Poets
Shorewood resident C J Muchhala’s poems have appeared in anthologies, in chapbooks, in an audio CD, and in numerous online and print publications. She has collaborated on three other Threaded Metaphors: Text and Textiles exhibits and on two Stevens Point Gallery Q poetry/art installations. Her poetry has received many awards.
Glendale writer Helen Padway says her romance with the written word through poetry has been steady and faithful. She has written for radio, appeared on television, and her poetry has been published in literary journals throughout the United States. She feels incredibly lucky to be one of The Sparks, a critiquing and writing group. Poetry has opened many doors to understanding herself and her world.
Poet and retired teacher Mara Ptacek grew up near the Kettle Moraine and now lives in Franklin. She is a member of The Sparks, a performance group of five
women poets. Her publication credits include Echoes Anthology, verse and vision, Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, Sacred Vision and Wisconsin Poets’ Calendars. She also creates handmade books and paper sculptures for her poetry.
Retired UW-Waukesha English professor Margaret Rozga brings to the Festival of Books a fascinating new collaborative project invitingly called Threaded Metaphors: Text and Textiles. This project presents the interactive work of six poets and six fiber artists who demonstrate how they draw inspiration from each other’s art forms. Rozga is also well known for her award-winning writing, which includes a play and book of dramatic poems about Milwaukee’s open housing marches in the 1960’s. Her 2012 essay “Community Inclusive: A Poetics to Move Us Forward” has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Rozga was recently notified that the Wisconsin Library Association selected her book Though I Haven’t Been to Baghdad “for Outstanding Achievement recognition for a 2012 poetry publication.” Rozga’s book was judged among approximately 250 other books written by Wisconsin authors. According to Jane Jorgenson, chair of the WKA Literary Awards committee, Rozga’s book was “judged on literary merit as well as the quality of writing, editing, printing, and publishing.”
Carolyn Vargo is the Regional Vice President for the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, a substitute teacher in West Allis and West Milwaukee, and a retired teacher from Milwaukee Public Schools. She is also an organizer of readings at People’s Book Cooperative, a teacher of the Urban Echo Poets at the Urban Ecology Center, a bird watcher, and a grandmother.
Social issues often provide inspiration for the work of Milwaukee poet Phyllis Wax. Her work has appeared in many publications, both online and print. She co-edited the 2002 Wisconsin Poets’ 
Calendar, has collaborated in several presentations with visual artists, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Bedazzled, her poem about the Calatrava addition to theMilwaukee Art Museum, won the Ideas Take Flight Contest at the time of its opening in 2001.
Visual Artists
After over thirty years of teaching chemistry, Mary Ellen Heus dove into the world of dyes and paints on textiles. She describes how she begins with white fabric, adds and removes color, then prints her imagery. After putting the pieces together, she adds another dimension with stitch. Her work has been shown locally, nationally, and occasionally overseas.
Winner 
of the grand prize for the Quilting is Art Competition sponsored by Milwaukee Public Television in 2010 and 2011, Marla Morris-Kennedy has sustained her love of fabric, color, visual texture and design for over twenty years in her work as a visual artist. She enjoys membership in various quilting guilds and has participated in many juried and invitational art shows throughout Wisconsin.
Quilt artist Kathleen Hughes frequently uses photographs printed on fabric to make her pieces very realistic. Her views are rendered in commercial fabrics, hand dyes, and whatever it takes to create a natural look. Venues in which her quilts have appeared include Madison Quilt Expo, Aullwood Audubon Society, It’s a Stitch Quilt Show, and Mukwonago Crazy Quilters. Extending her artistic enjoyment, she is also an alto section leader in Milwaukee’s Bel Canto Chorus.
Elizabeth Lewis has pursued a wide variety of interests and professional opportunities in the fields of education, art, writing, and wellness. Her fiber and mixed media art works have been exhibited throughout the United States and in Italy. Lewis travels widely, presenting motivational/inspirational talks, lectures, and workshops on healing art, healing writing, wellness, and more. She leads yearly personal renewal tours to Villa Pieve in the Umbria region of Italy.
Quilt artist Judy Zoelzer Levine has created an exceptional body of art. Most notable is her Body of Evidence series that portrays how the female figure is viewed, adored, exploited, and abused. She is also a designer, offers lectures and workshops, and has helped establish a facility in Cedarburg designed to preserve traditional Wisconsin quilts.
Connie Tresch has been making art quilts since 1982. She has exhibited nationally and internationally in solo shows, juried shows, and group shows. Her work is in private and
institutional collections. She has participated in all four Threaded Metaphors: Text and Textiles collaborations.