Description of the Midwest Artist Studios™ Project

Visiting Suzanne Torres at Arts Lofts in Madison, Wisconsin.

The MAS Team consists of:

Frank JUAREZ, art educator/founder, Sheboygan North High School

Frank Juarez is a gallery director, art educator, artist, author, presenter, and arts advocate living and working in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Organizing local and regional art exhibitions, community art events, facilitating presentations, and supporting artists through professional development workshops, use of social media and networking has placed him in the forefront of advancing and promoting local artists and attracting regional and national artists to interact, collaborate, network and exhibit in Wisconsin.

Juarez is the art department chair at Sheboygan North High School. He is actively involved in local, regional, state, and national arts organization such as the Wisconsin Art Education Association, and the National Art Education Association. He has served as a board member in the following organizations: Milwaukee Artist Resource Network, Arts Wisconsin, and the Cedarburg Cultural Center. He is the founder/former director of the Sheboygan Visual Artists. In 2011, he opened his first art gallery, the Frank Juarez Gallery in Sheboygan and has relocated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He has been presenting at local universities, colleges, galleries, and artist groups on the Professional Practices for Artists: Business of Art. He is the founder of two projects focused on contemporary art and art education called The Midwest Artist Studios and the 365 Artists 365 Days Project. In 2015, he was awarded the 2015 Wisconsin Art Education Association Teacher of the Year and in 2016, he was awarded the 2016 National Art Education Association Wisconsin Art Educator of the Year, joined the faculty of the Vermont College of Fine Arts, joined SchoolArts Magazine as a contributing editor, and co-founded the Randall Frank Contemporary Art Collection Artist Grant Program. Recently, he has been elected to serve on the National Art Education Foundation Board of Trustees. In 2018, he was the recipient of the Herb Kohler Educational Teacher Fellow Award.

Erika BLOCK, writer/designer,  elblock.com

Erika L. Block is a professional writer, artist/designer and art director working exclusively with the art, music, publishing, film and fashion industries. She is the owner of Creative Studios, a branding and design agency, and Factory Girl, a high-style line of handmade salvaged goods. Block is also a contemporary/alternative mixed media artist with a gallery and studio in Door County, Wisconsin. She exhibits her work nationally.

Pat RYAN, photographer, PMRfoto.com

Pat Ryan is a local photographer who enjoys photographing people, places, and things. You can find him behind the lens at the Sheboygan Visual Artists’ events. He shows his work regularly in Sheboygan.

Jonathan Fritsch, art educator/assistant

Jonathan Fritsch lived in Corning, New York, one of the best small art towns in America. While there he earned his degree in art education from the University of Mansfield in Pennsylvania. After receiving his teaching license in Wisconsin he accepted an invitation to teach at the Hmong American Peace Academy in Milwaukee and currently teaches 6-12 visual arts classes. He is a practicing artist and a member of the Milwaukee art museum and the Art Institute of Chicago.

© 2014-2017  Midwest Artist Studios™ Project is a Frank Juarez Project. All rights reserved.