September 19, 2025 – The Miller Art Museum invites the public to the opening reception of its 50th Juried Annual on Friday, September 26, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the museum’s downtown Sturgeon Bay location at 107 S. 4th Avenue. This milestone exhibition showcases 58 two-dimensional works by 54 Wisconsin artists, highlighting the rich diversity of the state's contemporary visual arts scene. Welcome remarks and awards will be presented at 6pm.
The Juried Annual, one of the state’s longest-running juried exhibitions, has been a pillar of the Miller Art Museum’s annual exhibition program and serves to support and celebrate regional visual artists. Established in 1975, the exhibition was created to elevate artists from Door County and the greater Northeast Wisconsin region, offering both visibility and recognition within the broader community. Over the years, it has expanded in scope to become one of the Museum’s most anticipated and beloved exhibitions—enriching Door County’s cultural fabric while bringing together artists from throughout the state. This year’s call garnered a record 346 submissions from 186 artists, with the pool narrowed to a carefully curated selection of 58 works by jurors Dan Anderson, Fred Stonehouse, and Stephanie Trenchard. The selected works encompass a range of media, including painting, mixed media, and photography, reflecting the dynamic and evolving landscape of contemporary art in Wisconsin.
Stonehouse, who is a Milwaukee-based artist and Associate Professor of Art at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, reflected on this year’s exhibition, “I was personally very impressed by the high degree of skill and creativity in the submissions overall and I think that this exhibit is a real testament to the excellent work that is being made across the state of Wisconsin.”
The opening reception is free and open to the public, and will offer attendees the opportunity to meet exhibiting artists, view the exhibition, and enjoy light refreshments and live music by Craig Schultz. In addition to the exhibition, a total of $1,950 in cash awards will be presented; these include the Gerhard Miller Award of Excellence ($500), the Bonnie Hartmann Award for Outstanding Creativity ($100), and three each Juror’s Choice and Special Merit Awards. These awards recognize the exceptional talent and creativity of participating artists.
August 29, 2025—The Miller Art Museum is pleased to announce an engaging series of public programs throughout the month of September as part of its Al & Mickey Quinlan Artist Residency Program. The month’s events offer the community multiple ways to connect with 2025 artist-in-residence Douglas Pendleton while showcasing the residency’s role in Door County as a vibrant space for creativity, conversation, and artistic exchange.
The month kicks off with Figure & Form: Portrait Drawing Workshop on Wednesday, September 3, from 3 - 6 pm. Guided by Pendleton, this three-hour session will offer participants a thoughtful introduction to the art of portraiture. Working from a live model, the workshop will provide both beginners and experienced artists the opportunity to refine their skills in the inspired setting of the Dome House. Materials will be provided, but participants are encouraged to bring their own to ensure they have everything they need.
August 14, 2025— The Miller Art Museum is excited to announce thattickets are available for its 50th Anniversary Celebration and Fundraising Gala, taking place Friday, September 12, 2025, at 5:30 p.m. at the newly restored Door County Granary on Sturgeon Bay’s west waterfront. This milestone event will honor the museum’s half-century legacy while raising vital support for its mission to connect artists and community with opportunities to explore, appreciate, and advance the visual arts.
From its founding in 1975 as the vision of celebrated Door County artist Gerhard CFMiller to its role today as a cultural pillar for the Door County Peninsula, the Miller Art Museum has been a gathering place for creativity, dialogue, and inspiration for generations. This golden anniversary marks a unique opportunity to reflect on the museum’s impact and to imagine its next 50 years of artistic growth and community engagement.
“This celebration is about so much more than marking 50 years—it’s about honoring the people, the Miller’s vision, and the shared commitment that have made the Miller Art Museum what it is today. We’re excited to gather in such a meaningful space, surrounded by friends old and new––those that have shaped who we are––and to dream about the future we will create together.”
July 31, 2025 - The Miller Art Museum in downtown Sturgeon Bay is pleased to announce the launch of its 2025 Dome House Al & Mickey Quinlan Artist Residency Program with artist Douglas Pendleton, a painter known for blending classical influences with contemporary commentary. The program will launch with an Opening Celebration and Meet the Artist event on Friday, August 8 at 6:00pm.This event will take place at the Dome House and is free and open to the public.
Pendleton brings to the Miller Art Museum’s residency a deep interest in historical painting traditions, coupled with a distinct voice rooted in cultural critique and visual storytelling. During his residency, he will explore plein air painting, drawing inspiration from the local landscape to influence and evolve his large-scale, figurative studio work.
“The opportunity to work in Door County represents a meaningful chance to shift the rhythm of my practice and deepen my relationship with painting from observation,” said Pendleton. “I plan to immerse myself in the landscape—spending extended periods working en plein air—and reflect on how that direct engagement can inform my studio work. Ultimately, I hope to develop large-scale work that weaves together figurative elements with visual language drawn from place.”
Kimberly Burnett’s evocative oil paintings explore isolation, identity, and domestic space in her deeply personal debut at the Miller Art Museum
July 18, 2025—The Miller Art Museum is excited to announce the opening of Sequestered Shadows, a compelling solo exhibition by Milwaukee-based emerging artist Kimberly Burnett, on view in downtown Sturgeon Bay August 2 – September 20, 2025. Featuring 35 intimate oil paintings, Sequestered Shadows invites viewers into a richly layered domestic world shaped by memory, duty, and quiet resilience. An artist reception is scheduled for Friday, August 1, 2025, from 5 – 7 pm to celebrate the opening of the exhibition. Light refreshments will be served and live music will be provided by Craig Schultz.
Kimberly Burnett, Conjugation, oil.Drawing deeply from her childhood in rural North Carolina, Burnett constructs introspective scenes using her own likeness and those of her family members. The resulting compositions portray solitary figures caught in moments of stillness and subtle motion, exploring the tension between personal identity and domestic expectation. Her works transform everyday spaces into quiet stages of psychological complexity—places to hide, to watch, to endure.
“A person is shadows and smears and drips,” Burnett says. “Lines create form, colors create a relationship.”
With this philosophy at its heart, Sequestered Shadows is a study in emotional nuance. Burnett’s use of color becomes both a narrative tool and a mood map, giving life to the silent rituals of care, confinement, and self-expression. Each canvas hums with the weight of the unseen and the unspoken—doorways cracked open, windows offering unreachable light, and figures tethered to their surroundings by duty and longing.