Departments

Spring Arts Guide

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

A Mile in My Shoes, Madison Olszewski – Elisha B. Smith Library

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

Honors Exhibition
Feb. 2-16. Selected upper-level student work ranging from ceramics, graphic design, painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture will be on display.

Anne Vetter
Feb. 23-March 16. Anne Vetter lives and works in California and Massachusetts. They are a queer non-binary Jew. Their work is focused on play, family systems, performance and the fluidity of identity.

Bridge Work

March 30-April 20. This group exhibition brings together multidisciplinary work by artists associated with Bridge Work (Madison) and the Plum Blossom Initiative (Milwaukee), Midwestern-based arts initiatives.

BFA Studio Art

April 27-May 4. This exhibition features the work of seniors graduating with a Bachelors of Fine Arts at UW Oshkosh in the Spring of 2022.
BFA Graphic Design

May 8- 12. This exhibition features the work of seniors graduating with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Graphic Design at UW Oshkosh in the Spring of 2020.

Peace in the Light, Scott Terry – Annex Gallery

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

Shan Bryan-Hanson

Feb. 2-23. The intimate, repetitive style of her mixed media work includes layers of paint, graphite, and thread to create intricate worlds inspired by nature.

Scott Terry and Dee Hutch

March 2-23. These Wisconsin-based artists look into the power, presence and lives of the black diaspora weaving themes into their portrait paintings.

Afi Ese and Kelsey Harris

March 30-April 13. Afi Ese’s work focuses on Black portraiture while representing and venerating West African diasporic history with an emphasis on generational trauma and triumph in rural Black America. Kelsey Marie Harris is a visual artist residing in the Midwest. They do not claim one particular style or medium. Their work expands between acrylic abstract paintings, to figure and line drawings, and even traditional or digital portraiture. Art, for them, is a therapeutic release, often exercised to simplify a chaotic mind and chronic introspection.

Climate of the Mountain

April 24-30. This exhibition is focused on the mountain as a centerpiece for exploring the effects of climate change, highlighting efforts toward sustainability and social justice, and as an iconic symbol for artistic and poetic expression.

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

Home

Feb. 1-25. As we go through another Wisconsin winter, Home invites artists and viewers to consider the concept of home, how home feels and how feelings of home may be portrayed through art. Inspiration might come from certain imagery, colors, textures, stories, and folklore. Lean into your subjects and mediums that invoke feelings of warmth, safety, coziness and peace.

Back to the Basics
Feb. 1-March 25. Sometimes we go “Back to the Basics” to learn about the past and its influence on the future personally, locally, or globally. Sometimes, we look back in times that we feel stressed, overwhelmed or feel a lack of inspiration. Getting “Back to the Basics” encourages all of us to forge a new path and explore new methods of creation by way of recalling what inspired us in the beginning.

Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass | www.bmmglass.com
Between Seeing and Knowing
Through Feb. 5, 2023. Comprised of hundreds of objects fabricated using multiple glass processes, Between Seeing and Knowing is a large-scale, site-specific installation by artists Anna Boothe and Nancy Cohen.

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

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!
Move It
Ongoing. Physics, engineering and air pressure come together in what would likely be Newton’s favorite exhibit. Use levers, pulleys, and ramps to change air flow and the path of bright balls shooting through clear tubes in this simple machines exhibit sponsored by AZCO Inc.

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

Nadine Janik: Acrylic Paintings

January. Visitors will enjoy a variety of paintings using different techniques like acrylics and pour paintings. Each piece expresses the artist’s passion for color, fun and experimentation. According to Nadine: “My inspiration comes from many places, but one area that is close to my heart, is spending time outdoors and in nature. I enjoy being able to capture the simplicity of its beauty. Meet the Artist reception: Thursday, Jan. 26 from 6:30-8 p.m.

Michael Vanevenhoven’s Art Photography 

February and March. Enjoy a unique visual experience through the lens of photographer Mike Vanevenhoven. A small but relevant sample of his work with a subject matter that moves between urban and rural. Meet the Artist reception: Thursday, March 16 from 6-8 p.m.

Mike Burman’s Art Photography

April. Local photojournalist Mike Burman is sharing his take on different experiences from street photography and architecture. Visitors will appreciate the details and a unique point of view from the artist.

Nicole Fitzgerald: Art Treasures and Experiences 

Flower Garden, Nicole Fitzgerald – Elisha D. Public Library

May. A versatile artist that enjoys working with a wide range of materials, art tools, and subject matter, Fitzgerald’s work explores textures and patterns, using an array of materials, which is a mix of found, handmade, or sourced items. She will host a workshop and demonstration of her techniques during the month.

Madison Olszewski 

June and July. The library exhibits the work of a stellar young artist from the Menasha High School class of 2023. Madison won an international competition with Embracing our Differences – an organization based in Sarasota Florida – her work titled: “A Mile in My Shoes” and completed a special mural for Harbor House’s teen space.

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

Habitat

Through April. The exhibition Habitat explores the critical need for varied habitats, how interconnected and fragile they are, and what we can do to protect them. This experience showcases the unique habitats throughout the gardens and landscapes of Green Bay Botanical Garden.

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
Stitching History from the Holocaust
Through Jan. 30. Stitching History from the Holocaust is the true story of Paul and Hedy Strnad. They wrote to Paul’s cousin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin during the winter of 1939. Desperately seeking asylum, they hoped that Hedy’s dress designs would provide a livelihood for them in the United States if they escaped Europe. Just eight dresses, fabricated from Hedy’s sketches, tell their tragic story in this unforgettable exhibition.

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

Sky Hopinka: I’ll Remember You as You Were, Not as What You’ll Become

Through February 19. An elegy to the late Native American poet Diane Burns, Sky Hopinka’s I’ll Remember You as You Were, Not as What You’ll Become is a meditation on mortality, reincarnation, and the forms the transcendent spirit takes while descending upon landscapes of life and death The film continues Hopinka’s exploration of the ways his indigenous homeland, language, and identity interconnect.

SPACES Spotlight: Vollis Simpson

Through Feb. 19. This spotlight features the work of several photographers, including Larry Harris, and documents the evolution of Simpson’s whirligigs from a private passion to a source of communal pride and benefit.

Angela U. Drakeford: In bloom at the End of the World

Through April 16. For her evocation of a sanctuary space, In bloom at the end of the world, Angela U. Drakeford calls forth stillness and rest. With books, comfortable seating, bird song recordings, and an abundance of plants that fill the gallery, Drakeford prioritizes an atmosphere that allows for processing grief of all kinds—including loss of memories, cultural traditions, and communal support.

Sarah Zapata: A Resilience of Things Not Seen

Through March 19. Sarah Zapata explores pre-Hispanic textile techniques and multigenerational Peruvian feminine crafts through her intricate and labor-intensive fiber work. These manual processes are combined with modern and industrial carpet manufacturing techniques in work that explores themes such as gender, ethnicity, colonialism, and performativity.

Creative! Growth!

Through May 19. Creative! Growth! is the first exhibition to consider the history of Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland, California. Curated by Matthew Higgs, the exhibition considers the organization’s history and legacy through the lens of the present.

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

Soo Line hat with Brakeman badge – National Railroad Museum

Rail Ties: Railroad Stories That Link Our Communities

Feb. 4 through Dec. 31. The National Railroad Museum’s 2023 exhibit, Rail Ties: Railroad Stories That Link Our Community, brings together loaned objects and objects from the museum’s collection with stories of the people that owned and used them. By celebrating these people’s stories, we can learn about the development of our country and its culture to gain a better understanding and appreciation for what has happened … and, maybe, be amused along the way. The exhibit will feature an array of items, from lamps to hats to platters and much more.

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

Above and Beyond

Feb. 4-May 7. This 3,000-square foot traveling aerospace exhibition features immersive simulations, interactive design challenges, iconic historical touchstones, visionary concepts for the future, and inspiring stories from game-changing innovators, past and present. The exhibition offers an unprecedented interactive demonstration of advances in aviation and aerospace, from the first powered flights to the newest innovations on Earth and in space and presents the forces that motivate aerospace innovators to dream up and build new flight technologies that can change our lives and our world.

Above and Beyond – Neville Public Museum

108th Green Bay Art Colony Exhibition
Feb. 11-March 26. For more than a century, hundreds of women have been part of the Green Bay Art Colony where they continue to inspire each other, educate the public, encourage new artists, and give scholarships to art students. Styles, the name, and club rules may have changed over time, but the dream to keep art and culture part of the community remains the same. Experience the 108th Green Bay Art Colony Juried Exhibition that showcases the talents of this dynamic group of women artists and makers.

newARTSpace, De Pere | www.newartspace124.com
NEW/ART III
Jan. 13-Feb. 23. newARTSpace starts our second year of groundbreaking exhibitions with a celebration of new art by a select group of artists from Northeastern Wisconsin. These six artists inspire and engage us, and we imagine you will feel the same! This installment of NEW/ART presents works by Cristian Andersson (Neenah), Dennis Bauer (Appleton), Rebecca Carlton (Juddville), Dane Schumacher (Neenah), Lauren Semivan (Appleton), and Lisa Wicka (Green Bay). The opening reception coincides with ArtNite.DowntownDePere on January 13 from 5-8 p.m.
[un]Certain Futures
April 14-May 20. Featuring thoughtful and provocative new work by the Environmental Photography Collective. Featuring Marion Belanger, (New Haven, CT), Dana Fritz (Lincoln, NE), Margaret LeJeune (Peoria, IL),  Judy Natal (Chicago, IL), Martina Shenal (Tucson, AZ), and Terri Warpinski (De Pere, WI). Through their individual projects and interactions as a Collective, these six artists critically examine these complex issues and are dedicated to amplifying the voices of women and other underrepresented groups in contemporary art. Opening reception April 14 from 5-8 p.m. for ArtNite.DowntownDePere.

Oshkosh Public Museum | www.oshkoshmuseum.org
Iridescence: Collection Highlights in the Sawyer Library
Through April 2023. The Durow Trust presents the colorful exhibition “Iridescence” in the Sawyer Library that, along with the historic Sawyer Home portion of the Museum, was uniquely designed by Tiffany Studios. The exhibition demonstrates how iridescence has impacted the decorative arts and design and showcases iridescent items in the Museum’s collection. The exhibition will also introduce three new acquisitions of iridescent glass pieces recently added to the Museum’s decorative arts collection.

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

Wipe my Tears, Tom Uttech – Paine Art Center & Gardens

Tom Uttech: One With Nature
Feb. 11-May 21. This exhibition presents more than two dozen photographs and a selection of paintings by renowned Wisconsin artist Tom Uttech. A highlight of the exhibition is Uttech’s large-scale masterwork, Nin Gassinsibingwe (I Wipe My Tears). Inspired by his countless pilgrimages deep into the woods of northern Minnesota and the Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada, Tom Uttech’s paintings have been described as Magic Realism, depicting a world where real and imaginary flora and fauna exist in a fantastical universe. The photographs and paintings come from the collection of the Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend, the leading institution dedicated to preserving and presenting the work of the state’s artists.

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

BART

Jan. 20-May 28. BART is an unauthorized and in-depth look at the process and teamwork needed to create America’s longest-running primetime animated television show. Set in the fictional town of Springfield, the show explores the life of a working-class family through parodies of American culture and society, television, and the human condition. Visitors will be greeted with an array of brightly painted walls and familiar references when entering the gallery, as if stepping right through their screens.

Carey Watters Solo Exhibition

Jan. 20-March 26. From Watters: “I see my work as mythical in nature. Insect pins and needle and thread connect age-old imagery and iconography to my personal narratives in a process that is time-consuming and labor-intensive. I dissect cast-off printed materials, painstakingly collected over the course of years, into thousands of tiny cut pieces of paper, each one a precious fragment of a lost whole.

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

Louise Bourgeois: What Is the Shape of This Problem? 

Jan. 13-March 10. Leech Gallery. “What is the shape of this problem?” is the question presented by this series of nine letterpress diptychs produced by artist Louise Bourgeois (b. 1911, Paris; d. 2010, New York). Among the most influential artists of the 20th century, Bourgeois explores her personal history, her creative process, and her mental health through these text/image pairings, offering evidence that abstract emotions like suffering and mirth can be given voice and form through artistic practice—because, as she reminds us in the final diptych, “Art is a guaranty of sanity.” These works were donated to Lawrence University by Dr. Robert Dickens ’63.

Suzanne Duchamp: The Last Decade

Suzanne Duchamp, Composition 1957 – Wriston Art Galleries

Jan. 13-March 10. Hoffmaster Gallery South. Suzanne Duchamp (1889–1963), like three of her brothers, was an active and exciting avant-garde artist. During an artistic career spanning five decades, she expressed her concerns about modern society, the effects of war, and her role as a modern woman and artist. These themes were expressed in various styles: by appropriating technology and contemporary objects in her assemblages, in her revealing self-portraits, and through her use of color symbolism.

Fortnight: Celebrating Black History and Women’s History Months 

Jan. 13-March 10. Hoffmaster Gallery North. This exhibition will span the final week of Black History Month (February) and the first week of Women’s History Month (March) and serve as a focal point and site for poetry readings, music and dance performances, meditation sessions, and gallery talks connected to the artworks and the history months. The show will feature artworks by Black women artists in the Wriston Art Galleries collection and on loan from Art Bridges Foundation.

Lawrence University Studio Art Faculty Show

Jan. 13-March 10. Kohler Gallery. An exhibition featuring recent works by the LU Studio Art faculty.