Welcome, everyone, to Midday Magazine for this January 2nd, 2024.
You have your host, James J. Mailoff here.
In part two, we're going to talk with our friend from the Southville County YMCA,
looking forward to catching up with them and finding out all the great things that they have going on.
Right now, we have from the Alexander House with us.
We have Connie Hanky.
Connie, good morning.
Good morning, James.
And we have Karen Thiel, is it?
Thiel.
Thiel. Karen Thiel with us.
Karen, good to see you.
Good to be here again.
I appreciate both of you guys being here and really, really thankful for the opportunity
to talk about the Alexander House.
It just has been way too long since we've had you guys in and we've had a chance to catch up.
I'm looking forward to this and what a great way to kick off our new year
having the Alexander House with us.
I want to thank you both also and your team for all the work that you guys do at the
Alexander House for our community.
We really do appreciate you.
Connie, I'm going to probably put you on the spot first if you don't mind,
because I wanted to get into the history of the Alexander House a little bit of the
background.
Did I point to that key?
I'm sorry, I did that opposite.
Karen, I wanted to put on the spot a little bit first.
Karen, I want to talk about a little bit of the history of the Alexander House if you don't mind.
No problem.
The House is actually from 1934.
It was built as a private residence and it had seven owners before.
It was purchased by the Alexander Charitable Foundation.
Reasons that they, why would they purchase a house?
They no longer owned the mill and they had a big historical collection
of items and they wanted to find a home for it.
They also had used the mill as a venue for art in their hallways and back when it was
open to the public that you could just come in and see an artist that was being highlighted.
And you can purchase things there really cost the artist.
I mean, you know, no commission or anything.
How cool is that?
Yeah, I didn't know that.
Oh, that's really interesting.
I didn't know that either.
Yeah, I mean.
That's really cool.
We're both finest of that kind of.
Yeah, interesting.
Wow.
We have a couple of pieces in our house that we bought off the walls of the Wallace building.
Yes.
You know, so I myself, I've been an actor for a long time and I've done a lot of creativity in this
community and I for like many people out there listening and I'm sure maybe you guys as well.
We understand that Central Wisconsin Wood County in particular has so many great creatives
and has for so long artists, singers, musicians, painters, photographers.
We've got so many great collection of creativity in this area.
It's kind of cool to hear that that's been the case really for a very long time,
even before the Alexander House or some of the other organizations we have in this area.
This area has supported the arts.
It's really going out of its way to do that, even incorporating it at the mill.
That's really unique.
It was totally unique and made it very interesting.
So that kind of gives us an understanding of why the Alexander House was what it,
the purpose it kind of served in bringing it here.
That's interesting.
It is totally funded by the Alexander Charitable Foundation.
It was set up the five board members, our daughters of the same John Alexander's and
it is when it was set up, Marshall Bealer was an employee and he and Don Cron were our first two
directors as such. Marshall is still active in the House.
Oh, that's awesome.
He's in his 90s. He's our historian.
He is absolutely a treasure to the community.
What year was that?
It was 1990, the one that was 1991 in the spring was our very first art opening.
And the directors, the directors that we have over there over the years,
that we have currently. This is the current list of directors we have.
This is the current list that I gave you.
Not had a big change in all these years.
In 30 some years, Connie is our third art director and my husband and I are filling the role of
like the facility, the plant, the modular maintenance and we are the third ones in that position.
And Paula Beziner is our fourth director and she does all of the art arranging and aids in setting
up all of the events. Yeah.
And Paula is the second one and actually because she follows Joan Palin.
Oh, wow. It's nice to hear that kind of rundown of the people that we've had in these positions
and also that we haven't had a whole lot of change over with that.
I think that gives a lot of consistency not only to the Alexander House but to the community
and what to expect from the Alexander House.
I'm looking forward to talking a little bit more with you Connie about the events
in different things in the area or going out with the Alexander House.
Before we go there, I wanted to talk about the facility itself a little bit.
The hours when it's open, when people can check out the Alexander House.
So do either of you want to take that or just go into some of the when is it open to the public?
The house is open Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday from 1 to 4 pm and we also for each new show that opens,
we host a opening reception and that's always on a Friday evening from 5 to 8 pm with the
exception of youth art month because that's children and students are opening reception is always
on a Sunday from 1 to 4.
Okay, good to know, good to know.
When it comes to different organizations or different groups that might want to be able to
use the Alexander House or work with you all, is there anything to keep in mind with that?
Is there anything as far as if I'm a group, if I'm an organization out there and I want to be a
part of things there? Just reach out to you guys, is there ways of getting my art in there?
That kind of thing.
Okay, well a lot of artists will contact the house to find out if they can show their work.
What they usually do is send me an email and photographs of their work to see if it would be
possible to show their work. I also attend all over the state art shows, gallery shows,
art fairs, and you know, seek out artists who I think would be a good fit for the Alexander House.
Let's see, that's really cool that you do, if you don't mind Connie, I want to stop on that
just for a second because that's really cool that you do that. I think that's a fun job and I
want that job. I want to be able to do that for a living. That sounds great. Travel the state
looking at arts and stuff. That's fun.
It is a great, I mean I always did that before but now I have another reason to go to all of these
shows and I have met so many different artists and talked to so many different artists. Normally
would just be like going to an art fair and just going for booth to booth and oh hi and that kind
of thing. But now, you know, if I see someone I can present what we can do if they show their work
at the Alexander House for them. I also know a lot of artists in the area and they
give me a lot of recommendations and also artists that I may put into the exhibition calendar.
Then a lot of times they ask them, well is there someone that you would like to show with?
And a lot of times then that just expands the base of the number of artists that we have.
It's the connections that you can make from just one connection. It's really awesome.
Right. And then open the door to someone who I'm like oh I didn't know about this person.
And it might be you know someone who's local on it's like wow I didn't even know that
this person was out there. When it comes to the different things that are available at the
Alexander House too, there's a conference room on the lower level with internet. There's
different things available to rent. Do you be able to use as well?
No rent. Oh, no rent. I'm sorry. I word they were.
And in community organizations can use this. They have to call and schedule a lot of
Christmas parties go on because we decorate well for the holidays. And it's open to any
nonprofit group that meets sort of on a regular basis. When it was established they knew they'd
be overrun if they did birthday parties and winning showers and that kind of thing.
So much more like personal family things are not included in the ability to use the building.
Otherwise we will set up for you. We can have a sit-down meal for 24 relatively. We've got
the dishes in the silver in the China and all the goodies for you. And we will set up for you.
You cannot cook in the house because of the art we don't want. But you can have it catered or
you can have a pot lock you bring in your crock pots and plug them in. That's just fine.
That's nice to know. And especially as we're getting into the winter months here and people
looking for things like that to do or different venues to be able to have a host something.
And it does sound like though something did you want to plan ahead? Because that books up quick
I imagine. December books relatively quickly. We always keep the open slots to the public
available so that you cannot book anything on Sunday Tuesdays or Thursday afternoon. That's what
you know given. So those days go very quickly in December. We're speaking with Karen and Connie
from the Alexander House. And I want to get into some of the art shows and the events coming up
Connie with you in a moment. But there's something talking with you both. I did some homework
over the weekend for the interview here and was really researching about the Alexander House
and some things that I hadn't thought about for a while or hadn't really learned art
new beforehand. And immediately was reminded of every month we have this store point boss,
join us and we talk with Mike Hittner and the gang over there or Sally Kissner from the Arts
Council and talking with Sally a little bit. The idea of this area and how much we support the
arts and how much we embrace them and how many different avenues we have for artists and different
people to be able to get their art out there or for us to host artists, bring people to the area.
The combination of that along with our personal history around here and keeping that
history alive. I find this area so unique when it comes to that. So wonderful about that.
And I know that that trickles down to the younger generations. Just thinking about it,
it was talking to a couple of teachers and talking to some students about this, about the history
of this area and keeping it alive and being a part of things. And that's something that is
important to them too. And I don't think that's a coincidence. I think that that is something that
they learn or they pick up on from the adults in the area. So I think it'd be remiss if it didn't
take a moment to just appreciate all the years and all the people that have gone to the Alexander
House helped to keep it around, helped make this wonderful thing that we like to go to. But also
all the people who have attended over the years and gone to different events at Alexander House
or use the facilities for different things as well. It helps us not only celebrate our area,
but keep the history of our area alive and well. Amazingly, we are pushing like a hundred thousand
guests. That's incredible. And if you come into the house, it has light carpeting that has been
there since day one and before because the previous owner must have put it in. And it is wonderful
carpeting because it cleans up every year. Yeah, it stays new looking. It's got to be some really
good carpeting. It's good carpeting. We have just been blessed to have artists. We've had people
scheduled. We've had over 250 art shows. People have a venue to show art. And to sell it. And we do
not charge a commission. It goes directly to the artists to support them. Yes, it's a great venue
for artists to show their work because we do not collect a commission. And that's unheard of in
the art world. It really is. And yeah, that's a great thing. And we do all the publicity. And we
also do the reception. And I mean, a lot of these things are unheard of. As an artist, you are
having to do all of this. And the Alexander picks up and we do all of that for the artists.
Plus a huge, huge thing for every artist that shows at the house is the lighting. We have top
of the line lighting. I've heard this. Yeah. The house and every artist is like, oh my gosh,
I've never seen my artwork like this before because of the lighting. So yeah, I think about that
from time to time. I've been fortunate as an actor. I've gotten to perform around the country.
I've gotten to do some pretty big shows and that. But I work with a lot of people here locally
that these are some of the biggest, this is probably the biggest venue they ever do or anything.
And for they get as much out of it as I do performing in California or L.A. or something like that.
Like the opportunity for an artist to be able to put their work under the spotlight to be able
to put it out there. That isn't something that every artist ever gets. I don't care what level it
is to be able to do that as an artist. That's free. That's so wonderful to be able to offer that
to be able to give that. Not just for that artist, but for the community to be able to take it in.
That's pretty a unique situation right there. That's wonderful. Let's talk a little about if you
don't mind Connie, some of the events coming up over at the Alexander House. Yes. To start out the
year this Friday January 5th from 5 to 8 will be our opening reception for the Wisconsin River
Wood Carvers. And they are a Central Wisconsin group and they promote the love of wood carving.
And they also, I've been told, they also not only have members in Central Wisconsin, but they do
have a few members now outside of the state. So this show will run through February 20th.
And then after the wood carving show closes, we will celebrate youth art month at the House. We
celebrate youth art month every year. And that it is a state and national observance in the month
of March. And this year we will be showcasing Port Edward's public schools K through 12
children's art. And it's a every other year thing. One year is Port Edward's and then the next year
is Nikusa. So they take turns like that. Yeah. Yeah. That's a fun part to do. It is it's very, very
well attended. And yeah, it's just a great thing for the kids. Everything I was saying about
supporting artists and everything. All of that times a hundred when it comes to the kids.
Yeah, it's just it's a great event. Then in April, we will have two artists from Wisconsin
Rapids, Bonnie Dine, who is a painter. And she's primarily been doing the figure. She will show
with Laura Newman. And Laura is a sculptor, painter and ceramicist. So she'll have all three media
on display. And their theme of their show is body and boldly beyond. So I'm looking forward to their
show. I've known Bonnie and Laura for many years. Laura was actually one of my students because I
was an art teacher and met her in her elementary years. So I followed her art career all the way
through. After that show is Joy Moon. She's a watercolor artist from Ashkash, very, very well-known
watercolor artist. And she will be showing along with Pat Ryer. And actually, I asked Joy, this
is another, this is a situation where I said, Joy, is there anyone that you would like to show with?
And she said, oh, I'd love to show with my friend Pat from Von the Lack and Pat is a Racco artist.
So it should be a beautiful show. Yeah. In the summer, we will be showcasing Brian Abing who
is a self-taught oil painter from Wisconsin Rapids. And I found out about Brian from my husband
and I, our financial planner. He called me up one day, Connie. I have all this, I have this guy's
art throughout my office. And I really don't know. Can you stop over and take a look? And I went
and I'm like, yeah, this is fabulous. Yes, I will schedule him for the Alexander House. And he
Brian, yeah, a self-taught oil painter. He's been, I don't know, maybe it's been five years,
that he's been working. I feel a little foolish. I've been messing around with an acting agent
all these years. I should have just got a financial advisor. Yeah, because I think Brian was like, he
wanted to quit his, you know, leave his electrician position his full-time position and be in
work on his art and so then the financial planner helped him in his wife and family with that.
And his work is, is beautiful. It's mostly landscapes. And I think you would have a connection
to those landscapes because they're from around here. Oh, cool. And then he's showing with Kate
Moratz from Marshfield. Kate is herner husband, our art teachers. She's a ceramic artist. And I think
the two of them, well, complement one another very well. Yeah, yeah, sounds like it.
And did you want me to keep going? Please, yeah, yeah. If anything so that we can give people the
mark things on their calendar coming up. And if I'm being honest, I'm not sure the next time we're
going to be able to get you guys on, I want to make sure to cover these things. But we will be
talking about all these events as we get closer to them on our morning shows and our celebrating
and promoting them as well. Right, right. And one, one thing that is really good if people
sign our guest book when they come to an opening. And we also have a trifle that lists all the
shows for the year. And then if they get them their name on the guest list, guest in the guest book,
then a lot of times we take those names and that becomes part of our mailing list.
Oh, good. Which is a really, yeah, which is a really nice thing for people.
So in August, we have Nancy Thorson from Stevens Point. And I have no one and have gotten to
know Nancy. She's very involved in the Riverfront Art Center in Stevens Point. And I've become very
familiar with her collages. So she plans to show an August along with. And I asked Nancy,
again, is there anyone you'd be interested in joining with? And she has a very good friend who
is a sculptor from Warsaw. And she does primarily sculptures in stone. So it should be really,
wow, really nice show with the collages and then her sculptural work. That's going to be awesome.
Yeah, that is a very cool. And I like that. And then October through November will be an ag egg
tampera. It will be egg tamper paintings by Patrick Doman. And he's from Cedarburg. Very well-known
artist in the state. And he plans to demonstrate this painting technique during the opening reception.
And this technique, egg tampera, is an old world method of painting, preceding oil painting.
So I think it should be really cool because it's before oil paint was like invented. I guess
what you would say. So it should be really cool. The art itself is going to be unique, let alone the
process and all of that. It's going to be another whole other cool part of that. Right, right, right.
Well, that's going to be fun. And then he's showing with Doug Witts from Westbound and Doug is a
sculpture sculpture. So it should be another great show. Yeah. And then we will end the year with
a very well-known artist from the area, Bill Carver, Fort Edwards president. And he will show,
it will be a solo show and he'll show his two and three dimensional works. Very cool.
And it'll be our diverse range of art forms, sculpture, jewelry, clay, painting.
And he's very well-known. I know that we'll have a great turnout because we usually do win-bell
shows. And Connie, we're going to be, thank you so much for that rundown. We're going to be talking
about these events as we closer to them on our shows and promoting them and sending people your
way. When it comes to the Alexander House, to me, and just taking all this in, I got to think,
I mean, the purpose of it, the spirit of it is live and well and strong and everybody can take
some pride in that. But we also need everybody to help continue this. The Alexander House runs on
volunteers. It runs on that in a community that we're in here. If people do want to be a part of
things at the Alexander House, they want to volunteer, they want to join the team. How can they do
that? How can they find out more? We need docents very much. And we're down at this point. We usually
have 15. We have 10 active ones right now. They work hard. They enjoy coming. If it happens to be
a time when they don't have guests, they can do their needlework. They can catch up on their
writing or whatever they're doing. But we have people that really enjoy interacting. So any
community member who would like to do this, give us about three hours a month. Yeah, it's not a big
time commitment. And you choose when you can do this. Give us a call in the number 715-887-3442.
Leave a message because we are all volunteers. We're not there every morning. Yeah,
and we'll get back to you. And we'd love to get some new people, new faces.
Help us keep things going over there. The more the marry, the more people we can get, the better
we can keep that going, keep that doing, and help you guys with all the work you're already doing.
Because we really do appreciate it. It makes this, it just adds to the tapestry of this community
so much. I have an Alexander house and having all of these great events and the different
things that we're able to do over there. I greatly appreciate you guys so much. I also want to tell
people to find out, they can find out more at the website, Alexanderhouseonline.org. It's a
fantastic website. I was able to find out all the things that we were just talking about with Connie
and Karen here and encourage people to bookmark that page again, Alexanderhouseonline.org.
Both of you, thank you so much for the time. Really, really do appreciate you. Have yourself a
great start of the new year and we'll be sending in some people your way to the Alexanderhouse,
okay? That feels great. Thank you. Thank you for the time. We will take a quick break. Come back
with more Midday Magazine right here at WFHR, locally grown radio.
