The Midwest Artist Studios Project has spent the past three years traveling the Midwest interviewing 24 artists from 18 cities/towns. This project has been such a joy to create and to see how these artists have touched the lives of art students through online interactions, emails, and social media.

One of the areas we pride ourselves in is staying in touch with these artists and hearing what they are up to these days? For the next two-months the MAS Project will be spotlighting one of our 24 artists by sharing with you what they are doing in their studio as well as in their communities. 

All three of our MAS publications are now available online.

Click here to buy your copy today!

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Catie Miller

2014 MAS artist from Missouri

 

MAS: In what ways have you benefited from your participation in MAS?

CM: I was published in the MAS workbook and gained exposure from the project. 

MAS: In what ways has your work and/or working environment changed since your MAS interview?

CM: When I was interviewed, I was doing an artist residency in Kansas City. Since then, my residency has ended. I now live in Fargo, ND. I work full time as a studio artist from my home studio. My process has shifted slightly from the original interview. I use newsprint transfers on the surface of my ceramic work. In connecting surface and form, I balance densely filled graphic areas with simple raw clay surfaces. Similar to a monoprint process, I transfer drawings from newsprint to clay with underglaze and colored slips. This method results in diverse representation of my drawings, creating a timely, aged, and weathered appearance on the red clay foundation.

MAS: What is one thing you wish you’d said in your original interview, or what is the one thing that you hope the MAS audience remembers about your and your work?

I hope my work is used as a platform for meals and conversation around the dinner table.  

Visit Catie’s website to see more of her work.

All images copyright of the artist and used with permission.

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Joe Bussell

2016 MAS artist from Kansas

 

MAS: In what ways have you benefited from your participation in MAS?

JB: Your visit proved that a studio visit can be a comfortable relaxing situation. Some art professionals and even some art lovers visit with this, I have something to prove attitude. You and Jonathan put me at ease instantly. Wish you could bottle that.

MAS: In what ways has your work and/or working environment changed since your MAS interview?

After your visit I decided to sell my studio and am currently planning to build a new space.

MAS: What is one thing you wish you’d said in your original interview, or what is the one thing that you hope the MAS audience remembers about your and your work?

JB: I wish I had conveyed the importance of talking about art and process in general and what art means in our day to day.

Fred Trease and Joe Bussell have a 2 person show at MAC College in Moberly, MO coming up in April 2017. The exhibition was curated by Andrew Glenn.

Visit Joe’s website to see more of his work.

All images copyright of the artist and used with permission.

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Josh Wilichowski

2014 MAS artist from Minnesota 

MAS: In what ways have you benefited from your participation in MAS?

JW: For me, MAS was a great way to practice thinking and talking about my work, theory and process.  I inherently gravitate toward the physical part of making art, and being able to host the MAS crew was a fantastic opportunity to organize and fine-tune my thoughts. 

MAS: In what ways has your work and/or working environment changed since your MAS interview?

We moved from North St Paul, MN to Stillwater, MN in May of 2015. My previous space was made up of two disjointed spaces, but afforded me space to work both two and three dimensionally.  In my current situation, I have a small drawing studio on the first floor of our home, but do not have a viable space for larger, more labor intensive work.  I hope to resolve this in the near future by building a space that can house both a clean and dirty work areas. 

MAS: What is one thing you wish you’d said in your original interview, or what is the one thing that you hope the MAS audience remembers about your and your work?

I’d hope they remember that my work is has a high level of craft, but is earnest and quiet. 

Josh concluded being part of the Minnesota Regional Exhibition at Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, and he will be showing the lion share of my work in a 3 person show at ArtReach St Croix, which opens February 19, 2017. 

 

Visit Josh’s website to see more of his work.

All images copyright of the artist and used with permission.

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Emmy Lingscheit

2015 MAS artist from Illinois

MAS: In what ways have you benefited from your participation in MAS?

EL: Participation in the Midwest Artist Studios project has brought exposure to my work, and camaraderie with the other MAS artists whom I’ve met via the project. It’s great to have my work and processes made available for K-12 students, to potentially enrich their art education.

MAS: In what ways has your work and/or working environment changed since your MAS interview?

EL: I continue to work primarily as a printmaker, though I still also exhibit the ceramic work made during my first interview with MAS while I was at the Kohler Arts/Industry Residency. I hope to have the opportunity to work in cast ceramic again at some point.

MAS: What is one thing you wish you’d said in your original interview, or what is the one thing that you hope the MAS audience remembers about your and your work?

EL: My work investigates the relationships between the biological and the man-made, revealing a post-natural world in which the line between synthetic and organic beings, systems, and materials is increasingly blurry. 

Visit Emmy’s website to see more of her work.

All images copyright of the artist and used with permission.

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Paula Schulze

2014 MAS artist from Wisconsin

 

MAS: In what ways have you benefited from your participation in MAS?

PS: I hope that students and teachers have enjoyed the activities designed around my work and studio practice. I look forward to the MAS exhibition and the opportunity to meet the other artists and those who have used the project in their classroom.

MAS: In what ways has your work and/or working environment changed since your MAS interview?

PS: My studio and practice are much the same as when I was interviewed for the MAS project, and I continue to focus on prints and drawings. In addition, I have enjoyed taking workshops and experimenting with processes such as Takbon printing, artist books, and photograms. 

Visit Paula’s website to see more of her work.

All images copyright of the artist and used with permission.