Tallitha Reese

“The magic of community engaged art is the community engagement,” says Sarah Johnson, owner and operator of The Joy Labs in Winona, Minnesota. “It is always so exciting to see what evolves as community members create together.”

Creating collaborative art is the premise of The Joy Labs, which Sarah started in November 2021, mid-way through the pandemic. During this time, Sarah often relied on the mantra, “Anything is Possible,” as a reminder that one should always be prepared for anything – positive outcomes, and negative ones, too.

“I’ve found that living in possibility, while at times scary, is a place where it is possible to find joy even in the darkest of times,” she says. “Being alive and human is a complex thing, and I’ve found that embracing that complexity and the privilege of being fallible and mortal is living in joy.” 

Through The Joy Labs, Sara offers coaching, consultation, and creativity to individuals, organizations, and communities that would like to experience greater joy. Oftentimes, it’s the group effort that supports the most learning for those she serves, and brings Sara the most joy, too. “We find joy through play and experimentation, and for me, playing, connecting with others, creating, and color are the big joy factories,” she says. “The process is the point, and the outcome [work of art] is simply a bonus.” 

A very colorful, awe-inspiring bonus. Anyone viewing Sarah and team’s artwork – adorning fences, buildings, walls, doors, garages, and more – can see that joy is very present. “In my art I like to use vibrant colors and vibrant, welcoming messages,” she says. 

Sarah has facilitated a wide range of projects during her career. It’s hard for Sarah to pick a favorite, but one particularly “soul-fueling” project was with Our Voices, a group of local students of color, in the summer of 2020. “It was the first of many art projects together, finding solace in co-creation and the cadence that we’ve developed that vacillates between silent reverie and fits of giggles and silliness,” she explains.

It was icing on the cake for her, and truly an impactful moment, when Sarah and Our Voices unveiled their “Hear Our Voices” mural in fall 2020, and the hundreds of present community members audibly gasped and then cheered for their work. “Creating together is community building, and these processes, too, generate light and lightness. We are better together, and art can be a bridge that illuminates that.” 

Sarah will never forget hearing and seeing the delight of hundreds of community members who contributed to the Fabric of Winona panels, unveiled in May 2022. This effort was coordinated with Project FINE, a local agency welcoming, providing support, empowerment, and advocacy for recent refugees or immigrants. Through this project, hundreds of community members, ages two to 80, helped create the panels, which are displayed outside of the Winona County History Center. And as exciting as the end result was, Sarah really loved “the sizzling of synapses firing together” that she experienced with the group during the design stages. 

Sarah is an artist, and also a licensed mental health professional and an adjunct professor with Winona State University. “Growth and learning are high up on my list of values, both for myself and others,” she says. “This is another reason that I find community engaged art so valuable: it can be an accessible tool for building relationships which offer opportunities for meaningful conversations where learning and empathy can happen.” 

Sarah has found that oftentimes, there is much to learn about curiosity and wonder – and offering oneself grace – from the young people of a community. Even though she now sees herself as a lifelong learner, as a young adult, it was a different story. “It turns out that when I was 21 and thought I knew everything there was to know, I was dead wrong,” she says. “Every day I grow in my awareness of how little I do know. This is actually quite comforting in some strange way. I try to approach the world with curiosity and wonder which I’ve found helps me offer more grace to myself and others.” 

For instance, sometimes the color doesn’t quite make it to the canvas, and that, Sarah says, is just as important as the finished design. “I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention the half can of purple paint spilled on the floor, the half can of blue paint spilled on the street, the half can of purple paint spilled on the lawn, and the lessons that mistakes and spills can teach us about being humble, human, and adaptive,” she explains. 

 Through her various projects, she’s been impressed by the “authentic, empathetic, wise words of advice about mental health” young people have shared and the art they’ve created around the theme of resilience. She is excited to continue her work with area youth and others through upcoming mural projects with Project FINE in St. Charles, Minnesota, at the Catholic Worker House in Winona, and at the West Salem Library in West Salem, Wisconsin. 

Beyond creating beautiful art and building community, it’s never quite clear where Sarah will go next with her work. “I have often said that if you looked at my career path from the front end you might think, ‘Huh, that is one very squiggly line,’” she says. “But if you look at it backwards from this point you might think, ‘Every point on that squiggle is what brought Sarah here.’”

To get involved or learn more, visit www.thejoylabs.com

The Hotel Fortney, built in 1899, is one of the longest-standing buildings in downtown Viroqua, Wisconsin. It’s a striking city landmark, with its three-story Queen Anne styling and circular corner oriel bay window. But time had not been kind to the historic building. 

By 2017, brickwork on the oriel bays was starting to come loose, windows were detaching, and a back corner wall was caving in…but it was for sale. 

This was when Amy and Brian Wrobel, of Stoddard, Wisconsin, toured the building. 

“There was clearly a lot of potential there, but the amount of work that would need to be done was staggering,” Amy explains. “We continued to discuss the possibilities off and on for the next three years, sketching hundreds of floor plans on napkins and scratch paper, until we finally came up with a way to make it all work.” 

The couple approached Brian’s parents, Larry and Sue Wrobel, about jumping in on the project, and the group decided to go for it. They officially purchased the building in January of 2020, with plans to eventually return it to its former hotel status.

Work began immediately, starting off with large amounts of cleaning, then moving into a full building renovation, taking the interior all the way down to the studs and addressing immediate repair needs, like the falling brickwork, detaching windows, and sinking wall. Eventually the building’s entire exterior was also repainted for the first time since around 1979. 

It’s been a true family affair. And while the Wrobels never imagined being the owners of a lounge or boutique hotel, they have each settled very easily and naturally into a niche role on an ownership team that just works. 

“Larry is our jack-of-all-trades, constantly on the move demoing, hauling, cleaning and overseeing the project on a daily basis,” Amy says. “Sue is the boss of our day-today operations, serving as HR manager and bookkeeper, to name just a few. She has also spent countless hours refinishing all things wood found throughout the building from huge oak doors, to the original lobby desk, and most recently the grand staircase. Sue and I have been able to unearth the natural beauty found beneath layers and layers of paint and years of heavy use.” 

In addition to elbow grease and hard labor, Amy brings a design eye to the massive project, which won “Best Historic Restoration Project of 2021” at the Main Street Wisconsin Awards held in April of 2022.

“I serve as the design coordinator, researching and exploring the design styles that would have been characteristic at the time this hotel was in its heyday,” Amy says. “I have been working hard to find creative, modern solutions to bring that old-time look and feel back to this restoration.” 

In that heyday, the grand Hotel Fortney featured a large dining room, waiting room, a grand lobby, reading room, and writing room all on the first floor with a magnificent three-story open staircase leading to luxurious guest rooms on the second and third floors. Built by Toger and Hannah Fortney, it rivaled hotels of much larger cities. Through the years, as time began to take its toll, the building continued to operate as a hotel or short-term occupancy living model with a variety of different businesses housed on the first floor and basement. 

The Wrobel’s plan was to restore the first floor for commercial business spaces and then renovate the second and third floors into hotel rooms. 

“My husband, Brian, is the visionary for our project and has brought so many of the pieces to this puzzle together,” Amy says. “He is constantly brainstorming ways to make a square peg fit into a round hole, so to speak, in a 123-year-old building where nothing is straight or level and everything needs to be brought up to present day building code.”

As of this writing, the first floor has been completed and now houses The Historic Fortney Lounge, which is operated by the Wrobels, as well as four additional businesses: Noble Rind Artisan Cheese Co., Driftless Healing Arts, Pink Spruce Photography, and Linnea Wyant Salon (see sidebar for details).

As each new business planned to move into the building, the Wrobels first spent time getting to know the owner and their specific needs in order to create a unique space that would fit.

“Brian is a project manager for a commercial construction company and provides a wealth of knowledge pertaining to the ins and outs of the construction phase,” says Amy. “We walked them through every detail of their build out so nothing was forgotten. Each commercial space is uniquely different, while still maintaining the characteristic charm of this big, old historical landmark building.” 

When the final commercial tenant, Noble Rind Artisan Cheese Co., opened their doors in February 2022, the Wrobels switched their focus to stage two of renovations: the second and third floors of the building, which will house 14 boutique hotel rooms, currently set to open in late 2022 or early 2023. 

“All of the businesses within the building are growing and thriving, and each one is incredibly supportive of all the others,” says Amy, who is excited to soon be able to offer unique hotel rooms for folks who will inevitably come to check out these unique businesses and spaces. “There seems to be a widespread belief in Viroqua as a whole that we can all benefit from the success of others around us. It’s a very collaborative and vibrant community that we’re thankful to be a part of.” 

Amy Wrobel shares details about the Fortney businesses:

• The Historic Fortney Lounge serves craft beer and wines along with food from the local Driftless Café and Noble Rind Artisan Cheese Co. and is a favorite place for customers to come and relax while meeting with friends and family.     
• Noble Rind Artisan Cheese Co. offers a full menu of specialty cheese and charcuterie boards, soups, salads, sandwiches, beverages and a variety of retail items. 
• Driftless Healing Arts offers naturopathic medicine consultations, Tai Chi instruction and acupuncture treatments, focusing on natural and holistic approaches for healthy lifestyles. 
• Jen Casselius, of Pink Spruce Photography, is an award-winning wedding photographer who also offers small business branding packages. 
• Lennea Wyant Salon provides exceptional salon services in a relaxing and luxurious space – their extensive knowledge of color technique is second to none in the area. 
Learn more at hotelfortney.com