WRAP State Day 2024

The annual WRAP State Day Exhibit and Conference was held on September 28th at the Pyle Center in Madison. 

I entered my mixed media portrait "Nice Tie" which had won a state award at the Richland Center Regional WRAP show earlier in the year. This piece was similar to my other Portrait collages mixed media on board with an original portrait drawing. It is 17" by 5.5 " and the portrait drawing is an old one of a model from Madison that I did about 10 or 12 years ago. Unlike my other portraits however, I added some 3D embellishments around the collar and added a tassel as a tie...hence the name. 

I was delighted, and honored, that it won one of the awards at the show - the Aaron and Ruth Bohrod Memorial Award.

Handmade Beads at Shake Rag Alley Makers and Shakers

For the September 2024 Makers and Shakers Art Party I shared my techniques for making mixed media beads using non-traditional jewelry materials - paper beads, wire beads, fabric beads, and painted beads. Of course, my go-to materials for all of these (other than the wire beads) is vinyl tubing, which I buy for pennies at the hardware store,,,or I salvage from medical tubing, when I can find it.  

Eleven participants worked diligently and made a whole lot of beads! It was great fun.

Richland Center WRAP Show 2024

The 2024 Richland Center WRAP show was a combined show between the WRAP adult artists and Spring Green teen STAMP artists. 

The exhibit and workshop were held in the Wyoming Valley School Cultural Arts Center, a fascinating Frank Llyod Wright building.

In 1956 Wright donated and designed the Wyoming Valley School, a small elementary school in honor of his mother, Anna. It is located in the Wyoming Valley south of Spring Green and  three miles from Taliesin,Wright's Wisconsin home of 50 years.

The Judge of the show was Kay Brathol-Hostvet. A Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America, Kay received her BFA from UW-Stout with concentrations in drawing and painting. Her paintings and drawings are in corporate and private collections around the Midwest. She has over three decades of experience as an exhibiting artist and workshop instructor of drawing, design, pastel and acrylic painting. 

Artist Johnathon Wohl was the workshop presenter. Jonathon carries on the tradition of his father, Edward Wohl, famous woodworking artist and  founder of Edward Wohl Designs. After graduation from the university with a degree in interdisciplinary art and technology, Jonathon lived in New York City making performative and sculptural artwork. In 2016 he returned to Wisconsin started a family and joined the family business. He marries a design sense strongly influenced by his father’s work with a contemporary set of tools and techniques.

I entered two mixed media collage portraits - "Washer Woman" and "Nice Tie:. The work in this show was wonderful  so I was quite flattered that "Nice Tie" was selected for a State Award. 

The Drift Show at Rountree Gallery

The annual Drift Exhibit at Rountree Gallery in Platteville features submissions from Regional Artists residing within 100 miles of Platteville.

The exhibit runs from:
March 7th thru April 20, 2024
Artist reception on Friday, March 8, from 4-7pm

Sneak Peek exhibit will also be on view in the Upper Space Gallery.

This year I am delighted to have two of my small faux encaustic blocks in the show:

This is a great opportunity to enjoy art while showing support for local artists and the Rountree Gallery.

Teeny Tiny BOLD Exhibit 2023-2024

I am so pleased to once again have a piece accepted into the annual Teeny Tiny Bold Exhibit at Roundtree Gallery in Platteville (my third year!).  

The show was juried by Chicago artist, Margie Criner and includes work from over 30 artists, some local/regional, but mostly from across the nation. Really fun pieces. 

Concurrently, the Roundtree upper gallery will be showing a solo exhibit of Bill Mitchell's always intriguing work and a treat to see.

Both shows will be up through January 13, 2024. Not to be missed.

Below, my entry - a mixed media collage portrait based on a drawing I did many years ago of Carl, who was a neighborhood fixture on Chicago's north side back in the day.

And, once again, a great reception with another irresistible spread from The Lemon Door in Fennimore. Delicious!

Mash-up Reception at Green Lantern

 Wonderful evening at the Mash-up exhibit reception on August 5th. Nice to see everyone - neighbors, fellow local artists, out-of-town visitors. 

As always, Richard did a great job of hanging the show. He mixed up my various mixed media looks which showed them off at their best. 

 

Mash-Up Exhibit at Green Lantern

 

Richland Center WRAP Show Demo

I was invited to present the workshop portion of the 2023 Richland Center WRAP Show. I did a demo on how I develop my collage portraits, with an emphasis on how I create the mixed media backgrounds.

Here's a collage I prepared for the demo showing a recent work-in-progress. Starting with gluing collage elements onto watercolor paper (lower right), then adding layers of color wash and stamping (right side middle and top), then collaging in a figure that was scanned from a drawing (lower left), and finally defining the background with some acrylic paint and punching up the "drawing" with alcohol ink (top left). 

Not sure this is actually done though. Might add some more to the figures outfit, like so:

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Definitely changes the persona, no?

The Wrap show was wonderful - well attended and a nice variety of work. Richard Moninski was the show judge. Always fun (and educational!) to hear Richard discuss art.

Thanks to coordinator, Sally Probasco, and WRAP for this opportunity to share my work and meet the artists at the Richland Center WRAP Show. It was a very enjoyable day.

Makers & Shakers Art Party - Make Your Own Stamps

At the April Shake Rag Alley Makers & Shakers Art Party, I shared how to make your own stamps from common household materials - no carving required! 

We created designs from string, foam core pieces, craft foam, Styrofoam meat trays, bubble wrap, and all manner of household odds and ends. Designs were then mounted on blocks of wood or foam core using glue or double sided tape. One really fun stamp is a roller stamp made by mounting a design on toilet paper tubes that happily fit perfectly on a paint roller! 

The eleven creative souls in the session made some really fantastic stamps.

Click here for more info on the Makers & Shakers Art Parties at Shake Rag Alley. 

The Drift Show 2023 at Rountree

The Drift is back at Rountree Gallery in Platteville, running from March 2 thru April 22:

This annual group exhibit of artwork by artists from within 100 miles of Platteville has become a favorite and will be in the Main Level Gallery. 

The artist reception on Friday, March 3 was well attended and the show was wonderful with a wide variety of media represented.

Also at the gallery, an intriguing exhibit, "Variability of Means" is showing in the Upper Level Gallery featuring a solo installation by artist Mary Bergs of Benton, WI.

Both Ben and I have two pieces in The Drift show. I am showing two new graphite portrait drawings. Ben has one of his field shots and an abstract of dandelion seeds.