November 5, 2021—The Miller Art Museum in downtown Sturgeon Bay is set to unveil its Wildlife Biennial XX, which is scheduled to open on Saturday, November 13, 2021 with a free public reception scheduled from 5 - 6:30pm. The exhibition will be on display through Thursday, December 30, 2021.
In continuation of this revered museum tradition, celebrating the 20th rendition in 2021, the Miller Art Museum is pleased to present this year’s exhibition, comprised of forty-six artworks by twenty-four regional artists from across the State of Wisconsin, including three featured artists: Federico Pardo (Sturgeon Bay), Nancy Aten and Dan Collins (Sturgeon Bay).
Featured artist Federico Pardo, a Colombian biologist, photographer and filmmaker, shares eight photographic portraits of animals from around the globe, captured while on expeditions with National Geographic, DDC International and Univision, among others. Pardo’s many accomplishments include been two Emmy’s (2013 and 2017) and a collaboration with The Field Museum, Chicago, IL, and Humboldt Institute, Germany. Federico specializes in natural history, environmental and human stories and has documented scientific expeditions in Colombia, Peru and Mozambique.
Above from left to right: Nancy Aten, Finding Abundance, monotype; Federico Pardo, Black Throated Wattle-eye, digital photograph; Dan Collins, Chrysalis Dreams, monotype; and Jodi Rose Gonzales, Timberella #4, mixed media.
Nancy Aten and Dan Collins, partners in Landscapes of Place, present sixteen monotype prints collectively. The colorful works are descriptive of Nancy and Dan’s relationship to the work they do in the local landscape as ecological restoration practitioners. Currently, Aten and Collins are designing forces, and implementing the Re-Meandering project, a long-term ecological restoration of Crossroads at Big Creek in Sturgeon Bay.
“We’re excited to feature a selection of work by local artists this year whose work is focused on wildlife and habitat conservation efforts while also continuing the tradition of an invitational exhibition that surveys artists working within the genre of wildlife,” says Curator Helen del Guidice.
“Although the genre itself is steeped in tradition, artists continue to stretch the definition of how we represent animals, depict the conditions of their lives and interoperate our relationship to them.”
Other highlights of the exhibition include a grand centerpiece by world renowned taxidermist Mike Orthober (Egg Harbor) who presents a full-sized bust of a mud-soaked cape buffalo in full motion. Jodi Rose Gonzales (Sister Bay) presents the newest installation of her Timberella series with a full-sized mixed media gown made of found natural debris. New works by Shan Bryan-Hanson, Seth Taylor, Gary Eigenberger, Craig Clifford, Bill Reid, Hans Nelson, Ellen Anderson, Amy Eliason, Jan Comstock, Jeff Logic, Jeff O’Keeffe, Kristin Gjerdset, Sandra Place, Tom Seagard, Mary Hood, Darla Jackson, Joseph Kaftan, Kelly Thorn Dulka and Peggy Macnamara are also featured.
Accompanying the Wildlife Biennial XX on the Ruth Morton Miller Mezzanine are Ruth Wedgewood Phillipon’s Kenya Suite from the permanent collection, a series of embossed, hand-colored etchings depicting the artist’s 1985 experience on safari in Kenya and her interactions with the Masai.
Wildlife Biennial XX will be on display through Thursday, December 30, 2021. It has been made possible with financial support from Jack and Sue Anderson, Dennis and Bonnie Connolly, and Woodwalk Gallery with additional financial support from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.