2010 Jurors

The jurors for the 2010 Festival include Stormy Mochal, owner of Outside the Lines Art Gallery, William Farrell, retired Art Instructor from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Justin Nostrala, Associate Professor of Art and Chair of the Art Dept. at Simpson College.

In 1986 Justin Nostrala received a Bachelor of Arts Degree, with a focus in Painting from Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa.  Between 1986 and 1995 he lived in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota and New York City.  Nostrala occupied an art studio at each of these residences.  After returning to Iowa Nostrala enrolled into the Graduate Painting Program at The University of Iowa where he received a Masters of Art degree in 1998 and a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1999.  Upon graduation from The University of Iowa Nostrala taught design, art history and photography at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa.  After this one-year assignment he taught design, drawing, painting, and art survey in another one year-appointment at Mount Union College, in Alliance Ohio.   Since 2001 he has been teaching art as a full-time instructor at Simpson College.  Nostrala is currently a tenured, Associate Professor of Art and Chair of the Art Department at Simpson College.  He continues to make art from his studio in Indianola, Iowa.

Justin Nostrala

Living and working in Dubuque, Iowa, I continue to be inspired by the ever-changing marvel of Iowa's country. Having been an Iowan all my life it only seems natural that each of my images contain a little piece of country; farmhouses, starry-filled skies, birds. Art is my release from a world full of serious things. It is my connection with my inner child, my playful, not-so-serious self. My images are simple; stars, flowers, people. Things that make me feel happy. Bright colors, coloring book-like outlines. Scribbles and birds. Free flow writing is often present in my work. The writing is thought turned to form, only meant to be seen, not meant to be read. Helping artists blossom and sustain is my mission. Another way for me to carry out this mission is by being the co-owner of Outside the Lines Art Gallery in downtown Dubuque. With the help of Connie Twining, my business partner, we work together to promote and sell the work of over 70 local and regional artists, including our own. The gallery started as an experiment into the “business of art” and is steadily blooming into a successful small business. Culture is an essential aspect in people’s lives and I am thankful to have the opportunity to be a teacher and contributor to culture and visual art.

Stormy Mochal

Masters in education degree at Penn state univ as a 'painter'. painting being the queen of the arts! Through some luck, good now, bad then, and being low man on the totem pole of grad teaching assistants, i drew ceramics;....pottery...clay sculpture. knowing little or nothing about the topic i enrolled in ceramics at Alfred University, the top american school for the ceramic arts, for encouragement and info! Another stroke of luck was landing my first college teaching job at Purdue University in indiana., to teach ceramics and drawing etc.....in the mid 60's with a few exhibitions and shows under my belt i was juried into the 22nd SYRACUSE ceramic national at the Everson Museum in N.Y. 2001 was my first introduction to working with a commercial pottery company.... in Italy. Myself and other internationals worked in the studio on potential commercial products. Recently we built a wood firing kiln there and are firing it annually. Since my retirement from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2001 to Galena Illinois I continue to work on small pottery pieces, fired in my wood kiln, and making an occaisional large sculpture for shows.

Bill Farrell