UW System on Display
Brittingham Art Invitational features talent of UW visual artists
By Erik Christianson

The works of UW System visual artists are on display through April 2002 as part of the first Brittingham Art Invitational.

The invitational showcases selected pieces of artwork from 17 art faculty and instructors throughout the 26-campus university system, says UW System President Katharine Lyall.

"We have a tremendous amount of talent in our art departments on all of our four-year and two-year campuses, and the Brittingham Art Invitational is a wonderful opportunity to display this talent to the state," Lyall says.

UW System artists were invited to submit artwork for consideration last spring. A selection committee chose the final pieces to be exhibited. The 46 pieces of art are displayed at Brittingham House, the official residence of the UW System president, and in the UW System office space at Van Hise Hall on the UW-Madison campus.

"It seems particularly appropriate for these works to be exhibited in a university system setting," says Guest Curator Christie Charbonneau Wells, an oil painter and former curator of the Indiana State University Permanent Art Collection.

"For the individual artist, creating art often involves an immersion in self that can be an isolating experience. This exhibition provides an important opportunity to view current work and establish a dialogue among artists and a broader community."

The artwork includes a wide variety of media and stylistic approaches, including ceramics, drawings, etchings, lithographs, paintings, photographs, printmaking, textiles, weaving and woodcuts.

The artists chosen for the Brittingham Art Invitational are:

• Susan Batts, graduate student and teaching assistant, UW-Madison;
• Marna Goldstein Brauner, professor of art, UW-Milwaukee;
• Morgan Clifford, professor of art, UW-River Falls;
• Joel Elgin, associate professor of art, UW-La Crosse;
• Alan Goldsmith, assistant professor of graphic design, web design and flash animation and computer illustration, UW-Parkside;
• David Heberlein, associate professor of art, UW-River Falls;
• Li Hu, associate professor of art, UW-Oshkosh;
• Edwin Jager, assistant professor of art, UW-Oshkosh;
• Jake Keeler, graduate student and teaching assistant, UW-Madison;
• Deirdre Monk, assistant professor of art, UW-Eau Claire;
• Susan Morrison, assistant professor of art, UW-Stevens Point;
• Michael Padgett, associate professor of art and department chair, UW-River Falls;
• Gail Panske, associate professor of art, UW-Oshkosh;
• Donald Howard Ruedy, professor of art and department chair, UW-Barron County;
• Elaine Scheer, associate professor of art and graduate department chair, UW-Madison;
• Ron Weaver, professor of art, UW-Oshkosh;
• Jennifer Williams, assistant professor of art, UW-La Crosse.

The artists were honored at an opening reception for the Brittingham Art Invitational on Sept. 6 at Brittingham House. The artwork can be viewed online at www.wisconsin.edu/art.

This woodcut from Gail Panske, associate professor of art at UW-Oshkosh, is titled Templum Sequences (B). It is one of 46 pieces on display at Brittingham House and Van Hise Hall as part of the Brittingham Art Invitational.