MAS Group Show Reception Photos at Walker’s Point Center for the Arts (WPCA)

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Walker’s Point Center for the Arts

839 S. 5th Street

Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53204

March 3 – April 1, 2017

On Friday, March 10th, the Walker’s Point Center for the Arts (WPCA) is hosted the first Midwest Artist Studios™ Group Show, opening on Friday, March 3. The Midwest Artist Studios™ (MAS) project is the brainchild of artist, gallerist and art educator Frank Juarez. Marking its third year in 2016, Juarez and a team of professionals including a writer, photographer, and videographer traveled throughout the Midwest, over 5800 miles and 18 cities/towns, visiting artists at their studios to document and learn about their art and process. This research provided the basis for the three volumes of rich curriculum resources and three catalogues.

The project creates a dynamic resource for K-12 students and art educators, drawing from current art practices of participating artists and using those practices to develop curriculum that is relevant, current and innovative. The project answers the criticism in art education of relying on decades-old curriculum, teaching the historic masters of art, e.g. dead artists, and not providing students context on or direct access to contemporary artists who are breaking new ground.

During Juarez’s studio visits, he and his team documented each of the artists’ studio environments, their process, and discussed what it is to be a working artist, including work schedule, work ethic, creative stimulation, what drives them, and much more. The content is published in a yearly volume along with a workbook with curriculum created based on each artist’s practice.

“This project began with a need within my art curriculum. I never imagined the impact that it has on secondary art education, regional artists, and the Midwest,” said Juarez. “What started as an idea developed into a resource that archives talented artists living in our region as well as working along these artists who embrace art education, inspiring the artists of tomorrow, and demonstrating that one can be successful living and working in their own community.”

The MAS Group Show will feature artwork by 15 M.A.S. participating artists between 2014-16. The artists are Jason Ackman, Jessica Anderson, Emmy Lingscheit from Illinois; Joshua Wilichowski from Minnesota; Lori Elliott-Bartle, Jody Boyer, Rachel Mindrup from Nebraska; Karri Dieken from North Dakota, Jenniffer Omaitz from Ohio, Jane Ryder from Iowa, Larry Thomas from Kansas, Todd Mrozinski, Josie Osborne, Paula Schulze, and Suzanne Torres from Wisconsin.

The exhibition is curated and coordinated by Frank Juarez, with assistance from Josie Osborne and WPCA’s Howard Leu.

For more information, visit: midwestartiststudios.com and wpca-milwaukee.org

Walker’s Point Center for the Arts is a nonprofit organization in support of visual and performing arts and youth arts education. The center fosters creativity in children through innovative, hands-on education and encourages audience development and artistic talent with a diverse blend of programming. Our exhibitions, which feature both regional and national talent, encourages thoughtful social dialog and community engagement.

Reception

Photos by MAS photographer, Pat Ryan.

The MAS Project featured at ArtsECO Teacher Meet Up

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Lindsey Ballo, UWM School of Education wins the MAS Bundle.

Last night the MAS Project’s founder, Frank Juarez, presented on this project with a room full of art educators and pre-service students. He talked about how the project started, the intent behind it, the preliminary work, the selection process, studio visits, curriculum development, and the dedicated people that helped make this project possible. It is hard to believe that this 3-year project is now finished. Over 5800+ miles were driven, 24 Midwest artists were interviewed, and 18 towns/cities were explored.

A big shout out to the MAS team (Erika Block, Pat Ryan, and Jonathan Fritsch) for their commitment and hard work, Howard Leu (Walker’s Point Center for the Arts) and Josie Osborne (UW-Milwaukee/MAS artist) for their support, Joelle Worm (ArtsECO Program) for having this project featured in their teacher meet up, the Kohler Foundation, Inc for supporting this project financially, and Kris Bakke (NASCO) for her support for Year 2 & 3 MAS Publications printing.

Photos by Cate Elsbernd

Courtesy of ArtsECO.

Check them out!

The MAS Publications is now being offered as a bundle package (Year 1 – 3) or each publication can be purchased separately.

Click here to get your copy.

A MAS Update: Lori Elliott-Bartle

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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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LORI ELLIOTT-BARTLE

2016 MAS artist from Nebraska

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

LEB: By participating in MAS, I’ve felt more comfortable saying ‘yes’ to teaching opportunities, including leading fast-paced workshops at the local art museum to introduce K-12 teachers to new materials and approaches, having 6-11th grade Girl Scouts come to my studio to make paintings for a fundraising auction, and expanding an occasional Saturday-afternoon adult painting workshop to allow for more interaction and feedback. It’s also been wonderful to see all the artists who are already part of the project and to learn from their perspectives on their art and careers. I’m looking forward to meeting some of them in Milwaukee next month and to see what possibilities emerge from the conversations.

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

LEB: I continue to work in my third-floor studio, where I have big east-facing windows that let me see a good piece of sky above brick warehouses. I never tire of seeing ways the light changes that view. Right now I have a brand-new supply of birch panels ranging in size from 30×30” to 8×8” that need attention. Ideas that percolate in the back of my mind during the quiet winter are about to emerge into reality.

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?

LEB: If you have a judging, fearful voice in your head, figure out ways to quiet it. I do this by taking walks, riding my bike, laughing with friends, experimenting without attachment to an outcome. For me, the quieter that voice is, the happier and more productive I am.

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

All images copyright of the artist and used with permission.

Walker’s Point Center for the Arts hosts Midwest Artist Studios Group Show

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 6, 2017

Exhibition Announcement

Walker’s Point Center for the Arts hosts

Midwest Artist Studios Group Show

March 3 – April 1, 2017

Opening reception: Friday, March 10, 5:00–9:00 pm

Milwaukee, WI – Walker’s Point Center for the Arts (WPCA) is proud to host the first Midwest Artist Studios™ Group Show, opening on Friday, March 3. The Midwest Artist Studios™ (MAS) project is the brainchild of artist, gallerist and art educator Frank Juarez. Marking its third year in 2016, Juarez and a team of professionals including a writer, photographer, and videographer traveled throughout the Midwest, over 5800 miles and 18 cities/towns, visiting artists at their studios to document and learn about their art and process. This research provided the basis for the three volumes of rich curriculum resources and three catalogues.

Emmy Lingscheit (IL), Cover the Earth

Jenniffer Omaitz (OH), Shaping Space

The MAS Group Show will feature artwork by 15 M.A.S. participating artists between 2014-16. The artists are Jason Ackman, Jessica Anderson, Emmy Lingscheit from Illinois; Joshua Wilichowski from Minnesota; Lori Elliot-Bartle, Jody Boyer, Rachel Mindrup from Nebraska; Karri Dieken from North Dakota, Jenniffer Omaitz from Ohio, Jane Ryder from Iowa, Larry Thomas from Kansas, Suzanne Torres from Madison, Wisconsin; and Todd Mrozinski, Josie Osborne, Paula Schulze from Milwaukee.

The exhibition is curated and coordinated by Frank Juarez, with assistance from Josie Osborne and WPCA’s Howard Leu.

For more information, visit: midwestartiststudios.com and wpca-milwaukee.org

Walker’s Point Center for the Arts is a nonprofit organization in support of visual and performing arts and youth arts education. The center fosters creativity in children through innovative, hands-on education and encourages audience development and artistic talent with a diverse blend of programming. Our exhibitions, which features both regional and national talent, encourages thoughtful social dialog and community engagement.

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A MAS Update: Rachel Mindrup

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All three of our MAS publications are now available online.

Click here to buy your copy today!

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RACHEL MINDRUP

2016 MAS artist from Nebraska

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

RM: One really beneficial aspect of this program has been watching the other MAS artist’s interviews. It is invigorating to watch other artist’s work and share their thoughts about art and art education. It has also been a great vehicle to start dialogues about what it means to be an artist in our region. With these MAS videos, I have been able to expose my own college students here in Omaha to the work of those living right here in our area. It has also awakened the idea of collaboration to me. I have a tendency to spend long periods of time isolated, creating work, and this has been a great, albeit virtual, way to connect with other artists.

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

RM: My working environment has changed just in the amount of work I am doing. I have three major stations in my studio now where I have 2 paintings and 1 drawing going simultaneously. I am beginning a few new portrait themes and figurative works that I am doing concurrently with my Many Faces of NF project.

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?

RM: I wish I would have mentioned that as a teenager I erroneously believed that all artists lived and worked on the coasts. Because I didn’t know any working artists here in town, it never occurred to me that I could actually stay in Nebraska and live, work and create and be just as valid in my art career as someone living in Los Angeles or New York City. What a treat for these teenagers to realize this early in their lives (if they are also under the same false assumptions). There no longer is this need to try to decide between being an artist and living near your family!

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Rachel has an upcoming solo show at the Kansas City Artist Coalition’s Under Ground Gallery with two other artists who are also having solo shows.

http://kansascityartistscoalition.org/exhibitionsUpcomming.php

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

All images copyright of the artist and used with permission.

A MAS Update: Jason Ackman

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All three of our MAS publications are now available online.

Click here to buy your copy today!

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Jason Ackman

2015 MAS artist from Illinois

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

JA: I have personally benefited from my involvement with MAS in a variety of ways. The project has introduced and connected me with a bunch of artists in my region of the US. Artists that I would most likely not known about had I not been involved with the work of MAS (Thank you!).

It has given me more opportunities to not only talk and share info about the work I do but the work of other outstanding and fascinating artists in the Midwest. This is a welcomed change since often times it seems that “real artists” are located in the major cities in the US, specifically out west and east.

I also believe it has given me a boost of confidence and encouragement knowing that a project like MAS is interested in telling some of my story as an artist. Not only as an artist, but an artist from the part of our nation that is often times overlooked when it comes artists making meaningful, significant work.

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

JA: My studio work has drastically changed over the past year. Shortly after the MAS team visited my studio I held my first solo exhibit. Once that exhibit closed my studio practice took a major shift. My practice has now become more about the social and community interaction with the arts. I have spent very little time making work or objects that would be seen in an exhibit. Instead, I have been focusing my energies on developing a local arts and cultural center as well as renovating a historic brick mansion (in a rural town of 150 people) into a future artist residency program. Although I have not been making work in the traditional sense, this new “work” has evolved into a practice of sorts. The communal aspect of creating has become more of a focus for me.

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?

JA: There are so many things I would have liked to have said 🙂 I don’t even know where to begin.

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

All images copyright of the artist and used with permission.

MAS artist, Emmy Lingscheit at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center

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Through her work, Emmy Lingscheit investigates the interdependencies and exchanges between the biological and the man-made, revealing a postnatural world in which the line between synthetic and organic beings, systems, and materials is increasingly blurry. Her work is informed by dystopian fiction, climate disruption, irony, hope, and the current alarming pace of species extinction planet-wide. As a visual artist working primarily in the medium of printmaking, she participates in a long tradition of dialogue between art, science, and cultural rhetoric, via the multiple.

Emmy is currently an assistant professor and coordinator of printmaking at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She holds a BFA in painting from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, and an MFA in printmaking from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Emmy has held residencies at the Highpoint Center for Printmaking in Minneapolis, MN, at Zygote Press in Cleveland, OH, at Ucross in Sheridan, WY, and recently at the Kohler plant in Kohler, WI. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including recently at Davidson Galleries in Seattle, WA, Nash Gallery in Minneapolis, MN, and The International Print Center in New York, NY.

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Midwest Artist Studios Project at the Wisconsin Art Education Association 2016 Conference

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Frank being interviewed for Artspeak Radio in Kansas City, KS. Photo by Fred Trease.

I am happy to announce that my Midwest Artist Studios Project proposal has been accepted to be part of the 2016 WAEA Fall Conference: Bold and Bright, in La Crosse, Wisconsin in October 2016. Also, the MAS Project is a proud sponsor of this state art education conference and will be onsite as an exhibitor. Our MAS Publication will be available for purchase.

Get your copy today!

The mission of the Wisconsin Art Education Association is to promote excellence in visual art and design education for all students by:

• providing professional growth opportunities for visual art and design teachers.
• showcasing student talents and abilities supporting art and design as academic core disciplines.
• communicating with other art and design organizations.

• offering lifelong learning opportunities acting on vital art and design education issues.

Ad layout: Erika L Block of Creative Studios

Final Thoughts from Frank Juarez: Year 3 MAS Project

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Photo taken in North St. Paul, MN during our first day of road trippin’ in 2014.

My last road trip through the Midwest concluded on July 17, 2016 at approximately 6:00pm (CST). This one was one of the best road trips I’ve had with quite a few challenges during the 2,800+ mile journey. To date I have traveled to 18 cities/towns in 12 states driving 5,000+ miles in the span of a one-week increment during the month of July in 2014, 2015, and 2016.

When the idea of the Midwest Artist Studios Project came about inside my art classroom at Sheboygan North High School back in February of 2014 I never imagined where this would take me as an art educator and how it would change my personal/professional life. I knew that this journey was ambitious so I was fortunate to have worked with such an amazing and dedicated team; Erika Block (writer/editor), Pat Ryan (photographer), and Jonathan Fritsch (assistant). They were there from the beginning to the end no matter how crazy this idea was. This is an experience that I will cherish for a lifetime. I am truly blessed to have them in my life.

The MAS Project aims to connect art education with Midwest contemporary artists through studio visits, curriculum development, and opportunities for educator outreach.

I still have a lot of work ahead of me, but I wanted to take this opportunity to thank the following artists and arts professionals I met since 2014.

MAS artist, Josh Wilichowski, North St. Paul, MN
MAS artist, Vincenzio Donatelle, Minneapolis, MN
MAS artist, Jane Ryder, Oskaloosa, IA
MAS artist, Jamie Bates Slone, Kansas City, MO
MAS artist, Catie Miller, Kansas City, MO
MAS artist, Todd Mrozinski, Milwaukee, WI
MAS artist, Josie Osborne, Milwaukee, WI
MAS artist, Paula Schulze, Shorewood, WI
MAS artist, Suzanne Torres, Madison, WI
MAS artist, Mellissa Redman, Grand Rapids, MI
MAS artist, Kate Robertson, Ann Arbor, MI
MAS artist, Jenniffer Omaitz, Kent, OH
MAS artist, Ellie Honl, Bloomington, IN
MAS artist, Jessica Anderson, Jacksonville, IL
MAS artist, Jason Ackman, Rushville, IL
MAS artist, Krista Svalbonas, Chicago, IL
MAS artist, Emmy Lingscheit, Urbana, IL
MAS artist, Karri Dieken, Valley City, ND
MAS artist, Sharon Grey, Rapid City, SD
MAS artist, Jody Boyer, Omaha, NE
MAS artist, Lori Elliott-Bartle, Omaha, NE
MAS artist, Rachel Mindrup, Omaha, NE
MAS artist, Joe Bussell, Kansas City, KS
MAS artist, Larry Thomas, Kansas City, KS
Consuelo Cruz, Belger Arts Center, Kansas City, MO
Maria Vasquez Boyd, Artspeak Radio, Kansas City, MO
Marissa Starke, Kansas City Artists Coalition, Kansas City, MO
Beverly Ahern, H & R Block Artspace, Kansas City, MO

This project was supported by a grant from the Kohler Foundation, Inc (2014-2016).

This video is about MAS 2016 artists sharing their thoughts on being our featured artists. Running time: 10:55.

L to R: Frank Juarez, Jonathan Fritsch, MAS artists Karri Dieken, and Ellie Honl in Omaha, NE (2016)

MAS 2016 Gallery

MAS artist, Sharon Grey (SD)

MAS artist, Joe Bussell (KS)

MAS artist, Larry Thomas (KS)

MAS founder/art educator, Frank Juarez being interviewed by Artspeak Radio host, Maria Vasquez Boyd

MAS artist, Karrie Dieken (ND)

MAS artist, Karrie Dieken (ND)

MAS artist, Jody Boyer (NE)

MAS artist, Lori Elliott-Bartle (NE)

MAS artist, Rachel Mindrup (NE)

MAS artist, Sharon Grey (SD)

MAS artist, Larry Thomas (KS)

MAS founder/art educator Frank Juarez and MAS artist, Joe Bussell

MAS artist, Sharon Grey (SD)

MAS artist, Joe Bussell (KS)

MAS artist, Jody Boyer (NE)

MAS artist, Lori Elliott-Bartle (NE)

Click here to view our photos from the road.

You can now follow us on instagram.com/midwestartiststudios or like us on facebook at facebook.com/midwestartiststudios.

Get your copy today of the 2014 & 2015 MAS Catalog/Workbook by clicking here.

Day 4: View from the Road

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Follow the Midwest Artist Studios on Instagram

We are about half way through our last road trip to North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas. This has been such a great experience thus far. One of the things we enjoy about this project is that we have no idea what the artists’ studios look like. We sure have seen quite a range from a studio housed in garage, basement, art center, warehouse, university, attic, barn, former bookstore, house, and a one-bedroom studio apartment from the past two years. Regardless, these are magical places in which artists create their vision.

“A studio can be anywhere” – Emma Anderson, freshman

Our first day started with a visit with MAS artist, Karri Dieken in her studio at Valley City State University to driving to Rapid City, SD where we visited MAS artist, Sharon Grey at her home studio the following day. In Rapid City we stumbled upon Art Alley, where the alley was covered in graffiti. We have never seen this in my life. It felt as if we were part of the artwork. Such a neat experience. Today we visited two studios in Omaha. In the early AM we drove to MAS artist, Jody Boyer‘s home studio and then to the studio of MAS artist, Lori Bartle Elliott at Hot Shops.

During our 1800+ miles to our destinations we were able to take detours to see some amazing sights such as the Badlands in Interior, South Dakota to the Old Market Business District in Omaha, Nebraska. We still have three more studio visits with MAS artists, Rachel Mindrup, Joe Bussell, and Larry Thomas to do before we head back to Wisconsin.

Listen to what MAS artist, Karri Dieken has to say about being part of the Midwest Artist Studios Project.