Month: February 2018

Mary Ellen Sisulak is an artist/craftsperson known for working in diverse materials through her long career in the arts. Her training was at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she earned a BFA in painting with high honors in 1974. The professors who had the most impact upon her were, Thomas Uttech and John Colt. Yearning to live closer to nature, she moved to rural Door County, WI. Her work is influenced by living next to a unique habitat, the Mink River Nature Conservancy.

She has maintained a studio/gallery in Door County for 43 years, designing and producing wearable art in leather and fiber. Her leather work is well known for exploring the mechanics of functional handbags and stretching the boundaries of surface design.  More recent work focuses on other natural materials: wool and silk. Collections of dyed and felted wool accessories and digitally printed and pieced silk wall hangings complement more commercial work in the studio/gallery.

Mary Ellen has exhibited at numerous juried shows for 40 years: The Smithsonian Craft Show, The Philadelphia Museum Craft Show, American Craft Exposition, The Sausalito Arts Festival, American Craft Council Shows in Baltimore, St.Paul, Atlanta, Chicago and SanFrancisco.  Best of Show awards for both leather and fiber were received at The Madison Art Fair on the Square – 1998, The Edina Art Festival – 2011, 2012 and The Oconomowoc Festival of Arts – 2009. Work was selected for Standard Oil of Indiana Collection and Harley-Davidson Collection. Leather bags have been marketed in galleries and shops from the East to the West Coast.  Custom  products were developed for The Philadelphia Museum of Art and the iconic Harley Davidson brand.

In 2002 she received a Grant from the WI Arts Board/WI Arts Assn. to journal and paint her beloved Mink River habitat.  This led to a one woman show at the Link Gallery in Fish Creek, WI.  The Grant fueled more explorations in digital printing and pieced 2-D silk wall art. Single image, diptych and triptych pieces have been commissioned by interior designers and individuals for homes and offices both regional and national; notably the UW Health Clinics in Madison, WI.

Marketing art is an important part of her involvement in the community. She established Ellison Bay Arts in 2004; an association of local artists and schools to collectively market through ads, brochures and events. From 1993-1998 she owned and operated Turtle Island Gallery in Egg Harbor, WI.  Reaching a new audience, Art Camps are now offered in her studio so that other craftspeople can share her knowledge, space and equipment.

Published work: The Geology of Door County: A Self-Guided Tour 1978 Bill Skadden, Mary Ellen Sisulak.  Reflections in a Tarnished Mirror, The Use and Abuse of the Great Lakes 1978, Tom Kuchenberg, Jim Legualt, Mary Ellen Sisulak. Self-published picture book: Pinklieee!, written and illustrated by Mary Ellen Sisulak 2015. Featured articles appeared in Door County Advocate Sept. 4, 2003.  Door County Living, Fall 2005. Luxury Homes, Fall 2006. Peninsula Pulse, Issue 11, 2008.  Peninsula Pulse, March 2015.

In 2017 Mary Ellen received a commission to incorporate leather into a large wall piece.  The 4’ x 6’ piece led to a new mixed media collection which combines her skills as a painter with the techniques of a crafts person. Pairing stones and leather, she found a voice that she had been searching for.  As enthusiastic now as at the beginning of her career, her interpretations of environment are strong reminders of the vulnerability of nature and man’s relationship to it.

A native of western Nebraska, Naomi has lived in Green Bay, Wisconsin for much of her life.

Naomi is a free-form artist. She combines newspaper and binders such as clay and concrete using her own formulas.

In Green Bay, Naomi maintains studio space and teaches classes in the ART Garage, which provides space, shows, classes and much more for participating artists.

She works with wire, wire cutters, sheets of newspaper, her various formulas, paint (acrylic or oil) and an imagination that tends toward fantasy figures with Medieval elements.

Hayden Wilson grew up in the Mountains of Western North Carolina.  He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in sculpture from the University of North Carolina at Asheville.

As a second generation glass maker, he has been around glass his entire life, but working professionally as a glass blower and caster for the past six years.

He has been an assistant instructor in the glass studio at Penland School of Craft, in Penland, North Carolina and also at Pilchuck Glass School in Washington state. Hayden has also worked Jackson County Green Energy Park building equipment, teaching glass and metal foundry classes.

He currently works with glass artist Alex Bernstein and manages the Asheville Glass Centers hot shop, a public access studio that focuses on art glass making as well as offering an array of classes. Hayden creates his work at the Asheville Glass Center.  Hayden’s work conveys his aesthetic of clean lines and inspired by modern, utilitarian design.  He works with utilitarian vessels, as well as steel and cast glass sculptures. In addition to his own work, Hayden has also designed and created various lighting commissions for local restaurants and businesses in the region.

Kairong likes to paint outdoors. He believes there is always beauty to be found in the most unexpected places and he tries to reveal that in his paintings.

His work has been collected by Mayo Clinic, Cargill, Midwest Federal Reserve Bank, Crown Bank, Health Partner Inc.,Target Cooperation, University of Minnesota, Wells Fargo Bank, Northwest Airlines and many other businesses, hospitals and private collectors.

Currently he has two pieces hanging at the Governor’s mansion in St. Paul Minnesota. His work “Golden Turn” has won 1st place in the Fine Arts painting category in the Minnesota State Fair.

He came to the United Stated from mainland China. He received his Bachelor and Masters of Fine Art from Westmar University and the University of South Dakota.

Kairong has taught many private painting workshops, has instructed at the Minnetonka Center for the Art, and has taught classes at Edina and Bloomington Art Centers.

His work can be found galleries in Minnesota, Wisconsin, California and Florida.

“Charlie Hunter has the uncanny ability to seize upon the most ordinary things, and transform them with his brush into bewitching jewels of design and artistic perception.” — Richard Schmid

I live in Bellows Falls, a resurgent mill town on the banks of the Connecticut River in Vermont. My studio is in an old paper mill. There, I like to paint what nature does to what man creates.

I was born in a small town in New Hampshire where we used to swim in the abandoned granite quarries. We had pigs and chickens and rambling barns. I’d walk home from school along the tracks of the Boston & Maine Hillsborough Branch , and read the names and slogans on the box cars that’d roll by, things like “The Nickel Plate Road” and “Santa Fe All The Way.”

When they put a highway through our barns, my family returned to the house built by my great, great, great grandfather in Weathersfield Center, Vermont, where my great aunts lived. Our family still makes maple syrup there and also have a hand-cranked cider press which makes amazing cider but can remove a finger if you’re not careful (just ask Uncle Andrew).

My Dad was an occasional minister who ran a small print shop. There was always a lot of paper and drawing stuff around. I drew a lot. Though I did not appreciate it at the time, in college, I was lucky enough to be forced to draw the figure three days a week from 8:00 am till noon under the tutelage of William Bailey. Afterwards, I got a job designing tour posters for acts like The Clash, REM and The Jerry Garcia Band. I got to design a lot of album covers and became a music manager. I quit that just before the music business imploded and went back to painting a lot and running music trains (live music on long-distance train trips – rootsontherails.com) a few times a year. Now painting is my primary focus.

My goal is to paint beautifully that which is not traditionally considered beautiful. Sorta like a less-grotesque Anselm Keifer in a better mood.

Photo credit: Rachel Portesi