For Sara Mellegard, being named the Black Hills Workshop Artist of the Year is the latest in a long list of accomplishments.

Mellegard, 24, has been selected as Artist of the Year by a committee of community members and Workshop staff. Her artwork will be on display at a reception in her honor at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6, at the Suzie Cappa Center for Art Expression and Enjoyment on Range Road in Rapid City.

Mellegard will also be honored at a high tea on April 13. And as Artist of the Year, one of her paintings, "Doves," will be reproduced on notecards sold through the Workshop.

Brad A. Winter, an art instructor at the Workshop, said Mellegard has made strides with her art since she started coming to the Suzie Cappa art center four years ago. Each Wednesday, Mellegard takes a bus to the center, where she spends the morning taking art classes, learning to draw, paint and do ceramics.

The afternoons are reserved for the Workshop's karaoke sessions. Mellegard enjoys singing country songs. Garth Brooks is her favorite.

Mellegard shares an apartment with a roommate. For several years, she has worked as a housekeeper at the Radisson Hotel. Last summer, one of her ceramic vases won a blue ribbon at the Central States Fair.

Winter said Mellegard's mom, Elaine Mellegard, recently found a list of goals and dreams her daughter wrote while she was a student at Stevens High School. Mellegard, who graduated in 2002, said she wanted to live in her own apartment, have a job cleaning and visit Nashville, Tenn. She's saving her money for a trip to Nashville this summer.

What Mellegard will shoot for next is anybody's guess.

For tickets to the April tea, which is a fundraiser for the Suzie Cappa art center, call JoAnne Schriver at 718-6204.

Contact Heidi Bell Gease at 394-8419 or heidibell@rapidcityjournal.com

If you goWhat: Reception in honor of Sara Mellegard

When: 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6

Where: Suzie Cappa Center for Art Expression and Enjoyment on Range Road in Rapid City