Community Service:
Buchanan Preservation Society, Board Member 2000-12, President 2006-11 (the Society is principally responsible for the operation and continuing restoration of Pears Mill, a 19th century water-powered griss-milll (principal projects funded and completed, second-floor replacement, waterwheel rebuild, barrier-free access, complete electrical rewiring, fire protection system) ; Chair, City of Buchanan Watershed Advisory Committee and grant writer ($89,000 in grant funds secured for the successful project for restoring the mill race and removing an obsolete dam from McCoy Creek) 2009-2012; Board Member and Program Chair, Niles Art Association 2014-2019; Board Member and Secretary, Northern Indiana Artists, 2021-2023.
Teaching:
“Watercolor for Beginners by a Beginner, I & II”, Buchanan Art Center, ca 2008.
Publications:
“Fehlner Art”, Ongoing exhibition in the gallery of Make South Bend on Mishawaka Ave where he has his studio; “The Art of Tom Fehlner”, Exhibit at Roti Roti Buchanan Art Center, June 9-July 23, 2022 (this show raised more than $8,000 for the art center on sales of paintings); “Travels in Pen & Ink”, Box Factory for the Arts, Oct. 14-Nov. 29, 2016 plus two earlier shows at the Buchanan Art Center with friend and fellow chemist/artist Donald Gaines, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Academic Lectures and Conference Presentations:
“A Chemist Wanders into Art”, Holy Cross Village, Feb. 2023; “ The PreRaphaelites. A Prelude to the Impressionists?” Niles Art Association, 2019; “You Only Live Once Twice” Midwest Museum of American Art, Elkhart IN and Niles Art Association, 2017; Travels in Pen & Ink” Niles Art Association, Niles-Buchanan Rotary, 2015; “Watercolors on the Road”, Niles Art Association, Buchanan Art Center, 2012.
Awards and Honors:
Best Painting Award, MAAC Show at the Box Factory for the Arts, St. Joseph, MI, 2017; 4 Judges or Merit awards at NIA exhibitions since 2018.
Other services to the University and Community:
Endowed the Fehlner Family Gallery at the RotiRoti Buchanan Art Center, 2023; Initiated the endowment fund for the Pears Mill Historical Site, Buchanan, MI at the Gateway Community Foundation.
Two representative works and a show poster are attached:
“Feeding the Ducks”, Oil and cold wax, 12x24”, (St Mary’s Lake, ND 2023). Accepted into the October-December 2023 Midwest Museum of American Art (Elkhart) Regional Juried Exhibition.
“Early Fall”, oil and cold wax, 9x20”, (St Mary’s Lake, ND 2023).