Bay Views

Maybe that’s why Bay View boasts one of the most active fine arts communities in the area. Amy Olson, a painter and co-founder of the Bay View Arts Guild, says the neighborhood’s character is a magnet for the creative set.

"The lake, our beautiful and varied architecture, and the strong sense of history," Olson notes, combine to produce a source of inspiration for artists. The guild started out sponsoring art walks featuring original art displayed in storefronts in Bay View’s business district. Low-cost housing began to attract artists looking for residential and studio space.

The Hide House, a former tannery rehabbed into contemporary loft studios, is another catalyst for the arts and is the creative home of celebrated artists like Shelby Keefe and Katie Musolff. Marc Sijan is a Bay View native and creates hyper-realist sculptures for museum and private collections around the world from his Delaware Street studio.

The South Shore Frolics Festival of Arts, held every July, is the guild’s most anticipated event.

In the ’Burg

Support from the community has helped Cedarburg evolve into a "creative vortex," says Pamela Ruschman, Cedarburg Artists Guild president. The Cedarburg Cultural Center, for example, provides The Main Street Gallery space, where guild members produce seven shows each year.

Cedarburg’s annual plein air art competition, with more than 160 artists working outside over a weekend in June, attracts tourists as well as artists. The event is sponsored by the guild, which now has more than 240 members from Ozaukee and Washington counties.

Renowned watercolor artists Jean Crane and Alice Struck teach classes at the Cedarburg Cultural Center, and Ruschman says there are many accomplished artists in the guild who share their expertise with emerging artists. The area is also home to nationally known artists, including sculptor Chuck Whitehouse, mixed-media artist Sandy Pape, fiber artist Luella Doss and painter Michael Santini.

The signature event in Cedarburg, Ruschman says, is the annual Arts Weekend, scheduled for Oct. 8-10. Nearly 50 local painters, potters and sculptors will open their studios to visitors on a self-guided tour. It’s a chance to "get to know the artist, their story and the story behind the piece," Ruschman says.

Art Ward

Milwaukee’s Third Ward and East Town generate plenty of stories, too, during Gallery Night and Day events, held four times a year. This is the 23rd year for Gallery Night, says Historic Third Ward Association Executive Director Nancy O’Keefe. More than 60 venues participate, offering a gallery-hopper’s nirvana and a perfect date night.

"It makes the whole city come alive," O’Keefe says. "There are people everywhere." The next Gallery Night and Day is scheduled for Oct. 15-16.

O’Keefe says the Third Ward has been known as the "art district" for years now, but in the 1970s it was becoming a dilapidated collection of abandoned warehouses. Low rents and wide-open interiors attracted artists and galleries, she says, but some artists left the neighborhood for Milwaukee’s Fifth Ward as property values escalated.

Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design students bring a steady source of new creative energy to the Third Ward, however. "And it seems new galleries are opening all the time," O’Keefe says.

Going West

The Third Ward and East Town may be well-established hotbeds for art, but some areas are working hard to raise their artistic profiles. Downtown Waukesha’s art community began to bud more than a decade ago, when Jeff Seymour opened the Sprizzo Gallery Caffe, and is now in full bloom.

Lynn Gaffey, owner of Waukesha’s Almont Gallery, says a small art crawl that began at Sprizzo has grown into a major event held four times per year. The West End Artists group organizes the Saturday evening crawl, featuring more than 120 artists and 20 local galleries. The next crawls are scheduled for Aug. 7 and Oct. 2.

Gaffey says Waukesha’s art community has grown quickly because local artists encourage and mentor each other. "The more the merrier," she says. "A lot of the galleries are run on a co-op basis, so we’re able to keep the art affordable."

The 23rd Annual Waukesha Art Fest on Sept. 11 is a juried outdoor art show that will take over the city’s Main Street this year. Gaffey says about 60 regional artists will participate.

Delafield of Dreams

Delafield is expecting to see an influx of visual, literary and performing artists with the opening of the Dreamers Center for Creative Arts, a new nonprofit arts center now being developed at 803 Genesee St. Kasia, a Delafield-based fiber artist, says the former furniture store building has charming nooks and crannies that will be transformed into galleries and performance spaces.

The Delafield Area Chamber of Commerce sponsors an art walk in May and September, with artists displaying their work in shops and restaurants in the city’s downtown. The next walk is scheduled for Sept. 11. Delafield’s Nagawaukee Park is the scene of the annual Lake Country Art Festival, a juried show held every July and sponsored by the Lake Country Women’s Club.

Kasia says these events give artists a chance to network. When that happens, they start to become a cohesive community.

"I think we’re in the baby stages," Kasia says, but watch for Delafield to become the next hot spot on the area’s expanding artistic landscape.