About Sara

Sara Muender is a commercial artist specializing in graphic design and photography.  She and her husband Thomas Folsom divide their time between the cranberry bogs of northern Wisconsin and the eastern Caribbean islands of St. Martin and Saba.  In the late 1980's Sara began developing her own unique style of painting based on pen and ink sketches using the contour or blind drawing method and water media.  More recent work is in the form of monotypes, a hand-pulled print-making method using oil-based inks on paper and a printing press.  Subject matter and style vary from the whimsical animals, cottages and landscapes of the Caribbean to the more impressionistic flora and fauna of the North Woods.  Most work is available in the form of original paintings & monotypes, giclee prints, limited-edition prints & cards.  Commissioned works may be accepted at the artist's discretion.

CONTACT SARA

Home: 715-543-8493
Cell: 715-604-2461 (call or text)
Email: moondeer_design@hotmail.com

Sara Muender was born in 1952 on a dairy farm near Boscobel in southwestern Wisconsin.  Like most children, drawing was one of her favorite pastimes, especially since there weren't many other diversions in that rural setting.  Sara graduated from Boscobel High School in 1971, having taken four years of art classes and winning the art award among others upon graduation.  She moved to Madison, Wisconsin in the summer of 1971 and attended Madison Area Technical College (MATC) for one year, taking a medical secretarial course and working for University Hospitals until she was accepted into the Commercial Art program at MATC in 1973.  She earned her Associate Degree in Commercial Art with honors from MATC in 1975 and left Madison for the "big city" of Minneapolis that same summer, where she obtained her first professional position in the art department of a major printing firm, Watt-Peterson Printing.  Sara went free-lance later that year and worked for several small independent design firms.  In November 1976 she married Thomas Folsom, a cranberry grower from Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin, and moved to the Northwoods where she continues to live and work to this day.

In 1990 Sara took her first watercolor class at Dillman's Sand Lake Lodge (now known as Dillman's Creative Arts Foundation at www.dillmans.com) in Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin, with Karlyn Holman, a well-known and popular artist living in Washburn, Wisconsin. Karlyn "turned me on" to watercolor, and continues to be Sara's favorite instructor and mentor to this day, as well as a close friend. Sara has also taken classes from other well-known painters, among them Don Andrews, Louise Cadillac, Barbara Nechis and Virginia Cobb. Most of the classes have been week-long workshops held at Dillman's Lodge, with other classes being held in Santa Fe, New Mexico and on Madeline Island in Lake Superior. Sara has also traveled to northern Italy, Norway, Sweden, St. Petersburg, Russia and Greece on painting tours with a group of other artists, and has found this an ideal way to see the world as well as continuing to build on her painting and drawing experiences. Sara and her husband spend the winter months on the Caribbean island of St. Martin/Sint Maarten, where Sara has become involved in the art communities of St. Martin & neighboring islands Saba, Anguilla, Statia, Nevis & St. Barth's.

Although her favorite media continue to be graphic design, photography and pen & ink drawings, Sara has been painting in watermedia since the late 1980's, and more recently has developed an interest in printmaking. She currently has many monotypes on the market, and hopes to continue to explore this area in the future through workshops and retreats in Door County and Santa Fe. In spring 2001 she opened her own gallery, "Moondeer & Friends", in downtown Boulder Junction, Wisconsin, which features contemporary fine art & craft, European, Oriental and American antiques and artifacts, small gift items, books, cards, Putumayo World Music CD's, and professional custom framing. This gallery features not only Sara's work, but also the works of many of her artist friends as well. In May of 2008, this gallery moved into a beautiful new building at 10354 Main Street, just down the block from its original location. This new space will give Sara much more room to work and exhibit. Please stop by whenever you're in Boulder Junction!

  • 2015: Honorable Mention, Manito Art League 50th Anniversary Exhibition.
  • 2015: Honorable Mention, Howard Young Art Gallery "All Things Birds" Exhibtion.
  • 2014: Honorable Mention, Howard Young Art Gallery Third Annual Summer Exhibition.
  • 2003, 2001 & 2000 Merit Award; 1999 & 1995 Best of Show; 2004, 1998 & 1997 Honorable
    Mention:  Manito Art League; Manitowish Waters, Wisc.
  • 1994: Winner of logo design contest for Mullet Bay Golf Club of Sint Maarten,
    Netherlands Antilles.
  • 1993: Winner of banner design contest for City of Rhinelander, Wisconsin.
  • 1992: Winner of Howard Young Medical Center Christmas Card Contest, Minocqua, WI
  • 1990: Winner of Howard Young Medical Center Christmas Card Contest, Minocqua, WI.
  • Musee de Marigot, St. Martin, French West Indies (April 2000).
  • Breadfruit Gallery, Saba, Netherlands Antilles (annual).
  • Wood County Bank, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin.
  • Howard Young Medical Center, Woodruff, Wisconsin.
  • Marshfield Clinic, Minocqua, Wisconsin.
  • Alexander House, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin.
  • The Coffee c'Art, Rhinelander, Wisconsin.
  • 2001 & 2000 New Visions Gallery Culture & Agriculture Exhibit, Marshfield, Wisconsin.
  • 1999 & 1997 New Visions Gallery Culture & Agriculture Exhibit, Marshfield, Wisconsin.
  • 1998 & 1996 Northern National Art Competition, Rhinelander, Wisconsin.
  • 1995 Johnson Heritage Post Exhibition, Grand Marais, Minnesota.
  • "Watercolor - The Spirit of Spontaneity" by Karlyn Holman; Karlyn's Gallery Publishing.
  • "Watercolor Fun & Free" and "Searching for the Artist Within" by Karlyn Holman
    through Bayfield Street Publishing.
  • Wisconsin Trails Magazine.
  • Tropical Fish Magazine.
  • Tico Times (Costa Rica).

In Wisconsin & The Midwest:

  • Boulder Junction: Moondeer & Friends Gallery (primary retail outlet)
  • Manitowish Waters: Cranberry Square.
  • Bayfield: Stone's Throw Gallery.

In The Caribbean:

  • St. Martin/Sint Maarten:  Camaieu Galerie d'Art (Marigot); L'Esplanade Hotel (Grand Case); Magic Art (Grand Case); Good Cards (Simpson Bay); The Art Box (Philipsburg).
  • Saba: Five Square Gallery (Windwardside).
  • U.S. & British Virgin Islands: Represented by Timco Caribbean Art.