Past Exhibitions

March 6 – June 6, 2021
Artworks from the collection share the spotlight with stories about why and how they were created by artists and acquired by the Woodson Art Museum. Discover the tale and trace the trail that led to the acquisition of a rare oil painting by John James Audubon and a hand-colored aquatint created for Audubon’s The Birds of America.
Anecdotes about noteworthy owners and personal relationships are woven throughout other stories. A watercolor painting by Frank Weston Benson, Chickadees, which had been owned by poet Robert Frost, became the perfect way to honor a member of the Museum’s founding family, fondly remembered for wearing a chickadee-embroidered sweater.
Experience artwork by three generations of Wyeth painters, N.C., Andrew, and Jamie, comparing and contrasting their distinct styles and gaining insights into their inspiration and work.

Hunting is deeply rooted in human culture, extending over all seven continents. Through the work of painters, sculptors, and graphic artists dating from the early nineteenth century into the twenty-first century, the changing role of birds and animals within the context of the hunt is illustrated and celebrated.

March 13 – April 25, 2021

Celebrate Youth Art Month and the creative efforts of Central Wisconsin students in grades 5-8 via the 44th Student Art Exhibition. Each March, the nation promotes art education by focusing on student work. The exhibition is open to art specialists teaching in public, parochial, and home schools in Central Wisconsin. For details, access and read the Prospectus. To prepare your students’ entries for delivery, access and complete both the Master List and Entry Tags and include with delivered artwork.

Note: Exhibition extended, September 12 through February 21, 2021

Artwork from 114 artists from throughout the world are included in the 45th annual Birds in Art exhibition. This year, 510 artists submitted 830 artworks for consideration by the three-person jury. The exhibition includes artwork by the Museum’s 2020 Master Artist Timothy David Mayhew, 22 who were named Master Artists during previous Birds in Art exhibitions, and 91 artists whose work was selected by the jury.

The first day to view “Birds in Art” 2020 was September 12. As a Covid-19 precaution, all Birds in Art opening-day festivities were suspended; there was no Master Artist Talk and no Artists in Action on Saturday morning, September 12. The exhibition is extended through February 21, 2021. Before visiting, check.lywam.org.

Note: Exhibition extended through May, 2021

Photographs of 2020 Birds in Art artists’ studios provide connections through the lens of creative work spaces. Sketches, specimens, skulls, instruments, and canine companions serve as studio assistants and informants. Bookshelves lined with objects and reference material allude to each artist’s distinct process and personality. Window views of trees, neighborhoods, creeks, and gardens connect makers to their environment and subjects beyond their studio walls.
Varied and inspired spaces, shared by our beloved and generous Birds in Art artists, offer a view into their studios this year in lieu of the artists’ visits to our community.

Featuring interpretations from realistic to abstract and from fanciful to clever, these sculptures from the Woodson Art Museum’s collection depict a variety of birds and beasts. The mediums used to carve and shape the birds and animals vary, too, ranging from stone, wood, and bronze to glass and wire.

Twenty small-scale sculptures from the Museum’s collection can be viewed and studied in a specially designed case located in the lower level of the 2012 addition. Support for Cast, Carved & Cut is provided by the John A. and Elizabeth D. Slayton Fund.
Learn more about each sculpture in the caption beneath each online image.

Summer 2020, through August 30

Explore the breadth of India’s cultural life and heritage through contemporary artwork from four indigenous artistic traditions. From central India’s Gond and Warli communities, the Mithila region of Bihar, and the narrative scroll painters of West Bengal, more than forty artworks are rooted in traditional culture, yet infused with issues of global interest.