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| Old Jail Art Center Director |
Rowena R. Cross-Najafi, founder of the
Old Jail Art Center, is a Lawrence County native and former Foreign Service Officer who served in Germany, the Comoros Islands,
the Central African Republic, Djibouti, and Georgia. In addition to being an avid patron of the arts, Rowena is
a knit and crochet artist and a beginning lacemaker. She is currently working on a translation into English of the German
novel, "Gestern war Heute" by Ingeborg Drewitz. . Rowena is the President of the Lawrence County Historical and Genealogical Society and can
often be found at the Lawrence County Museum. She is also Vice President of the Lawrence County Art Association,
Youth Exchange Officer of the Bedford Rotary Club, and a member of the Lawrence County Concert Association, the Historic Preservation
Committee of Bedford Revitalization, Inc., and the Historic Review Board of Bedford. She and her husband Reza own
the historic building in which our center is housed and spend their free time on its restoration.
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| Gourd Art Instructor |
Tonie Kedzierski is a Bedford artist who has exhibited
and sold her gourds at a number of venues. Tonie's husband,
Ed, has been raising gourds for 25 years. Tonie credits her interest in gourds to a class she took with Auriela
Conway 18 years ago, which inspired her to experiment with designs and materials. In addition to gourds, Tonie
will paint on just about anything, including light bulbs and goose eggs, and she burns designs into wood as well.
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| Stained Glass Instructor |
Ross Thackery
has been working with glass for eleven years. He is a glassblower as well as a stained glass artist. In Ross's
words, "The very nature of the medium inspires and challenges the artist to conquer and create. The potential combinations
of shape and color are infinite. The only boundaries are those created by the artist. It is this union of glass
and creativity that has resulted in some of the best art in the world." Ross owns his own glass supply business, ABR Imagery, at 3803 West Vernal Pike in Bloomington. Be sure to click
on his picture to be taken to his company's website.
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