Artists in Residence
We bring different perspectives to the table, but we’re united by a love for purposeful work, thoughtful design, and real connection.
The Raven’s Wish Artist in Residence program is designed to support artists in a meaningful and intentional way by offering space, visibility, and community within a professional gallery setting.
Our Artists in Residence are more than featured exhibitors. It is an opportunity for deeper creative engagement and a season dedicated to exploration, growth, and connection with our local art community.
Heather Hansen
Heather Hansen is a full-time studio potter and mother of two based in Janesville, Wisconsin. Working primarily in stoneware clay, she creates functional pottery designed for everyday use, inspired by color, natural beauty, and craftsmanship.
Heather is the artist behind Pottery By Five and creates her work from her studio at Raven’s Wish Gallery, while also teaching classes and accepting commissions. Her pottery can be found at several local businesses throughout southern Wisconsin.
Sophia Voelker
Born in San Jose, California, Sophia Voelker is a self-taught artist whose work is both purposeful and visually engaging, often balancing humor with calm. Using a range of mediums including acrylic on canvas, driftwood, dense air-dry clay, and drywall mud, they create pieces that reflect personal experiences and explore meaningful themes.
In addition to analog work, Sophia also creates digital art using Illustrator and Photoshop for print, social media, and collectors.
Hallie Kohn
Hallie is a self-taught oil painter from Janesville, Wisconsin. She has a home studio and paints whatever is nearby, which often tends to be foods from the kitchen and plants from the garden. Her paintings are full of expression and life by use of lively color choices and visible brushstrokes.
Though most of her professional works are done in oils, she loves to experiment by taking online classes and creating art with many different mediums and tools.
Lauren Laatsch
Lauren loves to capture the feeling of different spaces in her work through expressive brushwork and bright colors. In addition to painting, she is also currently studying graphic design at UW-Stevens Point.
Monica
Monica, the artist behind Ellie Jo Designs, is a maker at heart whose work is inspired by nature, memory, and the beauty found in everyday life. Originally from Illinois and shaped by time spent in Florida, Wisconsin, and Louisiana, she creates meaningful pieces using wood and acrylic, often incorporating organic forms, waterways, flowers, and personal symbolism. Her work is rooted in peace, serenity, and connection, with many pieces designed to preserve memories through custom details like handwriting, children’s drawings, and keepsakes.
Pat Sparling
Pat Sparling is a photographer whose work captures the beauty, character, and stories found in everyday life. Inspired by a lifelong passion for photography and influenced by renowned National Geographic photographers, he specializes in landscapes, cityscapes, rural scenes, black-and-white studies, and abandoned places. Sparling is known for his commitment to authenticity, relying on composition, timing, and natural light rather than heavy digital manipulation.
Through his lens, he invites viewers to discover the extraordinary within the ordinary and to see the world from a new perspective.
Alicia Reid
A love of maps, music, and the earth is evident in the acrylic mixed media artwork of Alicia Reid. Deriving inspiration from previous lives as band director and geography professor, Reid embeds maps and music into her artwork creating abstract landscapes.
Robert “Bob” Witzack
Robert “Bob” Witzack is an oil painter whose work is deeply shaped by his 28-year career in railroad operations. After retiring in 2009, he turned to painting trains as a way to process and reflect on that chapter of his life. His recent work offers a nostalgic look back, capturing the railroads, locomotives, and trains that were part of his career with both personal history and artistic perspective.
Jamie Sterk
Janesville native Jamie Sterk has spent her entire life immersed in creativity. Her artistic journey began at age eleven, when a neighbor taught her to knit—sparking a lifelong love of crafting and making. From there, her curiosity only grew. She added sewing, explored ceramics in her twenties, and later discovered the vibrant worlds of stained glass and paper crafting.
In recent years, Jamie has expanded her practice into working with dye inks, pigment inks, and alcohol inks, embracing their fluidity and unpredictability. She is especially drawn to gel plate printing, which she uses to create dynamic backgrounds and layered collage work. Mixed media has become her creative home—an open space where she can follow inspiration wherever it calls.
Always learning, Jamie delights in experimenting with new techniques and reimagining projects as she deepens her skills. For her, art is an ongoing journey of exploration, play, and discovery. Each piece reflects her willingness to evolve, reinvent, and follow the creative paths that continue to unfold before her.
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Tom Boguszewski
Tom Boguszewski PhotographyTom Boguszewski is a Wisconsin photographer whose work is inspired by travel, landscapes, historic structures, classic cars, and bridges—especially covered bridges. A longtime “picture taker,” he became serious about photography while preparing for a once-in-a-lifetime trip and has since developed a strong eye for turning everyday scenes into compelling images.
Based in southern Wisconsin, Tom’s photography reflects his love of the road, history, and the beauty found in both natural landscapes and rusty roadside relics.
Alice Blue
Alice Blue is a lifelong artist whose work is inspired by nature, travel, and the landscapes that shape our memories. Growing up in rural Wisconsin fostered a deep appreciation for the natural world, while travels throughout Europe sparked a passion for creating art that captures the feeling and essence of a place.
Working primarily in acrylic and oil, Alice explores themes of water, atmosphere, and landscape, often drawing from photographs and personal experiences. Through a distinctive use of color and interpretation, their work invites viewers to connect with both the beauty of the scene and the emotions it evokes.
Stephen Latka
Stephen Latka is a Wisconsin woodworker whose creations are inspired by a lifelong appreciation for the natural beauty and character of reclaimed wood. Originally from a ranch in eastern Montana, he developed a fascination with trees after moving to Wisconsin.
A retired elementary school teacher, Stephen spent years creating puzzles, games, and handcrafted furniture, including more than 65 unique children's chairs. Using salvaged and repurposed materials whenever possible, he transforms interesting pieces of wood into functional works of art, ensuring that no two pieces are exactly alike.
Interested in showcasing your work at Raven’s Wish?
We’re always excited to connect with artists who value creativity, craftsmanship, and community. If you’re interested in exhibiting, teaching, or becoming more involved with the gallery, please fill out the form below. We’d love to learn more about you and your work.