Images of women in Curtis’s masterful collection express strength and character. Women were photographed going about the plethora of daily activities that kept everyone fed, clean, and cared for, including gathering food and firewood, cleaning game, cooking, fetching water, and caring for their children – not to mention home repairs when needed. They also posed for Curtis wearing everything from their most elegant wedding attire to plain work clothes.

Image: Edward S. Curtis (America, 1868-1952), A Heavy Load-Sioux, 1908, volume 3, plate 100, photogravure on Dutch Van Gelder paper, 15 11/16×11 3/4 in., gift of the Dubuque Cultural Preservation Committe, 2009.11.100

New York-based textile artist, Larry Schulte brought his unique pattern-focused artwork to the Tri-States. Larry is originally from Nebraska and has a mathematics background – he was a math professor before becoming an artist. Mathematical phenomenon like the Fibonacci Sequence (a mathematical sequence of numbers found throughtout nature where the next number in the sequence is the sum of the two numbers preceding it) influences the order found in his paintings.

Image: Larry Schulte (b. 1949), HOTTS 42395, 1995, woven painted paper, 34×34 in., collection of the artist

An amuse bouche of panoramic Dubuque area images from Dr. Abdul Sinno’s sweeping collection of images along the Mississippi River were featured on the second floor balcony area. For the past several years, Dr. Sinno has been photographing scenes of Dubuque, the Mississippi and towns along its path.

Dr. Sinno’s work is exhibited in art galleries, museums, and other fine art outlets throughout the Midwest. He is a featured motivational speaker, author, and workshop leader. Dr. Sinno holds a Ph.D. in mass communication from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Currently he is a full professor of communication and the chair of the department at Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa.

Image: Abdul Sinno, The Mississippi Highway, Fall 2006, panoramic photograph, 13×43 in., collection of the artist.

Once again, the Museum was pleased to present original, hand-colored etching illustrations by Arthur Geisert from one of his recent children’s books, Oops! published in 2006 by Houghton Mifflin. This wordless book tells the story of cause and effect as a family of pigs starts off innocently one morning eating breakfast when a glass of spilled milk causes a chain reaction of events that eventually leads to a giant boulder falling on the house, leaving the family without a house but with each other.

Though born and educated in California, Arthur has lived in the mid-west for the majority of his artistic career – in Galena, Illinois and now in Bernard, Iowa. Geisert has illustrated 22 children’s books for which he has received numerous awards including one bestowed by the NY Times for Best Illustrated Book. His humorous cartoons (for adults), also appear in the New Yorker magazine.

Image: Arthur Geisert, Oops, p. 3, 2006, hand-colored, copper plate etching on BFK Rives paper

Working as a photography file clerk for the Farm Security Administration in 1936, Minnesotan John Vachon came under the spell of some of the finest photographers in the country who were hired by the government during the Great Depression years to document the lives of rural Americans. As part of his assignments, Vachon came to Dubuque in April 1940. His Dubuque series is part of the Museum’s permanent collection thanks to the generosity of Bill and Barbara Kruse.

The hallmark of Vachon’s style of photography is the portrayal of real people and places encountered on the street, unembellished by air brushing, staging, or other beautifying devices. Vachon became a staff photographer for Life magazine, where he worked from 1947 to 1949, and for over twenty-five years beginning in 1947 at Look magazine. When Look closed in 1971 he became a freelance photographer. He died in 1975 in New York at age 60.

Image: John Vachon, Resident of Shack Town, 1940, black and white photograph, gift of William G. & Barbara Kruse, 00.08.40

One of Dubuque’s first families of art, this exhibition was a mix of contemporary and earlier artwork from the Frederick Bissell Jr. family, exploring their shared artistic talents and love of nostalgia. Works from Frederick, his wife Susan Adams-Bissell, sons John and Fred, and daughter Susie Bissell-Mansfield were presented. Frederick Bissell (1910-1983) taught history at his alma mater Harvard from 1933-1937 and was employed at Caradco for 30 years. He enjoyed painting in his spare time and always encouraged his children in art. Susan Adams-Bissell (1906-1999) had little formal training as an artist; however she attended the Stone City art colony under the tutelage of Iowa Regionalist artists Grant Wood and Marvin Cone. She developed her innate artistic talent by painting scenes from her many travels in the states and abroad, and by copying images by master artists that she found in magazines. She also enjoyed holding painting and sculpting classes at the family home on Alpine Street. John Bissell was born in 1938 and received degrees from the Kansas City Art Institute and the University of Iowa. He worked in graphic design for 16 years and has been a successful, full-time artist in Dubuque since 1984, where he holds a much anticipated invitation-only sale of his paintings every year. Fred Bissell (b. 1940) only dabbled in the visual arts, like his father, and yet he too exhibited artistic talent. He lives in Dubuque and owns Alpine Tennis and Fitness. Susie Bissell-Mansfield was born in 1942 and has a studio in Norwood, Colorado where she works as a full-time artist. Like her mother, she received no formal training in art. However, growing up in a family that encouraged artistic endeavors and attending painting and sculpting workshops throughout her childhood and as an adult, Mansfield is also a successful artist.

Image: John Bissell, Dubuque Brewing and Malting Company, 2009, watercolor

Innovations by women printmakers contributed significantly to all phases of the development of color printmaking techniques in America during the first half of the twentieth century. From Mary Cassatt’s early experiments in color intaglio to June Wayne’s lasting legacy in lithography, we see that women fueled much of the development in this field. This exhibition of sixty prints, in cooperation with Loras College, surveyed these achievements through the works of more than fifty American women artists over a period of seventy years from the collection of Belverd and Marian Needles.

Image: Mary Cassatt, By the Pond, ca.1898, color etching on paper, 13×16 3/4 in.

The process of painting was examined and brought to life in 10 new works by artist, Ben Marxen. Video forms combined with traditional painting which in turn combined seemlessly with a 3-D sculptural continuation of the form into the viewers space. These combinations of forms created a living work of art that generated before your eyes and figuratively jumped off the wall. Originally from Dubuque, Marxen lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Image: Ben Marxen, Complexity Irreducible (Green), 2009, o il, aqua-resin, LCD monitor, Plexiglas, and new media, 24×33 ¾x6 ½ in., collection of the artist

One of a series of four books illustrated by master printmaker, Arthur Geisert, with text by Bonnie Geisert exploring the life in four fictional but very familiar small towns. Mountain Town, River Town, Desert Town, and Prairie Town show the daily lives of the residents in these small towns throughout the year as they deal with the unique climate and geography of their areas and enjoy the company of their neighbors.

Image: Arthur Geisert (America, b. 1941), Prairie Town, publication (hardcover), 1998, 11 1/4×8 1/4 in., The Arthur Geisert Collection. Gift of Arthur Geisert and Bonnie Geisert, made possible by Jack & Mantea Schmid. 03.01.185

Continuing our series of mini exhibitions of work by one of the earliest Dubuque artists, Joseph Walter (Austria 1865 – Dubuque 1946), the museum is proud to present this final exhibition leading up to a retrospective next year. Walter’s beautiful still life paintings will be featured. They are some of this talented artist’s best works.

Image: Joseph Walter (American born in Austria, 1865-1946), The Grapes, 1900, oil on canvas, 31×39 in., Private collection

The second Dubuque Museum of Art Biennial Juried Exhibition featured the best work of the some of the most talented artists in a 200 mile radius of Dubuque. The quality and variety of regional artwork is the highlight of this popular exhibition. This year’s juror was Michael Gerber, curator and owner of Gruen Galleries located in Chicago’s River North gallery district. Gruen, a fixture among Chicago galleries, specializes in contemporary art and African sculpture.

The artists included in the 2009 Biennial were:
Heather L. O’Neil – Dubuque, IA….1ST PLACE AWARD
Fred Easker – Cedar Rapids, IA….2ND PLACE AWARD
Jessica Rebik – Dubuque, IA….3RD PLACE AWARD
Stephen Gassman – Platteville, WI….HONORABLE MENTION AWARD
Jenny Harms – Dubuque, IA….HONORABLE MENTION AWARD
Michelle Rial – Serena, IL….HONORABLE MENTION AWARD
John F. Walté – Highland, WI….HONORABLE MENTION AWARD
Helen Anderson – Lancaster, WI; Bekah Ash – Iowa City, IA
Marcia Babler – Libertyville, IL; Maureen Bardusk – Galena, IL
Mary Snyder Behrens – Dysart, IA; Beth Bird – Galena, IL
Tam Bodkin Bryk – Iowa City, IA; Cynthia Nelms-Byrne – Dubuque, IA
Erin Lenore Cowan – Stockton, IL; Velga Easker – Cedar Rapids, IA
Stephanie Failmezger – Peosta, IA; Alison Filley – Iowa City, IA
Delores Fortuna – Galena, IL; Jewel Gwaltney – Quincy, IL
Debbie Horch – Dubuque, IA; Raphael Iaccarino – Davenport, IA
Karen Kurka Jensen – Cedar Rapids, IA; Megan Kalmes – Bellevue, IA
Alda Kaufman – Dubuque, IA; Gordon Kellenberger – Amana, IA
Jenny Knavel – Sleepy Hollow, IL; Keith Lemley – Madison, WI
Susan Long – Bettendorf, IA; Pauline Maloney – Dubuque, IA
Harold Martin – Galena, IL; Dawn Wohlford-Metallo – Bettendorf, IA
Nikolaus Miesing – Galena, IL; Bret Miller – Waterloo, IA
Robert D. Peterson – Cedar Rapids, IA; Mary Phelan – Chicago, IL
Nancy Reid – Gilberts, IL; Tom Sheppard – Decorah, IA
S. Richard Shook – Slater, IA; Steve Sinner – Bettendorf, IA
Corrine Smith – Rock Island, IL; Delmar M. Stevens – Peosta, IA
Thomas Jewell-Vitale – Dubuque, IA; Marcia Wegman – Iowa City, IA
RoseAnn Wilgenbusch – Dubuque, IA

In this exhibition, New Views: Frederick Jones, James Walker Henry, and Kent Hammond, three contemporary artists presented new views from today’s art world with a visually stimulating mix of abstraction, surrealism, and originality. Each artist presented a new way of looking at and understanding the world around us.

Three digital photography collages by Frederick Jones explored the inevitable passing of time and the cycle of life through observations of nature. His studies of time are intriguing and profound, using familiar objects like trees, cornfields, and dandelions in place of calendars and clocks. Among his many educational accomplishments, Jones received his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He is retired from teaching at Western Illinois University where he developed the Silkscreen and Computer Generated Art programs. He lives in Macomb, Illinois.

James Walker Henry paints Surrealist images full of intense color and compelling imagery. He selects current political and social events that affect him personally and emotionally to inspire his work and is, therefore, never at a loss for subject matter. His colorful, fantastical scenes momentarily camouflage powerful undertones of disenchantment and despair. Henry graduated from Southeastern Community College. He lives in Burlington, Iowa.

Kent Hammond is originally from Dubuque, Iowa – a graduate of Hempstead High School. Now living in Los Angeles, his large abstracts provide a glimpse into the dynamic, contemporary west coast art scene. He creates self-governing spaces that encourage “looking, thinking, and evaluating.” Of his paintings, he writes “[t]hey are inquisitive yet timid, clumsy yet magnificent, calculated yet informal.” Hammond graduated from the University of Iowa and received his MFA from Claremont College in California. He is currently on the faculty at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and maintains a studio in Los Angeles.

Image: Frederick Jones, Tree Time II, 2002-03, digital photograph, 23×57 in., collection of the artist;