RAM’s Wustum Museum of Fine Arts continues a significant museum tradition with Wisconsin Photography 2022. This year’s exhibition features 113 works by 81 artists.

The juror for this year’s show is John Simmons, ASC, a renowned photographer and videographer from Los Angeles, California. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Simmons began working as a photographer for The Chicago Defender newspaper at age 15. After leaving Chicago, he studied fine art at Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee; and completed his MFA in cinematography at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Simmons’ photographs are held in collections across the country, including the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts; and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia.

Wisconsin Photography 2022 includes many different points of view and styles of working. You will find subjects including still life, landscape, documentary, abstraction, and portraiture as well as video works. In 1979, when the competition first started, all entries were shot on film, then hand-printed by the artists in their own studios and dark rooms. Technological advances now allow photographers more latitude to create and print images digitally as well as through more traditional methods. Additionally, more artists have become interested in engaging multiples senses through the sound and moving images of video. What remains consistent from one competition to the next is that each work takes the viewer on a journey made possible by the eye and imagination of the artists.

Artists in the Exhibition

Appleton: Nicole Reimers, Joseph Vande Walle; Bristol: Charese Smiley; Brookfield: Lewis Cadkin; Burlington: Valerie Christell, Dawn Haggerty; Cambridge: Craig Wilson; Cascade:Bruce Saille; Cedarburg: Patrick Doughman, Vicki Reed; Cornucopia: Sally Bowker; DeForest: Charles Gustke; Elkhart Lake: James Popp; Glendale: F. Fischer; Grafton: Jack Long; Green Bay: Megan VandenBush; Greenfield: Leena Meyers, Carol Starr; Kenosha:Kathy Brand, Paul Brnak, Glen Larson, Ron Story, Karel Suchy, Kendra Voelz; Madison: Emmy Berning, Kate Feldt, Russell Pancaenko, Howard Schwartz, Howard Tarnoff, Karl Wellensiek; Markesan: Elizabeth Kazda; Mequon: Thomas Lemke, Bernie Newman; Middleton: Michael Knapstein; Milwaukee: Phyllis Bankier, Paul Caster, Dennis Darmek, Mustafa Dorga, Kristine Hinrichs, Andrew Holman, Timothy Holte, Marcella Jones, Omar Juarez, Phillip Kassner, Jack Kleinman, Kenneth Kornacki, Wesley Lawson, Michael Nowotny, Seth Robbins, Melva Sabatke, Susan Schramm, Dean Segal, Eduardo Zavala; Mount Pleasant: Rick Berns, Trace Chiodo, Jacinta Lagos, Celia Schulz; Muskego: Lynn Proeber; New Berlin: Avni Shah; Oak Creek: Michael Gehrke; Pewaukee: Cara Elsen Oldenburg; Racine: René Amado, Bianca Boettcher, Wesley Fallon, Emily Koehler, Penny Nichols, Judith Pannozo, Cassandra Riojas, Marlene Salley; Sheboygan: Frank Juárez; Sheboygan Falls: Pat Ryan; St. Francis: Diane Rychlinski; Union Grove: Geoffrey Robinson; Waterford: Roy Schmidt; Waukesha: William Lemke; Waunakee: Mark Weller; Wausau: Richard Wunsch; West Allis: Jennifer Parbs; West Bend: Todd Tuttle; Whitefish Bay: Nancy Sturino; Whitewater: George J. Miller