Young Artists, Big Ideas: A Celebration of Student Creativity in Downtown Sturgeon Bay
Image credit left to right: Ombeline Finck, Untitled, charcoal (GHS, grade 12); Anna Massart, Dancing in the Kitchen, mixed media (SDHS, grade 11); Corbin Kellerman, Lines, acrylic (WIHS, grade 10)
March 29, 2025 – The Miller Art Museum in downtown Sturgeon Bay is excited to announce the opening of its 51st Annual Salon of Door County High School Art, a vibrant showcase of creative expression from Door County’s talented young artists. This favorite annual exhibition opens to the public on Saturday, April 5, 2025, with a celebratory reception honoring the young artists on Monday, April 7, from 7:00 – 8:30 PM at the museum, located inside the Door County Library in Sturgeon Bay.
The annual exhibition, the Miller Art Museum’s longest-running exhibit, this year features the work of 114 young artists from schools on the Door Peninsula. Working with their art teachers, the students demonstrate creativity, enthusiasm, and technical ability across diverse media, ranging from painting to sculpture, drawing, and photography. This year’s exhibit will feature 122 pieces from students attending Gibraltar, Sevastopol, Southern Door, Sturgeon Bay, and Washington Island High Schools.
“The High School Salon is one of our most anticipated and attended exhibitions every year,” said Elizabeth Meissner-Gigstead, Miller Art Museum Executive Director. “Providing students with the unique opportunity to display their work in a professional museum setting is an experience that can be both transformative and confidence-building. Through this opportunity, together with the Peninsula’s talented art educators, we’re fostering that confidence, self-expression, and the realization that art is a powerful means of communication and a viable career path.”
The April 7 reception will provide an opportunity for student artists, their families, educators, and the public to come together in celebration of this special exhibition. Light refreshments will be served, and attendees will have the chance to engage with the young artists. The event is open to all—students, families, guests, and the general public. Awards will be presented at 7:30 pm; Certificates of Participation will be presented to all participants by their respective art teachers and will be followed with the presentation of Awards of Excellence and Honorable Mention by the Miller Art Museum. Additionally, $100 cash awards will be presented to each high school art department. One student from Sevastopol High School will be awarded the Mr. Rericha Legacy Award, also a $100 cash prize. Jim Rericha was a longtime beloved art teacher and theater director at Sevastopol High School who had a significant impact on the lives of those he taught and mentored; he passed away in September 2022 and an anonymous financial gift made the establishment of the award possible.
“We hope the community will join us to celebrate and elevate the voices of Door County’s young emerging artists at our upcoming reception.” Gigstead continued. “Providing opportunities to young people was near and dear to Gerhard Miller’s heart, and it’s heartwarming we can continue to honor his legacy through this exhibit, especially in this momentous year for the museum.”
The 51st Annual Salon of Door County High School Art will remain on view through Saturday, May 17, 2025. Admission to both the reception and exhibition is free and open to the public.
Participating artists in this year’s salon include, from Washington Island High School: Kinsey DeJardin, Fisher Grandy, Corbin Kellerman, Madelyn Kellerman, Cydney Kickbush, Jaxin Lindgren, Jocelyn Mann, Teagan McGrane, Emily Nickchen, and Thomas Pratt; from Southern Door: Angie Kraemer, Charlotte Bloniarz, Layna Bosman, Claire Cmeyla, Marshall Cornette, Samuel Gebhardt, Jacobe Jonni, Addison Kluge, Anna Massart, Emma Moyer, Marisa Pitzen, Miya Sanchez-Gutierrez, Audrie Schley, Marissa Shefchik, Daylia Sund, Ana Torres Muniz, and Anna Wills; from Sturgeon Bay High School: Tiviana Andropolis, Jordis Brilla, Ryan Felhofer, Kaylus Ferrer, Sid Forest, Axel Howard, Heather Hubbard, Izzy Jimenez-Seyfer, Regan Kasten, Eli Klug, Hayden Luders, Malaya Martinez, Jaden McAfee, Garet Meleen, Spencer Miller, Evan Newman, Rowan Ploor, Claire Quaderer, Raven Rathmann, Malia Rothrock, Noelia Sanchez-Rodriguez, Anika Steinbach, and Mack Teska; from Sevastopol High School: Rayna Apsey, Kasey Bittorf, Hailey Bosman, Lily Daoust, Lucas Delsart, Paige Eicher, Caitlyn Fellner, Victoria Fiscus, Elizabeth Flok, Landon Frank, Carson Gaida, Anna Gallardo-Ibarra, Zackary Genske, Paulie Gnabasik, Amolia Jefferson, Darrel Lautenbach, Cora Maccoux, Rachel Rock, Gianna Roman, Nathan Sansom, Lilly Sawyer, Kylie Sikorsky, Liliahna Snyder, Pitipavit Tancharoen, Aaron Thomas, Isabella Wadkins, and Ruth Wilke; from Gibraltar High School: Noah Adler, Elizabeth Batista, Sonya Benzow, Lauren Bertges, Dasia Daubner, Isla Fagundes, Ombeline Finck, Megan Gallant, Emilie Glocke, Aaron Greene, Angeni Herula, Lauren Lautenbach, Alice Nelson, Lily Nostvick, Finn Salm, Jacquy Sandoval, Berkely Schwab, McCartney Schwab, Rose Stackhouse, and Molly Virlee.
The exhibition is presented with support from presenting sponsors Dennis and Bonnie Connolly, Hermke and Elke Timm, and the following supporting sponsors: Artists Guild LLC, John and Kathy Campbell, Chris Cramer, the Jacksonport Women’s Club, Barb and Mike Madden, the MMG Foundation, Peninsula School of Art, and Ruth Scholz with additional grant and in-kind support from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
February 20, 2025—The Miller Art Museum is honored to announce that it has been awarded a Creation and Presentation grant in the amount of $3,000 from the Wisconsin Arts Board for the fiscal year 2025. The grant program provides artistic program and operational support to established nonprofit arts organizations whose primary mission is to create or present ongoing arts programming that significantly impacts the cultural life of Wisconsin.
The Creation and Presentation Program is designed to sustain the vitality of Wisconsin's arts sector by supporting organizations that demonstrate strong operations, stable management, and high artistic quality. By investing in these institutions, the Wisconsin Arts Board ensures that communities across the state have access to enriching artistic experiences.
“The visual arts are essential to a thriving, healthy, and vibrant community,” said Elizabeth Meissner-Gigstead, executive director. “This grant supports our vital programming and contributes to ensuring the visual arts and the creative history of the Peninsula remain a vital part of our lives here in Door County. We are incredibly grateful for the support, which strengthens our ability to connect artists and community.”
February 14, 2025—The Miller Art Museum is excited to host a special literary event and artist reception featuring award-winning illustrator and author Aaron Boyd on Friday, February 28, 2025. The evening will feature a book reading by the author at 4:00 PM, followed by an artist reception from 5 – 7 PM with light refreshments and music, where visitors will have the opportunity to meet Boyd, and view the original illustrations from his latest book in the Miller Art Museum’s current exhibition, Giving Good: The Art of Illustration by Aaron Boyd. The event is free and open to the public. The exhibition will be on display in downtown Sturgeon Bay through March 29, 2025, and features 32 original works from the book that inspired the exhibit, Giving Good, and 14 additional works that reach into the artist’s 31-year career as a professional illustrator.
Aaron Boyd, a Milwaukee-based artist, has illustrated over 40 books for children, celebrated for their rich storytelling, vibrant imagery, and ability to capture the cultural experiences of diverse communities. His latest work, Giving Good, is a heartwarming story for readers of all ages about a father-son relationship navigating the challenges of parental separation, where the father, despite difficulties, consistently tries to provide love and support to his son, demonstrating a persistent act of "giving good" even in the face of difficulty.
“I do believe Giving Good has a purpose. To give what it says, “Give Good.” We can all do this,” says Boyd.
Aaron Boyd brings the themes of kindness, human connection, and love to life with depth and emotion. In addition to viewing more than 40 original illustrations, visitors can explore the process the artist often utilizes to test colors, textures, and values in his work through an interactive installation, which are a fusion of mixed media techniques, blending of watercolor, collaged paper, textiles, oil pastels, and found objects.
Honoring artistic excellence and community connection through dual exhibitions
January 17, 2025—The Miller Art Museum is excited to announce its first exhibition of the organization’s 50th anniversary year, Giving Good: The Art of Illustration by Aaron Boyd, opening on Saturday, January 25, 2025. Featured alongside Giving Good on the Ruth Morton Miller Mezzanine will be Malin Ekman in the Permanent Collection, an installation featuring work by Marlene (Malin) "Tudy" Ekman, a female Door County artist celebrated for her evocative illustrations in pencil and watercolor. The exhibits open to the public at 10 am on Saturday, January 25, 2025, and will be on view through March 29, 2025. A free artist reception with author/illustrator Aaron Boyd will be held on Fri., February 28, 2025.
Giving Good, an exhibition celebrating the beauty of human connection and cultural diversity, features Wisconsin artist Aaron Boyd’s vibrant and evocative mixed-media illustrations––a fusion of mixed media techniques, blending of watercolor, collaged paper, textiles, oil pastels, and found objects. Visitors will discover the artist’s lifelong passion for storytelling and his commitment to representing the diverse experiences of the world around him.
January 17, 2024—The Miller Art Museum is excited to announce that applications are now open for the 2025 Dome House Al & Mickey Quinlan Artist Residency, a unique opportunity for Midwest visual artists to immerse themselves in the creative landscape of Door County, Wisconsin. The deadline to apply is Monday, April 7, 2025.
Launched in 2021 in partnership with the Quinlan/Wagner family, the Dome House Residency Program has emerged as a vibrant and vital creative space, offering resources and opportunities for visual artists to develop their practice while promoting dialogue and interaction with the community. The Miller Art Museum remains committed to fostering the growth of the Peninsula’s creative community and the program fits seamlessly within the museum’s mission to connect artists and community with opportunities to explore, celebrate, and advance the visual arts.
"We celebrate our fifth anniversary of the residency and the 50th anniversary of the organization in 2025," said Elizabeth Meissner-Gigstead, Executive Director of the Miller Art Museum. "This is a great milestone and the perfect moment to reflect on the development of the program over the past five years. Looking back, we are reminded of how deeply our founder, Gerhard Miller, was committed to making the visual arts accessible to all, serving as a mentor to artists of all levels and abilities, and fostering a broader community of art appreciators. His life’s work continues to inspire us as we shape a future where art is not just something to be admired from a distance, but a powerful tool for education, dialogue, and change,” Gigstead said. “The program gives contemporary context to the legacies of Al and Gerhard, embodying the spirits and aspirations of the two visionaries.”