self is key.

Submissions for the second quarter of 2018 will be accepted in person or via email until March 5, 2018. Registration form, display protocols and more information about the Member Spotlight can be found on THELMA’s website.