For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Barb DeGroot, 952-443-1459

Arboretum offers Watercolor Workshop with Charlotte Laxen

             Chanhassen, MN (Feb. 3) - Release your inner artist!  Trade the winter "blahs" for a palette of watercolors and  sketchpad and start looking at the world through new eyes.

            Accomplished watercolorist Charlotte Laxen of Winsted, Minn., will lead a three-day "Winter Watercolor Magic!" workshop at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chanhassen. The workshop will run Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 19-21, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. daily, in the Arboretum's Azalea Classroom.  To ensure personal attention, class size will be limited to 10 people at beginning to intermediate ability level.  Fee is $220 for Arboretum members and $240 for non-members. Participation in this fine art workshop includes an invitation to be part of the Arboretum's December 2009 student exhibit and sale.

            A self-confessed "small-town girl who crossed an ocean" and can't get it out of her mind, Laxen paints the beauty and energy of life - whether the subject is a Root River biking trail or the gardens of Provence, France. On both continents, landscapes and street scenes are her favorite painting subjects. She portrays daily life in vibrant watercolors that capture the emotion, the reality of the moment, and most often, the peace within a scene.

            "My most recent paintings explore my desire to show atmosphere and mood. People tell me that they like my bold use of color and that they feel they can step into each painting and experience being there," says Laxen.

            As a teacher, Laxen shares insights from her own life experience and offers fun and encouragement to help students get past their self-consciousness and fears to create with abandon. "Charlotte is a nurturing, empathic, and affirming person, as well as a marvelous artist," says Reedy Gallery coordinator Maria Klein. "She wants her art to be accessible to all viewers, and her teaching style helps make the creative process equally accessible."

            Laxen teaches and exhibits her work in Minnesota, Florida and France. In 2007 she taught a prestigious painting seminar at Giverny, the home of beloved Impressionist Claude Monet. She exhibited at the Arboretum in 2006, and her work can be seen in at the Cornucopia Art Center in Lanesboro, Minn.; at the M Gallery in Sarasota, Florida; and at www.charlottelaxen.com.  To register for the Charlotte Laxen watercolor workshop, visit www.arboretum.umn.edu and click on "learn." call 952-443-1422 or email ArbEdu@umn.edu.

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The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, the largest public garden in the Upper Midwest, is part of the University of Minnesota College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and located 9 miles west of I-494 on Highway 5 in Chanhassen.  The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity employer and educator.