Santini & Friends: Quattro Artisti

Featuring the works of Wisconsin artists:
Michael Santini, Gina Litherland, Nancy Davis and Keith Clayton.
Exhibit and Sale Dates: Sunday, February 12 through Sunday, March 18, 2012
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 18: 6-9 pm 

Winner of the 2011 "Little Show", Michael Santini describes his artwork as "an allegorical portrayal of the constant spiritual and worldly struggle of good versus evil, inspiration from the Bible, and everyday life depicts this concept. As in reality, the elements and characters...exist within a constant, yet ever changing boundary, rearranging them in each new piece. This is a framework of juxtapositions where repetition, symmetry and position continuously respond and evaluate the essence of life."  Learn more on Michael's website: www.michaelsantini.com.

Gina Litherland describes her work as "having always been interested in the interplay between myth, the natural world, and the domain of dreams and memory. As a child, I spent many hours exploring natural wooded areas and empty lots inhabited by multitudes of insects and wildlife. This, along with a fervent interest in reading, particularly fairy tales, laid the foundation for my current investigations as an artist. Much of my work is inspired by folklore, myth, and literature reflected in my own personal preoccupations, specifically themes of desire, femaleness, the natural world, the human/animal boundary, children's games, ritual, intuition, and memory. The painting techniques that I use, traditional indirect oil painting techniques similar to those used by fifteenth century Sienese painters, combined with textural effects created by using various tools other than the paint brush, allow me to create a detailed, layered, and complex surface of images recreating the experience of looking at the forest floor with its rich blanket of diverse matter in various stages of decay."  Read about Gina's artwork on her website: www.glitherland.com.

Nancy Davis indicates her paintings are "about the pleasures of the natural world and the pleasures of the imagination.  I like to work with the tension between geometry, formal structure, and the emotionally cool balance of classical elements on the one hand, juxtaposed against the warm perfection presented to me in the natural world.  I enjoy the paradox of knowing the nature always does it better than I can, and yet I want to improve on nature.  I revel in the perversity of showing nature disobeying the laws of nature."  
 
Keith Clayton creates striking glass pieces using and ancient glass technique, “Pâte-de-Verre," a French term meaning "paste of glass."  His vessels hearken back to classical styles, while conversely belonging to a more modern era.  Clayton's glass works can be found in numerous galleries throughout the Door County area and beyond.

65th Annual Ozaukee County Art Show & Gallery of Student Art

Exhibit & Sale Dates: Sunday, April 1 - Sunday, April 22, 2012
Opening Reception: Sunday, April 1: 1-4 pm

An annual tradition at the CCC, the 65th Annual Ozaukee County Art Show and Gallery of Student Art features the work of both professional and amateur artists living, working and teaching in Ozaukee County, and occupies the Columbia St. Mary's and Center Galleries.  The Gallery of Student Art is housed in the East Gallery and showcases the works of local students from area schools.

For information on how professional and amateur artists over the age of 18 residing, teaching, or working in Ozaukee County may submit artwork to the exhibit, click here. 

Storytelling: Molly Johnson & Bren Sibilsky

Exhibit and Sale Dates: May 4 - June 17, 2012
Opening Reception: Friday, May 4: 6-9 pm

Owner and Executive Director of The Academy of Fine Art, Molly Johnson creates in oil and watercolor mediums, enjoying how each offer different challenges and disciplines.
Having been trained at The American Academy of Art and the Kewaunee Academy of Fine Art, Molly’s strong educational background gives her a solid understanding of the subject matter yet her works possess a sensitivity of captured moments that engage the viewer.
Johnson lives in Northeast Wisconsin where subject matter abounds. She often paints the farmlands, small towns and beautiful scenes along the shores of Lake Michigan.
Aside from being the owner and Executive Director of The Academy of Fine Art, Molly teaches watercolor and oil painting for Northeast Wisconsin Technical College and fine art classes for all ages in her studio. She actively participates in events sponsoring the growth and availability of the arts for all people. Johnson accomplishes this through volunteering on boards and committees and donating her artwork to raise funds for various causes.
Molly is honored to have shown in the 2009 and 2010 Oil Painters of America National Exhibitions, along with the Transparent Watercolor Society of America National Exhibition. Her watercolor and oil figures were selected for the 2010 and 2011 Richeson75 International Juried Figure Competitions. She participates in many juried shows and her works hang in public and private buildings throughout the United States. In 2010, Johnson was published twice in the American Art Collector Magazine along with two feature stories in the Green Bay Press Gazette.
She is a member of the Wisconsin Watercolor Society, the Transparent Watercolor Society of America and The Oil Painters of America.  Read more about Molly on her website at: www.mollyjohnsonstudio.com.


Bren Sibilsky is an international artist and full-time sculptor and painter, with work in many collections throughout North America and Europe. Having worked in the art field for over 25 years, her current primary focus is sculpture in the style of classical realism with emotional undertones. Her art work is the reflection of her interests in nature and realism. According to the artist her sculptures are, "a study in understanding universal emotion."
Born in 1963, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Bren showed signs of exceptional artistic abilities and at age eight she asked her parents to send her to art school. Years later she graduated from the prestigious Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD), formerly the Layton School of Art, in 1987. She studied sculpture with international artist Hanna Jubran and intensive anatomical study with artist Harold Huber.
Some of Bren’s many awards include being chosen as an ARC Salon finalist; her sculpture, “Aphrodite,” is featured at www.artrenewal.org under sculpture finalists. Bren was a finalist in the 2011 National Sculpture Society’s juried exhibition LOVE, New York, N.Y. , and was also a recipient of a "Best of Sculpture" award in Manhattan Arts
International’s “HerStory” juried exhibition. In 2009 Bren received the Cultural Patriot Award for her sculpture “Daedalus” with The P.I.C.T.U.R.E. Art Foundation in California. She has had many one-person and group exhibitions including those at the Miller Art Museum, The Francis Hardy Gallery, Arc Gallery, Koehline Gallery, The Linden Gallery, Fairfield Center for the Arts, Cedarburg Cultural Center, Plymouth Art Center, Mystical Earth Gallery,
Barnsite Gallery, Pinetop Gallery and The Manhattan Arts International Gallery. The artist has been interviewed on WBDK radio, with feature articles published in the Resorter Reporter, Peninsula Pulse, Door County Advocate, Green Bay Press-Gazette, Art Calendar Magazine, Graphic Arts Monthly Magazine and other publications.
Articulate and passionate about her work Bren Sibilsky presents sculpture demonstrations and Art Studio Tours. She also teaches sculpture at The Peninsula Art School in Door County, WI and at The Academy of Fine Art (an Arc Accredited Atelier) in Denmark, WI. Read more about Bren on her website at: www.brensculpture.com.

Abstraction: The Language of Art

Exhibit and Sale Dates:
Sunday, May 4 through Friday, June 15, 2012

Center and East Galleries

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary describes Abstract Art as “ having only intrinsic form with little or no attempt at pictorial representation or narrative content.” That being said, you’ll enjoy this exhibit of works by 6 regional contemporary artists working in a variety of media, each exploring what it means to create abstract art.

Kristin Haas
Frank Juarez
John Kowalczyk
Melissa Dorn Richards
Darrell Roberts
Dave Watkins

This exhibit is presented with the generous assistance of artist and educator Frank Juarez.

Wisconsin Watercolor Society: 2012 Fall Exhibition

Exhibit & Sale dates: Sunday, October 21 through Sunday,

November 25, 2012
Opening Reception: tba

About WWS:   Wisconsin Watercolor Society was founded in 1952 by a group of well-knownWisconsin artists and was the first Wisconsin Art Organization to be devoted exclusively to watercolor painting. Its purpose then as now has always been to demonstrate and exhibit meaningful development in the medium of watercolor and to serve as a catalyst for those genuinely interested in watercolor.

The Society typically holds two member exhibitions per year, one in the fall and one in the spring of the year in galleries throughout southeast Wisconsin to Madison and north through Cedarburg to Green Bay.  Its membership base includes many educators and others outside the field of art with a love for and interest in proficiency in watercolor.

For more information about the Wisconsin Watercolor Society, visit their website at: www.wisconsinwatercolorsociety.com.

With thanks to our generous sponsors: