May 31, 2024—The Miller Art Museum is pleased to announce Jessica Harvey as its 2024 Dome House Al & Mickey Quinlan Artist in Residence. Harvey will be in residence in Door County from August 4 – September 29, 2024.
The residency, entering its fourth year in 2024, is administered jointly with the Quinlan/Wagner family and carries on the original intent of the Dome House, as visioned by Al Quinlan, to serve as a creative haven for living artists. The program advances the museum’s mission to expand its role in education and to shape and influence the artistic development and growth of artists in the area. The Milwaukee-based artist Jessica Harvey was selected from a pool of 38 applicants from 13 states across the Midwest by the program’s Artist Selection Committee. In addition to being awarded an unrestricted stipend, she will receive access to time, space, and resources to advance her work at the iconic Door County structure.
“A residency at the Dome House is truly a dream come true, and I am thrilled for the chance to be a part of the Door County arts community this summer,” Harvey says.
“At the start of the pandemic, I began a project titled ‘daybreak,’ where I made field recordings each morning at dawn as a grounding ritual in a time of uncertainty. People can call a phone number to hear the recordings each day. I have continued this practice and will continue to explore this during my time in residence. I will lead a series of deep listening experiments and work to turn this project into an immersive installation with multi-layered image projections, and a sound installation of the field recordings culminating in an immersive exhibition in the studio. My time at the Dome House will be crucial to developing the next stages of this body of work.”
Jessica Harvey is an artist and writer whose work explores the fractures of bodies, place, and history. Digging through public and private archives, she conducts long-term investigations of ruptures within natural, historical, and personal events, paying close attention to the interpretation of facts, which often changes based on the narrator. Using photography, video, sound, and archival resources, the images and installations she makes act as a catalyst for the exploration of the psychology that one attaches to memory and place, putting a particular emphasis on time and the labor of care. She often makes work using intimate aspects of physical bodies without revealing the actual human form in its entirety. Bone fragments, human hair, heartbeats, and the sounds of daybreak act as inspiration to illustrate the stories and rituals tied to death and living.
May 7, 2024—The Miller Art Museum is pleased to present two new exhibitions opening on Sat., May 25, 2024: Expressions of Place featured in the Museum’s first floor main galleries and Wisconsin Visual Artists NE Chapter Show 2024 on the Ruth Morton Miller Mezzanine. Expressions of Place features the work of Hector Acuna (Grafton), Marc Anderson (Sturgeon Bay), Shelby Keefe (Milwaukee), Stephanie Lord (Sturgeon Bay), and Brian Sindler (Chicago), along with 38 member artists of the WVA. The exhibits open to the public at 10 am on Saturday, May 25, 2024; a free artist reception will be held on Friday evening, May 24 from 4 – 6 pm with remarks by WVA Juror Craig Blietz at 5 pm on the Ruth Morton Miller Mezzanine. Light refreshments will be served and music will be provided by Craig Schultz and Mike Miller. The exhibitions will remain on view through July 6, 2024.
Expressions of Place, an invitational, highlights plein air painting in celebration of the rich history of the practice on the Door Peninsula. Works by artists Brian Sindler (Chicago, IL.), Shelby Keefe (Milwaukee), Marc Anderson (Sturgeon Bay), Stephanie Lord (Sturgeon Bay, WI) and Hector Acuna (Grafton, WI) will be featured and complimented by a selection of plein air works curated from the permanent collection.
“There was a time in Door County before art galleries, but, there was never a time that people couldn’t appreciate the beauty of the Peninsula. When the snow melted from the fields and the pink and white blossoms popped on the trees, the temptation was there to record it on paper or canvas,” said Lorraine Mengert (Door County’s Art History, 1996, p. 5).
April 19, 2024 – Young artists in grades 9 – 12 from throughout Door County were celebrated at a free public reception held on April 15 for the 50th Annual Salon of Door County High School Art. The Miller Art Museum announced the award winners and honored all student participants during a special awards ceremony at the event.
Award winners pictured from left to right, front: Marissa Shefchik (Honorable Mention, Southern Door), Berkley Schwab (Award of Excellence, Gibraltar), Brooklynn Eash (Honorable Mention, Homeschool), Charlotte Bloniarz (Award of Excellence, Southern Door), Malia Rothrock (Honorable Mention, Sturgeon Bay). Back: Elliot Eash (Award of Excellence, Homeschool), and Tatum Routhieaux (Award of Excellence, Sturgeon Bay). Not pictured: Elizabeth Bautista, Cora Maccoux, Madelyn Kellerman, Emily Nickchen, and Gianna Roman.
The exhibit is a multi-media exhibition featuring original artwork by 113 students from the 2023-24 academic year who attend school at one of the Peninsula’s five high schools: Gibraltar, Sevastopol, Southern Door, Sturgeon Bay, and Washington Island. Two homeschooled students are also represented this year.
Certificates of Participation were presented to all student artists by their respective art teachers. Students receiving an Award of Excellence or Honorable Mention were announced and presented by Curator Helen del Guidice during the reception.
Awards of Excellence ($100 cash prize):
• Berkley Schwab, Gibraltar High School
• Elliot Eash, Homeschool
• Cora Maccoux, Sevastopol High School
• Charlotte Bloniarz, Southern Door High School
• Tatum Routhieaux, Stugeon Bay High School
• Madelyn Kellerman, Washington Island High School
April 4, 2024—The Miller Art Museum celebrates 50 years in 2024 of honoring Door Peninsula student artists with its beloved annual student art exhibition, the 50th Annual Salon of Door County High School Art opening to the public on Saturday, April 13. In celebration, the museum will host an opening reception and awards celebration on Monday, April 15 from 7 - 8:30 pm. 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 student artists by their respective art teachers following the presentation of all other awards by the Miller Art Museum.
The annual exhibition, a now 50-year tradition, features the work of more than 100 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 show will feature 174 imaginative works from students attending Gibraltar, Sevastopol, Southern Door, Sturgeon Bay, and Washington Island High Schools, along with representation by Door County home school students.
February 23, 2024—The public is invited to join artists Ellen Holtzblatt and Mary Porterfield for a conversation with Miller Art Museum Curator Helen del Guidice at 4pm Friday, March 1. An audience Q&A will follow the conversation as will a free public reception from 5:30 – 7pm. Light refreshments will be provided with music provided by Craig Schultz and Mike Miller.
Currently on view at the Miller Art Museum, the artist’s two-person exhibit, Vestiges of the Tide, explores each artist’s unique approach to the sensitive topic of senescence through exquisitely rendered drawings and paintings. Porterfield works in the medical field as an occupational therapist and is also a talented portraitist committed to rendering her elderly, infirm subjects with images that address recurring struggles in healthcare. In unison, Ellen Holtzblatt presents works from her Song of Songs series, a collection of portraits of her elderly mother that convey that love, desire, and the need for human contact are universal. The exhibition is emotionally charged and offers viewers a powerful, poetic experience of a reality that many in Door County face.