Winter 2018 Newsletter

"A friend encouraged me to enter a WRAP exhibit. Winning a state award fueled my desire to begin painting seriously."

-Norm Starks, Beloit artist and recipient of 10 State Awards

WRAP INITIATIVES FOR 2018

Community art groups across the state provide valuable time as volunteers to bring this unique program to life. We are grateful for this shared labor of love. From the Madison office, we work to increase the visibility of these groups and WRAP by:

• Utilizing the University extensive contact lists to reach new lifelong learners that make up our base In 2018
• Reaching UW system art departments to share with faculty and students
• Launching the new DCS Website, now all art students and artists will hear about WRAP
• Providing posters to libraries targeted for each region

Like us on Facebook and share the news you find interesting. Look for the continuation of our digital newsletter and emails. Your word of mouth is our most productive outreach.

(Also, check out our new WRAP Homepage!)

Fundraising for our Future

The Wisconsin Regional Art Program (WRAP) has been a tradition of joy, personal growth, and fulfillment for 77 years, enriching the lives of thousands of Wisconsin artists. This was evidenced when the WRAP and Wisconsin Regional Artists Association (WRAA) community celebrated the 2017 Art Exhibition and State Day Conference in Wausau in late September. A standout selection of entries made by WRAP artists included the works of 54 first-time State Award Winners.

We hope these events remind you that it is the volunteerism, generosity, and loyalty of artists who create "art for the sake of art"  that have kept this program going since its inception in 1940. We raise awareness of this message at a time when simple sustainability of arts programming is an ongoing challenge—with WRAP being no exception.

Dale Hagen, Catching the Last Rays, 2016 Chinese Fine Art Association Award

WRAA members recently received a letter from President Mary Ann Inman and I also sent a letter to past WRAP participants. I am grateful for this joint approach to insure the future of this valued program. I kindly ask you to consider WRAP in your giving plan, remembering that the existence of this program is a vital platform for our collective pursuits as creative individuals.
 
Liese Pfeifer, WRAP Director, 608-262-4911

Get Noticed! Arts Marketing: Build a Simple Website

Coming up in the new year, Cole Zrostlik, our Regional Coordinator in River Falls, and this year’s Workshop Facilitator will be leading a specialized workshop on the basics of marketing yourself as an artist. This free, hands-on workshop will walk participants through the set-up and creation of their first website using Wordpress.com, a free, user-friendly website-building platform. Participants will leave the workshop with a rough-draft version of their new site.
 
A word from Cole: "Marketing is a four-letter word for many artists. It's rarely taught as part of an art school curriculum, it's daunting to the more modest among us, and it's always changing (which can be very overwhelming). Still, marketing yourself and your work is essential to being a working artist, winning more grants, increasing your commissions, or getting others to notice you and your work. A big part of marketing yourself includes telling your story, and what better way to get started than by capturing your story and your work online in a professional, simple, and visually-appealing way!"

The workshop will occur Saturday, February 3, 2018 at 11:00am in the River Falls Public Library Lower Level

Participants: if possible, bring a personal laptop, images of work, and come with a goal in mind for your website (portfolio, online sales, blog, etc.). Basic computer skills are required to participate. No prior coding or website experience necessary. Registration requested. CLICK HERE to register.

CLICK HERE to learn more about Wordpress.com or get started on your Wordpress website right away!

Cole Zrostlik, River Falls Regional Coordinator

Thanks to our host, the River Falls Public Library Gallery

Making a Creative Life That Matters: Helen Klebesadel

Fringed Prairie Orchid I

Muse and Her Artist

Spill

Helen Klebesadel is a visual artist best known for her watercolors.  We asked her to reflect on the next phase of her creative life as we come into 2018. This summer she will transition to pursuing full-time her art making, teaching, and creativity coaching/mentoring of other artists.

Helen has always been identified as an artist, from being taught to draw and paint as a child on the family farm near Spring Green, and throughout her schooling.  After spending her twenties traveling, and working as a house painter she returned to college at 28 at UW-Madison to study art.  She would go on complete an BS in Art, a certificate in Women’s Studies, and go on to complete an MFA.
 
Helen accepted a position on the art faculty of Lawrence University in Appleton, WI in 1990.  There she taught art and gender studies courses, earned tenure, and chaired the art department, while also teaching summer workshops for adult from Door County to Alaska.  She also served as the national president of the Women’s Caucus for Art and served on the Wisconsin Arts Board. In 2000 she moved back to Madison to work as the Director of the WGSC and focus on her art career and other creative interests.  From 2013-2016 Helen was also asked to serve as Interim Director of the Wisconsin Regional Art Program (WRAP).

As Helen began to the next phase of her creative life she thought a lot about which parts of the creative work she has loved the most.  It was making and sharing her art with the world and helping others to do the same that has been most rewarding.  This inspired her to pursue certification as a Creativity Coach through the national Creativity Coaching Association.  Helen Klebesadel is looking forward to a 2018 filled with creativity in her studio and in the lives of those artists she teaches and coaches toward their own creative pursuits. 

You can find Helen’s Art at http://Klebesadel.com, and her teaching and coaching information at http://CreativityLessons.com.

Sentinel III

PERMANENT COLLECTION FEATURE:

William H. Boose

By Nina Stemwedel

William H. Boose was born on his family’s Jackson County farm in 1887. At the age of five, he moved with his family to Waupun, where he grew up learning to farm, fish, trap, hunt, and draw. His lessons began in grade school with brief instructions in pencil and crayon drawing. This subject was not highly emphasized, but it was the one Boose loved most, and he received his highest marks in drawing. The lessons stopped before high school, and he was never formally instructed in any art field after grade school. After he graduated high school, he held a series of odd jobs, including a position as an attendant in the Waupun asylum for the criminally insane. This was both the most emotionally taxing, and the least time consuming job that Boose had ever held. He turned once more to art as a creative outlet. He mostly painted water color reproductions, but later began working in oil as well. Much like many of us, Boose was his own worst critic, and had little faith in his ability to create any worthwhile originals, due to his lack of formal training. Even after venturing into original work, he made no attempt to sell his paintings for profit, preferring to simply give them away. Despite his humility and reluctance to sell, he eventually gained some fame in Wisconsin, because his work often took first place at the Waushara County Fair. Outside of his artwork, Boose collected stamps, loved hiking with his wife, and had large, affectionate Labradors. This chilly winter scene shows the logging of the Petenwell Lake, which had been artificially created by the Wisconsin River Power Company two years prior to this painting. Also pictured are two other works representative of his pastoral style, and a photograph of the artist.

Clearing Petenwell Lake, Oil, 1950

Sanctuary, Oil, Undated

The Artist

Early Lowland Flowers, Oil, Undated

Opportunities for Artists

Show Your Work
Portal Wisconsin is a great place to check regularly for opportunities to show your work: http://www.portalwisconsin.org/opportunity   
 
Entry Deadline: 3/31
Call for Artists/Juried Show Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass Arts Festival
Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass
Neenah, WI 54956     
https://wisconsinvisualartists.com/public/exhibit_full.php?user_id=4897  
 
Entry Deadline 3/1-3/11
RAM Call for PEEP Artists
Delivery: Entries must be dropped off or shipped to arrive between
Friday, March 1 and Sunday, March 11, 4:00 pm at
Racine Art Museum along with completed entry form.
https://www.ramart.org/content/call-peep-artists-information-page  
 
Entry Deadline: Feb. 15
The ’60s Revisited
Overture's Playhouse Gallery
http://theartguide.com/callforartist/the-60s-revisited  
 
Develop your skill
Continuing Studies offers a wide range of art classes. Treat yourself to one this spring: https://continuingstudies.wisc.edu/art