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Professors Shimon, Lindemann honored with Wisconsin Visual Art Achievement Award

The creative accomplishments of Lawrence University faculty members, photographers and creative partners John Shimon and Julie Lindemann have been recognized with a Wisconsin Visual Art Achievement Award (WVAAA).

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John Shimon and Julie Lindemann were among the 2015 recipients of a Wisconsin Visual Art Achievement Award.

Awarded annually since 2004, the WVAAAs were created to honor artists who have contributed to the wealth of creativity in Wisconsin and to educate the public about the region’s rich artistic history.

The award was presented Sunday, May 24 at the Museum of Wisconsin Art (MOWA) in West Bend, where a retrospective of Shimon and Lindemann’s work titled “There’s a Place: A Three Decade Survey of Photographs by J. Shimon and J. Lindemann,” runs until June 7. They were two of 13 visual artists to receive the award this year.

Art historian Debra Brehmer, director of Milwaukee’s Portrait Society Gallery, accepted the award on Shimon’s and Lindemann’s behalf. She offered a David Letterman-like Top 10 list of things she learned from them in accepting their award.

The artistic duo has long been interested in blending contemporary and historic photographic techniques to tell meaningful stories about ordinary people in their native Wisconsin. By combining old and new photography techniques, Shimon and Lindemann have created a compelling, at times melancholy, body of work. Although rooted in Wisconsin, their images are neither regional nor documentary but deeply personal, reflecting slow, thoughtful meditations on relationships that reveal the human experience.

Associate Professors of Art, Shimon and Lindemann joined the Lawrence faculty in 2000. They were recognized with Lawrence’s Faculty Excellence in Creative Activity Award 2012 and were named 2014 Wisconsin “Artists of the Year” by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Their photographs are featured in numerous museums including MOWA, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art and the Milwaukee Art Museum.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2015 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

 

 

Photographic retrospective by Lawrence art professors Shimon and Lindemann offers intimate look at life in Wisconsin

The photography of Lawrence University faculty members and creative partners John Shimon and Julie Lindemann is currently featured in a retrospective of their work at the Wisconsin Museum of Art (MOWA) in West Bend.

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Jeri with her 1956 Pink Cadillac, Green Bay, Wisconsin, 2013.

The exhibition, “There’s a Place: A Three Decade Survey of Photographs by J. Shimon and J. Lindemann,” will be presented through June 7.

The largest exhibition of their work to date and their first retrospective, it highlights the artistic duo’s long-standing interest in blending contemporary and historic photographic techniques to tell meaningful stories about ordinary people in their native Wisconsin.

Blending old and new photography techniques, Shimon and Lindemann have created a compelling, at times melancholy, body of work that stands as a record of their time. Although rooted in Wisconsin, Shimon’s and Lindemann’s images are neither regional nor documentary but deeply personal, reflecting slow, thoughtful meditations on relationships that reveal the human experience.

“A retrospective of Shimon and Lindemann’s work was an obvious choice for the Museum of Wisconsin Art,” said Laurie Winters, MOWA Executive Director and CEO. “Their work is original and thought provoking. Long before regionalism was hip or the word ‘place-making’ had become fashionable in the art world, Shimon and Lindemann had quietly been making photographs of the people and places they cared about in and around their hometown of Manitowoc.”

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Angela with Kit (Blue Velvet Prom Dress), Reedsville, WI, 1997.

Associate Professors of Art, Shimon and Lindemann joined the Lawrence faculty in 2000. They were recognized with Lawrence’s faculty Excellence in Creative Activity Award 2012 and were named 2014 Wisconsin “Artists of the Year” by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Their photographs are featured in numerous museums including MOWA, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art and the Milwaukee Art Museum.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2015 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

Arthur Thrall 1926-2015: Earned international acclaim for his painting, printmaking

Professor Emeritus of Art and former Charles S. Farrar-Laura Norcross Marrs Professor of Fine Arts Arthur Thrall died Wednesday, March 11 in Milwaukee after a battle with cancer. He was 88, a week shy of his 89th birthday.

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Professor Emeritus of Art Arthur Thrall received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of American Graphic Artists in 2013. Photo by Wade Thrall.

A dedicated teacher, distinguished painter, award-winning printmaker and die-hard Chicago Cubs fan, Thrall was one of 21 members of the Milwaukee-Downer College faculty who came to Lawrence in 1964 as part of the consolidation with the former all-women’s college. He began a 34-year teaching career in 1956 at Milwaukee-Downer and spent 26 years at Lawrence before retiring in 1990. He remained an active artist in retirement, creating paintings and prints in his studio in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood.

As an educator, Thrall was respected by students and peers alike for his imagination, patience, encouraging nature and high standards. Dedicated to arts education, his artwork embodied the interdisciplinary nature of a Lawrence education. He often incorporated diverse visual ideas from music, languages, science and literature into his prints and paintings.

Whether in the art studio, the classroom or the faculty committee, Thrall was passionate about the role and importance of art to the Lawrence, as well as the greater, community. He generously contributed his expertise and experience to the creation of the Wriston Art Center.

In addition to Milwaukee-Downer and Lawrence, Thrall held teaching positions in the Kenosha School District and the State University New York-Geneseo. He also taught classes in Finland, London and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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“Oval 10,” a 1971 etching commissioned by the Wisconsin Arts Council, is one of several works Arthur Thrall donated to Lawrence’s Wriston Art Center’s permanent collection.

As an artist with an international reputation, Thrall drew inspiration from sources as diverse as calligraphy and computers, music and microchips. His artwork has appeared in more than 500 exhibitions as well as the White House and is included in the permanent collections of the British Museum, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, the Tate Gallery, the Smithsonian Institute, the Library of Congress and the Chicago Art Institute, among others.

He was recognized by the art community with more than 75 awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of American Graphic Artists in New York in 2013, the Museum of Wisconsin Art’s Wisconsin Visual Art Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011, the 1984 “Artist of the Year” designation by the Wisconsin Foundation for the Arts and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Fellowship in Printmaking.

A native of Milwaukee, he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UW-Milwaukee and did additional post-graduate study at the University of Illinois, UW-Madison and Ohio State University.

Thrall is survived by his wife Win, former art director at Lawrence, Shorewood, and four children: Grant (Shelly), Minneapolis; Wade (Terese), Chicago; Sara Cortese (Mark), Philadelphia; and Jay, Afton, Minn. He is further survived by seven grandchildren.

The family will greet friends Sunday, March 22 from 1–5 p.m. at Northshore Funeral Services, 3601 N. Oakland Ave.
, Milwaukee. A memorial service celebrating his life will be held May 9 from 1-5 p.m. at the Charles Allis Art Museum, 1801 N. Prospect Ave., Milwaukee. Memorial gifts may be directed to Lawrence University, for the Arthur A. Thrall Student Travel Fund, 711 E. Boldt Way, Appleton, WI 54911 or the Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2015 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

Lawrence Professors Lindemann, Shimon Named Wisconsin’s 2014 Artists of the Year

Photographers Julie Lindemann and John Shimon, associate professors of art, have been named Wisconsin’s Artists of the Year for 2014 by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel art critic Mary Louise Schumacher.

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Photographers John Shimon and Julie Lindemann were named Wisconsin Artists of the Year for 2014 by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s art critic.

Among their contributions to the state art scene was their installation “We Go From Where We Know” at the John Michal Kohler Arts Center as part of it’s “Connecting Communities” program.

Centered around a 1949 Nash automobile filled with hand-cast concrete corncobs, the project explored the idiosyncrasies of Wisconsin as place.

Their work has been featured in more than 90 solo and group exhibitions in venues ranging from the Art Institute of Chicago to the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego and their photographs are part of 15 permanent collections, including the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Wisconsin State Historical Society.

Lindemann and Shimon also have authored five books and catalogs of their work, the most successful of which is their artistic tribute to the aluminum Christmas tree, many of which were produced in their adopted hometown of Manitowoc.

The book, “Season’s Gleamings,” generated national attention when it was published in 2004, resulting in stories in the New York Times and USA Today and featured segments on CNN and “CBS Sunday Morning.”

They have collaborated professionally as artists for 30 years and have shared a classroom as teaching partners for 27 years. They first joined the Lawrence faculty in 2000 as visiting instructors and five years later were given a tenure-track appointment.

They were recognized at 2012’s commencement ceremonies with Lawrence’s faculty award for Excellence in Creative Activity.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2015 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

Lawrence Celebrates the Life of Professor Emeritus E. Dane Purdo Oct. 26

A memorial service celebrating the life and career of Lawrence University Professor Emeritus of Art E. Dane Purdo will be held Sunday, Oct. 26 at 1 p.m. in the Wriston Art Center.

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Professor Emeritus of Art E. Dane Purdo, 1926-2014.

An accomplished silversmith, Purdo taught at Lawrence from 1964-91. A Fox Cities resident in retirement, he passed away Aug. 19 at the age of 88.

He enjoyed a productive 36-year teaching career that began in 1955 at Milwaukee-Downer as both studio artist and art historian. After the consolidation, he taught courses in metals and ceramics in Lawrence’s art department until his retirement.

A native of Detroit, Purdo was an accomplished silversmith and his creations include Lawrence’s Faculty Marshal Mace carried at the head of formal academic processions as well as the Presidential Chain of Office and usher batons.

His craftsmanship was admired for its carefully controlled contours, perfect balance between convex forms and concave outlines and mirror-smooth surfaces. “Simplicity is the essence of good taste” is how he once described the philosophy behind his art. He was renowned for his ability to blend textures with modern balance and novel lines. His creations ranged from stunning jewelry to ecclesiastical chalices and were exhibited throughout the United States and Europe.

A recipient of a 1956 Fulbright grant, which he used to pursue his interests in silversmithing at the Royal College of Art in London, Purdo holds the distinction of becoming the first American to register his hallmark at Goldsmith Hall.

Read more about Professor Purdo.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2015 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

Artist Alice King Case Passes Away, Taught Art at Lawrence for 20 Years

Long-time Lawrence University art department instructor Alice King Case died peacefully Monday, Dec. 16 at Appleton’s St. Elizabeth Hospital following a brief illness. She was 76.

Alice_King_Case_newsblogAn accomplished artist who specialized in drawing, collage and abstract painting, Case joined the Lawrence art department in 1980 after teaching art classes in suburban Chicago for 21 years. Through her initiative and insistence, Lawrence introduced computer-assisted art courses to the department curriculum in 1987.

In addition to teaching, she directed Lawrence’s art education program, supervising the certification of nearly 50 future art teachers before retiring in 2000. She remained in Appleton in retirement and continued to teach an occasional figure drawing class or tutorial for another four years. Upon her retirement, Case said Lawrence had “changed her life. It was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Born in Pittsburgh in 1937, Case lived a bit of a nomadic childhood, living in seven different states by the age of 16 before settling in the Chicago area, which she called home until she moved to Appleton in 1980.

She was a two-time recipient of Artist-in-Residency awards to the Vermont Studio Center, one of the country’s leading creative communities for working artists. Her art was showcased in national juried and invitational exhibitions in more than 30 galleries across the country and several of her works were used as compact disc covers for Lawrence Conservatory ensemble recordings.

Alice earned a bachelor’s degree in studio art at Coe College and pursued graduate studies at Northern Illinois University and Bennington College through the Massachusetts College of Art.

She is survived by two daughters, Cathleen Robertson, Appleton, and Marianne Case, Milwaukee.

A time of visitation will be held at Wichmann Funeral Home, 537 N. Superior St., Appleton, on Thursday, Dec. 19 from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. with a prayer service to follow. The funeral liturgy will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 20 at St. Bernard Catholic Church, 1617 W. Pine St., Appleton. An additional time of visitation will be held at the church from 10 a.m. until the time of service.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2014 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

 

Former Lawrence University Art Professor Recognized with Lifetime Achievement Award

For the second time in two years, Arthur Thrall, Professor Emeritus of Art and former Charles S. Farrar-Laura Norcross Marrs Professor of Fine Arts, will be honored with a lifetime achievement award.

The Society of American Graphic Artists (SAGA) Council of New York City recently announced it will recognize Thrall with a Lifetime Achievement Award in honor of his distinguished career as a printmaker. Thrall was invited to be a SAGA member in the 1950s.

A grouping of Thrall’s work will be exhibited at SAGA’s 80th anniversary at the Delind Gallery in Milwaukee during the Southern Graphics Council International Conference beginning March 22, 2013.

In May, 2011, Thrall was recognized by the Museum of Wisconsin Art with the Wisconsin Visual Art Lifetime Achievement Award.

Thrall joined the Lawrence art department in 1964 following the consolidation with Milwaukee Downer College, where he had been a faculty member since 1956.  He retired from Lawrence in 1990, but remained an active artist in retirement in Milwaukee.

A painter and printmaker with an international reputation, Thrall has been the recipient of more than 75 awards, including “Artist of the Year” honors in 1984 by the Wisconsin Foundation for the Arts and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Fellowship in Printmaking.

His works have appeared in more than 500 exhibitions as well as the White House and are included in the permanent collections of the British Museum, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, the Tate Gallery in England, the Smithsonian Institute, the Library of Congress and the Chicago Art Institute, among others.

SAGA is a nonprofit national organization of fine art printmakers that was founded in 1915. During its history, its membership has included most of America’s foremost printmakers.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a world-class conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2013 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,450 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries. Follow Lawrence on Facebook.