(WEST BEND, WISCONSIN) – Museum of Wisconsin Art is thrilled to announce the Wisconsin Artists Biennial, an exhibition showcasing 57 works by 54 artists hailing from 26 cities across the state. The Biennial has continuously evolved to embrace the cutting-edge—sometimes controversial—works that emerge from Wisconsin’s community of artists, while remaining steadfast in their mission to promote “the ennobling and educational influence of art.”
Established through a partnership between MOWA and Wisconsin Visual Artists (WVA) in 2014, this year’s Biennial saw a record-breaking 1,361 artwork submissions and awarded $10,000 in cash prizes. The top honor consists of $5,000 and a solo museum exhibition to run concurrently with the next iteration of the Biennial in 2026. Additional prizes are awarded for excellence, including the Lee Weiss Award for a first-time exhibitor and merit awards.
This year’s exhibition was reviewed by a panel of esteemed jurors: Robert Cozzolino, an Independent Curator based in Minneapolis; William Hernández Luege, Curatorial Fellow for Visual Arts at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis; and Sandra Jo Martinez, a painter working primarily on paper and collaborating on hand-woven tapestries in her Door County and Santa Fe studios.
The Biennial celebrates our state’s rich tradition of artistic innovation and expression. The selections represent a wide spectrum of media and perspectives from a cohort of emerging and established Wisconsin artists. The Biennial artworks engage, challenge, and inspire viewers, capturing the zeitgeist in a dynamic survey that both comforts and confronts.
Join us for the Wisconsin Artists Biennial 2024, on view February 3 through April 14 and celebrate the vibrant arts community that continues to define Wisconsin’s cultural landscape.
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Carissa Sosnowski, Inevitable, 2023