Thursday evening, a lifelong dream of artist Kristine Souder’s was realized with the opening recepetion for her art exhibition at the Fort Madison Area Art Association gallery.

Visitors crowded into the art center to congratulate Souder and view her ceramic art.

Her life’s work is on display, she said, dating from before college.

“I’ve been saving work for a long time,” she said.,“and I had to get work back that I’d given people so I’d have enough for the show.”

It was in ninth grade, she said that she discovered a love for working with clay and the interest just took off from there.

Souder went to school in Cedar Rapids and then attended the University of Iowa.

“I did a lot of large sculptures,” she said, and gestured to a sculpture about a foot tall and said with a laugh, “’Patty,’ she’s my roommate from college. She’s Patty the Masochist.”

She received a Bachelor of Arts in art education with a concentration in ceramics including hand-building, wheel, and raku. Souder went on to teach art in all grade levels from elementary through high school in Iowa, Illinois, and Colorado.

Souder said she likes to “do it all” when it comes to sculpting ceramics and nature is an influence.

On display were everything from geese and goslings to a dragon and a unicorn, to vases with vine and floral motifs and much more.

Being an artist was something Souder had always wanted to be, and has an artistic family.

“My mom was an art teacher and very prolific painter,” she said. “She taught art in Cedar Rapids maybe 40 years.”

Souder is the youngest of five daughters born to Harriet and Walter Souder. Harriet Souder, was an art teacher, a prolific artist, and a strong influence on Kristine’s artistic development often making a game out of quizzing her children about artists and art movements.

While Souder now lives in Fort Madison, she also used to live in Arkansas and Denver, Colorado.

“I lived in Denver for a while but then I didn’t have a studio; everything was in storage,” she said. “I worked about four jobs and didn’t have time to create anything at that point.”

Souder said it felt nice to have so many eyes on her art, which is on display at the art center through the month of November.

The Fort Madison Area Art Association lunch a la art with Souder will be at noon on Friday, Nov. 22. From 7-9 p.m. that evening will be Finale, closing out the exhibition, which is sponsored by Bartlett Instrument Company.

Art center hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with some occasional extended hours. The center is located at 825 Ave. G. Visit www.fortmadisonart.com for more information.

Also on display at the art center through Nov. 16 is a pop-up gallery exhibition of ‘Earth and Oils’ by Margo Swena.