It takes much energy and effort to mount an exhibition of this nature by a volunteer organization, particularly when time and distance factor into the equation.

The Wisconsin Painters and Sculptors were founded in 1900 to promote the arts of Wisconsin. With this mission, they have mounted many years of exhibitions that showcased the work of members and other Wisconsin artists. These juried exhibitions rotate around the state in a manner that provides access for different geographical regions. The group last showed at Rahr-West Art Museum in 1989. In the current selection of work there are some familiar names, but many more have changed since that period. Some of the familiar work has changed, too.

At one time, there may have been some vein of commonality that made Wisconsin art readily identifiable. Tying art together by a geographic region might have strengthened its identity and presentation. However, as more artists have received a broad education, and information in the arts and about the world has gained widespread access, the boundaries of ideas have expanded beyond their characteristic regions. The theory of cohesion by geography today seems to loosely bind a group by some means of camaraderie, but individuality reigns in their visual presentation.

This exhibition offers a survey of work created by artists from Wisconsin, but it cannot be labeled work that is representative of Wisconsin. The ideas in many instances are derived from nature, but they are global and universal rather than regional in scope. Each artist presents a unique visual language to decipher.

Wisconsin Painters and Sculptors has diligently worked to allow these visual voices to surface and I thank them for collaborating on this exhibition. I would particularly like to recognize the monumental efforts of Gary John Gresl, as acting president of the organization and Sally Gauger Jensen, as well as a handful of other volunteers who have coordinated this juried exhibition. Additionally, I would like to thank members of the Rahr-West Art Museum staff. Dan Juchniewich, the assistant director, has carefully accounted for every work entered, and Jane Wessel, the administrative assistant, created the catalog, postcard and labeling for all material. Many hours of preparation create a seamless presentation, and create an atmosphere of comfort. The results of these efforts pay tribute to the endurance of the Wisconsin Painters and Sculptors organization to provide a forum for encouraging the creative searches of individual artists throughout the state.

The Wisconsin Artists Biennial is part of a tradition that goes back to the year 1900, when a group of Milwaukee area artists formed an organization that was to become Wisconsin Painters & Sculptors. Indeed! WP&S celebrated its 100th anniversary with its Centennial Exhibition in the year 2000.

Besides exhibits of members' work, WP&S also had established years ago a biannual show for any resident artist of Wisconsin. These had been titled "Exhibition 62," "Exhibition 63," etc., not denoting the year in which they were held, but their numerical order as time progressed. During the 1980s, these major biannual statewide exhibitions were retitled the Wisconsin Artists Biennial, a name WP&S registered with the state government.

It is significant that these exhibits are for "all" state artists, not just WP&S members. This outreach has been part of the mission of our organization, which is to try to help a broad range of artists and to expose their work to a broad public. It is also significant that the Biennial has no permanent venue, but moves every two years to a quality exhibition space in different parts of Wisconsin. This benefits a wider range of citizens, but means more effort in production.

Not all artists want to attempt to face a jury for an exhibit of this sort. Despite that fact, it has always been true that high quality work emerges through the Biennial. Truly, there are never enough opportunities and venues for good work to gain display space, so there continues to be a need for artists to enter these juried shows.

For this 2001 Biennial we have many persons to thank. Special thanks to Jan Smith, director of the Rahr-West Art Museum, for her support and assistance in organizing the show; to Dan Juchniewich, assistant director, with good humor the installer of these varied pieces; and Jane Wessel of the Rahr-West staff who is commended for her design and production of the catalog and announcements. Thank you to Sally Gauger Jensen, long-time WP&S activist and exhibition chair; to Peg Haubert, preceding WP&S president; to the chairs of all three WP&S Chapters: Peggy Flora Zalucha, Donna Elliott and Steve Ballard. We appreciate the work of our jurors, Frank Lewis and Bob Mejer, as well as the participants of our panel discussion on regional art, James Auer, Tom Lidtke, and Michael Flanagan.

We greatly thank the Jane B. Petit Foundation and the Meyer J. and Norma L. Ragir Foundation for their continued large grants and support of WP&S for many years. For this Biennial, we also have several contributors of merchandise awards who are acknow-ledged elsewhere. In January this exhibit will be carried to the Anderson Art Center in Kenosha, with an opening to take place on January 20. A heartfelt thanks goes out to the Anderson staff for their interest and assistance.

Finally, but probably foremost, thank you to the artists who provided their work to the Biennial jurying process. Art making is a very personal endeavor, requiring a degree of bravery when one gives up work to a juror with the potential for it to be juried out of any show. The artists who made the attempt but who were juried out are likely to be no less dedicated and talented than those whose work the jurors chose. These artists are highly commended and thanked for their assistance in creating this exhibit.

I am honored to serve as one of the jurors of selection and awards for the 2002 Wisconsin Artists Biennial Exhibition at the Rahr-West Art Museum in Manitowoc.

The process I used for jurying the slides involved two days and four separate viewings. Using the numerical rating system provided to me by WP&S, with 2 being the lowest and 10 the highest, I set out to select the best work from those submitted slides.

To jury an exhibition from slides is a difficult task, for slides are a poor substitute for the actual work. Making quality evaluations from slides can be deceiving in that it is difficult to judge the actual scale of a work of art, medium used, its texture or true color. Poorly shot slides (underexposed, not evenly lit, distracting background, wrong film for color balance) hinders the process even more. I tried to be inclusive, demonstrating the diversity of stylistic approaches, subjects and media while upholding a standard of excellence in the work chosen for the exhibition.

I sought work that did not deal with the stereotypical cliché, and did not seem safe and focused only on technique, looking instead for those images that were provocative, showed risk-taking, and were original in idea and execution.

The criteria I used in making selections include:

1. Seriousness of Purpose - a sense of authority related to the artist's intent;
2. Visual/Design Impact - gestalt and dynamic interplay between the elements of art;
3. Originality/Freshness of Vision - to realize a personal view or a sense of "self";
4. Content/Heart/Soul - that which reaches beyond the surface and invites the viewer to explore the artwork further, to make connections;
5. Craftsmanship/Skill/Technical Inventiveness - a work that reflects honesty in approach, technical sureness and eloquence, and appropriateness of medium to idea.

I congratulate the Wisconsin Painters & Sculptors for giving their time, support and energies in providing artists a forum with the community in which to exhibit, sell and share their works of insight and love.

Frank C. Lewis
Director of Exhibitions and Curator of the Collections,
The Wriston Art Galleries, Lawrence University

Pluralism, eclecticism, and postmodernism, a few of the prevailing trends in art for the last 20 years or so, have certainly had some negative impact on the art world. But on a more positive note, these approaches have allowed artists to pursue a variety of directions and strategies freed from the demands to be new or shocking simply for its own sake. This freedom, a welcome relief from the monolithic straight jacket often imposed by an earlier "modernism" was clearly evinced in the work that I had the pleasure of reviewing for this most recent WP&S annual juried exhibition.

As I viewed the slides for the first time I came to the realization that my task of culling the works to a manageable number would be more difficult in light of the overall high quality of the submitted work. On the other hand that quality encouraged me in the desire to apply the highest critical standards for acceptance into an exhibition meant to represent Wisconsin art. For the first time in a number of years I felt both the freedom and the encouragement to be a "tough" juror. I looked for, not as is often the case, simply a representative sample of works submitted but demanded instead the best and most accomplished examples of work for display and recognition. Such rigor was my way of rewarding all of the artists of Wisconsin who have worked so diligently and, despite the Herculean efforts of organizations like WP&S, often in relative obscurity to produce works that speak in a variety of styles and media to the human experience.

Jurors often state that good works have to be eliminated for logistical, space-related reasons and that is always the case. But it is more important to acknowledge that eliminating good works enables the best to shine more brightly. Rejecting those that are just good enough should encourage everyone to strive for greatness, a quality that is very much needed in our present environment.

At the same time that I was reviewing the works in the present exhibition I was also organizing a small retrospective exhibition of the work of Emily Groom, a founding member of WP&S. I wondered as I looked at the variety and quality of contemporary work, if Ms. Groom and her colleagues could have foreseen the impact that their organization would have on art in Wisconsin. I am sure that if the founding members were able to survey the present exhibition, they would feel both proud and challenged.