Every two years, a nine-person nominations committee convenes to select winners in the following categories:
• Legacy Artist
• Educator | K–12
• Educator | College/University
• Exhibition
• Community Arts Advocate
• Arts Writing
• Emerging Artist
Nominations for the WVAAA is now closed. Wisconsin Visual Art Achievement Awards ceremony will take place on April 14, 2024.
2022 Honorees
Legacy Award (Lifetime Achievement)
Jack Damer
Freida High Wasikhongo Tesfagiorgis
Educator Award (K-12)
Frank Juárez, Sheboygan North High School
Educator Award (College or University)
Leslie Vansen, Peck School of the Arts, UW–Milwaukee
Exhibition Award
John Michael Kohler Art Preserve
Community Arts Advocate Award
Karin Wolf
Arts Writing Award
Debra Brehmer
Emerging Artist Award
Rae Minoka Skenandore (Yehsani>saks)
2020 Honorees
Saturday, February 29, 2020
Legacy Award
Anne Kingsbury
Educator Award (K-12)
Patricia Frederick
St. Pius XI Catholic High School, Milwaukee
Educator Award (College or University)
Kim Cosier
Peck School of the Arts, UW–Milwaukee
Exhibition Award
Racine Art Museum | 2019 Artist Fellowship Exhibition
Represented by Lena Vigna & Bruce Pepich
Community Arts Advocate Award
Polly Morris
Arts Writing Award
Shane McAdams
Emerging Artist Award
Ariana Vaeth
2013 Honorees
Adolph Rosenblatt
Anne Haberland Emerson
Charles Allis Art Museum
Guido Brink
John Balsley
Lawrence Rathsack
Lucia Stern
Lynda Barry
Mathias Wernernus
Paul Donhauser
Russell Bowman
Tom Loeser
Wisconsin Designer Crafts Council
Wisconsin Historical Society
Wisconsin Union Galleries
Guest Speaker: Tom Lidtke, Director Emeritus of MOWA
2012 Honorees
Anton (Tony) Rajer
Denis Kitchen
Evelyn Patricia Terry
Frances Myers
Fred Fenster
Jean Stamsta
Karen Johnson Boyd
Kent Anderson
Native American petroglyphs, pictographs & Indian Mounds
Norbert Kox
Prophet William Blackmon
Simon Sparrow
Terese Agnew
William Weege
Guest Speaker: Tom Jones, Assistant Professor of Photography at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
Left to Right: Leslie Vansen, Rae Minoka Skenadore, Karin Wolf, Amy Horst (Kohler Art Preserve), Frank Juárez, Freida High Wasikhongo Tesfagiorgis. Not Pictured: Debra Brehmer, Jack Damer
2020 Honorees
The WVAAA is made possible through the generous support of the following organizations