The Miller Art Museum in downtown Sturgeon Bay will feature 53 Wisconsin artists’ unique approaches to the portrait as it hosts the eagerly anticipated 7th Annual Door Prize for Portraiture.
Portraiture is an artist’s representation of a real person, especially of their face. Many artists create self-portraits and portraits of family members and friends as part of the discipline and challenge of developing their skills.
Green Bay artist Marjorie Thyssen Mau typically works as an abstract painter, so she approached her portrait by observing her own face, looking for her strongest facial feature. Since she concluded that was her cheekbones, that is where her submitted painting started. Family members inspired a number of artists; Audrey Off found inspiration in the subject of her adult daughter Annie. Craig Blietz included the four footed variety. Ken Klopack sees his portrait as an opportunity to illuminate the courage and the human spirit that are visible in the faces of people as they go through the experiences of everyday life.
Freelance curator Cheryl Stidwell Parker and Rosenthal worked together to invite notable and emerging artists from northeastern Wisconsin and across the state to participate in this year’s expanded exhibit. The Door Prize for Portraiture was initiated by Parker and husband Steve Lavell in 2010 at their rural gallery outside of Baileys Harbor and was inspired by the Archibald Prize, a major event held in Sydney, Australia since the early 20th century. Each year new artists are featured; The exhibit encourages, honors and celebrates portraiture and connects the community with the artists, many of whom do not have a gallery affiliation in Door County but continue to hold a presence in the region.
