Navigation

Hidden Galleries Art Tour

“Morning Mooring” by R.D. Bentley

Art galleries are fixtures on the landscape in Northern Door, but not all of them are visible from well-traveled roads. Some of the most interesting are far off the beaten track.

Perhaps an artistic temperament draws painters to out-of-the-way settings, to lose themselves in the beauty of nature as they work. Flowers bloom, trees shade, and birds sing; and we visitors to these studios and galleries think, maybe if we lived in such an inspirational setting, we too might become artists!

Spokesman for the Hidden Galleries Art Tour Robert Bentley explained, “We are hard to find! Sometimes people can find us with a GPS, or a map, or by word of mouth. But we are pretty hidden.

“And that adds to the mystery,” he said.

The tour includes four artists who have each been painting for a lifetime and who live far up the peninsula in the Ellison Bay area. On Friday, Sept. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 1, Bentley along with Wayne Simmons, Jim Maronek, and Arnold Alaniz will open their studio/galleries to the public, offering visitors the opportunity not only to find them, but to watch them paint, admire their work, and wander around their property.

Farthest north on the tour is R.D. Bentley, whose studio and gallery are located south of Gills Rock. Nestled amid trees his home provides a view of Garrett Bay in the distance. The modern building and grounds blend into the natural setting, blurring the boundaries of indoors and outdoors.

Although raised in Evanston, Illinois, Bentley spent his summers in Northern Door as a young person. Eventually he returned to the area to make his home with his wife Barbara and Labrador Bear.

A product of Yale University and the Art Institute of Chicago, Bentley works in oils as he paints formal portraits, landscapes, “portscapes,” and whimsical “Flights of Fantasy.”

The subjects of his portraits include congressmen, corporate and academic clients, and others. His portscapes are portraits that appear in settings appropriate to the subject, perhaps a favorite landscape. And the Flights of Fantasy series are light-hearted pieces in bright colors with stylized people. His work appears in private collections in the U.S., England, Ireland, Spain, and Portugal.

A raconteur, Bentley entertains visitors with his stories as well as his art. For a preview of his work, visit rdbentley.com.

“Flamingo Tree” watercolor by Jim Maronek

A drive to the studio gallery of Jim Maronek winds through woods to emerge in a Russian-style estate spread across a clearing. Maronek, who is a professional theatrical set designer, brings his artistic eye to the landscape and historic buildings that house his studio and gallery.

Maronek, a graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago, shows “an eclectic mixture of his paintings, drawings and collages” in his 1892 log barn gallery. The room is part of a rustic complex that looks as if it might have been on the spot forever; however, a Slovak log barn moved to the property serves as the nucleus, with an addition, wooden silo, and other salvaged building materials melded onto the structure, housing not only a gallery but also a gathering/performance space.

With a history of an artists’ retreat of sorts, today the 15-acre “Ellison Wonderland” continues as a place for entertainment, workshops, weddings, and “big Russian parties.” Guests enjoy wandering the grounds that include the gardens of Carole Maronek and several “Russian” design features.

While Maronek has worked as a set designer all over the country, theater buffs have seen his work locally at Peninsula Players, American Folklore Theater, and Door Shakespeare.

A visit to http://www.silverpoplar.com provides glimpses of the attractions that await guests at this fanciful retreat.

Photo by Wayne Simmons

Artist Wayne Simmons has gone to the dogs, in a manner of speaking. His gallery near Rowleys Bay is filled with portraits of sporting dogs, fitting for a country setting with outbuildings that include a rustic stone cottage.

Simmons was born in New Orleans, earned a double major in art and English at the University of Mississippi at Oxford, and ran an ad agency in Shreveport. Longtime visitors to Door County, he and his wife Gay have owned the Rowleys Bay property for 25 years.

Simmons’s book, The Story of Jules Verne: A Watch Pocket Dog, was a project that combined his skills as both an artist and a writer. This narrative of a man’s special relationship with his dog is illustrated with thematically appropriate paintings. Simmons has been invited to the Madison Book Festival this fall, and in 2009 he was featured artist for American Fields Magazine.

While Simmons accepts commissioned work of people and their pets, many of his paintings are “inspired by his experiences in the fields, in the woods, on the marsh, wherever the Out-of-Doors takes him” and by “his dogs and their antics afield.”

The wooded lawn and flowerbeds around the studio/gallery offer opportunities for pleasant strolls. To view Simmons’ realistic dog paintings and other work, visit waynesimmonsart.com.

Painting by Arnold Alaniz

Located on Highway 42 just south of Ellison Bay, the Alaniz Stone House Gallery is the easiest to find. The 1928 stone building (designed by the architect of the old Ivanhoe Restaurant in Jacksonport) sits serenely under a grove of trees, the rooms of the home galleries both to Alaniz’s artwork and his collection of antique silver, crystal, and ceramics.

A native of Texas, Arnold Alaniz attended the University of Wisconsin – Madison. His paintings appear in collections in the United States, Europe, and Japan.

Alaniz’s inspiration comes from “the natural world around him, especially the vistas, fields and gardens of Door County.” His traditional landscapes and floral paintings are “seen through the softened lens of impressionism” offering “visions of a serene tranquil retreat.”

The peaceful setting for the Stone House Gallery is shaded by a stand of tall oaks, maples, and other hardwoods.

Arnold Alaniz’s work may be seen at http://www.arnoldalaniz.com.

Explore the Hidden Galleries Art Tour

Friday, September 30 – Saturday, October 1, 10 am – 4 pm

Hidden Galleries Art Tour Directions

Watch for tour signs as you drive

• R. D. Bentley Gallery, 1076 North Elm Road. Drive north of Ellison Bay on Hwy. 42, west on Blackberry Road which becomes Cottage Road, left on North Elm Road.

• Silver Poplar Studios, 1519 East Bluff Rd. Drive west on Garrett Bay Road from Ellison Bay, left on East Bluff Road.

• Wayne Simmons Gallery, 1375 County ZZ. Drive east on Maple Drive (becomes County ZZ) out of Sister Bay, almost to the Rowleys Bay Resort

• Alaniz Stone House Gallery, 11537 Hwy 42. Drive north of Sister Bay (the gallery is near to Hy-Land Court RV Park).