By Donna Schuld
Correspondent
GREEN BAY – The Green Bay Art Colony (GBAC) has a collection of 36 pieces of art on display at the Neville Public Museum in Green Bay.
Now in its 106th year, this all-female organization brings together artists specializing in ceramics, painting, photography, fiber arts, sculpture, mixed media and more.
This year’s juried exhibition, dubbed “Art Gone Viral,” takes up 2,300 square feet of gallery space in the museum’s upper level.
Beth Kowalski-Lemke, executive director of the Neville Public Museum, called today’s GBAC members “the most dedicated group of women that all have different styles, but all come together to support each other.”
“What’s really cool is that we’ve gotten to really know each of the artists,” she said. “They have their own expressions, but they also pay tribute to that rich history of bringing the world to Green Bay.”
GBAC President, Laura Fisher-Bonvallet said the past year was a challenging one for everyone, including artists.
“I know there are some of our members who have had great personal losses this year, I mean enormous personal losses,” said Fisher-Bonvallet. “And they have submitted the maximum number of pieces. And it has reflected in their art as a healing process. And then there are others who haven’t had such great losses, but are just in kind of a funky place, and they just don’t feel like doing much. I think it’s a real individual thing.”
Fisher-Bonvallet, an artist who works with fiber materials, has two pieces in the exhibition.
Her piece named, “Polarized,” took first place.
The wearable artwork contains a combination of materials in black, white and shades in-between.
“I was pretty surprised,” she said. “I really struggled to come up with something. I wanted to do something in that media and I tried several different things. I just got so fed up with the whole mask-no-mask controversy and how politicized everything became, and I was just so upset about that. So that’s how this piece came to be.”
Bringing artwork into the Neville doesn’t happen overnight.
Kowalski-Lemke gives credit to Kevin Cullen, deputy director, and Maggie Dernehl, fabrication technician, for putting each piece of art in its proper place within the gallery.
“All of the artwork had to be submitted between Thanksgiving and early December,” Kowalski-Lemke said. “Then the juror got a chance to see all the pieces and made her selection and formalized her juror statement. From there the artwork comes in during the course of a day or two. It gets in a holding position and then Maggie, who is our most amazing technician, can usually hang this in about three days and an extra day to set the lighting. She tries to balance out the experience throughout the space.”
Kowalski-Lemke and Fisher-Bonvallet said they understand some may be nervous about coming into a gallery, but the Neville has good measures in place.
“Nothing takes the place of seeing art in person,” Fisher-Bonvallet said. “You can stop and study it. If it’s a 3D piece you can walk all the way around it and study it and try to see what the artist is seeing. You might have questions on how this was created or how that was painted. You just can’t see that in a virtual representation. Art in person is an emotional experience you just don’t get virtually.”
The “Art Gone Viral” exhibit will remain open at the Neville Public Museum through March 14.
Visit NevillePublicMuseum.org for ticket prices, artist profiles and information about art pieces for sale.