The Mill Yard Announces Opening of “Where Water Speaks” as Part of the August 23 Mill District Art Walk 2026
Thursday, August 6, 2026 at 11:36AM
Sunday, August 23, 3:00–6:00pm
Visit The Mill Yard during a three-building art walk connecting art to 100 years of Mississippi River restoration. The Mill Yard joins The Legacy and Bridgewater Lofts in hosting the Mill District Art Walk 2026. This special event is being held in conjunction with the Sacred Water Shared Future initiative and in collaboration with the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization and Owámniyomni Okhódayapi, leaders in the movement to protect the Mississippi and reimagine the land on its banks.
Featured artists are local and all art is for sale and benefits the artists. Learn about the Mississippi restoration, enjoy light refreshments, meet neighbors, bring friends and family, and enjoy wood-fire pizza from the Brick Oven Bus onsite.
Exhibiting Artists at The Mill Yard at Stonebridge Lofts:
- Lisa Fertig - painter
- Jenn Justad, Justad Glass – glass artist
- Karl Herber - photographer
- McP2 Art Studio: Mary Lynn & Susan Rennie McPherson – encaustic artist & photographer
- Kenneth Schweiger - painter
Lisa Fertig received formal training as a painter at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and Atelier Lack in Minneapolis. Lisa’s style is multi-faceted, creating impressionistic, abstract and realistic fine art. In each style she finds deeply personal responses. Her representational work “embodies my response to the environment…and it centers me in my life.” Free of visual constraints, working on abstract pieces she is exploring and responding to emotions. The forms “manifest themselves as successive, unfolding, and spontaneous adventures in color, texture and composition.”
Grand Marais by Lisa Fertig
Jenn Justad took a random summer camp art course almost 20 years ago while in college in northern Wisconsin. It was love at first glass! It was there she learned of the community glass studio in Minneapolis, Foci. Upon graduation she returned home to Minnesota and, at Foci, expanded her education in glass blowing. Jenn creates primarily functional glassware and décor. She creates pieces in vibrant color with a playful aesthetic. “Every time I work with glass I learn something new and expand my glass vocabulary.”
Glasswork by Jenn Justad
Karl Herber has dedicated his professional life to photography. While spending a year in Austria during college the foundation was laid for his development as an artist. His photography has won numerous awards and has been exhibited in Europe and the United States. “My work is about responding to and making tangible what I see and experience. I go out into the world and capture that which catches my eye. Then I refine and enhance that into a tangible form.” He describes his most authentic works as “inquiry into the relationships between memory, my experience, and the creating and existence of the photograph.”
Wave, Monhegan by Karl Herber
McP2 Art Studio / Mary Lynn McPherson always wanted to be an artist. She explored a variety of mediums and over a decade ago discovered what she had been looking for: encaustic, specifically photo encaustic. After years of training, she became an artist full-time. Mary Lynn collaborates with Rennie on color and composition and creates all the photo encaustic art. McP2 Art Studio is represented by the Muisca Gallery in Paris and has recently been featured in two shows.
Susan Rennie McPherson discovered photography her senior year in college after purchasing a Nikon EM to explore the natural world. However, photography took a back seat while she completed a doctorate in Clinical Psychology with a residency in Neuropsychology and started her career. Mary Lynn gifted her a digital camera two decades ago and she revived her commitment to photography. She photographed the Gold Medal Women’s Hockey game for Let’s Play Hockey magazine at the 2018 Olympics. Her fine art photography focuses on nature and street photography. She collaborates on color and composition with Mary Lynn at McP2 Art Studio.
Kenneth Schweiger is a fine arts painter, classically trained at The Atelier Studio Program of Fine Arts where, currently, he is an instructor. He makes drawings, etchings, and watercolor paintings on paper, and oil paintings on canvas and wood panels. Kenneth has traveled extensively to Japan and studied classical and contemporary art in Tokyo. It was in Tokyo that he “encountered work that inspired me to pursue a fine art career.” The masters of the Renaissance are another source of inspiration, including John Singer Sargent. These influences can be seen in his work. “My goal is to produce paintings with atmosphere, emotion and lived experience. In a painted depiction of a scene from everyday life, I hope to connect my own experiences in a meaningful way with the viewer.”
East Meets West by Kenneth Schweiger
Additional artists exhibiting at the Mill District Art Walk 2026:
Betsy Ruth Byers / Jil Evans / Regan Golden / Karen Goulet / Mark Granlund / Tim Harding / Megan Jorgenson / Anne Landreman / Dan Mackerman / Jim Meyer / Jane Michalski / Kristin Maija Peterson / Shannyn Joy Potter / John-Mark Schlink / Anika Schneider / Lisa Traux
This show ends November 19, 2026. If you miss The Mill Yard during the Mill District Art Walk 2026, contact TheMillYard.Stonebridge@gmail.com for a private viewing of the August show.
The Mill Yard at Stonebridge Lofts is located at 1120 S 2nd Street.
