ARTISTIC IMMORTALITY. The art collection at the Confluence Center will be named for the late Laurie Bieze.

For years, Laurie Bieze was the living embodiment of the Chippewa Valley’s artistic spirit. A talented stained-glass artist, a visionary community leader, and a warm-hearted friend to countless people, Laurie saw the enormous creative potential in Eau Claire long before most others did.

Laurie started her own stained-glass art studio in 1978, co-founded the Banbury Art Crawl, and was a driving force behind the Eau Claire Regional Arts Council and many other community efforts. Her death two years ago at age 70 left a void, but her artistic spirit – not to mention the artwork that graces scores of institutions, businesses, and homes – lives on in Eau Claire.

Now, her name also will live on as part of the Confluence Project. If a fundraising goal is met, the art that will be housed in the soon-to-be-built Confluence performing arts center in downtown Eau Claire will be called the Laurie Bieze Permanent Collection. A plaque in the arts center’s lobby will bear Laurie’s name and will list the works of art displayed throughout the facility, explains Sally Dickson Sundby, a longtime friend of Laurie’s and president of ECRAC’s board of directors.

“Laurie was instrument to bringing the arts front and center in this community,” says Sundby, who is helping spearhead the effort to raise $100,000 to name the collection in Laurie’s honor. As of Sept. 1, about $85,000 had been pledged toward that end, and Sundby hopes to reach the $100,000 goal by the end of the month. In doing so, the money raised will be matched by the anonymous donors behind a $1.5 million challenge grant.

The Laurie Bieze Permanent Collection will encompass the art currently owned by ECRAC, which includes at least 100 pieces. At least two major stained-glass pieces by Laurie will be displayed at the Confluence center, including one donated by her children, Chel and Briton.

Overall fundraising for the Confluence Project is also in the home stretch. Kimera Way, president of the UW-Eau Claire Foundation, says fundraising has already reached about $14.25 million, exceeding the original philanthropic goal of $13.5 million. “I’ve frankly been bowled over by the respond from different groups in different corners of the community,” Way says.

Another $1 million or so in pledge and gifts by Sept. 30 will ensure the project gets the entire $1.5 million challenge grant, which will push the philanthropic total past $16 million, Way says.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the $45 million arts center is planned for Oct. 6, and the facility is expected to be done by the first half of 2018. The project will be funded by private donations as well as money from the state, city, and county.

To make a pledge to the Confluence Project, go to www.eccommunity
foundation.org/make-donation/ and select “Confluence Building Fund.” To designate it for the Bieze gallery, put “Laurie Bieze Permanent Collection” in the comments field.