{"id":10778,"date":"2025-05-13T15:37:03","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T15:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artsmidwest.org\/?p=10778"},"modified":"2025-05-15T18:43:37","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T18:43:37","slug":"art-reach-st-croix-minnesota-wisconsin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsmidwest.org\/stories\/art-reach-st-croix-minnesota-wisconsin\/","title":{"rendered":"This Arts Org is Connecting Creatives Across a River\u2014and State Lines\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Search \u201cSt. Croix River Valley\u201d online and you\u2019ll find competition for your current desktop background.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The waterway is a government-designated National Wild and Scenic River<\/a>, with all its blues and picture-perfect hues. Scenic is an understatement. Living in the dual-state area, which is 30-some miles northeast of Minnesota\u2019s Twin Cities, is an artist colony of sorts (how could you not be artistically inspired by the views<\/a>?). 
 
Local arts organization ArtReach St. Croix<\/a> is helping to connect them. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\n \n\n\n\n<\/g>\n\n\n\n<\/clipPath>\n<\/defs>\n<\/svg> Photo Credit: ArtReach St. Croix Facebook<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
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\n The St. Croix River is a defining topographic feature of the valley\u2014and all the art and creativity happening within it.\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n \n \n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n

Art to Art <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cArtists often work in isolation, especially in the semi-rural and rural space,\u201d says Heather Rutledge, ArtReach\u2019s executive director. \u201cIn the St. Croix Valley, the artists are not parading down the street, but one of the ways that we [connect them] is network building among the artists.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spanning the final 60 miles of the lower St. Croix River in Wisconsin and Minnesota, ArtReach has identified 168 local creatives<\/a> on its directory. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\n \n\n\n\n<\/g>\n\n\n\n<\/clipPath>\n<\/defs>\n<\/svg> Photo Credit: ArtReach St. Croix Facebook<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
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\n ArtReach St. Croix’s Mobile Art Gallery travels parks and public areas across the region to bring art to passersby.\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n \n \n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the interactive list<\/a>, the Stillwater-based nonprofit heads a mobile art gallery<\/a> (which often sets up in nearby state parks), an area arts event calendar, and shares artist resources<\/a> for folks in the region. ArtReach also hosts art at its gallery<\/a> and month-long NEA Big Read programs<\/a>. The list truly goes on. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of esker and bluffs and hills, and there\u2019s something special about the St. Croix and it\u2019s also very much a lively art community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n HEATHER RUTLEDGE, ARTREACH ST. CROIX EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR<\/cite>\n <\/blockquote>\n\n