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ARTDOSE MAGAZINE PUBLISHED BI-ANNUALLY : SUMMER & WINTER VOLUME 36 | WINTER 2023 PUBLISHER’S NOTE Thank you for picking up our newest issue of Artdose. In this issue, we highlight the ceramic works by Grand Rapids-based artist Michael Pfleghaar. Rachel Hausmann Schall travels to Manawa, Wisconsin to connect with Michelle Grabner and learn about Poor Farm, Linda Marcus interviews two Chicago-based artists, Assaf Evron and José Santiago Pérez whose work will change the way you think about architecture and objects, April Behnke reconnects with Anne Wilson and Sofía Fernández Díaz to learn more about The Davis Street Drawing Room in Evanston, Illinois, and Kaleb Williams introduces us to the art of Minneapolis-based artist Kimberly Rashad. About midway through Vol 36, you will find artworks by 26 regional artists ranging from fiber to mixed media, installation to paintings, printmaking to sculpture, and more. I encourage you to peruse this selection of artworks and purchase original art to add to your collection. Artists receive 100% of sales. Our goal is to continue to provide introductions to art venues, art programs, advertisers, galleries, artists, and art services. In addition to our bi-annual art magazine, we offer an art e-newsletter, Artdose Magazine Weekly, that shares weekly updates on what is happening in the visual arts across Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Feel free to drop me a line. I would love to hear your thoughts. Let’s connect. Frank Juárez founder + publisher linktr.ee/frankjuarez @artdosemagazineweekly
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SOCIAL MEDIA @artdosemagazineweekly All Rights Reserved © 2024 Artdose Magazine LLC and the individual contributors
April Behnke Linda Marcus Rachel Hausmann Schall Kaleb Williams
Cover: Pfleghaar Potted Plants, 2023, underglaze on terra cotta, various sizes.
Cover: Pleghaar Potted Plants, 2023, underglaze on terra cotta, varous sizez. Photo: Tommy Allen.
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Michael Pfleghaar: Moments and Memories Frank Juárez
Photo by Tim Motley.
Aqua Snake Plant, 2022, flashe and underglaze on red stoneware, 18 x 11 inches. Image courtesy of the artist.
I was introduced to the work of Michael Pfleghaar by artist and CULTIVATE director Mallory Shotwell. After looking at his website and scrolling through his Instagram I knew that I wanted to learn more about his work. I was drawn to how he approaches clay giving it its own identity through playful compositional elements such as color, form, and line. His subject matter resonates on multiple levels bringing up vivid memories that remind me of home and allowing me to remain present in the current moment. Recently Michael Pfleghaar’s mother reminisced that his first word was “flower” and believed that an artist’s path is set in childhood. Flowers and botanicals have been part of his creative practice. Through drawings, paintings, as well as ceramics, botanicals remained a constant subject in Pfleghaar’s work. His approach to ceramics is influenced by the two-dimensional work as it often is made from flat slabs of clay, referencing the flatness of painting. Surfaces are treated with highcolor underglaze and often scratched to reveal the red clay body. These inanimate objects have always been surrogates for the figure in his work. Exaggerated shapes give each piece a personality and groupings of sculptures create conversations between them. Michael Pfleghaar is an artist living and working in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He received his MFA in visual arts from Lesley University College of Art and Design, in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2011. Working in both 2-D and ceramic sculpture, Pfleghaar often depicts botanicals imbuing them with abstract elements and a colorful palette. An influence of modern design
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Snake Plant 3, 2021, underglaze on red stoneware, 14 x 9 inches. Image courtesy of the artist.
can be seen in the clean lines, balance, and organic materials he returns to within his compositions. His work was included in the 2012 LGBTQ exhibition ReMix: Revisiting Appropriation, curated by Jonathan Katz in San Francisco, CA. In 2013 was awarded the Joan Mitchell Foundation’s Ox-Bow School and Artists Residency in Saugatuck, Michigan. In 2016, Pfleghaar attended the Spread Art Artists Residency in Detroit, Michigan. He was awarded The Best of Show in the 2021 Festival of the Arts and in the West Michigan Area Show at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts in Kalamazoo in 2020. In 2023, Pfleghaar was one of four artists chosen to have their work permanently installed as terrazzo floor designs at the Gerald R Ford International Airport His artwork has been featured in Arcadia Magazine, Studio Visit, Metropolitan Home, Solace, and American Craft. Apple, HBO, CBS, ForeSee, Hayworth, and Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts and are in a few of the organizations that have utilized Pfleghaar’s artwork as illustrations. His artworks are in permanent collections including the Grand Rapids Art Museum, Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, Steelcase Inc., Herman Miller, the State of Michigan and Grand Valley State University.
Visit pfleghaar.com to learn more and connect on Instagram at @pfleghaar.
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WISCONSIN CRAFT CRAFTING CONNECTIONS INSPIRING EXCELLENCE Wisconsin Craft brings together artists and communities throughout the state to educate, support, and engage in traditional and contemporary fine craft. As a non-profit, we host professional programming, exhibitions, networking, and public events.
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The Davis Street Drawing Room Offers Opportunity to Learn, Reflect, and Create April Behnke
Tanya, Yooshin, Jennifer, Aviva, and Marzena working. Image courtesy of The Davis Street Drawing Room.
Image courtesy of The Davis Street Drawing Room.
Among the picturesque homes on a quiet, treelined street in Evanston, Illinois is an extraordinary contemporary art project: The Davis Street Drawing Room. The endeavor launched in the fall of 2022, with artists Anne Wilson and Sofía Fernández Díaz – also its project manager – at the helm. Knowledge of and participation in the Drawing Room has grown organically through word of mouth, as community members have told colleagues and friends about its unique offering.
Today, the space’s relaxed, communal, and contemplative atmosphere continues in new form, as guests take time to soak in its history, Wilson’s textile collection, and the project’s Participant Archive before being invited to create works of their own, responsive to what they have learned. Participants are given two hours for this period of contemplation, meditation, and creation.
Guests including, as Wilson shares, “artists, writers, historians, students, educators, and members of the general public who have an interest in art and contemporary practices,” join in a session at her Victorian home, in the Drawing Room’s large, lightfilled studio that houses a collection of historical textiles, a curated library, an archive of artist projects, drafting tables, and materials for artmaking. Because the space itself is an important factor in the project, Wilson begins a session with a lecture on its architecture. The Drawing Room, she believes, may have functioned as a drawing room in the traditional sense in the years soon after the home’s construction – a space where visitors could gather for refreshments and conversation.
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“The range of visual responses constantly inspires – from graphite drawings and rubbings to colored pencil and marker drawings, tracings, cyanotype prints, 3D prints on wood and acrylic, collage, photographs, and microscopic imaging,” said Wilson. But the creations have not only been visual. “The writers’ contributions provided a new depth of response for me,” she continued. “A number of evocative stories activate the use function of these textile sources based on a writer’s own history and connection to textiles through their lived experience and unique cultural background.” Today, the Drawing Room holds over 460 participant responses. “This project has become what it is today because of the people who have visited, leaving behind a response, and passing on the word, which has helped us expand our reach and attract a diverse audience,”
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Image courtesy of The Davis Street Drawing Room.
Image courtesy of The Davis Street Drawing Room.
said Fernández Díaz. “These collaborations foster a spirit of community and mutual support, enhancing the overall creative landscape.” And it is in this spirit that the Drawing Room enters a new phase. The focus has shifted to now rest on visitors spending deeper time with the Participant Archive.
“The range of visual responses constantly inspires – from graphite drawings and rubbings to colored pencil and marker drawings, tracings, cyanotype prints, 3D prints on wood and acrylic, collage, photographs, and microscopic imaging,” said Wilson. “We feel all these amazing creative works truly deserve more focus and attention,” Wilson and Fernández Díaz shared. “Phase Two supports the work of emerging and established artists and writers by offering possibilities of extending the voice of the
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Anne Wilson and Sofía Fernández Díaz
visual and text responses. We will encourage writers to write about the work, curators to research for exhibitions, collectors to buy works, students to study, and other projects that serve both visitors and creators.” To learn more about the Davis Street Drawing Room or to request a visiting session, email Fernández Díaz at sfernandezdiaz@saic.edu or reach out through Instagram at @davisstreetdrawingroom. Additionally, should you be in the area, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City will be hosting an extension of the project as part of the upcoming exhibition, Anne Wilson: MAD Drawing Room, opening in April 2024. Visitors will have access to microscopes, drawing tools, project prompts, texts, and more.
Visit www.annewilsonartist.com/drawing-roomintroduction to learn more and connect on Instagram at @DavisStreetDrawingRoom
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Kimberly Rashad: Re-entering Her Creative Realm Kaleb Williams
Images courtesy of the artist.
Black Girl Fancy Gravity Defying
In the intricate dance between life and art, sometimes an artist finds themselves on a hiatus, exploring different facets of existence. Life’s demands, personal challenges, or the pursuit of diverse experiences can lead an artist away from her creative sanctuary. However, the story doesn’t end there. There comes a moment when the artist decides to re-enter the realm of their creativity, igniting a powerful resurgence. For various reasons, artists may temporarily leave behind their brushes, instruments, or pens. It could be the pressures of daily life, a need for financial stability, or perhaps a desire to explore different aspects of one’s identity. Kimberly Rashad is no different and has spent the last 10 years working in marketing communications and nonprofits - and she’s ready to venture back into her own personal creative realm. Visual art was always an interest, but not necessarily accessible growing up in North Minneapolis, but she did gravitate towards music. Heading into college with art on her heart she used her first year to create a portfolio, applied to and got into the interior design school. Soon after, her style as an interior and graphic designer emerged. “Starting art so late, I kind of had an underdog way of doing it since most people were more advanced and had been doing it longer than me…it helped me really appreciate the basic and fundamentals of art and design.” said Rashad about her style foundations. “I used the basics of design to my advantage and ran with that as my design style - you know primary colors, geometric lines and shapes, flat graphic design. My work is really clean.” Creative outlets like YouTube have been a release and a way to focus Rashad on her transition to her professional art from the corporate side. Using her
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Black Girl Fancy Loose Colored Curl
own personal aesthetic to collaborate Focusing and fusing interior and graphic design is her next practice. “I do want to get into interior design, but in a decor kind of way. Using graphic design to make patterns for textiles. I don’t dislike corporate but I want to use my own personal aesthetic as a partner rather than a creative worker.” Creating comfortable and contemporary spaces in homes is important for Rashad and her artistic muse. Working for a high-end furniture brand would be a dream project in Rashad’s eyes - literally doing every piece in a room. Currently, she finds her daughter and her room as a creative inspiration. “I would love to be a part of a project that does the furniture, wallpaper, bedding, and the general overall design of the room.” “Right now, a lot of the work is getting out of my own way.” Artistic resurgence is not a return to old habits; it’s an evolution. The artist may find they’re experimenting with new techniques, incorporating fresh perspectives, and embracing the change that has unfolded in her absence. The hiatus becomes a cocoon, and the resurgence is the emergence of a transformed creative butterfly. Rashad reentering her creative work is a narrative of rebirth, growth, and the perpetual cycle of creation. It is a celebration of the indomitable spirit that fuels artistic expression. It becomes evident that the artist’s resurgence is not just a return to the craft; it’s a reaffirmation of the eternal bond between the creator and her creation. Visit linktr.ee/kimberlyrashad to learn more and connect on Instagram at @iterate.land
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José Santiago Pérez: Space for Freedom Linda Marcus
José Santiago Pérez working in his studio.
Unburden (so you may reunite) by José Santiago Pérez.
José Santiago Pérez’s artwork focuses on the body, time, and memory. Pérez is constantly investigating the relationship between materials and what it means to be human. His current body of work centers on baskets, their form and function. According to Pérez, “It’s what we come from. We come from a container or womb. There’s something so primal about being held”. The idea and function of a basket has been around for centuries. “It’s an incredibly spacious form that when I think about its history, it’s allowed human beings to create culture in a lot of ways. It’s been with us for a long time and it’s an extension of our body to do things like hold and gather and to store and to keep and give. I feel like those gestures or actions to me have a huge significance. It allows us to be human.”
home,” says Pérez.
Pérez is an artist and educator based in Chicago, Illinois. He teaches in the Fiber and Material Studies Department of the School of the Art Institute in Chicago where he also received his MFA. His work has been widely exhibited from Los Angeles to Boston and his work has been written about in multiple publications including Artform, Sixty Inches from Center, and New City Art. Pérez started his art practice in performance art but quickly made the connection between using his body and materials to create form. “It’s a kind of entanglement, a performance or choreography with the hands and the fingertips”, according to Pérez. Fiber-based art and techniques have long been relegated to “craft”. This unseen labor has only recently been given recognition in the fine art world. For Pérez, working with fiber techniques has always seemed comfortable. “ It’s a field that has been associated with female and female labor that has been devalued and unseen. But for me, I’ve always felt the most welcomed to. I have always felt very much at
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The forms he makes are repetitively woven together with one or more of five different colored plastic strands. The “artificial” shades of tangerine, mint, baby blue, lavender, and pink are a nod to his childhood in Los Angeles in the ‘80s steeped in memories of summer camp, lanyards, and key chains. A time that brings joy and a sense of nostalgia to the work. Pérez says during this constant movement of return and retracing he doesn’t know exactly how the basket or form will come out. He doesn’t plan the shape and “meanders” and just “gets out of his own way”. It’s a true collaboration with him and the material by way of chance. “Improvisation allows me to dissolve a little bit, to sort of disappear and sort of relinquish control a little bit. For some that might be a source of anxiety, but for me, it creates a lot of space for freedom. I think that is what I am looking for”, according to the artist. While plastic mylar bags and plastic are a component of Pérez ‘s art, he says he’s not necessarily trying to make an environmental statement. Rather, he hopes by using this material, he calls attention to the earth as a container, one that is continually extracted from. Pérez is hoping to get the public to question that extraction. To start the discussion, he creates an alluring aesthetic “ A moment of visual pleasure. I love how my work shimmers. I think shimmers create a headspace where it shakes up people’s thinking. It dissolves the binary thinking that we operate in. I’m placing faith in the optical experience. It creates a seduction where I hope people rethink containers, see containers differently, how amazing they are, and how much they can hold and gather. I think baskets remind us that we are always in a relationship with others”. Visit josesantiagoperez.com to learn more and connect on Instagram at @ josesantiago.p.
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Cloth as Land: HMong Indigeneity installation view at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, 2023. Tshab Her, on agency and following my gut, 2023; embroidery floss, cotton, and wood. Courtesy of the artist.
Through June 16, 2024
Cloth as Land:
HMong Indigeneity Featuring textiles from the JMKAC collection and newly commissioned works by Ger Xiong/Ntxawg Xyooj, Pao Houa Her, and Tshab Her. Funded by grants from the Henry Luce Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Terra Foundation for American Art, Travel Wisconsin, and Wisconsin Humanities, with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
FREE admission Sheboygan, WI jmkac.org
ART VENUES Center for the Visual Arts The Center for the Visual Arts (CVA), in Wausau, Wisconsin, is one of the leading cultural institutions in Central Wisconsin, with four gallery spaces, 18+ exhibits a year, a school of Art, and a gift shop featuring 30+ regional artists. The CVA displays a wide variety of exhibitions including competitive juried shows, solo and small group shows of contemporary Midwest artists, regional schools, and organizations. The CVA is located in downtown Wausau next door to The Grand Theater. The galleries are always free and open to the public! Wednesday-Friday 11 am - 4 pm, Saturday 12 - 4 pm; 427 N 4th St. Wausau, WI 54403; 715.842.4545; cvawausau.org
James Watrous Gallery The James Watrous Gallery is dedicated to amplifying Wisconsin artists. Located on the third floor of Overture Center for the Arts in downtown Madison, the Watrous focuses on solo and curated exhibitions that feature contemporary Wisconsin artists. As a program of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters, the gallery aims to draw connections between art and other disciplines. Thursday-Friday 12 - 6 pm, Saturday 11 am - 5 pm, Sunday 12-5 pm; 201 State St, Madison, WI 54703; 608.733.6633 x25; wisconsinacademy.org/gallery
Kim Storage Gallery Located in the heart of Milwaukee, the Kim Storage Gallery is a vibrant space celebrating the creativity of Wisconsin and beyond. This gallery features a diverse mix of museum-quality artwork, ranging from innovative pieces by emerging local talents to esteemed works by established artists. It's a dynamic hub where art enthusiasts can explore the evolving landscape of contemporary art in an inviting and accessible environment. Tuesday-Saturday 10 am - 5 pm, Viewings by Appointment; Milwaukee, WI 53202; 608.381.6905; kimstoragegallery.com
Lemon Street Gallery & ArtSpace Lemon Street Gallery & ArtSpace is a creatively driven non-profit organization whose mission is to provide the Greater Kenosha community with quality visual arts education, support cultural events, and give artists a professional forum to exhibit and sell their work. Represented are over 70 visual artists as well as fine arts and craft classes offered throughout the year. Lemon Street Gallery is also home to The Clay Studio, a public pottery-making studio space! Thursday-Saturday 11 am - 5 pm and Sunday 11 am - 4 pm; 4601 Sheridan Rd. Kenosha WI 53140; 262.605.4745; lemonstreetgallery.org
Levee Contemporary Levee Contemporary is a commercial Gallery and art space located in Princeton, Wisconsin. Levee was founded in 2019 between the partnership of two Mississippi boys - Artist/Educator Andrew Blanchard and Collector/Entrepreneur Shane Foreman. Levee Presents a diverse range of Artists and artwork, striking a critical balance between progressive works that challenge its audience and creative content that excites viewers with simple acts of enjoyment and visual stimulation. Thursday-Monday 10 am - 6 pm or by appointment; 518 West Water Street, Princeton, WI 54968; 920.393.8653; leveecontemporaryart.com
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ART VENUES Madison Public Art Project The Madison Public Art Project is a non-profit arts organization that presents innovative contemporary art in the public realm to a diverse audience throughout Wisconsin. The exciting public art exhibitions strengthen and educate communities while supporting social justice and fostering local arts and culture. Collaborating with both emerging and established artists, the art installations inspire civic participation and encourage artistic imagination. Donations are accepted and appreciated. Always Open; Various Art Installation Locations; Madison, WI; 646.245.9769; MadisonPublicArtProject.org
MARN ART + CULTURE HUB The Milwaukee Artist Resource Network’s new and innovative ART + CULTURE HUB, is located in the heart of Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward. Open to the public daily, the HUB is a destination for all who want to immerse themselves in amazing local art. In addition to our dynamic gallery and member Marketplace, the HUB is also for those who want to meet while enjoying a cup of the best in local coffee or glass of curated wines from around the world. Please visit us in the HUB! Monday-Saturday 8 am - 8 pm, Sunday 8 am - 6 pm; 191 N. Broadway, Milwaukee, WI 53202; 414.485.0033; www.marnarts.org
newARTSpace We are a non-commercial artist-driven initiative creating exhibition, event, and studio space in downtown De Pere, WI. Through enlivening an old storefront on North Broadway, newARTSpace expands opportunities for contemporary art discourse in Northeastern Wisconsin and beyond. Sign up on our website for the quarterly newsletter, and follow us on social media for up-to-date information on our hours, exhibitions and special events. Hours change weekly, check website and social media for current information.; 124 N. Broadway, Ste.1, De Pere, WI 54115; newartspace124.com
NWTC Artisan and Business Center The Artisan and Business Center promotes the production of art in the NWTC district as a means of fostering the creation of new job opportunities through the entrepreneurial model. NWTC seeks to provide technical and business training for aspiring and practicing artisans. The College promotes the appreciation and awareness of art through collaborative partnerships, year-round credit and non-credit classes, as well as open studio and studio rentals. Monday and Wednesday 9 am - 5 pm, Tuesday and Thursday 9 am - 7:30 pm, Friday 9 am - 2:30 pm; 1417 Cedar Street, Green Bay, WI 54302; 920.544.5018; nwtc.edu/ArtisanCenter
Two Fish Gallery and Sculpture Garden Our gallery is also our studio, home, classroom, and garden. We focus on fine craft, fine art, and fair trade works. The gallery and gardens are open year round with specific hours and events are listed on our website: twofishgallery.net. Clay is our specialty with a wide range of functional, sculptural, and garden works. Varies by season. Please check our website; 244 East Rhine Street, Elkhart Lake, WI 53020; 920.876.3192; twofishgallery.net
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An Artful Auction to Benefit Participating Artists & Educational Programs at Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass Online Silent Auction May 1–11, 2024
Visit bmmglass.com for more information
Online LIVE Virtual Auction May 8, 6:45–8pm CST
165 NORTH PARK AVENUE • NEENAH, WI 54956 • 920-751-4658 • @BMMGLASS • BMMGLASS.COM
Assaf Evron: Vision and Landscapes Linda Marcus
Image courtesy of the artist
A window to Lake Michigan, 2023, a permanent artwork at O’Hare terminal 5. Image courtesy of the artist.
What we see, how we see and how we understand what we see is the basis of Assaf Evron’s art. His conceptual practice spans from sculpture to photography with a variety of mediums. He says it’s one of his biggest challenges, how to “package” or explain what he does.
absence of topography. The juxtaposition with actual photography, like a placeholder for topography.”
Evron says his art is a combination of culture, nature, and architecture with historical, phenological and philosophical understandings. “ I’m thinking about surfaces and the depth of the relative objects in relationship to the history of ideas, but then thinking about how all of these things are speculative.” For the viewer, Evron’s art is intriguing on multiple levels. The work itself demands the viewer’s inquiry in a sensory way. Knowledge is gained through a kind of back and forth between the viewer and the object itself. He says “there are other levels of engagement which follow the sensory experience.” But the effort is well worth it. His large- scale installations, photography, objects, and collages are not only aesthetically pleasing but also carry a deep historical perspective and understanding. Evron is a photographer and educator at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. His work has been exhibited all over the world. He has received numerous scholarships and grants. He studied history and philosophy with his undergraduate work and then worked for a decade as a news photographer prior to getting his MFA at the Art Institute. He says “place” and where he is has always influenced the art he makes; “ All of my work comes from the where I live and what’s around me.” Place for Evron is the landscape around him. He says “ I’m thinking about landscape and the absence of landscape in the Midwest and the
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In addition, Evron has been creating an ongoing body of large-scale installations in and around the architecture of Mies van der Rohe in Chicago. The modernist structures with their glass facades are covered with various geological sites from around the world. The images range from the Dead Sea to the Vermillion Cliffs in Arizona. The structures are saturated with landscapes often from different historical times. The intervention changes the former transparent windows to a surface to be seen and not a surface to be seen through. “We never exist outside of architecture. We are always around architecture, contaminated by architecture, segregated by architecture and it conditions our lives”, according to the artist. Evron has transformed the McCormick House, now part of the Elmhurst Art Museum, the Esplanade Apartments on Lakeshore Drive, and the S.R. Crown Hall at ITT. Soon to be added to the list the steel and glass house of Edith Farnsworth currently on the National register of historic places. He is investigating and photographing the environment below the surface with a look at the vast network of caves in and around the Midwest. The work the artist says will have benefits beyond the images. “ It will give awareness to the environment that surrounds us and will lead to more sensitivity to others around you.” Visit www.assafevron.com to learn more and connect on Instagram at @assafevron
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Poor Farm: Rich in Possibilities Rachel Hausmann Schall
Sky Hopinka installation POOR FARM 2020. Image courtesy of Poor Farm.
In Wisconsin, there’s no shortage of spectacular countryside views that residents and visitors can enjoy year-round. Unlike the hustle and bustle of big cities filled with high-rise buildings, public transportation, and dense populations, smaller communities in Wisconsin are instead characterized by diverse wildlife, rolling hills, moraines, marshes, lakes, farm fields, county highways, and sometimes spotty cellular service. Rural spaces like these are not lacking in artistic or creative activity, however. In fact, these communities can be home to experimental contemporary art projects, like the Poor Farm located in Manawa, Wisconsin. Founded in 2008 by artists and husband-wife duo Michelle Grabner and Brad Killam, Poor Farm is an experimental not-for-profit exhibition and residency space in central Wisconsin. The couple also runs The Suburban, a gallery that began in Oak Park, Illinois in 1999 and later moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2015. For Michelle, who grew up in the Fox Valley area of Wisconsin, being surrounded by farm fields and the trademarks of rural culture doesn’t feel out of place. But, what might feel out of the norm to some Waupaca County locals is the presence of contemporary artwork in this aging building. What was once the Waupaca County Poor Farm is now a contemporary art space that hosts year-long exhibitions with international artists, classes, and residencies amongst the original
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1876 structure and grounds. American “poorhouses” also known as “workhouses” or “poor farms,” were government-run facilities that provided support and shelter for the poor and destitute in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The tenants of these spaces acted as laborers in exchange for housing and food, but accommodations were minimal. Duties included tending to the land and animals, housekeeping, and caring for other residents. At the time, poorhouses were generally accepted as an alternative solution to incarceration or institutionalization. Poor farms were equipped with on-site cemeteries where residents would be buried after passing. By the 1950s, nearly all of the remaining poor farms in the United States ceased operation and were replaced by social welfare programs. Despite being no longer inhabited, these buildings and properties remained until their new purpose was discovered – just like the Waupaca County Poor Farm in Manawa. Within the walls of Poor Farm are multiple exhibition spaces equipped with technology for video and sound installations, space for sculpture and performance, and walls for display intertwined with the character and feel of this historic property. The first floor generally acts as a main exhibition space, with satellite galleries in the old bedrooms upstairs. Resident artists will stay for a week or two in the back of the
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Sky Hopinka installation POOR FARM 2020. Image courtesy of Poor Farm.
building, which doubles as a dormitory with simple accommodations. Here, they can take time to focus on their work in the peace and quiet of rural central Wisconsin. With mostly year-long exhibitions, Grabner and Killam host an annual opening celebration in the summer, but individuals are welcome to stop at other times of the year by scheduling a visit. Peeling paint, creaky stairs, wooden floors, cream city brick, and a fieldstone basement coupled with the narratives and the origin of the space make any visit to Poor Farm a memorable one. From 2022-2023, Poor Farm hosted Model Home (Part One) After Wisconsin Death Trip, an exhibition that incorporated material from Michael Lesy’s 1973 book Wisconsin Death Trip, which recounted the harsh life and conditions during the 19th Century in Black River Falls, Wisconsin. The book contains images taken by Wisconsin photographer Charles Van Schaick, accompanied by local newspaper stories that describe tales of crime, death, mental illness, and economic misfortune. The exhibition presented Schaick’s photographs and written accounts from local newspaper articles as well as work from contemporary artists exploring similar themes. Holistically, the collection of work parallels many challenging contemporary topics that artists continue to highlight and explore today. There’s a dark and mysterious aura about a show centralizing morbidity
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from the same time period that Poor Farm would have been operational in its original capacity. Experiencing the space and this exhibition, in particular, feels somewhat haunting as if the walls of the building are holding onto the memories and stories of previous tenants like a time capsule, with the artwork acting as a channel of communication between the past and present. It’s with exhibitions like these that Poor Farm remains part of an international contemporary art conversation. Artists like Grabner and Killam give rural communities like Manawa an array of possibilities and experiences with their passion and dedication to the field of visual art. Grabner says, “My husband and I started Poor Farm because we believe in art, artists, and experimentation . . . We decided to leave it raw so that artists can see potential.” In the future, during a drive up north on an empty county highway, take a moment to observe the surrounding properties and think about the least likely place you might encounter contemporary art. Feel surprised that more spaces like Poor Farm exist in other rural communities across the Midwest, which are rich in artistic possibilities.
Visit poorfarmexperiment.org to learn more.
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Fine Craft Fine Art Fair Trade 244 East Rhine Street Elkhart Lake, WI 53020 twofishgallery.net twofish@excel.net fb: TwoFishElkhart 920.876.3192 Seasonal hours on website Open by appointment Gift wrapping and shipping
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CENTER FOR THE VISUAL ARTS 427 N. 4TH ST. WAUSAU - CVAWAUSAU.ORG- 715.842.4545 HOURS:
WEDNESDAY-FRIDAY 10-4PM SATURDAY 12-4PM
GALLERIES - SCHOOL OF ART - CERAMIC STUDIO - CVA SHOP
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Located at the corner of Tracy and 7th Streets on the campus of NMU, the Art Museum features local, regional, and national artists in 8–10 art exhibitions each year.
HOURS M–W Th F Sa
PERMANENT ART COLLECTION FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC 12 – 5 pm 12 – 8 pm 12 – 5 pm 12 – 5 pm
art.nmu.edu/devos @devosart
1401 Presque Isle Avenue, Marquette, MI • (906) 227-2235
2024 ARTDOSE Events Indiana Green Invitational 15th Year Anniversary at THELMA Sadoff Center for the Arts July 26 – September 6, 2024
Artdose Art Weekend September 13 – 15, 2024
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Artdose Magazine | artdosemagazine.com
Vol 36
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ARTIST DIRECTORY The Artdose Artist Directory is a tool to explore the art of regional artists. It is a perfect resource for people looking to start their own art collection.
Featured Artists Ernesto Atkinson Pat Bishop Roberta Condon Cristy Corso Terri Field Christine Buth Furness Linda Glass Kristine Hinrichs Stella Holmes Carol Irving Jayne Reid Jackson Helen Klebesadel Dale Knaak Diane Levesque J Myszka Lewis Linda Marcus Lauren Marie Nitka Cyndie Rauls Shelly Rosenquist Katherine Steichen Rosing Katie Schutte Mary Ellen Sisulak Christine Style Carol & Roy Toepke Judy Tolley Sara Willadsen
To purchase their art, please contact the artist directly by visiting their website. Artists receive 100% of their sales.
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Ernesto Atkinson
Left Side: Collecting Thoughts of Water, $2,500.00; Right Top: Ella in my Mirage (detail). NFS; Right Bottom: The Iceberg of a Blink (detail), $2,000.00
Neto (Ernesto) Atkinson is a Guatemalan-born, American painter, born on June 11th, 1981. In 2007 Atkinson began his artistic training and received a BFA from North Dakota State University and a master’s degree from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago with an emphasis on Art therapy in 2014. Neto Atkinson professionally is known as Ernesto Atkinson in the Mental Health field of art therapy where he uses art to become a witness to his participant’s personal growth by engaging them in an adaptive and creative path of self-exploration. Neto’s passion for art and artmaking grew out of his desire to capture awe and wonder on his canvas at a very young age. He has demonstrated an extraordinary artistic talent as he explored his passion for art in his social construct, poetry, religion, politics, and the field of architecture. As he embarks on every new journey to different cultures. Explores his understanding of art and the human connection, which solidifies his belief that art is an active agent of change. An exceptionally prolific painter whose creative achievements and revolutionary artistic accomplishments focus on the representation of the contemporary movement of his own existence and experience. His artistic representations are based on his daily life, and on his own philosophy. Neto is considered a colorful poet who leaves a message of peace, love, wonder, and awe with each color and stroke on a canvas.
netoatkinson.com |
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@netoatkinson
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Pat Bishop
Left Side: Harbinger, 2022, textile, 40 x 27 inches, $1,400; Right Top: Summer Haze (detail), 2023, textile, 12 x 12 inches, $200; Right Bottom: Reflections (detail), 2023, textile, 10 x 10 inches, $180.
Pat Bishop’s art reflects her desire to recreate and make memories of times, places, and things that have deep meaning for her. Textiles are her main form of expression, with strong tangents of added acrylic paint. Abstracting the inspiration to a simpler form helps to focus on what is important to her in the subject. Too much realism and detail are avoided with a choppiness of roughly cut fabrics. Nature is often a focus because that is where she finds contentment. Pat spends some time most days outside walking near the woods or spending time on or near the water, investigating plants, trees, birds, and other animals. This time spent outdoors inspires her art. She works intuitively though usually has an idea in mind of the outcome, but rarely a true final vision. The ability to achieve representation in the simplest form possible is one of her goals. Through her artwork, she is trying to convey her feelings of the mystery, beauty, and simplicity of nature and our need to value and care for it. Lately, Pat has been experimenting more with very abstract acrylic painting on cloth, complete with machine stitching.
patbishop.info |
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@baumbishop | pat.bishop.wi@gmail.com
Artdose Magazine | artdosemagazine.com
Roberta Condon
Left Side: Quieted by the Quails, 2023, soft pastel on sanded paper, 26 x 37 inches. Price available on request; Right Top; Blanketed by the Barn Owls, 2023, soft pastel on sanded paper, 40 x 32 inches. Price available on request; Bottom Right: Sleeping with the Sandhills, 2022, soft pastel on sanded paper, 40 x 32 inches. Price available on request.
Condon grew up in a Mid-Century-Modern home with large picture windows facing the Fox River in Illinois. Her Mother was OCD about house cleaning and felt everything had its place and should be in it, allowing two exceptions to the rule; an un-mowed patch of lawn with rare wildflowers in the yard, and a pair of binoculars and a bird identification book that stayed on the dining room table. Growing up with a love of all things that flew and floated past on the river it was only natural they would appear in Condon’s work. She features the interaction of women and birds in large-scale pastel paintings. Condon is an award-winning artist, has Master’s status in the International Association of Pastel Societies and signature status in the Pastel Society of America, and has operated her own gallery and studio space for over ten years. Inquiries are welcome.
RobertaCondon.com | condonroberta2@gmail.com
Michael Pfleghaar: A Mid-Career Retrospective at CULTIVATE in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Image courtesy of Mallory Shotwell/CULTIVATE.
Cristy Corso
Images courtesy of the artist.
Cristy Corso was born in Chicago, IL. She is currently based in Milwaukee, WI. Corso is a contemporary interdisciplinary artist across many genres including surrealism to street-inspired paintings, murals, design, appropriation collaging, digital art and photography, fabrications, live painting experience, as well as interactive new media and technologies. She has received over a dozen awards and recognitions among several distinguished group shows, and galleries, and has had several solo exhibitions while gaining the attention of press throughout the United States. She has also been a curator, moderator for art talks, and juror for expos, museums, and exhibitions while remaining a well-collected and commissioned artist for over thirty years. Her past decade of producing art-driven events and creating live art experiences Coast to Coast continues to make headway. Some of these have been achieved with fellow members of a creative art-driven collective (circa 2014, Las Vegas, NV.) IAMInterAct – made by creatives for creatives to also connect and work together. Today, Corso often works to bring awareness to TBI (traumatic brain injuries) and mental health issues we face in America. This can be seen through her colorfully vibrant visual storytelling including symbols to subject matter. This has also been inspired by those who can be most affected and publicly by TBI – our athletes and military. This passion project arose after Corso was in a car accident, over a decade ago, leaving her hospitalized for almost two years. Recently, Cristy was diagnosed with Lymphoma Cancer in February 2022. Today, she has a new purpose of creating and developing in her life’s work because of her fight as a thriver. cccorso.com |
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@corsoarts | corso@cccorso.com
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Terri Field
Dad goes to work, 2023, oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches, $1,500.
Each of us is a unique mix of memories filled with people, experiences, and change. Terri Field’s paintings are stories of culture, family life, and nostalgia. They confront the viewer with a few elements, which speak to each person individually. Her paintings are about moments remembered, lives lived, contrast, change, love, and difficulty. These works come from a desire to hold the past in your hand. The result however is not just an emotional tug from times gone by, but a contrast to who we are now. She is inspired by the people and generations in her life, and what makes them different and/or the same. She enjoys reflecting. Her work looks back on her childhood and parenthood, as well as the experiences of her friends and family. Using antique fabrics, found leaves, and objects from thrift stores, she creates still-life scenes. She searches for pieces that strike a chord with her personal narrative. After creating the right scene and photographing it, she carefully paints in oils what she captured with her camera while allowing it to take on a life of its own. Terri grew up in Brown Deer Wisconsin and is a graduate of Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design. She has worked as a magazine illustrator for more than 20 years as well as a set painter and muralist. Several schools have employed her as an artist in residence, and she designed a public sculpture located on City Beach in Oconomowoc WI.
terrifield.com |
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@terrifieldart
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Christine Buth Furness
Left: Hood Mountain at Dusk, 2023, transparent watercolor on archival paper, 30 x 22 inches, $1,250; Top Right: Merge Into Yellow, 2022, transparent watercolor on archival paper, 22 x 30 inches, $1,250; Bottom Right: I Carry Two Landscapes With Me Wherever I Go, 2022, pastel and colored pencil on museum board, 35 x 30 inches, $1,250.
Christine Buth Furness makes art on paper painting and drawing images that suggest a human presence in an environment or an absence of one and evoke an emotional response. Art making is an activity that documents her creative and critical thinking and takes the form of visual poetry. The works are abstracted portraits of places experienced, spaces navigated, and those imagined. Layers of pigments build the color intensity; define the form and allow light as a subject to give meaning. Photographing and drawing the natural world is a critical part of her art-making process. Photography allows for the study of nature and light. Drawing from a model and filling sketchbooks with drawings also contribute to a keen sense of observation, which strengthens the work. Having exhibited nationally and internationally throughout her career, her leadership and curatorial experiences include BOD service with Wisconsin Visual Artists, Watercolor USA Honor Society at Missouri’s Springfield Art Museum, and the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts in Brookfield, WI. She is a retired emeritus from the University of Wisconsin with an M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, is a Wisconsin Academy-awarded artist, and currently maintains studios in northern California and southeastern Wisconsin.
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@chrisbuthfurness
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Linda Glass
Left: Entwined, 2022, oil, cold wax, 12 x15 inches, $295; Top Right: Rings of Fire, 2022, oil, cold wax, 15 X 11 inches, $295; Bottom Right: Bursting with Happiness, 2023, oil, cold wax, 15 X 11 inches, $295.
Linda Glass is an active, exuberant artist based in Green Bay. She works in acrylic, oil, cold wax, and mixed media. Linda’s art career began as a corporate interior designer. As she grew in her design career, Linda became more imaginative and creative, engaging more in creating fine art. Her goal is to create pieces that involve feelings rather than trying to copy realistic images. The mediums she works with accommodate this goal. Linda strives to create depth within her work that is apparent not only to artists but viewers as well. Combined with her keen eye for design, the elements come together to create harmony within her work. Her art is rooted in a love of color and charting new territories. It is further fueled by other activities she engages in music, dancing, travel, and athletics, both participating and appreciating. Each piece represents a culmination of appreciation for basic design elements coupled with a love to incorporate new methods and materials as they meld to create abstract images with feeling. Ms. Glass’ art invokes a spirit of ‘joi de vie’! Linda’s mission is to create cutting-edge, high-quality art that brings forth feeling to the viewer. Her award-winning work has been shown in museums and galleries in Wisconsin and Northern Illinois.
designbyglass.com |
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@designsbyglass | designbyglass4u@gmail.com
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Kristine Hinrichs
Left: Life + Art, 2023, archival pigment print, 20 x 16 inches, $250; Top Right; See Me, 2022, archival pigment print, 16 x 20 inches, $250; Bottom Right: Imagining the Forest, 2023, pigment print on three silk panels, 25 x 17 x 5 inches, $550.
Kristine Hinrichs is a Milwaukee-based photographer whose work focuses on the urban environment. Her work often makes use of reflections and shadows to highlight how elements of the urban environment affect and are affected by each other – much like a funhouse mirror, one element reverberating off of the other. She believes that these elements do not exist by themselves, but only in context. Many of her images are produced before dawn when the city streets are quiet and at the Milwaukee lakefront or in commercial districts. She has a long-term project to document essential workers moving within the city “Essential, Invisible” – generally before dawn while most people are still sleeping. She has also recently begun to print her images printed on silk –three silk panels hung in series providing a three-dimensional effect, hand quilted, and two images woven together. Hinrichs shoots every day and has not missed a day in thirteen years. That provides for a level of continuity and allows her to notice and document subtle changes in the people and urban landscape. She believes that the images find her. Hinrichs’ award-winning work has been exhibited nationally and throughout Wisconsin and the Midwest.
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@kristinemarie | kristine.hinrichs@gmail.com
Artdose Magazine | artdosemagazine.com
Stella Holmes
Flower Fantasy, 2023, acrylic, 36 x 48 inches. Price upon request.
Stella Holmes journey began in Detroit, Michigan. Being a City Girl and surrounded by gloomy skies and concrete she always sought out the beauty of nature in nearby parks or gardens. She was fascinated by the colors and light coming through. Her favorite classes were sewing and art which she would later combine to start her first small business. In 1988 Stella took a Silk Painting Class in Mendocino, California. This was the start of a clothing design business she kept afloat for 18 years while living in California and Michigan. Other outlets were workshops in abstract art, pastels, jewelry making, and watercolor. In 2017 she picked up her brush again to paint on canvas. Out poured an explosion of color and beauty. Her style and inspiration are of the Impressionist period of which Van Gogh and Monet are her favorites. Trees and nature are what help keep Stella grounded and bring her peace. In her paintings, she tries to draw the viewer into the scene with the balance of light and color. She wants others to see the joy and beauty of the sunlight peeking through.
stellasstudioart.com |
@stellasstudioart | stellasstudioart@gmail.com
Carol Irving
Sunset Silhouette, 2022, Fiber, 108 x 60 inches, $6000.
Irving’s work as a weaver and fiber artist speaks in yarn and color. This language of fiber can be a challenging endeavor, but the fiber speaks to her too. She has been taking photos of sunsets and sunrises from her home studio on Lake Michigan in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The photos inspired her to bring these images to her woven work. Working in isolation is not new to her, in fact, she feels very comfortable working on her own. There was a different feel to this project, choosing the yarns and weaving this sunset during the Pandemic. Like a naturalist who is out in the field collecting specimens, taking photos, and making quick sketches in their journal, Irving is trying to mimic those actions. She has accepted the challenge: turning woven yarn into images of water, rocks, sky, and soil. These pieces are a reflection of her interests, travels, and research of Michigan and beyond. Her feelings and emotions brought on by mandated social distancing are woven deep within the yarns.
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@carol_irving_fiber_artist | ckirving1204@gmail.com
Artdose Magazine | artdosemagazine.com
Jayne Reid Jackson
Left: Beginnings II, 2023, mezzotint, 9x6 inches image / 11 x 15 inches paper, $300; Top Right: Offerings, 2023, mezzotint, 12 x 18 inches image / 20 x 24 inches paper, $500; Bottom Right: Pine Star, 2021, mezzotint, 6 x 9 inches image / 11 x 14 inches paper, $250.
Jayne Reid Jackson is an artist/printmaker using intaglio techniques that require drawing and painting skills. Her interest in tone and value led her to mezzotint, a technique that is experiencing a rebirth among printmakers for its subtle tones and nontoxic process. Being self-taught in mezzotint, her work is known internationally through numerous national and international exhibitions, invitationals, and collections. Her prints use primarily the still life as a vehicle to study how glass and simple objects can create mystery and visual poetry. By manipulating the shadows and reflections of the objects and their surroundings, she records her vision of what is special about everyday things. Mezzotint is a manual process using no chemicals. Using a flat copper plate that she pits with a rocker until it prints entirely black, she creates her image by flattening out those pits to create white and grey areas, bringing the image “out of the dark”. Once the platework is complete, the plate is inked, hand wiped, and printed using a press. This is repeated as needed to create an edition. Mezzotint editions are smaller than typical intaglio/etchings as the image breaks down with repeated printing. Traditionally black and white images, Jayne creates color mezzotints by inking various portions of the one plate with different colors and carefully wiping and blending.
jaynereidjackson.com |
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@jaynereidjackson | jreidjackson@yahoo.com
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Helen Klebesadel
Queen Anne’s Lace Prairie, 2022, watercolor on paper, 22 x 30 inches.
Helen Klebesadel is an artist, an educator, and an activist who maintains an art studio in Madison, Wisconsin. Born and raised in rural Wisconsin, she is best known for her environmental and womencentered watercolors. Helen’s watercolors push the traditional boundaries of the medium in scale, content, and technique. Ranging in size from the intimate to the monumental, her paintings are transparent watercolors on paper and canvas. She starts with detailed drawings and develops the images with layer upon layer of color washes and dry brush techniques mixed with occasional areas of wet-into-wet spontaneity. Her painting, Queen Anne’s Lace Prairie is a watercolor on paper, 22 x 30, that was painted in 2022. Klebesadel’s current artworks focus on the natural world and our relation to it. She sees her art as part of larger efforts to encourage the adoption of sustainable practices for the good of us all, understanding that what we do to the earth we do to ourselves.
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@hklebesadel | helen@klebesadel.com
Artdose Magazine | artdosemagazine.com
Dale Knaak
Donut Phone, 2020, oil on paper, 18 x 18 inches, NFS.
Knaak’s body of work consists of two basic principles of artmaking: drawing and painting. The intimate nature of drawing creates the foundation of each piece and is an essential element of the finished surface, merging the boundaries between drawing and painting.
@knaakpaintings | dki920@yahoo.com
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Diane Levesque
Left: The Wanderer, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 40 inches, $4000; Right: None The Wiser, 2023, acrylic & watercolor on paper, 41 x 30 inches, $3200 (framed).
Diane Levesque is a Wisconsin-based artist whose maximalist works are comprised of vibrant layers of colors and linear forms, each exploding within a complex visual field. Drawing inspiration from Jungian archetypes and material culture studies, Levesque’s paintings illuminate how the objects and ideas within our culture create an ever-evolving narrative. She entices us to a vision of reality that speaks to the maelstrom of contradictions co-existing in both our psyches and the physical world. Her works are often satirical, engaging viewers in a dialogue that exposes the complexities of the human experience. Through her vibrant and spirited imagery, viewing her work is like stepping into a vibrant, visionary version of reality that stands as a sincere invitation to explore the depths of being human.
dianelevesque.net |
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@dianelevesque6546
Artdose Magazine | artdosemagazine.com
J Myszka Lewis
A Bouquet for Then and Now 2 (tulip, larkspur, privet berry), 2023, acrylic and archival inkjet on canvas, 48 x 48 inches, $5,000
In her current work, J Myszka Lewis deconstructs and repeats floral imagery through drawings, paintings, and prints to discuss ornament, impermanence, and the comfort found in repetition. This work combines imagery from 17th-century Dutch still-life paintings with aesthetic and conceptual concerns of the Pattern and Decoration movement which emerged in the 1970s, depicting exploding Rorschach-like symmetrical abstractions, tangled gardens, and silhouetted botanical forms that reframe many of the themes presented by traditional floral still-lifes. The Dutch flower paintings that inform this work present lavish bouquets as objects symbolic of prosperity and abundance. In our contemporary context, Lewis considers flowers as representative of a wide range of things we value, such as splendor, relationships, peace, freedom of expression, etc. One also cannot deny that they are quintessential expressions of beauty and temporality. Flowers’ brief lifespans serve as condensed depictions of our mortality and remind us of the precious nature of what we hold most dear. Patterns appear throughout our lives as routines, reoccurring activities, and anniversaries of dates past (which are often remembered with flowers). We are drawn to and adapt to these rhythms, and yet each iteration of a repeated event or task is slightly different than the last. The complex patterns within Lewis’ work beg the viewer to search for details and inconsistencies throughout the repeated motifs, offering a meditative and therapeutic viewing experience.
jmyszkalewis.com |
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@j.myszka.lewis | studio@jmyszkalewis.com
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Linda Marcus
Left: Flapjack, 2023, Kitchen food mill blade, plastic top, yarn, embroidery thread, and kitchen spatula, approx. 14 x 10 x 1 inches, $400; Top Right: Remains of the Day, 2023, acrylic and oil paint, studio drop cloth, hand-dyed recycled velvet, 108 x 36 x 2 inches, $1,100. Bottom Right: Waited, 2023- Yarn, kitchen strainer, embroidery thread, recycled chair, paint, approx. 40 x 24 x 20 inches, $950.
Fiber is my partner, sometimes I work in concert with it, and other times I weave, sew, and knot it into submission. I believe fibers never let go of its history even as it is manipulated into surprising new forms. I’m constantly experimenting with it to tell subverted stories of domesticity, the body, identity, and memory. I also look to other materials and processes to see how they might interact with or act like fiber. It’s a deliberate decision to elevate and garner attention for a material and its skill set that has often been dismissed and processes relegated as “woman’s work”. My work with fiber is laborious but manipulating it with weaving, winding, knotting, or layering creates a meditative mode for me, one that imbues me with the work created. It is a simultaneous act of validation and devotion.
lindamarcusart.com |
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@lindamarcusdesign
Artdose Magazine | artdosemagazine.com
Lauren Marie Nitka
Left: Artist Self Portrait (detail), oil on canvas, 20 x 20 inches, $1,200; Top Right: Impatiens (detail), oil on wood panel, 12 x 12 inches, $432; Bottom Right: OC Portrait (detail), oil on canvas, 11 x 14 inches, NFS.
Lauren Marie Nitka is a mentee in the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network’s 2023-2024 Mentorship program. She is under the mentorship of Frank Juárez, publisher of Artdose. Working primarily in oil paint, Nitka utilizes a wide palette that explores the spectrum of color in direct light and shadow. Oil paint allows for a level of depth and detail she has found unparalleled by other mediums. Painting in oil is a process of intuition – knowing when to paint wet and when to wait. Oil paint requires time to breathe as it dries, suitable for painting living subjects, in reference to each of our own breath of life. Nitka’s current body of work tells the stories of people from her community whose lives have been wholly changed by Jesus. Working from reference photos she takes; Nitka is able to manipulate shadow and reflective lighting to illuminate their specific features and emphasize their narrative. Each piece in her portrait series is accompanied by a video recording detailing that person’s specific spiritual journey. Accepting commissions.
laurenmarienitka.com |
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@laurenmarienitka | laurenmarienitka@gmail.com
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Cyndie Rauls
Left: Equilibrium, 2023, wood sculpture, 46 x 26 x 18 inches, $1,000; Top Right: Zoetrope (detail), 2023, wood sculpture, 55 x 18 x 16 inches, $1,300; Bottom Right: Regalia (detail), 2023, wood sculpture, 72 x 17 x 16 inches, $1,400.
Cyndie Rauls resides in the Driftless region of Wisconsin. Surrounded by the deeply wooded topography of the area, she looks to the voids left in the wake of the emerald ash borer. Rauls collects etched and lifeless pieces of ash trees; remnants that are as visually striking as their devastation are emotionally resonant. Once gathered, she reconstructs the spirit of the ash tree into sculptural form. The scars left behind by the beetle provide the foundation for each sculpture, while sister woods of mahogany, walnut, cherry, oak, and hickory are integrated for their color, texture, and contrast. Rauls dives deeply into the relationship between what is found and what is lost, drawing a sharp focus on functional extinction. Her process is intuitive, allowing the wood to guide her in physically documenting the tree’s story. What materializes is an abstract meditation on the beauty and power of wood. Each sculpture is meant to draw attention to the ash tree’s journey to preserve a fragment of its existence before it is lost forever.
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@wanderbrook_glen | cyndierauls@gmail.com
Artdose Magazine | artdosemagazine.com
Shelly Rosenquist
Midwestern Jungle, 2023, acrylic on handmade wooden canvas, 30 x 24 inches, $500.
Shelly Rosenquist’s work is all about pushing the envelope and communicating in fresh ways. Highly influenced by her background as a designer, her current paintings are acrylics on handmade wooden canvases featuring bold black outlines and pops of vibrant color. Our hectic human existence has led us to ignore what makes this world a beautiful place. She likes to use her work as a tool to remind people to look around them, to breathe the air, and to appreciate the details and miracles around us. Taking everyday subjects and recreating them in unique ways is something that really interests her. Nature provides so much obvious beauty, but it’s oftentimes taken for granted. Rosenquist’s goal isn’t to be realistic but to create a surprising way of focusing on the topic by providing a unique angle, a different color palette, or another unexpected component. She likes to amplify elements of her subject matter and stylize using brilliant hues and varying linework that ties everything together by creating a flow in every piece.
RosenquistBoutique.com |
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@RosenquistFineArt | RosenquistBoutique@gmail.com
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Katherine Steichen Rosing
Inhale/Exhale, Until the Last Breath, solo exhibition, Abel Contemporary Gallery, 2023; (From left to right): Sentinels (suspended sculptures: India Ink on linen); Between Heaven and Earth (painting), Prophecy, (India Ink on strands of archival Tyvek); Inhale/Exhale (video projection). Photo: Jim Escalante.
Katherine Steichen Rosing explores invisible natural forces in northern forests and watersheds through vividly hued paintings and immersive installations. Experiences in the wilderness, experimentation in the studio, and scientific readings about environmental issues permeate her work. Forests are a lens to climate, invasive species, and ecological cycles, themes explored in Rosing’s large-scale installations. The tree-scale suspended sculptures provide an experiential space to contemplate deforestation and climate-related processes like photosynthesis and the carbon and water cycles. The sculptures are made from various lightweight fibers and paper, sometimes handsewn, beaded, embroidered, or painted with ink and burned. Painting abstractly, Rosing envisions intricate relationships in natural environments, particularly connections between forests and water. Lines and inscriptions drawn into wet paint refer to root systems, invisible processes, and life forms. She works in many layers of paint, often obscuring the original marks while creating a rich surface. Her paintings range in scale from quietly intimate to engulfing. Rosing’s work will be featured in a solo exhibition at James May Gallery, Milwaukee, in June 2024. She lives and works in Madison, Wisconsin.
studioksr.com |
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@KatherineRosing | krosing@studioksr.com
Artdose Magazine | artdosemagazine.com
Katie Schutte
Left: Memory IX (detail), 2017, acrylic with stitched and crocheted fiber on paper, 36 X 24 inches; Top Right: Memory XII (detail), 2021, acrylic with stitched and crocheted fiber on paper, 36 X 24 inches; Bottom Right: Memory XIX (detail), 2023, acrylic with stitched and crocheted fiber on paper, 36 X 24 inches.
The main catalyst behind Katie Schutte’s work is uniting unrelated areas of artistry. Her artistic practice involves combining crochet, a fiber technique, with materials and processes associated with painting, sculpture, and metalsmithing. In the Memory series, she sprays acrylic paint through and over antique and vintage doilies and sometimes reclaimed artist-made doilies as well. Paint is applied one color at a time, in layers, and is allowed to dry before spraying the next color. After painting, found fibers are then stitched and crocheted onto the paper substrate, breaching and altering its surface and edges. Manipulated into new forms or altered by physical fiber stitches, the compositions re-create the doilies in a different medium. The doilies are distorted, inverted, manipulated, and altered through the creation process intentionally and unintentionally, and mimic how people relate to the past: they forget, remember incorrectly, recall certain pieces clearer than others, and evolve the event as they remember and retell it. The inversion, distortion, and alteration of the doilies with paint and fiber illustrate how memories can be unreliable imprints that have been filtered and edited. The works in this series will never be actual doilies or even representations of them, just as memories will never be the complete and entirely accurate version of events.
katieschutte.com |
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@katieschutte | katieschutte@gmail.com
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Mary Ellen Sisulak
Artifact, 2022, mixed media, 30 x 40 inches, $8,000.
Door County has an often-forgotten side that resides in the northern peninsula and Mink River Estuary. Inspired by this lack of exposure Mary Ellen Sisulak seeks to illustrate the beauty of the area. Her paintings deepen the relationship of the magic that is inherent in nature. Her primary two mediums, mixed media and encaustic allow her to express subjects in a more dimensional way. Instead of traditional canvases, her mixed media pieces are leather stretched over a wood panel. She then manipulates the surface by forming, carving, and painting. The natural properties of leather give a unique appearance when painted. Finally, she embeds stones and other natural elements into the piece. In her other medium, encaustic, she uses hot wax and a special water-soluble paint to create a textured surface with fine details. Both mediums pay homage to the sensory experience of nature. Sisulak’s compositions are more illusionistic than realistic, a good example is, “Red Sky at NightSailors’ Delight”, a 36 x 48-inch encaustic. In this piece, she has cut the composition into three bands: water, sun, and sky. The painting of each area has a different feeling to reflect the subject. The water is calm, smooth, and reflective. The sun is hot and elusive. The sky reflects tumultuous, towering, and menacing clouds. Together, the whole scene is full of expectations.
maryellensisulak.com |
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@maryellensisulak | turtleridge@gmail.com
Artdose Magazine | artdosemagazine.com
Christine Style
Left: Birdgirl Contemplates Nature, 2021, woodcut with chine collê, 49 x 30 inches; Right: Princess Poppy Ponders Potted Plants, 2023, woodcut with chine collê on pre-stained paper, 49 x 30 inches.
Christine Style is Professor Emerita from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay after teaching printmaking for 32 years. She has her MFA in printmaking from UW-Milwaukee and her BS in Art from UW-Madison. Her work for the last 20 years has focused on visual storytelling using the relief printmaking process. Since 2014, Style has participated in all five of the Really Big Prints steamroller print events. Style’s studio is next to her home in Green Bay, WI.
christinestyle.com |
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@christine_style
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Carol and Roy Toepke
Svalbard - Polar Bear, 09/20/23, photographic print on aluminum, 20 x 30 inches, $600.
Carol and Roy Toepke are a husband and wife photography team living in NE Wisconsin. They are environmentalists, conservationists, and wildlife enthusiasts who are passionate about photographing the vast depth of nature and the wildlife within it. They love to be out in the field armed with their cameras waiting, observing, and capturing fleeting moments within the landscape or encountering wildlife interactions. Their art is inspired by their love of nature and photography. They want to inspire their observers with intimate and engaging moments with fauna and breathtaking natural landscapes. They hope their passion to share their travels and observations with others showcases the expansiveness of the beautiful world we live in and gives us all reasons to preserve it. While Wisconsin provides the opportunity to capture many stunning moments Carol and Roy look forward to larger trips out of the country twice a year. Their most recent trips to Scotland and Ireland occurred in June of 2023 where they photographed landscapes, wildlife, and birds; and Svalbard in the fall of 2023 for Arctic Foxes, Birds, and Polar Bears.
collectionsbycarol.com |
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@caroltoepke | carol_toepke@yahoo.com
Artdose Magazine | artdosemagazine.com
Judy Tolley
Left:Contemplation, Contemplation, 2018, collage on canvas, x 10 inches, $350; TopCostumes Right: Abstract (detail), 2023, Left: 2018, collage on canvas, 8 x 108inches, $350; Top Right: (detail),44 2023, collage on acrylic board, $250; 8 x 8 inches, Bottom Right: Costumes (detail), on board, board, 8 xon8 inches, Bottom $250; Right: Abstract 44 (detail), 2023, acrylic on2023, board,collage 8 x 8 inches, $250.8 x 8 inches, $250.
Judy Tolley is a self-taught visual artist based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She has always been passionate about art, often experimenting with many mediums. She eventually discovered the technique of creating collage and, most recently, acrylic abstract painting. She explores various layers of textures and shapes to achieve a desired aesthetic. Tolley draws inspiration from found images and her imagination. Her creative process is ever-changing, and she leaves her work open to interpretation.
@judytolley3336 | judytolley@yahoo.com
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Sara Willadsen
Passive Aggressive, 2023, ink, graphite, found materials, laser cut paper, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 32 inches, $1000.
Sara Willadsen makes pictures that satisfy her curiosity in aesthetics and found materials. Combining these articles with reappropriations of her own work allows her to employ past patterns and marks as prompts for new structures and environments. The aggressive process used to construct these secretive spaces is kept in balance with the consciousness to know when to stop.
saraewilladsen.com |
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@saraewilladsen | saraewilladsen@gmail.com
Artdose Magazine | artdosemagazine.com
The MARN Mentorship Program at MARN ART + CULTURE HUB
MARNmentorship Field Trip to the Tory Folliard Gallery December 2023. Photo Artdose Magazine.
Summer 2023 - Speed Greet. Media Courtesy of the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network.
In mentoring, there is an exchange developed through trust over time. The mentor digs into their years of knowledge, experience, edifying mistakes, and networks to share and create a space for potential. In this space, the mentee is safe to question, be vulnerable and open, take risks through materials and ideas, and ultimately learn to develop a rich practice with a sounding board they can return to, lean on, and grow from. This is not a singular exchange, rather there is a reciprocal relationship that enriches both mentor and mentee in this joint passion and pursuit through making. The goal of the MARNmentorship Program is to create this vibrating space of potential between mentor and mentee to enhance the professional and community development between mentees.
Introducing the 2023/2024 MARNmentorship pairings! KT Mullen & Ida Luchessi Lois Bielefeld & Andrea Cabrera Manuel Berel Lutsky & Lidia Sharapova Grant Gill & Carter Vortas Maureen Ragalie & Nayfa Naji Emmitt Williams & Kenzi Rayelle Max Yela & Nateya Taylor Jimmy Zenisek & Jaymee Harvey Willms Frank Juárez & Lauren Marie Nitka Alix Anne Shaw & Gina Cornejo
“My first introduction to MARN was through being a mentor in the MARNmentorship Program which was wonderfully led by Lois Bielefeld, our previous Program Coordinator. As a new resident of Milwaukee, being a part of this program was my entryway to getting plugged into the Milwaukee art scene. However, along the way, I was provided with so much more than that. I learned how to become a better artist and leader and made many wonderful friends and colleagues along the way, including my former mentee. I knew well into the program that MARN would be a space that would be a special staple in my life. It is a privilege and honor to go from guiding one artist in the program to now overseeing a group of 20 amazing artists (10 mentors and 10 mentees) for the 2023/2024 MARNmentorship Program” – Alayna Pernell, Program Director. Visit marnarts.org to learn more about this program and connect on Instagram at @marn_arts
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Artdose Magazine Snapshot: Events, Exhibitions, and Services January Center for the Visual Arts Wausau, Wisconsin 34th Annual Midwest Seasons Found And Lost: A Story of Functional Extinction January 10 - March 16, 2024 cvawausau.org newARTspace De Pere, Wisconsin newARTspace/IV January 12 – February 21, 2024 newartspace124.com
Art Nite Downtown De Pere De Pere, Wisconsin January 12, 5 - 8 pm Rochester Art Center Rochester, Minnesota Like a Little Tlaquepaque Vase or Como Jarrito de Tlaquepaque Through January 21, 2024 rochesterartcenter.org
John Michael Kohler Arts Center Sheboygan, Wisconsin Sunny Leerasanthanah: Naturalization Through January 28, 2024 jmkac.org
John Michael Kohler Arts Center Sheboygan, Wisconsin Recent Acquisition: Mary Jo Schwalbach Through February 4, 2024 jmkac.org Center for Design and Material Culture Madison, Wisconsin Reimaging the Renaissance February 7 – May 19, 2024 cdmc.wisc.edu Art Nite Downtown De Pere De Pere, Wisconsin February 9, 5 - 8 pm John Michael Kohler Arts Center Sheboygan, Wisconsin Bea Fremderman: Weeds Compared to Flowers Through February 18, 2024 jmkac.org
Racine Art Museum Racine, Wisconsin Gathering Voices at RAM: 20 Years of Building America’s Largest Contemporary Craft Collection Through February 24, 2024 ramart.org Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts Cedarburg, Wisconsin Conversations in Cloth / Kapad ni Vatchit / ̷̣͇̯ ̶͉ ̨͇̲͉̲̀ Through February 25, 2024 wiquiltmuseum.com John Michael Kohler Arts Center Sheboygan, Wisconsin Rose B. Simpson: Counterculture Through February 25, 2024 jmkac.org
Center for Design and Material Culture Madison, Wisconsin Heart, Head, and Hand: Making and Remaking at Berea College Student Craft Through March 3, 2024 cdmc.wisc.edu John Michael Kohler Arts Center Sheboygan, Wisconsin Bea Fremderman and Grottoes Sharing the Same Breath Through March 3, 2024 jmkac.org
Art Nite Downtown De Pere De Pere, Wisconsin March 8, 5 - 8 pm Rochester Art Center Rochester, Minnesota Zumbro Bend: Three Desiring Bodies Through March 24, 2024 rochesterartcenter.org
February Racine Art Museum Racine, Wisconsin Collection Focus: Don Reitz Wisconsin Artists: 1960-90 Through February 3, 2024 ramart.org Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass Neenah, Wisconsin Fresh Picks: A Selection of Recent Acquisitions Directing the Flow: The Art of Wes Hunting Through February 4, 2024 bmmglass.com James Watrous Gallery Madison, Wisconsin Madeline Grace Martin: Of Words and Trees Mary Burns: Women and Water Through February 4, 2024 cvawausau.org
March DeVos Art Museum Marquette, Michigan Fred Brian: Lake Gogebic Memories & Myths Through June 1, 2024 nmuartmuseum.com Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts Cedarburg, Wisconsin 25 Million Stitches: One Stitch, One Refugee March 1–July 28, 2024 wiquiltmuseum.com
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Artdose Magazine | artdosemagazine.com
January through June 2024 April Rochester Art Center Rochester, Minnesota Chronicles of the Chronic Through April 3, 2024 rochesterartcenter.org Art Nite Downtown De Pere De Pere, Wisconsin April 12, 5 - 8 pm
Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass Neenah, Wisconsin Staff Picks: Selection from the Museum’s Permanent Collection Through April 21, 2024 bmmglass.com
Rochester Art Center Rochester, Minnesota Bio Terrains Through April 28, 2024 rochesterartcenter.org
Racine Art Museum Racine, Wisconsin RAM Showcase: Focus on Clay Through May 25, 2024 ramart.org
Rochester Art Center Rochester, Minnesota Will to Meaning Through May 30, 2024 rochesterartcenter.org
Art Nite Downtown De Pere De Pere, Wisconsin June 7, 5 - 8 pm
John Michael Kohler Arts Center Sheboygan, Wisconsin Cloth as Land: HMong Indigeneity Through June 16, 2024 jmkac.org
Lemon Street Gallery & ArtSpace Kenosha, Wisconsin lemonstreetgallery.org Levee Contemporary Princeton, Wisconsin leveecontemporary.com MARN ART + CULTURE HUB Milwaukee, Wisconsin marnarts.org
NWTC Artisan and Business Center Green Bay, Wisconsin nwtc.edu/about-nwtc/nwtc-locations/artisanand-business-center OS Projects Racine, Wisconsin osprojects.art Two Fish Gallery Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin twofishgallery.net
May Art Nite Downtown De Pere De Pere, Wisconsin May 10, 5 - 8 pm Rochester Art Center Rochester, Minnesota Our Home Through May 19, 2024 rochesterartcenter.org
June DeVos Art Museum Marquette, Michigan By Design: Looking at Living Through June 1, 2024 nmuartmuseum.com
Other Places to Visit Ampersand Supply Co Sheboygan, Wisconsin ampersandsupplyco.com Guardian Fine Art Services Milwaukee, Wisconsin guardianfineart.com Kim Storage Gallery Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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Fine Art Shuttle & Transportation Serving
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