Category: Art
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Ikebana Vases Highlight the Art of the Flower
Despite a fresh heaping of snow on the Door Peninsula, potter Chad Luberger is thinking spring with a new crop of vases honoring ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging. While he admits he is not a “master ikebana-er,” he has spent years creating seashell-esque forms for others to use in their creative floral endeavors. […]
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It’s amazing how a gentle soul with an afro can get you to leave behind your lifelong fear of failure. “We don’t make mistakes. We just have happy accidents.” These words, among the most famous of the late American painter Bob Ross, have had a home in my mind for many years. It wasn’t until […]
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Door County Luthier on the Artistry of Instruments
“It’s easier to say the ones I didn’t make,” Pat Webster said, standing in the center of a bedroom-turned-showroom in her Sturgeon Bay home, where meticulously detailed stringed instruments hang from the walls, rest on tables and shelves, and sit on guitar-stands ready to be played. She has built all of them, save for a […]
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Questions & Artists: Maritime Painter Lee Radtke
North of the Door County Maritime Museum, the giants of the Great Lakes wait out winter’s hold. The sheer magnitude of the ships is awe-inspiring for anyone, maritime enthusiast or not. For Illinois oil painter Lee Radtke, seeing those ships last winter on a cold, February evening at sunset proved an “almost religious experience.” He […]
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UUF Spotlights Incarceration, Redemption in New Art Exhibit
Childhood trauma, mental illness, racial divides and prison reform are given a visual and textual spotlight in the powerful and disturbing, yet hopeful artworks now on display in the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship’s current exhibit, DarRen Morris: Art and Redemption. Presented in collaboration between the UU Racial Justice Action Team and Write On, Door County, the […]
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The Ornate, Textured Skills of Painter Mary White
Door County skies and lands are highlighted in thick, swirling patterns of vibrant acrylics in the most recent artistic incarnation of longtime Jacksonport painter Mary White. A scenic painter by training, White has gained a following for her ornate and heavily textured landscapes made on canvas and ornaments. Like most who call the peninsula home, […]
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On Our Cover: ‘A Hand Up’ Painting Up for Auction
Upon hearing this year’s Door County Living Philanthropy theme — highlighting the charitable efforts behind the peninsula’s nonprofit structures — it was natural for Baileys Harbor artist Kate Roth to consider the people behind those efforts. She is, after all, a painter of people. When commissioned to create this issue’s cover art, Roth held the […]
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Artist Experiments with Paint, Ice on Kangaroo Lake
Those who ventured beyond the ice rinks of last weekend’s Door County Pond Hockey Tournament on Kangaroo Lake were treated to the latest visual experiment of artist Kate Roth. The Baileys Harbor painter swapped oil paints and canvas for milk paints and ice to create a 7’ x 15’ mural that merged the tourney’s logo […]
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Questions & Artists: Children’s Book Illustrator Bonnie Leick
“I always judged a book by its cover when I was a kid,” Bonnie Leick admits. “I’d go to the library and be like, ‘That’s a beautiful book! I don’t care what the story is.’” It’s not an admission of guilt but a pinpoint of childhood interest that inspired Leick’s eventual career as a children’s […]
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Visuals Inspire Lyrics at Love on Holiday Song Fest
Pottery, textiles and a short film are among the visual arts that were mined for lyrical inspiration this week by 30 musicians preparing for this weekend’s seventh annual Love on Holiday songwriting festival in Sturgeon Bay. This is the fourth consecutive year of the music-art mashup at Love on Holiday, the Music Motel’s wintertime invitation […]
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Hmong Communities Showcases Heritage with Textile Art
The Hmong American community makes up almost one percent of Wisconsin’s population and represents the largest Asian ethnic group in the state. And yet, some Wisconsin natives would be hard pressed to tell you where the Hmong community emigrated from, and what exactly their story is. Sturgeon Bay Library looks to correct that with its […]
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Questions & Artists: Pulse Artist Interviewer Randy Rasmussen
Longtime readers of the Peninsula Pulse’s arts section are familiar with the name Randy Rasmussen. He was the Sturgeon Bay painter and primary author behind the newspaper’s long-running “Questions & Artists” series highlighting the background, techniques and artworks of local, national and international artists working in a variety of media. Those same readers have likely […]
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‘Likable’ Exhibit Explores Feminist Themes
Brooklyn artist Lesley Wamsley offers an artistic perspective of issues related to objectification, likability and its ties to female worth in her series, Likable, now showing at Algoma’s James May Gallery. Featuring detached hair forms woven into braids and decorated with delicate ribbons, the collection of drawings imbues purity, innocence and congeniality. The works, created […]
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Questions & Artists: Folk Artist Polly Joubert
Sprawling farmsteads, Door County lighthouses and iconic Midwest landscapes are given a folk art narrative in the colorful, whimsical works of Wisconsin painter Polly Joubert. The Nashotah, Wis. artist has been exhibiting her talents for acrylic storytelling at juried exhibits and galleries for the past five years, and since 2016 has been represented in Door […]
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Rosenthal Retires after 24 Years as MAM Curator
Deborah Rosenthal came to Door County in 1986, when her late husband, Cy, was hired by the county as a psychotherapist. She had bachelor’s and master’s degrees in fine arts, art history and museum studies and years of experience working in museums in Illinois, Arizona and South Dakota. Visiting the public library in Sturgeon Bay, […]
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Florist Jackie Ehlert Shares Wreath-making Process
Bundles of cedar, white pine and blue spruce branches spill out from boxy containers spread out on the floor. Pine cones the size of small kittens overflow from a nearby metal crate. In the corner, an array of foraged items – mini cattails, seeded eucalyptus, lotus pods and ornamental grasses – stand at the ready. […]
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Janine Buechner has worked with many unique and random items in her 12 years with the Artists Guild in Sturgeon Bay: original paintings by Rembrandt and Pablo Picasso, parts of old ships, and an entire collection of Twinkie memorabilia. As the art supply store’s custom framer, it comes with the territory. Similarly as rare as […]
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The Clearing Hosts Winter Reception, Open House
Come and welcome winter with a reception at The Clearing Folk School’s Jens Jensen Center Dec. 5, 3-6 pm. Wine, fine cheeses and specialty chocolates can all be relished while enjoying some live seasonal music with George Sawyn. The beautifully decorated Jens Jensen Center at 12171 Garrett Bay Road in Ellison Bay is a delight […]
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Miller Art Museum Explores Children’s Book Illustrations in New Exhibit
The artwork of six regional children’s book illustrators comes alive in imaginative and interactive ways in Miller Art Museum’s current exhibit, Beyond Words: The Art of Regional Children’s Book Illustration. Designed to engage visitors of all ages, Beyond Words is a colorful exploration of children’s literature – both classic and modern – and the illustrations […]
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Creating Time & Space for Art: Photographer Erin Tauscher
For any creative person who has made Door County their home, artistic inspiration and opportunity are endless. But for those intent on making the peninsula a year-round home, creative pursuits often come secondary to making a living. When Erin Tauscher arrived here in 2016, it was with the intention of finding a better work-life balance. […]