Past Exhibitions
2023
Shared Paths Through Ozaukee County
Watercolor scenes of Ozaukee County by Alice Struck are to be exhibited in Shared Paths through Ozaukee County. Each painting will be accompanied by a storyboard focusing on a natural treasure written by naturalist Andrew Struck who is Ozaukee County’s Park and Planning Director and Alice’s son. Together, the insights of an artist and scientist reveal appreciation and stewardship of the natural world around us.
Andrew Struck has served as the Director of the Planning and Parks Department for Ozaukee County, WI for over 15 years and has more than 20 years of experience in park and trail development, natural resource / ecological planning, protection, restoration and management, Great Lakes fish and wildlife habitat, environmental policy and education. Andrew has an M.S. in Applied Ecology / Regional Planning from Indiana University – Bloomington and a B.S. in Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.
Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Sky: Climate Transformed
January 26 to May 14, 2023
Artworks created in a variety of media by 14 diverse visual artists have been selected for exhibition. In addition to a shared connection to Wisconsin, each artist has also lived and worked in various parts of the world such as Canada, Southeast Asia, Mexico and other regions of the United States. This includes the vision of indigenous artists and their relationship to the land and the environment.
Up to 50 works in various mediums will be exhibited, allowing for many thematic interpretations and experience to surface. The public will have the opportunity to interact with the work as an observer and/or as an active participant through their involvement in the corresponding educational programming.
Art of Charles Porteus
January 26 to April 16, 2023
Charles Porteus (1867-1943) gained recognition for his wax figure modeling and scene painting at the Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) from 1919 to 1940. Born in New York City, he shifted from a technical career to the arts, working as a stage technician and later becoming a scene painter for the Eden Musée. In 1919, he joined MPM, contributing to historical displays and creating life-size wax figures. Porteus, also an oil landscape painter, blurred the line between career and hobby, drawing inspiration from his wax creations and research trips. His paintings, featured in the exhibition, encompass diverse subjects, from Blackfoot tribesmen to Milwaukee and Cedarburg scenes, reflecting both industrial cityscapes and bucolic landscapes. Explore more about Charles Porteus here.
2022
Objects of Desire
September 29, 2022 to January 8, 2023
The 2022 juror is Shane McAdams. McAdams is an artist living in Cedarburg, WI and Brooklyn, NY. He earned his BA in Art History from the University of Kansas and MFA in Fine Arts from the Pratt Institute. His various roles include being an adjunct professor at Marion University in Fond du Lac, WI, Lecturer, arts writer, and widely exhibited artist. His artwork has been shown in numerous museum, universities, and galleries across the world.
Judith Friebert: Pastel Pastures
October 19, 2022 - January 8, 2023
Essential to Friebert’s artistic vision is her admiration for farmers and her strong commitment to their continuing existence. She appreciates how hard they work to provide food for us amidst the challenges of survival in the increasingly corporate dairy and farming industries.
The American Scene through the Eyes of Gerrit V. Sinclair; September 15, 2022 to January 8, 2023
Gerrit Van Sinclair (1890-1955) was one of Wisconsin’s best-known artists of American Scene painting, also known as American Regionalism.
Featured in this exhibition from private collections are sentimental scenes of Milwaukee, Washington, and Ozaukee Counties including an all-American little league game captured in soft, hazy afternoon lighting; the everyday American family enjoying a lazy day in a clean, manicured park; and the quaint and quiet downtown streets of rural towns.
Sinclair’s charming paintings combine the American Scene’s mission with distinct warm tones and atmospheric qualities reminiscent of Impressionism.
El Circo sobre la Mesa - A Circus on the Table
August 3 to October 16, 2022
An exciting new exhibition called “El Circo sobre la Mesa: The Circus on the Table” will feature the artwork of Mexican-born artist Francisco Mora. The exhibition opens August 4th at the Cedarburg Art Museum.
Autobiographical elements and a blend of personal mythology, Mexican surrealism, and indigenous symbolism inform the artwork of Milwaukee-based artist Francisco X. Mora. In the exhibition “El Circo sobre la Mesa” (the circus on the table), Mexican-born Mora presents memories from his mother’s home in the little Mexican town of Cuenco de Flores (bowl of flowers).
Mora muses, “It was always a pleasure to sit down at her table. Not only for the food, but for the wonderful, endless conversations. She always had fruit, flowers, a few friendly bugs, and the occasional curious lizard. Soon, I got used to sharing a meal or two with her unusual, yet lovely guests.”
Beauty in Wood: Robert Budecki & Robert Holmes May 14 to September 25, 2022
While the two wood artists featured in this exhibition never met, their art objects stand well together to show how pieces executed by wood turning, wood working, and wood carving can reveal beauty and expertise in execution.
The art of the late Robert Leroy Holmes of Mequon, WI (1934 – 2018) reveals his wide-ranging skills with wood turning on a large lathe and wood working using a variety of machines and tools. Holmes explored numerous woods to reveal their natural characteristics and defects. In his 40 years of working with wood, Holmes became more aware of wood art in global cultures, and he moved back and forth between turning and wood working. In particular, the creation and tuning of wooden tongue drums is a closely guarded special skill that he mastered.
Love for vein inlay materials and wood dyeing also add unique dimension to numerous objects he created. With functional vessels, bowls, peppermills, kaleidoscopes, pens, bracelets, or objects of sheer beauty, mastery of technique was paramount for Robert Holmes while touches of embellishment added artistic distinction.
A long-time fascination with the natural beauty of waterfowl led Robert Budecki of Cedarburg into a passion of carving and painting a variety of life-like waterfowl. Over the past twenty years Budecki has honed his artistic talent and technical skills studying with world-acclaimed carving artists Pat Godwin, Keith Mueller, Gary Eigenberger and Shaun Minadier at week-long workshops. Budecki works primarily with tupelo wood and paints with acrylic or oil paints and is known for his attention to detail and accurate renditions of wildfowl as well as for the creative vision presented in his pieces. He’s motivated to create for only himself, and while Budecki has been honored with prestigious, national awards for his detailed, naturalistic renderings of waterfowl, his recent explorations and challenges move beyond wildfowl to reveal similar skills in carving and painting song birds and floral, fish, or butterfly subjects.
Susan Hale, Home & Away
Known for bold brushwork and vibrant use of color, Susan Hale’s paintings emit a sense of joy and optimism. “Color is magic to me”, she says. Inspiration for this exhibition comes from her travels around the world and the beauty of her home state, Wisconsin.
For Hale, charm and creativity are everywhere, but after traveling the world, she can assuredly say “there is no place like home!”. Hale’s watercolor and oil paintings were on exhibition from May 12th through September 25th, 2022.
Tom Lidtke: Polynesian Fusion Overview
May 26 to September 18, 2022
Distinctive cast bronze forms inspired by unusual shapes and complex patterns of Oceanic nations and cultures will be presented on tall pedestals amongst the courtyard gardens of the Cedarburg Art Museum. These “Polynesian Fusion” sculptures were imagined and crafted by West Bend sculptor Tom Lidtke in the 1990s after an influential visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s display of Oceanic art. This summer, his sculptures will enhance the form and texture of the organic material in the outdoor environment.
Lidtke credits the Met’s collection for widening his view of various designs and textures of wood carving found throughout Polynesia. Those forms were traditional, utilitarian objects with surface decorations aesthetically enhanced with stylized textural patterns. While Lidtke spent much of his earlier career working with wood and still enjoys the beauty of woodgrain and handling certain tree species, he wanted to explore the fusing of oceanic inspired forms with cast bronze due to the material’s permanency and ability to create such detail that even fingerprints can be revealed.
Tom Lidtke began his artistic training as hundreds if not thousands of other children did with Jon Gnagy’s television program “Learn to Draw.” A subconscious impact on his art interest was from his late grandmother who was an early 20th Century china painter of landscapes and whose paintings hung on the walls of his childhood home. During his early career, Lidkte taught studio art in Wisconsin and South Australia for a decade. While teaching, he presented an array of artistic styles and media that guided him to find his own style and media choices. Lidtke, the retired Director of the Museum of Wisconsin Art, is the co-author of the Cedarburg Art Museum’s new publication A Creative Place: The History of Wisconsin Art.
Edward Boerner: Paintings and Prints
Cedarburg-born artist Edward Boerner (1902 – 1981) spent over five decades of his artistic career depicting an idealized Wisconsin landscape with the fervor of a devoted, regionalist artist. He was most known for his watercolors, but he often explored and found mastery in other mediums including printmaking. Boerner became deeply embedded and renowned in the artistic community of Wisconsin in the course of his training and most notably, during his lengthy career as a teacher due to his generous nature and influence on many area artists.
After receiving a B.A. in 1926 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Boerner continued his studies at the Minneapolis Institute of Art and University of Iowa where he trained under the notable regionalist painter Grant Wood and received his M.A. in 1940. Meanwhile, Boerner began his teaching career in the mid-1920s with summer art classes in renovated log cabin near Holy Hill, WI and then taught art classes at Koscuszko Junior High School in Milwaukee. From 1940 to 1947, Boerner taught at Milwaukee’s Wisconsin State Teachers College, now known as University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Boerner served as the Head of the art department at Bay View Pulaski and Rufus King High Schools until his retirement in 1967. His career as an outstanding art teacher in the Milwaukee Public School system lasted for 42 years.
Humor: Henke and Hollnagel
May 12 to July 31, 2022
Cedarburg artists Diane Henke and Joan Hollnagel let their imaginations run wild as they explore the expression of comedy, wit, and whimsy. Acrylic paint transforms the flat canvas into joyous and fantastical worlds full of clever creatures while clay is shaped into jovial expressions of human emotion in Humor: Henke & Hollnagel.
Sculptor Diane Henke is inspired by Mother Nature and intrigued by the slight changes in facial expressions of individuals she meets. Her charming clay forms reflect a love of observance matched with an esteem for quality craftsmanship and technique.
For over 60 years, Joan Hollnagel has been crafting visual puns with paint by creating anthropomorphic animals and insects and personified natural elements. Hollnagel explores what it is to be human and our relationship with nature in a comical and lighthearted manner.
The History of Wisconsin Art Exhibition: A Creative Place
January 22 – May 8, 2022
The history of art in Wisconsin is a largely untold story for most of us who call this place home—until now. The History of Wisconsin Art: A Creative Place tells the story of our rich artistic past through a thoughtfully curated collection of artwork representing thousands of years of creative endeavor.
The exhibition is predominantly educational and informative, focusing on the state’s rich artistic history. Examples of important artwork will highlight notable stylistic trends and movements within the state’s artistic evolution. The History of Wisconsin Art Exhibition is presented chronologically among the museum’s seven galleries:
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Native Presence: Before 1634
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Encounters and Settlement: 1634-1869
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The Great Cultural Expansion: 1870-1917
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Transitioning from European Ideals to America’s Regional Interests: 1918-1944
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The Post-War Period: 1945-1964
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Activism and Innovation in the Visual Arts: 1965-1980
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The Last Decades of the Twentieth Century: 1981-2000
This visionary exhibition celebrates the completion of a new benchmark in Wisconsin history: the first publication to encompass the 13,000 year history of art in Wisconsin. The book A Creative Place: The History of Wisconsin Art by authors Thomas Lidtke and Annemarie Sawkins and published by the Cedarburg Art Museum elevates art to its rightful place in the proud culture of our state.
The exhibition is curated by Ric Hartman, avid collector of historic Wisconsin artwork and owner of the Gallery of Wisconsin Art.
