Art show, auction to celebrate Kropa

MOUNT PLEASANT ? A retrospective of artwork by Mount Pleasant artist Susie Kropa will be on display Sunday through Dec. 16 in the Iowa Wesleyan College Art Gallery.

An opening reception and silent auction will be held from 2-4 p.m. Sunday.

Most of the items on display will be available for sale by silent auction. Proceeds will help fund art museum trips for elementary students, a project that had been very important to Kropa; a memorial was established for the Mount Pleasant Community School Foundation to fund field trips for elementary students to art museums.

Ed Kropa will be available to answer questions about his late wife and her artwork.

Susie Jean Kropa, 66, died Sept. 16 at Sunnybrook in Mount Pleasant.

She had taught elementary art for one year in Sidney, Ohio, and taught art in the elementary schools in the Mount Pleasant district from 1968 until retirement in 2001.

In 1976, she and her colleagues initiated the Mount Pleasant Youth Art Month exhibits which she maintained through her retirement.

Kropa was named Iowa?s Distinguished Service Art Educator for 1999 to 2000 by the National Art Education Association and Teacher of the Year by the Mount Pleasant Community School District in 2001.

She published several works, including ?Faces, Legs and Belly Buttons? and ?Sky Blue, Grass Green? and illustrated books by other authors.

She created designs and lettering related to Mount Pleasant community projects, including the campaign to build the public library and civic center.

The Iowa Wesleyan College Art Gallery is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.