Our Artists
Northwoods Art
Jack Treher
Jack was a founding member of Lasting Perception and an amazing friend and spouse. Although he died in 2017, some of his work is still available.
Jim Blaha
Jim is an accomplished wood artist who is known for his attention to detail in the custom cabinetry and furniture he creates. No matter how complex a wood project, Jim can figure it out. He has worked with many varieties of wood. A few of his couch tables are for sale here and we hope he has the time to provide us with many more. His couch tables are made from solid wood, unlike most commercial tables that are made from manufactured particle board. Choose a domestic wood - walnut, cherry, oak, hickory or ?. and text us at 215-534-3363 about a custom product. Jim will give you a call back.
Karen Spotts
Karen’s wood-burning avocation has stuck with her for thirty-some years. She’s been lucky enough to have the Minnesota woods at her back door all her life. Interludes of hunting, trapping, and otherwise being woods-bound have provided the inspiration for her scenes of wildlife.
Basswood from northern Minnesota is her choice of wood to burn on. Other species, such as cedar and popple, occasionally come her way and some beaver-chewed, stripped-of-bark-pieces (species not always identifiable!) have proved to be burnable. These pieces she will bleach and re-dry before wood-burning. Karen uses a 120-watt woodburner and only one handpiece. with a 45-degree angle-blade tip. She still has a couple of the old 21-watt woodburning pens, with the cork grip, which she (rarely) uses for a finer shading effect. To learn more about Karen, read our article in Hometown Focus.US July 15, 2016 page 31.
Wearable Art
Elizabeth Treher
Liz has been designing since she was a child. Beginning with sewing with her grandmother, she started designing and making doll clothes and soon was creating clothing for herself, her mother, and relatives. Crocheting, knitting, and designing needlepoint and embroidery were hobbies for some years. The gift of a beading loom led to a few items, before she put seed beads away for decades until a few years ago.
Photo © P. A. Pashibin
Games and Puzzles
Elizabeth Treher
Family Games and Puzzles came about years after Liz co-founded The Learning Key, Inc. www.thelearningkey.com, a training and consulting firm, and Destina, Inc. When she isn't designing new products for The Learning Key clients, you will find her beading with the assistance of her active cats or outdoors in her garden or on the lake.
Diane Netzloff
Diane began beading in the early 90's as a hobby. As her hobby grew, she began selling her jewelry to continue her exploration of beads as art. As she began to teach beading, she discovered many like-minded souls in Northern Minnesota and Northern Wisconsin. She continues to teach and shows her work at craft fairs. Diane lives in rural northern Minnesota.
Timothy Carr
Tim is a cartoonist and graphic illustrator who has been part of our game design team at The Learning Key since 2006. His are the cat and dog cartoons on our 500-piece puzzle, Furever Friends. He is also responsible for most of our product graphics, including Destina Wi$eMoney (out of stock) and the board game Opt to Adopt (under development).