October 4, 2024—Each year, the Miller Art Museum’s Juried Annual brings an opportunity to Northeast Wisconsin for the public to see a survey of contemporary work by Wisconsin visual artists. Shan Bryan-Hanson, a visual artist, professor, and curator, will examine and discuss the museum’s 49th Juried Annual. The program will take place on Thursday, October 17 at 5:30 pm at the museum in downtown Sturgeon Bay; it is free and open to the public.
Bryan-Hanson, a visual artist creating vivid, colorful paintings and intricate mixed-media work lives and works in Sturgeon Bay. She creates layered, intricate works that celebrate fragile and beautiful species through a mixed-media practice grounded in painting. Each piece stems from a specific experience: an encounter with a barred owl at a bird sanctuary, the sight of a starling murmuration in Italy, standing amidst her backyard bees as they swarm. From there, she layers references to art history, the natural world, architectural elements, and geometry. Much of the imagery used in the work is both a direct representation of the subject as well a metaphor. Flying insects and birds act as intermediaries between cultivated places and wilderness as well as between material and immaterial worlds. Patterns represent visible and invisible structures as well as the infinite possibilities that result from replication. Bryan-Hanson holds an M.F.A. from the University of Montana and has worked as an art professor and curator at several institutions, most recently as the director and curator of the Art Galleries at St. Norbert Galleries. Her art is held in both private and public collections and has been exhibited in regional and national exhibitions.
The 49th Juried Annual features 69 works spanning both levels of the museum and includes paintings, photographs, mixed-media works, and prints on paper. The exhibit is scheduled to be on display through Saturday, November 9, 2024.