Wildlife Biennial Celebrates Artists’ Fascination with Living Creatures

“Duetto” by Kim Russell.

The Miller Art Museum in downtown Sturgeon Bay is scheduled to open its newest exhibition on June 3 – sculpture, paintings and drawings by 44 regional artists from across Wisconsin – in its Wildlife Biennial XVIII. The exhibition will be open to the public from June 3 to July 18 with a free public reception scheduled for June 3, 5 – 6:30 pm.

“The natural world is filled with creatures of grace, speed and power. The challenge for the artist is to translate raw nature into a statement that reflects these attributes,” sculptor Gene Reineking (Almond, Wis.) so eloquently said.

The bi-annual exhibition, organized by the museum since 1983, celebrates the artists’ fascination with the living creatures in Wisconsin’s natural environment and throughout the world. Featuring artwork in a variety of media including watercolor, glass mosaic, pastel, carved tupelo or basswood, steel, oil, acrylic and ink, the artists are focused on capturing the essence of the animals they study and observe and the habitats in which they are found.

“Artists were selected for invitation to participate for their skill in their chosen media, their passionate interest in our natural world as their subject, and also for the diverse points of view and ways they approach that subject,” explains Miller Art Museum Curator of Exhibits Deborah Rosenthal.

Door County artists represented are Peter Bosman, Jan Comstock, Colleen McCarty, Audrey M. Off, Jeffrey Olson, Gary Orthober, Mike Orthober, Sandra Place and Tom Seagard.

The exhibit, free and open to the public, is on view in the main gallery of the museum through July 18. Hours are 10 am to 8 pm on Monday and 10 am to 5 pm, Tuesday through Saturday.