Board & Staff

The Shell Lake Arts Center is governed by a 15-member board, selected to serve two, three-year consecutive terms. The board members are selected for their accomplishments in the arts, education, business, and/or public service and represent rural and urban areas from the region. The board and Executive Director work together to create an environment where adult and school age students have meaningful connections, find their voices, create art, make friends, grow and reach their full potential.

executive committee

President
Jeffrey Southern
Rice Lake, WI

Jeffrey Southern has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2000 and currently serves as the Board President and on the Finance Resource Development, Personnel, and Capital Campaign Committees. Jeff retired from the Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College in 2000 after many years in their Human Resources Office. He now works part-time for the Wisconsin Procurement Institute. Jeff also serves as the President of the Barron County Red Cross. He is married to Linda Thompson and lives in South Haugen.

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Immediate Past President
William Taubman
Shell Lake, WI

William Taubman has been on the Board of Directors since 1977 and is the current Immediate Past President and Facility Committee Chair. He also serves on the Finance Resource Development and Capital Campaign Committees. Mr. Taubman taught in the University of Wisconsin system for thirty years before retiring in 1993. While in the university system, Bill served as an extension specialist teaching in the broad areas of resource management and community development. A Shell Lake native, Bill returned to live here and commute to his work in 1976. Bill is very active in other volunteer activities throughout the state especially Lions’ Club, and in his retirement operates a cash grain farm and self-storage business.

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Vice President
Sheila Aderman Squires
Shell Lake, WI

Sheila Aderman Squires joined the board in October 2017.  She serves as Board Vice President and is on the Capital Campaign and Personnel Committees. Sheila earned her Bachelor of Arts in Music Therapy from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Master of Science in Behavioral Disabilities from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.   She worked in the human services field for 30 years as a Music Therapist, Rehabilitation Counselor and Administrator of planning, human resources, and training for the Colorado Department of Human Services.  Sheila and her husband Stan retired to Shell Lake in 2016. Between 1969 and 1974, she attended various camps and worked as an office assistant at the Center. As the eldest daughter of Darrell and Billie Aderman, Sheila saw first-hand her parent’s dream become a reality and their years of passion and commitment to the arts, education, the community, and the Shell Lake Arts Center.

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Secretary
Megan Conners
Shell Lake, WI

Megan Conners was new to the Shell Lake Art Center Board in October of 2019, and serves as a Board Secretary, as well as on the Facility and Program/PR Committees. She has served on many other boards over the years - humane society, church, union, TitW. Megan was raised in Rice Lake, WI, and Minneapolis, MN. She comes from a musical family with three of her four siblings attending the SLAC! While Megan is not musically talented herself, she does have a passion for theater and the arts and had been involved with Theatre in the Woods (TitW) since 1994, now merged with SLAC. She had worn many hats with TitW - costumer, house manager, board member, toilet scrubber, and basically anything to do with helping an organization run smooth. Megan has worked as a secretary/transcriptionist for over 40 years in corrections, mental health/psychiatry, hospital, and law enforcement settings. She is currently employed by the Washburn County Sheriff’s Office. Megan will bring her abilities and knowledge to help further the cause of bringing quality theater to our magical north woods setting. While not born and raised in Shell Lake, she has called it home for over 30 years.

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Treasurer
Lynnea Lake
Spooner, WI

Lynnea Lake joined the board in November, 2017 and currently serves as Board Treasurer. She is also on the Finance Resource Development and Personnel Committees.  Lynnea retired in 2014 after 36 years in education in five different school districts.  She worked as a teacher, Director of Pupil Services, and Middle School Principal. Lynnea currently serves on the Trinity Lutheran Church Board in Spooner and is Chair of the Church and Society Committee. She is also a board member for the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Barron, Rusk, and Washburn Counties. Lynnea and her husband, Tim, have lived in the Spooner area for 40 years and raised three children.

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board members

Julie Krueger
Lino Lakes, MN

Laurie Bakkum
Shell Lake, WI

Laurie Bakkum joined the Board in October, 2019 after Theatre in the Woods became a part of the Shell Lake Arts Center. She currently serves on the Program & PR and Personnel Committees. She was a member of the community theatre, Theatre in the Woods, for the entire 29 years of its existence, and was the most recent president. She acted, directed, managed the house, worked on sets, and cleaned the bathrooms while involved in Theatre in the Woods. Laurie retired in 2012 from Siren School after 36 years of teaching. In Siren she directed six high school/community musicals, a high school play, and many elementary plays. She and her husband, Del, have a daughter and a son who were in the very first production at Theatre in the Woods when they were teenagers. Laurie and Del live in a house made for visitors on the Yellow River.

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Katie Guyer
Minneapolis, MN

Katie Guyer joined the Shell Lake Arts Center Board in 2019 and serves on the Finance Resource Development and Capital Campaign Committees. Born and raised in Saint Paul, Katie graduated from Visitation in 1980. She attended University of Saint Mary’s in Winona, Minnesota, graduating with a communication/art degree. In 1984 Katie began her career working in the music business for Wrensong Music publishing (Nashville/St Paul). In 1994 she took her creative ideas to the design world, owning and operating an interior design group. She currently owns Guyer Game LLC developing games, and product development. Her role takes on many tasks that include project management along with creative concepts.

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Pete Hopke
Shell Lake, WI

Pete Hopke serves on both the Finance Resource Development and Personnel Committees. He is currently the Spooner Elementary School Principal. Pete has a Master's of Education in Special Education from University of St. Thomas and a Building Administration Certificate from St. Mary's University of Minnesota. Before becoming a principal at SES, Pete was a special education teacher in Shell Lake and New Richmond and a special education program support and compliance coach in Superior. Pete is married to his wife, Danette, and has four children.

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Greg Keel
Woodbury, MN

Greg Keel has been a long-time faculty member of the Arts Center's Jazz programs, serving as the Program Director for many years until 2020 when he joined our Board of Directors here at
Shell Lake Arts Center. He currently serves on the Capital Campaign Committee. He has been on the faculty at MacPhail Center for Music since 1995, teaching saxophone, directing community partnership ensembles, and instructing in the jazz combo and summer camp programs.  Greg is also on the faculty at Carleton College in Northfield and Hamline University in St. Paul.  He has performed with a wide range of entertainment luminaries including Aretha Franklin, Dizzy Gillespie, Mel Torme, The O’Jays, Natalie Cole, Johnny Mathis, The Fifth Dimension, Frankie Valli, Lou Rawls, Doc Severinsen, Bobby Vinton, Bob Hope, The Temptations and the Minnesota Orchestra.

Greg's high school and college students have received recognition from Down Beat Magazine’s annual Student Jazz Awards, and are frequently selected as members of the Minnesota All-State Jazz Ensembles, the Dakota Combo, Minnesota Youth Jazz Bands, and the Minnesota All-State Concert Band.

Greg is a member of the JAZZAX Saxophone Quartet, Synergy, and the 10-piece soul/pop group The Good the Bad and the Funky. He is an artist/clinician for Conn-Selmer, and served as vice-president of the Minnesota chapter of the International Association for Jazz Educators. Greg studied at the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire and Madison, with additional graduate studies at Concordia University of St. Paul.

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Maureen Revak
Spooner, WI

Maureen Revak has recently rejoined the board in 2023 having previously served in 2015-2017. Maureen
serves as the board Treasurer and chairs the finance committee. Maureen recently retired from a 30-
year career in the financial services industry. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting
and a Master of Business Administration degree from Drake University in Des Moines, IA. Maureen has
served on several boards in the Spooner area and currently serves on the board of Wings for Widows, a
Minnesota based nonprofit providing financial coaching and training for widows and widowers.
Maureen has two children who attended several SLAC camps as well as participating in the Honors Band
and Choir sessions at the Arts Center. She currently splits her time between Spooner, WI and St. Paul,
MN.

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Harvey Halpaus
Ellsworth, WI

Harvey Halpaus joined the Board in 2020, and serves on the Program/PR Committee. He was a full time educator for 35 years. With degrees from UW River Falls , and University of Iowa he studied trumpet with Conrad DeJong and John Beer. At Ellsworth, Wisconsin he directed concert and jazz ensembles 7-12 he was a pioneer in the jazz education movement in Wisconsin. Being an active clinician, soloist and adjudicator throughout the Midwest he was recognized by the Wisconsin Association of Jazz Educators as Jazz Educator of the year in 2004. He also has numerous awards for supervision, teaching and performance from UW River Falls, UW Eau Claire, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, North American Brass Band Association, International Association of Jazz Educators and Minnesota and Wisconsin Music Educators Associations. Mr. Halpaus is currently a professional big band leader, trumpet and cornetist, with the Sheldon Theatre Brass Band of Red Wing, Mn.

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Steve Zenz
Milwaukee, WI

Steve Zenz joined the board in December of 2019 and has been intimately involved with the Center since 1971, starting as a student, counselor, and faculty member. He currently serves on the Program/PR and Capital Campaign Committees. He has been actively involved in the music business as a professional musician and teacher for more than fifty years as well.  During his professional career as a drummer, he has played with innumerable musical organizations and personalities representing almost every style of music. His professional credits include performances with such diverse personalities as Bob Hope, Myron Floren, Tiny Tim, Clark Terry, Milt Hinton, Pete Barbutti and Tennessee Ernie Ford to name just a few. As a teacher, he has been experienced at virtually all levels of education including the primary grades, middle and high school, college and graduate school. He has also had numerous appointments to Who’s who among American teachers. Steve received his undergraduate degree in music education from U-W Eau Claire in 1975, his master's degree in jazz studies from U-W  Stevens Point in 1987 and post graduate studies, primarily in International education from U-W River Falls.

Steve has a reputation for being a consummate professional in all that he does. His friends, students, and colleagues know him as "Zomar" a character of humor and zaniness. Steve's reputation as a performer-clinician is that of a seasoned musician and teacher who loves people. He is currently a retired freelance musician who has worked nationally, in Argentina and most recently Chile. Steve is the co-founder of the Cordoba Jazz Camp and the Cordoba Jazz Orchestra in Cordoba, Argentina and world traveler currently living in St Paul, Minnesota with his wife Siri. He is the father of four daughters and three grandchildren. For Steve, it is an honor to be appointed to the Executive Board of the Shell Lake Arts Center.

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a message from the executive director

Master teachers ... Magic setting

This could not be more true of the Shell Lake Arts Center.  The rich history of musical and artistic excellence began with the creation of the Indianhead Arts Center under the leadership of Darrell Aderman and the University Of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.  Their efforts have made this camp a destination for the study of  music and the arts in the Wisconsin Northwoods.

The names of our master teachers of the past and present are emblazoned in the hearts and minds of our campers.  Through their efforts our students become life-long, literate performers and creators of the arts--in all of their varied forms.

Our magic setting is feet from the banks of the beautiful Shell Lake with trees, smells of the outdoors, pinecones, deer, swimming, Northern Lights, and even Northwoods critters that wander through during the daily life of our community.  Our artists come ready to learn and in this environment which may be different than that of their own personal artistic experiences and homes, they create, perform, respond and integrate their past practices into new paradigms of learning and growth.

It is here that we do our best work.  Every student that enters through our doors matters and we strive for them to recognize and attain maximum growth, potential, and passion, as artists, students and citizens of the global community.

Give our master teachers a try--in this magic setting-- and we promise you one of the best experiences of your life.  At the Shell Lake Arts Center we don’t study the Arts, we do the Arts.  Are you ready to join us?

 

Patrick S Barnett
Executive Director

executive director

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Patrick Barnett

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Patrick S. Barnett is Executive Director at the Shell Lake Arts Center in Shell Lake, Wisconsin. He is the Former Fine Arts Department Chair at Maine Township High School West in Des Plaines. He completed his undergraduate degree in Music Education at Northern Illinois University and the Masters Of Music Education degree from DePaul University. In 2007, he completed a Masters in Educational Administration from Northern Illinois University. Prior to his appointment at Maine West, he was the choir director at Maine East High School for 19 years where he also directed the Variety Show. Prior to Maine, he taught junior high general music in Round Lake and Villa Park. An active participant, he has worked and performed in a variety of situations including a rock and roll band, community bands, and various churches and community organizations and local Veterans Day tributes. He is the past director of the Park Ridge Chorale and the 1998 and 2000 Illinois Ambassadors of Music Choir which toured across Europe. He has served on the board of the Illinois Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association as Director of Youth and Student activities and as Chair for the Chicagoland region. He has also served as Co-Chair of the Illinois Music Education Association (ILMEA) District 7 Chorus, the National and Illinois State Chair for the TRI-M Music Honor Society, and District 7 President of the ILMEA.  An active clinician and adjudicator, Mr. Barnett is a member of the National Association for Music Education, the American Choral Directors Association, and the American Guild of Organists. Pat, his wife Lisa, and their daughter Sophie have been enjoying their family cabin on the beautiful shores of Big McKenzie Lake in Spooner for many years, which is where they are currently building their new home.

administrative staff

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Alyssa Degner
Operations Manager

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Alyssa Degner attended Depaul University-Greencastle and received a Bachelor of General Music. After spending most of her adult life in southern Indiana, she moved back to her hometown of Shell Lake. Alyssa is passionate about music and enjoys playing and listening to many types of music. She also loves kayaking, camping, fishing, and spending time outside and is very excited for the opportunity to work with the Shell Lake Arts Center.

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Gweni Smith
Alumni and Grants

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Gweni grew up in southern Wisconsin and has been active in music since the age of ten. Playing the upright bass in school gave her many experiences with jazz festivals and music camps. Music brought her to the University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire to initially study music but later changed her degree focus to Organizational Communication. Through working for the University’s jazz studies department and being the festival director of the Eau Claire Jazz Festival she found that her passion for the arts truly lies in administration. Gweni started at the Shell Lake Arts Center in 2015 as a camp counselor and would later spend four summers as the Faculty Assistant and two years as the year-round Program Coordinator. She now works as the Education & Museum Associate at Schubert Club in Downtown St. Paul, MN.

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Carmala Aderman
Interim Director of Publicity and Marketing

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Carm Aderman works part time as our Director of Publicity and Communications. She was born and raised in Shell Lake before going to college (UW-Madison) and having adventures in her adult life. She worked in the Twin Cities, Wautoma, WI, Rice Lake, WI, and Omaha NE before retiring and returning to Shell Lake in late 2021. Her responsibilities here include our advertising, social media, and email communications.  

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Caroline Connolly
Camp Coordinator & Head Counselor

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Caroline Connolly started her career at the Shell Lake Arts Center in 2022 as a camp counselor. She is scheduled to graduate from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in December 2023 with a Bachelor's Degree in Instrumental/General K-12 Music Education. In addition to exploring music, Caroline enjoys painting, spending time outdoors, playing video games, traveling, and spending time with her cat, Hank. She cannot wait for the summer!

 

Contact Caroline for any day-to-date camp questions.

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Jeff Mortensen
Facility Manager

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A historic arts center like ours needs the best support. Our facilities manager Jeff works year round doing maintenance work on our campus. Jeff recently retired from the Twin Cities and relocated to the beautiful Wisconsin Northwoods. Jeff loves making the Center a great destination for campers and visitors. You can find Jeff fishing, hunting, and making maple syrup!

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Sharai Hefty
Kitchen Manager

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Sharai has had the distinct pleasure of serving SLAC students, faculty, and staff since 2018. She says that each summer gets better and better because not only does she have the memories of past summers and the wonderful “friends” she's made along the way, but has enjoyed “The Most Amazing” concerts & productions from “The Most Amazing” students in the world!

She only expects the students, concerts, and of course their dining experiences to continue to be better each year!

Master teachers, a Magic setting, and Great Food!

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Terri Johnson

Bookkeeper

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Terri has lived in Washburn County WI her whole life. She have been a bookkeeper/accounting/bank teller in her working life. She is married to Kevin Johnson for 45 years and they have 2 grown children and 4 wonderful grandchildren. She is active in Washburn County 4-H and manages the 4-H food stand at the county fair. She and her husband have a small beef cattle farm and we enjoy going camping.  She likes sewing and crafts. Terri looks forward to helping the Art Center get the notice that it needs to prosper.

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Tamara Smith
Collaborative Pianist

Tamara Smith attended UW-Eau Claire and received her Bachelor's of Music Education degree. After teaching in northwestern Wisconsin, she moved to Denver, Colorado and served as Minister of Music, taught private lessons, and enjoyed administrative work. In 2004, she moved back to her native Shell Lake with her husband and two daughters and has been very active as a free-lance musician. Tamara has worked as an accompanist for the Shell Lake Arts Center's Show Choir Camps since 1978.