Kewaunee to host first-ever Great Lakes Invitational Art Fair

KEWAUNEE – The Great Lakes Invitational Art Fair, a new event featuring 21 artists from across the country — including painters, sculptors and photographers — will be held on Saturday and Sunday, June 28-29 at Lake Haven Hall in Kewaunee.

Organizer Christian Rieben is new to Kewaunee and moved to the area to be with his parents.

“I was a full-time professor in Tennessee, and when my contract ended, I was happy to leave Tennessee and come up here, and it worked out well for me. The problem is there’s not a lot of people to talk to about art here,” he said.

Despite the differences from the many places Rieben resided as a child, from South Africa to California, Rieben said Kewaunee is special.

“Lake Michigan, it’s this incredible phenomenon right here. And I love being really in touch with nature, which is so easy to do here,” he said.

Rieben reached out to members of the community in order to get his idea of an art fair off the ground.

“I mentioned it to Allison Smith, who used to run The Blue Door, and… she, I think, has a vision for the town, and she happened to be on the town’s board for Lake Haven, which is this old warehouse on the waterfront there, and she offered it to me to use as a venue.”

That free goodwill is another unique aspect of Northeast Wisconsin.
Rieben feels that although the art scene in Kewaunee is only just beginning to blossom, it has a wide appeal to all sorts of people.

“If we don’t understand something that often is intimidating, and I really don’t want people to be intimidated by art,” Rieben said.

“This is really open to everybody, and there might be art in it that you would think is not your thing, but maybe talking to the artists, or seeing other work in the show that is similar to something that you don’t understand, but that you do understand. This particular piece might expand everyone’s experience and understanding of art.

It might be a learning experience, not just for the audience but also for the artists themselves, with the sort of discourse that can happen in this exchange between artists and viewers,” Rieben said.

Rieben said he will measure the success of the event by the conversations and connections it creates, rather than any sales it may generate.

“I want the artists to be satisfied by it. I want the community to be excited by it, and then maybe I would do it every other year,” he said.

Rieben met many of the artists whose work will be displayed during his own career as an artist.

“I knew a fair number of them, whether from grad school or I’ve been doing our residencies for the last few years,” he said.
To select the group of 21 artists, Rieben spoke with former colleagues and other big names in the art industry.

“I asked some people whose opinions I really value, and they made some recommendations. I did a little research and found these folks,” Rieben said.

A couple of the artists are Wisconsin natives, while the rest hail from across the nation.

“Broderick McGarvey is from Sheboygan, and Shane Walsh is based in Milwaukee. Other than that, they are from Illinois, Tennessee, Indiana, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio,” Rieben said.

While it may seem that artists from across the nation will be out of place in Kewaunee, Rieben said farming communities across the country share similarities and those artists from other small towns will feel at home.

“Many of these artists are also from rural areas, and so for some of them, this is also an opportunity for community with other artists, because a lot of us, our practice is pretty solitary,” Rieben said. “We’re just by ourselves in a studio, and it’s really stimulating to just be with other artists and to talk about the process and the reception of the work and those sorts of conversations that we can’t have when we’re by ourselves all the time.”

The artists will be present to discuss their work with the public.
Rieben said he has a general layout based around the needs of certain works, like that of Ohio artist Andrea Myers, a fabric piece about 40 feet long which is to be suspended from the ceiling.

In addition to visual art, Rieben hopes to have musicians performing during the showing.

“I teach at UW-Green Bay part time, and I want to have student musicians from [the university] and from the local high schools perform at this, although I am having trouble getting students to commit,” Rieben said. “In my hopes, I was going to have a different musician or group of musicians every hour. It wouldn’t be a concert.

They would be providing background music to the art viewing. That might have to change a little bit, depending on how many people I actually get lined up,” he said.

Ultimately, Rieben hopes to build connections and help inspire other artists or artists-to-be by showing them that art and artists can flourish anywhere.