2024 Wisconsin Arts Celebration Project

Kimberly Blaeser - Native American Writer, Photographer, Scholar, Wisconsin Poet Laureate

Kimberly Blaeser - Native American Writer, Photographer, and Scholar is a past Wisconsin Poet Laureate. She is the author of five poetry collections, most recently the bi-lingual Résister en dansant/Ikwe-niimi: Dancing Resistance (2020), Copper Yearning (2019), and Apprenticed to Justice. Blaeser edited the anthology Traces in Blood, Bone, and Stone: Contemporary Ojibwe Poetry, and her scholarly study, Gerald Vizenor: Writing in the Oral Tradition, was the first native-authored book-length study of an Indigenous author. An Anishinaabe activist and environmentalist, Blaeser is an enrolled member of the White Earth Nation and grew up on the reservation. A Professor Emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she is also an MFA faculty member for the low residency program in Creative Writing at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. In 2024, she will be the Mackey Chair in Creative Writing at Beloit College and a Tatlock Fellow at Vassar College. Blaeser serves as an editorial board member for the “American Indian Lives” series of the University of Nebraska Press and for the “Native American Series” of Michigan State University Press. In 2021, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas. She lives in the woods and wetlands of Lyons Township, Wisconsin, and for portions of each year, in a water-access cabin near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota. Her poetry collection Ancient Light is forthcoming from University of Arizona’s Sun Track series in spring 2024.

Andrew Boysen Jr. - Composer and Educator

Andrew Boysen, Jr. is presently a professor in the music department at the University of New Hampshire, where he conducts the wind symphony and teaches conducting and composition. Under his leadership, the UNH wind symphony has released six recordings and been invited to perform at regional conventions of the College Band Directors National Association and National Association for Music Education. Previously, Boysen taught at Indiana State University and Cary-Grove (IL) High School, and was the music director and conductor of the Deerfield Community Concert Band. He remains active as a guest conductor and clinician, appearing with high school, university and festival ensembles across the United States, Great Britain, and Australia.

Boysen earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in wind conducting at the Eastman School of Music, where he served as conductor of the Eastman Wind Orchestra and assistant conductor of the Eastman Wind Ensemble. He received his Master of Music degree in wind conducting from Northwestern University in 1993 and his Bachelor of Music degree in music education and music composition from the University of Iowa in 1991.

He maintains an active schedule as a composer, receiving commissions from festival, university, and high school concert bands across the United States. Boysen won the International Horn Society Composition Contest in 2000, the University of Iowa Honors Composition Prize in 1991 and has twice won the Claude T. Smith Memorial Band Composition Contest, in 1991 and 1994. Boysen has several published works with the Neil A. Kjos Music Company, Wingert-Jones Music, Alfred Music, Masters Music, and C. Alan Publications, including pieces for band, orchestra, clarinet and piano, and brass choir. Recordings of his music appear on the Sony, R-Kal, Mark, St. Olaf and Elf labels.

Lavanyaa Surendar - Bharathanatyam Dancer/ Curator/ Arts & Cultural Director

Brad Anthony Bernard - Visual Artist & Educator

Brad Anthony Bernard - Visual Artist & Educator “Art is a liberator and accessible to all. In my current experience as an art professor, I attempt to teach the whole person, offering challenging instruction while addressing the inner perception of life experiences and how they relate to the creative process. I believe that my role as an artist is to bridge an understanding between people. My artistic impulse is rooted in the desire to bring people together — across cultures or ideologies. The original role of the artist is that of a true messenger. The true artist was able to manifest images that were understood by the masses regardless of their religion or cultural background. Art was essentially the soul of ancient civilizations. My goal as an artist is to make art that inspires, enlightens, challenges, and entertains the viewer. It is my responsibility as an artist to document the history, tell the stories, inspire insight and preserve the truths that education and society disregard and neglect to teach.”

Brad Anthony Bernard is an art instructor, an exhibiting artist, community arts advocate, scholar and entrepreneur. A native of Madison, Wisconsin, Bernard received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in 1993. He obtained his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi in 2003. He has received numerous mural commissions both public and private for churches, schools, and community centers in the Milwaukee area.

Shortly before returning to Milwaukee he was a recipient of the 2017 Mississippi Humanities Council ‘Teacher of the Year’ Award as well as the ‘Commitment to Blues Legacy’ Award from Mississippi Valley State University for his research and mixed media depictions of Hill Country and Delta Blues musicians. Bernard is now a professor at his alma mater, the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design where he currently teaches First-Year Experience and New Studio Practice courses while continuing his own artistic endeavor as an exhibiting and public/private commissioned artist.

Seonjoo Oh - Korean Origami Artist

My name is SeonJoo (sounds like SUN-ZOO). I am from South Korea, and I lived in Seoul, South Korea for 44 years. Since 2006, I have lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the United States. As an artist and educator, I enjoy making fun and valuable classes teaching something I know. Through my experience, fortunately, I got three master’s degrees in Biochemistry, Curriculum and Instruction, and Jong-ie Jupgi Paper Folding Art of Korea. My studies of Korean history and culture have kept me close to my heritage, and paper folding art has increased my creativity and wellness. I have been teaching art or Korean culture workshops in several Milwaukee Public Schools since 2009.

Jong-ie Jupgi paper folding arts help children to develop and maintain brain capacity and health. For young children, it can help to build hand-eye coordination and stimulate the loco-motor and cognitive areas of the brain with a strong link to math and geometry skills. For teenagers, it will be able to assist with manual dexterity, fractions, creativity, measurement, and reasoning. It also retains and builds sequencing, attention, math reasoning, visual and social skills.

I enjoy teaching how to make artwork using simple papers, and I find it to boost self-worth, pride and joy to create a calm, peaceful activity with affordable supplies. I also value encouraging multi-cultural awareness, tolerance, and peace, and sharing my culture and experience with my neighboring community. Whether transforming scraps of paper into flowers, birds, cars, trains, airplanes, boats, furniture, clothing, foods, simple baskets, or other objects, the joy and health from Jong-ie Jupgi is immense and contagious.

Milwaukee High School of the Arts Theatre Members & Tricia LaCroix & Gus Rich, Theatre & Film Educators

Our program is aligned with National Core Arts Standards for Theater where students are engaged in rigorous academic study learning advanced skills based on a college level curriculum. Many students continue to study theatre in secondary education. The fundamental education received at MHSA prepares our graduates, many of whom have gone on after graduation to major in theatere, television and film studios across the country. Multiple productions in our three performance spaces allow students to apply their classroom learning in a real world environment. The Theatre & Film Program at MHSA works directly with many local organizations such as the Skylight Opera Theater and The Milwaukee Repertory Theater, in addition to masterclasses with professionals.

Mrs. Tricia LaCroix

A graduate of MHSA’s Theatre Department in 2006 herself, Mrs. LaCroix is happy to be back in her new favorite role as “teacher”. She attended UW-Stevens Point and received her BFA in Acting. After a hiatus from the world of Theatre, Mrs. LaCroix came back to MHSA to work as a secretary and the Parent Coordinator. During that time, she also went back to school to receive her Theatre Education degree from UW-Milwaukee. Mrs. LaCroix has performed in over 20 productions and she is grateful to be able to share her passion for Theatre with her students.

Mr. Augustus Rich

Not only is he MHSA’s Technical Director, Mr. Rich teaches 3 Theatre courses as well. He is a director, lighting designer and performer. Mr. Rich graduated from North Central College with a bachelors degree in Theater and has been an acting teacher and Technical Director at Milwaukee High School of the Arts since 2007. He has presided over the technical needs of over two hundred performances during his tenure at MHSA as well as directing and writing plays for the MHSA Black Box and Wildrick theaters.

Matt Wigdahl - Media Artist

Matt is an educator with a passion for animation, motion graphics & interdisciplinary design. He lives, teaches, and makes things in Menomonie.
He graduated as a Fine Arts major from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where his first loves were watercolor and drawing. He recently earned a Master of Fine Arts in Design at U.W. Stout, researching motion design and tangible user interface—while also leveling up in glass design, 3D printing, instructional installation design, and cinematography. 
He is National Board certified as an elementary educator and has taught in Minnesota, Alaska, and Wisconsin. His goal is to design inspiring, surprising, and authentic instructional experiences for students. To this end, he draws upon—and continually seeks better insight into—good design and human motivation.

Marcy Russell - Platteville Middle School Music Educator

Marcy Russell teaches students in general music and choir at Platteville Middle School. She has a Masters of Music in Music Education from Kent State University, and a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance and General/Choral Music Education from Lawrence University. Ms. Russell is an active member of ACDA and NAfME, and serves as the past-chair of the Wisconsin Music Educators Association’s Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance project (CMP). She has been a conductor with the Platteville Children’s Choir for over 20 years and is a past conductor with the Madison Youth Choirs.

Jennifer Dahl - Black River Falls High School Art Educator

From as far back as I can remember, I have only wanted to do one thing: teach art. After high school, I set out to do just that and after receiving my Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stout, I was able to step into the role of my dreams as an elementary art educator.

For the past 17 years, I have been teaching art to five hundred plus students per week and spreading my contagious enthusiasm for the arts everywhere I go. I aim to inspire students and teachers alike with my lessons that promote artistic growth and the ability to think and problem solve creatively.

My voice in the art world extends beyond my classroom and schools. I am currently serving as the President on the Wisconsin Art Education Association board and the National Art Education Association Elementary Director Elect. I have also has presented at several State and National Art Education Conventions on topics that range from the use of literature in an art classroom to creating projects with recycled materials.

Furthermore, I advocate for art in the community. In addition to local student art shows that I organize, I also shows students’ work at countless state art shows, where I have been the recipient of the W.T. Graham award four times. My highest honor was being named the Wisconsin Art Educator of the Year in 2009.

My passion for the arts follows wherever I go. I still makes time to create my own art and have been a part of several local art shows. I firmly believe that the best way to fuel the soul is through art.

Jeanine Kleman - Wisconsin Rapids Area School District Art Educator

Chell Parkins - Arnhold Director of Dance Education

Chell Parkins is a dance scholar, advocate, educator, choreographer, and performer whose research explores the experiences of Latinx communities engaged in culturally responsive-sustaining dance programs. Her recent documentary, WanderlustDance: Puerto Rico, invites audiences to look at the culture, politics, and people of post-Maria Puerto Rico through interviews set against footage of solo dancing at historical sites across the archipelago. She is a regular guest lecturer in national and international university dance programs and ongoing visiting lecturer for the child and adolescent psychiatry fellows at Oregon Health and Science University. She served as a scholar in residence and consultant to the community engagement director at Ballet Hispánico, has made numerous presentations and webinars at NDEO and DaCI, and served as a panelist for the Shirley Hall Bass Dance Educators Forum to discuss culturally appropriate methods for creating dance standards in the Bahamas. Previously, as the executive director of the Tennessee Association of Dance, a core member of ArtsEd Tennessee, and fine arts subject matter expert for the Tennessee Department of Education, she was a leading voice in statewide dance education advocacy efforts. As a full-time lecturer at Middle Tennessee State University, she helped create and implement the first and only stand-alone dance major in the state and co-directed a Maymester abroad program in the Guatemalan Highlands. From 2012-2015, Parkins directed the dance program at Manor High School, a predominately working-class Latinx high school in rural Texas. Her publication “Dance Media Collaborations: Engaging At-Risk Youth” details how her students used choreographic methods, technology, and social media to explore cultural identity and social issues. As a dancer and choreographer, she has performed across the United States, Northern Ireland and Spain.

Susan Roepke - New Holstein High School Art & Stage Educator

Susan is a dedicated and motivated instructor who strives to assist students by providing the necessaries tools for their future though self-reliance, dedication and determination. She earned her Bachelors of Arts Degree from Lakeland College in 1995. She has taught at New Holstein as a primary instructor since 2003. Previous to this she held positions in Wrightstwon and Kaukauna. Susan has received numerous awards and leads multiple different groups at New Holstein HS include Junior Class Advisor, Art Club Advisor, Auditorium & Technical Supervisor and more. 

UW-Stevens Point Concert Choir, Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble (Recordings)