Young Artists, Big Ideas: A Celebration of Student Creativity in Downtown Sturgeon Bay
Wisconsin Fiber Artist Mary Burns and Regional Figurative Masters Take Center Stage in Downtown Sturgeon Bay in Exhibits Opening May 24, 2025
May 15, 2025—The Miller Art Museum is pleased to announce the opening of Women and Water: Woven Portraits from Around the World, a compelling exhibition by Wisconsin fiber artist Mary Burns, opening May 24, 2025. This exhibition, featuring 29 handwoven Jacquard portraits, is guest curated by Wisconsin artist and photographer Suzanne Rose, and 
celebrates women from around the globe who are dedicated to water advocacy, science, and stewardship. An artist reception is scheduled for Friday, May 30, 2025, from 5 – 7 pm to celebrate the opening of the exhibit and Magnus Opus: Masters of the Figure from the Permanent Collection, featured concurrently on the Ruth Morton Miller Mezzanine. The event is free and open to the public.
Magnus Opus: Masters of the Figure from the Permanent Collection, a special exhibition honoring the museum’s 50th anniversary, features a curated selection of figurative works by Rose, drawn from the museum’s permanent collection, that includes a stunning new acquisition by the late celebrated maritime artist Charles L. Peterson (1927-2022). The oil painting, titled Sabbath at Sea, will be featured along with work by other celebrated regional artists including James J. Ingwersen (1929-2025), Lester W. Bentley (1908-1972), William Mueller, Shirley Darch (b. 1950), Robert C. Heuel II (1919-2009), Emmett Johns (b. 1940), Willard H. Kolstad (1960-2023), and Robert Leibold (1926-2013). Together, these exhibitions offer a dynamic curatorial dialogue between global and regional perspectives on the figure and legacy.
April 18, 2025 – The Miller Art Museum proudly announced the student award recipients of the 51st Annual Salon of Door County High School Art during a free public reception held on April 7, 2025. The celebratory event recognized the creative accomplishments of young artists ages 14 – 18 years from all five Door County high schools: Gibraltar, Sevastopol, Southern Door, Sturgeon Bay, and Washington Island.
Certificates of Participation were presented to all student artists by their respective art teachers, honoring the creativity demonstrated across the nearly 150 works on view. Certificates of Excellence, Honorable Mention awards, and the Rericha Legacy Award were presented by Executive Director Elizabeth Meissner-Gigstead during the event, all highlighting outstanding artistic achievement.
Image credit left to right: Ombeline Finck, Untitled, charcoal (GHS, grade 12); Rowan Ploor, Rabbit, mixed media (SBHS, grade 10), Anna Massart, Dancing in the Kitchen, mixed media (SDHS, grade 11); Corbin Kellerman, Lines, acrylic (WIHS, grade 10), and Angeni Herula, XXX Tentacion, oil pastel (GHS, grade 11).
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.
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.