The Lake Superior Art Association would like to thank local artists, board members, volunteers, and the Marquette area community for helping us make 2026 a wonderful and successful year!
Lake Superior Art Association LSAA, Inc.
2026 ANNUAL REPORT from LSAA President John French
This past year has been a whirlwind of activities for LSAA Members and those in the community who have attended LSAA events, exhibits, workshops, and Art Talks.
At the Annual Meeting, September 2025, the membership voted to accept the updated Bylaws and elected the following slate of officers
Slate of Officers- Elected September 16, 2025
Kim Danielson (President)
John French (Vice President)
Kathy Binoniemi (Secretary)
Mary Jane Lynch (Treasurer)
June Parsons (Communications Director)
Jacob Darner
Frank Malette
Sandy Weber
Marlene Wood
LSAA faced some challenges as we started the new year. Board Members Sandy Weber, Marlene Wood, Jacob Darner, and Frank Malette resigned. We thank them for their service.
New board members Shantina Hatfield, Ilah Wilson, and Diane Kordich were welcomed.
President Kim Danielson announced her resignation, effective April 30th. Vice President John French was elected President by the board of directors in accordance with the Bylaws. Diane Kordich agreed to be Vice President until January 1, and was elected in July by the board of directors.
LSAA continued its mission of promoting and supporting visual arts in part by offering the following programming during 2025 and 2026:
September 2025
We held a LSAA Annual Membership Meeting and Potluck in the Community Room at Peter White Public Library. Updates to the Bylaws were approved as well as the upcoming year’s budget and Slate of Officers, which are listed above. We also thanked outgoing Lynn Buckland-Brown and Penney Mellen for their hours of dedicated service to LSAA.
October 2025
● The annual LSAA Member’s exhibit in the Deo Gallery
● Art Adventures for Kids Latino Art, Dia de Los Muertos (Day of Dead) Painting Paper Mache Masks with Chris Weber
● Kathleen Conover Workshop
● Art Talk with Diana Magnuson: The Process of Writing and Illustrating her new garden book
November 2025
● The Members’ Exhibit continued
● Art Talk with Emily Lanctot/ Director of the Devos Art Museum: Promote Your Art Workshop–Artist Statements and Exhibit Text Panels
● Matisse Inspired Papercutting Art class with Colleen Maki
December into January, 2026
● Winter Solstice Art and Evergreen Exhibit, co-hosted with PWPL
January, 2026
● Art Adventures for Kids: Egyptian Profiles Using Scratch Art with Lynn Buckland Brown
● Art Talk with Emily Weddle: Wrapping Your Arms Around the Intangible: Wrestling the Conceptual into Physical
February 2026
● Art Adventures for Kids: Australian Aboriginal Art inspired by Nature with Johanna Worley
● Art Talk with John French, Julie Highlen, and Marlene Wood: Plein air Painting
March 2026
● Art Adventures for Kids: Upcycle Collage with Marlene Wood
May 2026
● The 75th Anniversary Gala on May 13th at the Marquette Regional History Center was a very successful event, and served as a symbolic kick-off to the next 75 years.
July 2026
● Annual LSAA Art on the Rocks Fine Art show with Lex Exworthy in his first year as director of this event. LSAA board members, exhibiting artists, and volunteers helped keep the weekend running smoothly. We look forward to many years of success with Lex at the helm.
LSAA Inc Statement of Financial Position as of 9-12-2026
CD Accounts $22,673.24
LSAA Inc checking $26,843.62
Total Equity $49,516.86
A financial review was done January 2026, and will be done again in January 2027.
Report from Mary Jane Lynch, LSAA Inc. Treasurer
Committee Reports
Program Committee
Chairperson: Sandra Weber, Chairperson beginning Oct. 2024 until April, 2026
The Program Committee is responsible for planning and providing programs for the benefit of the membership and to promote the participation and appreciation of the visual arts in the Marquette area. All LSAA Programs and Events from this past year are included in the Presidents Report.
Communications Committee
Chairperson: June Parsons Web site manager: John French
The Communications Committee is responsible for publicizing the events of the corporation and sharing information with LSAA members. Members of this committee are responsible for
● Producing five annual editions of the Kiosk:
September-October 2025
November-December 2025
January-February 2026
March-April 2026
May-June 2026
● Managing the LSAA Website
● Posting events to the LSAA Facebook page, Facebook group, and Instagram
● Posting events to online calendars, such as Travel Marquette and MQTCompass
● Submitting press releases to media sources such as the Marquette Monthly and Mining Journal
● Facilitating interviews with media sources such as TV6
● Emailing notices to LSAA membership
● Assisting with online and digital aspects of LSAA, such as the LSAA Google drive
Exhibit Committee
Chairperson: JoAnn Shelby until February, 2026
Members’ Exhibition, October and November 2025
Winter Solstice (Wintercharm) Exhibition: December into January, 2026
Nominating Committee
Committee Members: Mary Jane Lynch, Diane Kordich, John French, and Kim Danielson
The Nominating Committee’s goal is to present a complete slate of officers at the LSAA Annual Meeting and recommend persons to fill vacancies that may occur during the calendar year.
Fundraising Committee
Committee Members: Susan Roubal, Diane Kordich and other LSAA members, as needed
● Susan Roubal has checked and tallied all the Tadych slips that have been turned in to support LSAA. This year, $423.04 was added to our bank account! Thanks Sue!
● Diane Kordich is heading the $10,000 LSAA Art Scholarship challenge.
● Kim Danielson secured a $5,000 grant from the Hirvonen Foundation for children’s programs
Annual Meeting Committee
This is an ad hoc committee of Board Members and other volunteer members who plan and execute LSAA’s Annual Meeting, which takes place every September.
Grants Committee
The committee solicited applications for the LSAA Visual Arts Grants. Each application was reviewed and a unanimous decision was made on each grant. Consideration was given to what the funds would be used for, and who would benefit from the funds requested. Grants were awarded to the following:
● Sandy Knoll Elementary and Cherry Creek Elementary- Jacqueline Wagner Request for $500. Approved $700.
● Ishpeming Carnegie Library Request for $700. Approved $500
● Gwinn Area Community Schools – Jenny Hamel Request for $500. Approved $700.
● Aspen Ridge Middle School – Libby Nelson Request for $238.90. Approved $500.
● Michigamme Township – Julia Leake Request for $624.69. Approved $650.00.
● Artists in Excellence – Meghan Soucy, Alex Trotter, Jake Fether, Belle Shevey. Request for $500-$700. Approved $500.
Archives Committee
Archivist: Diane Kordich
Minutes, agendas, and other documents will be kept by the LSAA secretary for three years, then brought to the History Center to be added to the LSAA archives.
Membership Committee
Committee Members: Kim Danielson and Mary Jane Lynch
The total number of paid members is currently at 176. The Committee will continue to recruit new members at the LSAA Annual Meeting in September and again in January, 2027. The Committee will continue to refine the application process for getting updated information and submitting membership dues.
Art on the Rocks Committee
Director: Lex Exworthy
Art on the Rocks 2026
● Attendance: Very Busy on Saturday. Less busy Sunday but steady.
● Artists: 114 after cancellations and some replacements
● Net profit to LSAA approximately $5,200. The profit is less than in 2025, but the event is continuing to rebound after COVID shutdown.
Art on the Rocks Successes
● New Oases !!!
● New Layout: felt full and cohesive. Having separate eating & Pebble Corner tents worked great!
● Parking! The marina folks were happy with the state of parking. Almost all of the artists followed the parking rules which freed up lower harbor parking. The messaging around parking relayed to the public seems to have made a difference.
● Sales: several artists mentioned they had their best day ever.
● Student Art League partnership was amazing!
● Restructured prizes went over very well.
● Many compliments were received about the new logo and website.
● HUGE thanks to our incredible volunteers who made sure registration and the salesbooth were running smoothly all weekend despite some technical difficulties.
● Judges were diverse in expertise and geographic location, none of them knew a lot of the artists. Special thanks to Lex’s mom for filling in as a judge when Jason Schneider had a family situation
● North county porta-potties were clean
Art on the Rocks Issues
● Vendors: Coffee vendor backed out and a replacement could not be found in time.
● Security: A last-minute security cancellation was solved by a referral from Mary Jane. Nick was incredible.
● Merchandise sales: Not as profitable as expected. Remaining merch can be offered again next year.
● Cancellations: Some cancellations are expected. There were 9 cancellations in the week before the show plus 2 no-shows. Lex will implement a formal waitlist next year.
● Banners didn’t go up due to lack of setup volunteers
Improvements for 2027
● Sponsorships: start earlier
● Volunteers: start earlier
● Adjust some items on Director’s timeline
● Manage the event using a platform such as Zapplication.
● Increased visibility and diversity of artists/mediums.
● Increase booth fees to cover rising costs.
● Consider a shuttle for artists to free up even more parking.
● Electronic judging was mostly a great addition. It made tallying and deliberations much easier. One judge had technical difficulties, so that issue will be resolved.
● More in-kind sponsorships for artist amenities, printing, etc.
● Hold an artist meet & greet event.
● Bring back the T-Shirt design contest.
● Possibly shorten hours to 10-3 on Sunday.
● Buy a phone to run Zeffy transactions to save on fees.
● Connect the Facebook & Instagram accounts