Matt Rees' appreciation for Putnam County feeds his wonder for the natural world and small town America. With a formal art education in Natural History illustration, Matt was fortunate enough to learn from world renowned print maker, Tom Huck, of St. Louis, Missouri. Woodblock print making is now the primary focus of Matt's work.

Wildwood Press is the name of the studio from which all of Matt's woodblock prints are printed. Appointments can be made to visit his studio if you are in the area and would like to see more of his artwork or learn about woodblock printing. 

Greg Sanders grew up and currently resides on a farm north of Greencastle. After graduating from North Putnam, he had to continue schooling for many years before he could get honest work. This excessive education resulted in degrees from Indiana University, the University of Nebraska, and the University of Georgia. Prior to returning to Indiana just in time for a pandemic, he spent 37 winters working as a professor of Gerontology at North Dakota State University in Fargo. He currently engages in more hobbies and activities than anyone in their right mind should including wood working and wood turning, blacksmithing, gardening, beekeeping, birdwatching, flyfishing, and songwriting.

Bio coming soon!

Lavinia Hale grew up in several states on both the East and West Coasts in a creative, can-do family. After graduating from Brigham Young University with a BA in Visual Arts and marrying her sweetheart, Jacob Hale, her young family moved to Lafayette, Indiana while Jacob attended graduate school at Purdue. They promptly fell in love with Indiana and feel so blessed that they can call Greencastle home for the last nine years. Her family has blossomed to include eight children ranging from College Junior to Second Grader. She considers motherhood the highest and noblest calling in life.

True to her motto “Embrace the Process” painting, especially “en plein air” has offered the perfect artistic solution for her busy life – brief, intensely concentrated moments of breathing in nature and translating that into color, value, and emotion. It is an exercise of reducing complexity into fundamental, meaningful passages and marveling at God’s creations.

Bio coming soon!

Derek Chastain attended Ivy Tech Community College where he studied Visual Communications and Design. His background is in brand design, photography, management, and songwriting and also has experience with flipping houses and coordinating events. Derek’s heart and passion is in community development, sustainability, and creating spaces where people can hone in on their skills and do more of the work they love. He and his wife, Kari, moved to Greencastle from Morgan County in 2014, after falling in love with the historic buildings and quiet countryside. Derek is also a father to four fun, creative, and energetic young children who remind him every day the importance of seeing the world through a child's eyes.

Connie Wagner was born in Great Bend; a small town in the middle of Kansas. She grew up on a farm where they ate from the land and everything was beautifully and lovingly handmade. Her parents gave them a deep foundation of faith and all they ever asked of them was to "Do your best."

After high school, Connie earned an AA from Barton Community College in Great Bend. Then she transferred to Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas where she graduated with a BFA in Graphic Design and Illustration. After working in Kansas City for several years, she accepted a graphic design position at Barton Community College. She met and married her husband, Mark, a few years later. In 2003, they moved to Indiana. They have lived in Greencastle since 2018 where they share their home with two dogs and a cat. Connie continues to work for Barton, remotely, as their graphic designer creating marketing materials, advertising, signage, managing the brand and web site design. 

Connie works in a variety of media including watercolor, oil, colored pencil and calligraphy. She enjoys building layers of color to reveal the subject matter and relaxes in the tedious process of creating detail. Influenced by the big Kansas sky, she is drawn to vivid, colorful subjects dappled in light and shadow. She loves to capture moments in time, especially light striking a subject. If she’s lucky, she captures a memory. Maybe one of hers. Maybe one of yours. 

Jamie grew up in central Indiana and has been an artist for over fifty years. He attended Saint Francis College in Fort Wayne studying Commercial Art. He moved to Greencastle thirteen years ago where he met his greatest love, music, and wife, Bizz. She and their kids and grandkids are his inspiration. Jamie has a very eclectic approach to art. Oil paintings, watercolor, pastels, and sculpting are his favorite mediums.

Angela Green grew up in Putnam county and graduated from North Putnam. She has a degree in Psychology from Manchest College and a Nursing degree from Lutheran College. She moved away from the area for several years but returned to the Greencastle area with her husband Greg in 2017.  She also has many hobbies which she is passionate about, one of which is making artisan handmade jewelry with gemstones, crystals and wire wrapping. She created Fanciful Jewels to share her love of making jewelry with others to allow them to treat themselves or loved ones with beautiful hand-crafted one of kind jewelry.

Carolyn Huff was born child number five in a family of six children, and was taught the importance of faith, family, and hard work.  It takes a lot of hard work and grit to make a family of eight work as a unit, and that is exactly what her parents instilled in their children from a very young age.  Times were hard and work was plenty, but times were fun, too.  Growing up, her best friends were her sisters, and they are to this day.  

While never formally trained, art is a passion of Carolyn’s and she enjoys expressing creativity in many forms.  In her twenties she began photography, and still enjoys it today.  It wasn’t until her early thirties that she tried her hand at sketching, and several years later at painting abstracts, landscapes and floral work.  Inspiration comes in many forms, but her gardens or her grandchildren are the most likely source.  

Carolyn married her childhood sweetheart, and together they reside in Putnam County, working their homestead between full-time jobs, and spend as much time with family as their busy schedules allow.

Marsha Brattain grew up in the rural area of Putnam County on a farm, where making items from scratch provided clothing and gifts. After high school she went to Purdue for a BS degree and then Indiana State University for a MS degree in Foods and Nutrition. This lead to careers in management and consulting in the Food Service industry where she worked in institution, public schools, university, hospital, and elderly communities. Upon retirement, Marsha and a close friend of hers put their food resources together from their jobs creating cookbooks from recipes they cooked, some old fashion recipes, hints and easy to use.

Not long after, Marsha returned to relaxing by knitting and working with hot glue. Working with hot glue challenges her imagination to create unique items, which is liked by children and adults. Her family and friends enjoy her creations, but “too many is too many”, she says. Therefore she give others a chance to enjoy her creations through craft events, farmer’s markets and now Creative Castle.