Feature image: Trout Museum of Art. Photo: Artdose magazine.
Annemarie Sawkins
Did you know the Trout Museum of Art in Appleton is moving? Its new home, opening later in 2025, will be just down the street from its current location at 111 East College Avenue. While the Trout is poised to play an even greater role as a major hub of the visual arts across Northeastern, Wisconsin, its upcoming exhibition will be a fitting capstone prior to the move.
Early in 2024, I was approached by the Trout to curate the last exhibition in their present space. Given my recent experience co-authoring A Creative Place: The History of Wisconsin Art, and my interest in complex, historical projects, I proposed a retrospective that would include a historical look at the area and a more detailed timeline of the museum, founded in 1960. The Appleton Gallery of Arts(now Trout) first opened in its own space in 1977, before moving and being rebranded several times.
The exhibition, A Creative Place: Art from Northeastern Wisconsin from 1940 to present, gathers for the first time the institution’s history and celebrates the whole region. By focusing on northeastern Wisconsin, this exhibition and its catalogue builds on the research I began eight years ago. For this show, the art is not limited by medium. Rather, it covers 85 years and a wide variety of artistic themes and ideas produced using a range of methods, materials, and techniques. As a result, a diversity of styles and studio practices characterize the work assembled.
This critical survey—featuring over 120 works—starts with Jessie Kalmbach Chase (1879–1970), Agnes Florence Wainwright (1905–1990), the first full-time art curator at the Neville Public Museum, Green Bay, and Madeline Tripp Tourtelot (1915–2002), filmmaker and philanthropist, who founded the Ephraim Art School in 1943 and Peninsula School of Art in 1965.
A short list of some of the artists includes Door County’s Franne Dickinson, Thomas and Margaret Dietrich, Francis H. Hardy, James J. Ingwersen, Gerhard C.F. Miller, and Charles L. Peterson. The 1950s and 60s are represented by Lester W. Bentley, Able Cohn, Paul Donhauser, Austin Fraser, Joann Kindt, and Clarence Boyce Monegar. A few artists who had long careers include Norbert Kox, Arthur Thrall, Lester Schwartz, and Phil Sealy. Select established artists represented are Dennis Bauer, Michael A. Doerr, Carol Emmons, Michael Meilahn, Christine Style, and Karon Winzenz. The work of photographers Leslie Bellavance, Jerry Dell, J. Shimon & J. Lindemann, John Nance, Suzanne Rose, Lauren Semivan, and Terri Warpinski, joins contemporary painters, Craig Blietz, Marjorie Mau, Lori Jae Ricci, and Rafael Salas, among many others.
Contemporary elements of this exhibition include artist interventions that may become permanent. Finally, for the opening—January 24, 2025—instant film photographer Joy Laczny of Appleton, an “Artist to Watch 2024,” will produce a series of Polaroids to document the occasion. The exhibition runs through May 18, 2025.
Visit https://troutmuseumart.org to learn more and connect on Instagram at @troutmuseumofart