Milwaukee-based Artist Contributes to All the Buzz

April 14, 2010 - PRLog -- Carrying the insect theme throughout the Racine Art Museum is The Insectopedia of JoAnna Poehlmann http://www.ramart.org/ram/JoAnna-Poehlmann.html open April 25 through September 26, 2010. This Milwaukee-based artist is known nationally and internationally for her meticulous draftsmanship, keen observation and intimate understanding of the natural world. For this exhibition, she has produced graphics and artists' books unified by the subject matter of insects.

Poehlmann's career recognition has been based on her early work in which she created detailed drawings, in pencil or silverpoint and watercolor, of a variety of floral and animal subjects. Since the early 1980s, Poehlmann has spent a great deal of her time making unique and limited edition books depicting human and animal subject matter, all marked by her masterly use of visual and verbal puns, usually encased in handmade folios that continue the overall theme. Many of these small-scale books depict famous figures from history and the arts or well-known works of art, whose images are copied from postage stamps produced by countries around the world.

JoAnna Poehlmann is an associate lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her work is included in the collections at The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the New York Public Library; the Museum for Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt, Germany; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; the Museum of Modern Art Library, New York; and Dartmouth College, New Hampshire.

On Friday, June 4, 2010 at 6:30 pm, JoAnna Poehlmann will guide visitors through a behind-the-scenes tour of Insectopedia with RAM Executive Director and Curator of Collections, Bruce W. Pepich. This event takes place during downtown Racine's Free First Friday in June, which includes free RAM admission and extended museum hours from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm. Visitors are encouraged to participate in a free family hands-on art event from 4:00 to 8:00 pm.

Also, Poehlmann will lead an one-day Workshop with the Masters on Saturday, June 5, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Entitled Bug Books, students will have the opportunity to join JoAnna as she shares her vast knowledge of nature, her technical skills as an illustrator and her talents as a bookmaker. Workshop fee is $80 for RAM Members and $100 for Non-Members. More information may be found online at http://www.ramart.org/ram/Workshop-with-the-Masters-JoAnn... or by calling RAM's Wustum Museum at 262.636.9177.


All the Buzz: Insects Invade RAM http://www.ramart.org/ram/All-the-Buzz-Insects-Invade-RAM...
This summer, the Racine Art Museum will be invaded by insects - as depicted by contemporary artists. RAM announces an exciting array of exhibitions and programming that feature these crawling, flying, hovering, and often times, beautiful creatures at both museum locations. RAM hosts Catherine Chalmers: American Cockroach, a mid-career survey of large-scale color photographic images and a number of recent videos that humanize these insects and call our attention to the preciousness of all life.

RAM also hosts Jennifer Angus: Patterns of Insect Life, an exhibition that illustrates the underrepresented inherent beauty of insects while exploring ideas of home and comfort.

Insects and Invaders in RAM's Collection presents artworks from RAM's significant permanent holdings that depict insects and a view of the natural environment. Works in a variety of craft media such as ceramics, metals and wood will be included. Eccentric Insects features installations of small-scale works by mid-career contemporary artists, working in fibers, glass and metal, who have created imaginative works depicting insects and insect imagery specifically for RAM's smaller Ruffo and Schumann Galleries.

The presentation of this exhibition at the Racine Art Museum was made possible by: Presenting Sponsors - Karen Johnson Boyd and William B. Boyd, RAM Society Members, S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., The Hearst Foundation, Inc., and Windgate Charitable Foundation; Gold Sponsors - Racine United Arts Fund, The Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation, and Wisconsin Arts Board; Silver Sponsors - Osborne and Scekic Family Foundation and Real Racine; Bronze Sponsors - E. C. Styberg Foundation, Inc., In Sink Erator, Midwest Contemporary Glass Art Group, and Target

# # #

The Racine Art Museum is one of North America's most significant contemporary craft museums. Its focus is on work from internationally recognized artists in ceramics, fibers, glass, metals and wood, as well as painting, sculpture and works on paper.