Departments

Please check in with individual galleries and museums before you visit to ensure you have the most updated information and hours.

Allen Priebe Gallery, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh | www.uwosh.edu/priebegalleries

Student Honors Exhibition 

February 8-22. Selected upper-level student work ranging from ceramics, graphic design, painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture will be on display. (Reception Feb. 8, 6-7:30 p.m. 

Bridge Work 

February 29-March 21. This group exhibition brings together multidisciplinary work by artists associated with the art groups: Bridge Work (Madison) and the Plum Blossom Initiative (Milwaukee), both Midwestern-based arts initiatives. (Reception: February 29, 6-7:30 p.m.)

Dej Txiaj Ntsim/Koua Yang 

April 4-25. Koua Yang works in multiple media such as drawing, painting, photo, installation, clothing making, and performance to interrogate Hmong identity in her studio art practice. Her practice investigates recurring themes about displacement, home, gendered experiences, and Hmong identity. (Reception: April 4, 6-7:30 p.m.)

BFA Studio Art 

May 2-9. This exhibition features the work of seniors graduating with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in 2D and 3D Art at UW Oshkosh in the Spring of 2024. (Reception: May 2, 6-7:30 p.m.)

BFA Graphic Design  

May 13-17. This exhibition features the work of seniors graduating with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Graphic Design at UW Oshkosh in the Spring of 2024. (Reception: May 16, 6-7:30 p.m.)

Annex Gallery, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh | www.uwosh.edu/priebegalleries

Mollie Oblinger 

February 8-29. Molly Oblinger explores the overlooked, whether teeming underfoot or concealed by modern society. She plucks imagery from animal tunnels and cellular anatomy to get the viewer to think about notions of vulnerability. Using artificial and man-made materials, she forms a kind of composite environment. Shifting between the micro and the macro, she seeks to bring out the hidden. (Reception: February 8, 6-7:30 p.m.)

Ryan Steiskal  

April 4-18. Ryan Steiskal is an illustrator, painter, and draftsman who graduated from UW Oshkosh in 2015 and has been creating posters, prints, and scientific illustrations since. Using acrylic inks, he creates images filled with animals and Sci-fi or supernatural elements. 

Appleton Historical Society Museum, Appleton | www.appletonhistory.com

Vulcan Hydroelectric Replica

May-October, every other Sunday and by appointment. Appleton Historical Society, in partnership with the City of Appleton, opens the Vulcan Replica to the public. The Edison K dynamo and replica water wheel; that in conjunction with the leather belts, created electricity from the water power of the Fox. The 1932 replica of the Vulcan hydroelectric is on display.

Then and Now

Ongoing. This photo display of modern day images next to historical photographs gives a retrospect on what used to be where in Appleton. New display of major department stores in Appleton including Prange’s, Sears and more, as well as a five-cent to a dollar store display.

Jimos Hat Cleaners and Shoe Shine

Ongoing. In the Langenberg Room, find a recreation of the Jimos Hat Cleaners and Shoe Shine store which was the longest running business based on College Avenue. It chronicles the Jimos story from penniless immigrant to successful building and business owner.

The Art Garage, Green Bay | www.theartgarage.org

Third Annual: A Year in Review

Through February 3. The Third Annual: A Year in Review exhibition reflects on the previous year through art and will feature work exploring various subjects and mediums all inspired by, or created in, the last 12 months.

Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass | www.bmmglass.com

Directing the Flow: The Art of Wes Hunting
Through February 4. Wisconsin-based artist Wes Hunting creates blown and cast glass vessels and sculpture featuring colorful palettes and murrine inspired by past and present creations of artists working in Murano, Italy. Through the process of “painting” with colored glass and cold surface cutting, his newest creations invite the viewer to gaze inward into miniature worlds, paying homage to the aesthetics of overlay paperweights. 

Staff Picks: Selections from the Museum’s Permanent Collection
Through April 21. This exhibition features works hand-curated by fourteen members of the museum’s staff. Highlighting works from each of our four major collections, including Victorian Art Glass baskets, Germanic glass, Studio glass, and paperweights, there’s sure to be something to catch your fancy. On exhibit in the museum’s Mabel R. McClanahan Memorial Study Gallery.

The Building for Kids Children’s Museum, Appleton | www.buildingforkids.org

Food to Grow
Ongoing. Kids and their grown-ups can explore the whole food system with the Building for Kids Children’s Museum’s newest permanent exhibit, Food to Grow. Visitors can visit the farm, pick up food at the market and food pantry, cook in the kitchen, and enjoy a meal around the table with family and friends. This exhibit explores concepts such as food sourcing, food choice, food equity, and the cultural significance of food.

Construction Junction
Ongoing. Operate the crane to move the construction blocks. After building you can recycle the blocks and use the bobcat to gather them back to the pit! Then check out the different construction vehicles in the Big Dig. Sponsored by The Boldt Company.

da Vinci Studio
Ongoing. da Vinci Studio is sponsored by School Specialty. Just like Leonardo da Vinci, we encourage curiosity! Stop by da Vinci and do an activity or explore your creativity at an easel. Activities are always changing, so every visit will be different!

Elisha D. Smith Public Library, Menasha | www.menashalibrary.org

Jesse Emmons Photography

January. Jesse has created art for as long as he can remember and has explored acrylic, digital and other mediums to find that with the camera he can enjoy and explore much more the challenges to capture details and uniqueness on each subject. Meet the Artist Reception: Thursday, January 25 at 6:30 p.m.

Anne Grigg Anderson Watercolors 

February. Anne likes to paint and push the boundaries of watercolors with new interpretations.  She loves to experiment with different techniques and approaches. Anne’s passion for art and teaching has led her to connect with multiple organizations to guide people of all ages to enjoy art and nature. Meet the Artist Reception: Thursday, February 22 at 6:30 p.m.

Elizabeth Tubman Paintings

March & April. Elizabeth is a librarian at the Menasha Library. Her creative spirit moved her to pursue a more serious fine art practice. In 2022 she initiated a yearlong studio art program through the Milan Art Institute. The paintings on display were created through her exploration of mixed media techniques that include charcoal, inks, acrylic and oil. Her work has been shown at the Richeson Gallery in Kimberley and the Art Garage in Green Bay.

Immigrant Journeys – Mi Travesía Hasta Wisconsin! (Part of the NEA Big Reads 2024 – Fox Cities Book Festival)

March. A traveling exhibit produced by Wisconsin Humanities in partnership with Centro Hispano of Dane County. Content that inspires meaningful conversations about immigration in Wisconsin. The project features eight personal stories and reminds us of our shared humanity, no matter where our journey began. 

Tania Nelson Mixed Media & Photography

May & June. A Green Bay artist is bringing to our space collages and street photography full of vibrant colors and powerful messages. The exhibit moves the audience to ponder, create commentary and questions about issues of personal identity, consumer culture, politics, historical narratives and so many other current points of division and unity.

Joann Mariahazy Printmaking and Beyond

July & August. The library is showcasing several of Joann’s printmaking creations; screen print monoprints and small editions. Also on exhibit: mixed media pieces of vessels and how they are a symbolic representation of the human process of growth, balance, and self-care. 

Green Bay Botanical Gardens, Green Bay | www.gbbg.org

Carol & Bruce Bell Children’s Garden

Ongoing. Stomp in the snow and frolic in the flowers… Play, learn, and explore in 2.5 acres of outdoor adventure! Discover a hillside tunnel, treehouses, and uncover Wisconsin’s natural world in all four seasons.

Hearthstone Historic Museum, Appleton | www.hearthstonemuseum.org

Lewis Latimer: Self-Made Renaissance Man

Ongoing. An inventive genius who worked alongside some of the most famous names in American history—Alexander Graham Bell, Hiram Maxim, Thomas Edison—before gaining his own fame as an inventor and educator, Lewis Latimer is the subject of a new permanent exhibit at Hearthstone. It features artifacts and video presentations covering not only Lewis Latimer but also his parents’ fight for freedom from slavery. 

History Museum at the Castle, Appleton | www.myhistorymuseum.org

AKA Houdini
​Ongoing. Experience some of Harry Houdini’s famous tricks through hands-on activities. It is great fun for the whole family! See why the world renowned magician called Appleton his hometown.
Perspectives: A Fox Valley Visual Anthology 

​Changing perspectives helps us see history all around us. History influences where we live, how we travel, and what is visible in the Fox Valley today.

John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan | www.jmkac.org

Recent Acquisition: Mary Jo Schwalbach
Through February 4. Recent Acquisition: Mary Jo Schwalbach will showcase a selection of the artist’s so-called “collages,” made from detritus gathered on the shores of Lake Michigan. These assemblages are part of a recent gift to the Arts Center from her son, Fitz Gitler, and the Kohler Foundation, Inc.

Bea Fremderman: Weeds Compared to Flowers
Through February 18. In a bay on the Atlantic Ocean, the tides slowly expose closed landfills littering coastal zones with Depression-era glass, soles of shoes, and conglomerations of inorganic and organic materials. Artist Bea Fremderman collects discarded detritus from this shoreline, imagining personas of those who may have used or cast the objects away.

Bea Fremderman and Grottoes
Through March 3. Artist Bea Fremderman collects discarded detritus from a New York shoreline. She chooses materials from a retired landfill on Dead Horse Bay and assembles her gatherings using a technique similar to that used to make Tiffany lamps.

Cloth as Land: HMong Indigeneity
Through June 16. Centering the voices of three HMong-American artists, Cloth as Land investigates a place for HMong Indigeneity within contemporary HMong art. Remnants of land are unveiled in thirty textiles from JMKAC’s collection, foregrounding newly commissioned works by artists Ger Xiong/Ntxawg Xyooj, Pao Houa Her, and Tshab Her, which retain these symbols, motifs, and stories. Engaging with memory and embodied knowledge, narratives of belonging are reconfigured to persist amid invisibility, sorrow, and erasure.

Joyce Kozloff: How We Know What We Know
Through June 30. Joyce Kozloff: How We Know What We Know will consider a twenty-year span of Kozloff’s career, beginning with her Arts/Industry residency. Through a presentation of work from five of her series (among them are Voyages, Knowledge, and Targets) from 1986–2006, it will trace her transition into cartography.

National Railroad Museum, Green Bay | www.nationalrrmuseum.org

Pullman Porters: From Service to Civil Rights

Ongoing. The immersive exhibit, displayed in the Museum’s Lenfestey Center, features a restored 1920s Pullman sleeper car, the Lake Mitchell. The exhibit is supported by interpretive elements in and around the car. Exhibit elements include a computer-generated porter with interactive capabilities inside the car, original artifacts, and a touch screen computer kiosk.
General Motors Aerotrain
Ongoing. The Aerotrain was designed to lure the general public back to railroads and provide an inexpensive solution for railroad companies to provide a higher-speed, public rail service. The Builders Model of the General Motors Aerotrain stretches about 35 feet long and is a popular exhibit at the Museum.

Neville Public Museum, Green Bay | www.nevillepublicmuseum.org

Sandy Schilawski Fiber Art Exhibit
Through January 21. For over 30 years Sandy Schilawski created prize winning traditional and contemporary quilts while running a professional long arm machine quilting business. This retrospective exhibition honors Sandy’s quilting journey, from traditional patterns into abstract art through the medium of fiber.

78th Art Annual Exhibit
Through January 14. This juried art exhibition began in 1942 during the height of World War II. For over three-quarters of a century, many of this region’s most celebrated and talented artists have exhibited their work as part of this Green Bay tradition. This exhibition exhibits the importance and power of visual languages that can be interpreted and reinterpreted. For everything that needs to be said there is a language, and the languages of these artists are eclectic and relevant for the times in which we live. The artists have spoken from their own unique voices utilizing various mediums, subject matter, and cultures. 

Youth Art Month
Through February 22. Experience the creative works of Northeastern Wisconsin students grades K through 12. This multimedia exhibit, coordinated by the Wisconsin Art Education Association, highlights the national celebration sponsored by The Council for Art Education.

Green Bay Art Colony
January 27-March 3. In 1915, nine women created the Green Bay Art Club to assure that art and culture would be part of the local community.  Every year since 1927 an exhibit of the Colony members’ current artwork has been exhibited at the Neville.

MLK Student Art
January-March. Since 1995, Brown County students have been challenged to paint, draw, or draft a piece of creative writing celebrating a theme inspired by the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

Telling our Stories: LGBTQ+ Voices of Northeast Wisconsin
February 10-November 3. In partnership with the UWGB Archives oral history project Our Voices. Using oral history interviews and artifacts, this exhibit will discuss national, state, and local LGBTQ+ history and contemporary issues relating to the themes of identity, advocacy, healthcare, and community. We are using the oral histories as primary sources that will create personal connecting points for visitors and show that the LGBTQ+ community is diverse and that its members do not all share the same universal experiences.

Community Doors
February 10-April 1. A partnership with local LGBTQ+ youth groups and organizations to celebrate their identities and share their voices, stories, and experiences through art.

Art Against The Odds: Wisconsin Prison Art
March 16-May 19. Featuring about 30 artists who turned to creative production to mitigate the dehumanizing conditions of incarceration, the exhibition is divided into six thematic sections that illustrate recurring subjects explored by these artists: solitary confinement, landscapes, portraits, letter writing, scarcity of materials and time. 

Sayaka Ganz: Reclaimed Creations
June 1-September 29. Ganz utilizes reclaimed plastic objects like brush strokes which appear visibly unified at a distance though separate at close proximity.  She describes her style as “3D impressionism.” Sculptures in this exhibition include recent work depicting animals in motion which are rich in color and energy that create an illusion of form.

Oshkosh Public Museum | www.oshkoshmuseum.org

Tiffany Studios Treasures of the Historic Sawyer Home
Ongoing. The cornerstone of the Oshkosh Public Museum is the Historic Sawyer Home. This beautiful residence was built by Edgar and Mary Sawyer in 1908. Local architect William Waters designed the home, and Tiffany Studios of New York was hired to design and furnish the interiors. Visit and explore the Historic Sawyer Home: the last original Tiffany Studios commission open to the public to visit and enjoy.

Alluring Art
Once created as tools of the hunt, fish and waterfowl decoys have emerged as a distinct folk artform. Alluring Art gathers examples of Wisconsin carvers’ expertly handcrafted decoys, each with intricate details and unique designs, illustrating how decoys evolved from utilitarian objects to works of art delighting the expert and casual observer alike.

1920s Oshkosh: Colorful Times in Black and White
Through February 6. See Oshkosh, 100 years younger! Catch glimpses of familiar places and feel the hubbub of a changing city in this archival photography exhibition. 

People of the Waters
Ongoing. Discover the prehistoric past of the Lake Winnebago watershed! This immersive exhibition travels through 13,000 years of history from the last Ice Age through the Fur Trade. Ongoing.

Menominee Clans Story
Ongoing. Connect to traditional Menominee art and culture through the intricate carvings of late Menominee artist James Frechette, Jr. (1930-2006), which embody the Menominee ways of life.

This Is Winnebagoland
Ongoing. The Lake Winnebago region, once promoted as a recreational paradise, is home to timeless adventure! Enjoy the competition, camaraderie, and community through the years of sporting and recreation history brought to life.

Paine Art Center & Gardens, Oshkosh | www.thepaine.org

Rooms of Blooms
February 29-March 10. Experience the art of floral design with the historic Paine mansion bursting with hundreds of floral arrangements and full-room installations. Enjoy tea time or wine and charcuterie among the blooms in the Conservatory, and educational programs with experts in floral design, gardening, cooking and more topics in the Carriage House.

Mao Lor: A Journey through Hmoob Paj Ntaub
February 10-May 26. Journey through 40 years of Hmong art, history, and culture with dozens of intricately hand sewn and embroidered artworks by artist Mao Lor, whose pieces use traditional methods and patterns and reflect contemporary innovations used for storytelling.

Seymour Community Museum, Seymour | www.seymourhistory.org

World’s Largest Hamburger Collection
Ongoing. Items include an original Burger Time arcade game, burger telephones and radios, hamburger banks, burger candles, burger jewelry, watches and magnets, clothing, dolls, a battery operated burger skateboard and much more.

Trout Museum of Art, Appleton | www.troutmuseum.org

Illuminating Women
January 12-May 12. Opening Night (free): January 12 | 5-8 p.m. Illuminating Women, a collaboration between Juliane Troicki and Laura Schneider, combines black and white portraits with documentary narratives of thirty inspiring women from the Appleton area, shining a light on exceptional stories in our community.

Nort
January 12-May 12. Opening Night (free): January 12 | 5-8 p.m. After living outside of the United States for several years in Germany and Canada, artist John Swartwout made it back to Wisconsin, the state of his birth, and found himself fascinated by an upper Midwest he had forgotten. Reintroduce yourself to the “Nort” through 3D installations.

The Body Problem
January 12-May 12. Opening Night (free): January 12 | 5-8 p.m. Our emotional bonds with our physical bodies are deeply intimate and perpetually changing. Through a range of mediums, from prints and videos to a multi-channel video installation, The Body Problem by artist Amy Cannestra navigates the journey of body acceptance, self-love, and the intricate dance between external influences and internal emotions. 

TMA Contemporary
May 25-Sept 8. Opening Night (free): May 25 | 5-8 p.m. The Trout Museum of Art’s annual juried exhibition showcasing Wisconsin’s top visual artists. Works exemplify the cutting-edge art being created by artists across the state today representing a wide spectrum of media and creative perspectives.

Weis Earth Science Museum, Menasha | www.uwosh.edu/weis

Fossil Gallery featuring the Bruce Danz Collection
Ongoing. One of the best dinosaur nests in any exhibit. Find a life-size skull replica of Stan, the Tyrannosaurus rex, a thigh bone of a duck-bill dinosaur that you can touch and a complete Psittacosaurus with stones in its gizzard – just like the birds.

Barlow Hall of Gems and Minerals
Ongoing. See a rare collection of minerals and gemstones from around the entire world.

Wriston Art Galleries, Lawrence University | www.lawrence.edu/music-arts/galleries-art/wriston-art-galleries

Cori Nakamura Lin, The Night Parade
January 12-March 8. Gorgeous illustrations that accompany her sister, Jami Nakamura Lin’s recently published speculative memoir of the same title about mental illness and grief.

Kayla Bauer, The End of Somewhere

January 12-March 8. The End of Somewhere uses San Francisco as a vehicle to explore multiplicities of identity, memory, and history; Kayla Bauer works with photography, text, and found imagery to create fragmentary narratives that may or may not be rooted in reality. 

Organic / Inorganic 

January 12-March 8. An exhibition of sculptural works curated around Senga Nengudi’s multi-part A.C.Q. (Air Conditioning Queen) sculpture, on loan from the Art Bridges Foundation. Works by artists Monty Little, Anna Campbell, and Callie Kiesow present similarly startling juxtapositions, with isolated elements of the human body paired with and disrupted by pattern and abstraction.