The Miller Art Museum announced on April 4 the opening of its 52nd Annual Salon of Door County High School Art, featuring over 100 works by students from area high schools. The exhibition will be celebrated with a public reception on April 6 at the museum, located inside the Door County Library in Sturgeon Bay.
This annual event is the museum’s longest-running exhibit and provides young artists from Gibraltar, Sevastopol, Southern Door, Sturgeon Bay, and Washington Island High Schools an opportunity to display their work in a professional setting. Students collaborated with their art teachers to present pieces across various media including painting, sculpture, drawing, and photography.
Elizabeth Meissner-Gigstead, Executive Director of the Miller Art Museum, said: “The High School Salon is one of our most anticipated and attended exhibitions every year. Providing students with the unique opportunity to display their work in a professional museum setting is an experience that can be both transformative and confidence-building. Through this opportunity, together with the Peninsula’s talented art educators, we’re fostering that confidence, self-expression, and the realization that art is a powerful means of communication and a viable career path.”
During the April 6 reception, student artists will be recognized alongside their families and educators. Certificates of Participation will be presented by art teachers to all participants. Awards of Excellence and Honorable Mention will be given by the museum. Each high school art department will receive $100 cash awards. Additionally, one student from Sevastopol High School will receive the Mr. Rericha Legacy Award—a $100 cash prize established in memory of Jim Rericha through an anonymous donation.
Meissner-Gigstead also said: “We hope the community will join us to celebrate and elevate the voices of Door County’s young emerging artists at our upcoming reception. Providing opportunities to young people was near and dear to Gerhard Miller’s heart, and it’s heartwarming we can continue to honor his legacy through this exhibit, especially in this momentous year for the museum.”
The exhibition runs through May 23. Admission is free for both the reception and ongoing exhibit.
The Miller Art Museum recognizes artists such as Gerhard CF Miller in its exhibitions according to its official website. The institution highlights legacies of self-taught Wisconsin artists while contributing to American landscape and figurative art according to its official website. The facility features a main gallery for changing exhibitions as well as a second-floor wing dedicated to Gerhard CF Miller according to its official website. It serves as Door County’s main center for visual arts programming—including exhibitions, education, and creative enrichment according to its official website. The museum maintains a dynamic collection focused on twentieth-century Wisconsin art and is noted as the only fine art institution on Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula according to its official website.
