A Sheboygan art teacher and art preserve have been honored with Wisconsin Visual Art Achievement Awards

SHEBOYGAN - Sheboygan North High School art teacher Frank Juárez and John Michael Kohler Art Preserve are recipients of Wisconsin Visual Art Achievement Awards .

Both will be honored April 30 at the Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend.

The awards are given biennially to individuals and organizations that enrich the visual arts in the state.

Juárez will be recognized in the Educator (K-12) category.

John Michael Kohler Art Preserve will be recognized in the Exhibition category.

Other award recipients include Jack Damer and Freida High Wasikhongo Tesfagiorgis for Legacy (Lifetime Achievement); Leslie Vansen, Peck School of the Arts, UW-Milwaukee, for Educator (College or University); Karin Wolf for Community Arts Advocate; Debra Brehmer for Arts Writing; and Rae Minoka Skenandore (Yehsani>saks) for Emerging Artist.

Here's more about the local winners:

Frank Juárez

Frank Juárez is an award-winning art educator, artist, author, publisher and former gallery director. He has two decades of art education and arts management experience organizing local and regional art exhibitions, community art events, and facilitating professional development workshops for artists.

He is involved in the Wisconsin Art Education Association and the National Art Education Association . He has presented numerous lectures at local universities, colleges, galleries and artist groups on Professional Practices for Artists: Business of Art. He is the founder of two projects focused on contemporary art and art education: the Midwest Artist Studios and the 365 Artists 365 Days Project .

He was awarded the 2015 Wisconsin Art Education Association Teacher of the Year. In 2016, he was awarded the 2016 National Art Education Association Wisconsin Art Educator of the Year. In 2018, he was elected to serve on the National Art Education Foundation Board of Trustees and received the 2018 Herb Kohl Educational Foundation Teacher Fellows Award. In 2019, he was named was National Secondary Art Educator of the Year.

Juárez is the Art Department chairman at Sheboygan North High School, contributing editor of SchoolArts Magazine and publisher of Artdose Magazine .

John Michael Kohler Art Preserve

The John Michael Kohler Art Preserve is an experimental space holding the John Michael Kohler Arts Center’s world-renowned collection of more than 30 artist-built environments. It showcases the arts center’s dedication to this genre and embodies the collective passion, knowledge and dedication of the staff and many collaborators who have overseen decades of exhibitions, programming, research and conservation related to this multifaceted field of art-making.

In contrast to traditional modes of creating exhibitions, the art preserve was conceived as an open-ended series of responses to the Kohler’s unique and expansive collection. It commissions artists, scholars and conservators to reflect on the holdings. As a platform for experimentation, the art preserve aims to examine the assumptions that typically dictate museum practices and the authority of the “institutional voice.”

The art environments on view at the art preserve are grouped according to three concepts. Each of the three floors presents a story about the work it contains — the place it was made, the nature of the environment itself and a mystery yet to be solved. Visitors can view much of the museum work that ordinarily takes place behind the scenes.

Amy Horst, the newly appointed director of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, is accepting the award on behalf of the art preserve. Formerly the associate director, she worked alongside former Arts Center Director Ruth DeYoung Kohler II in the development of the art preserve. Horst led the curatorial and exhibition teams to bring the project to fruition.

Welcome to your Monday dose.

Start your week here in today's Monday dose. Here are some more stories to catch up on:

► Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra season concludes May 7: Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra will conclude its 103rd season at 7:30 p.m. May 7 at the Stefanie H. Weill Center for the Performing Arts , 826 N. Eighth St., Sheboygan.

The final concert of the season features conductor Sergey Bogza , the fourth of four finalists for the next SSO music director .

“I am so delighted to work with the Sheboygan Symphony and share music that’s deeply moving and entertaining at the same time,” Bogza said in a news release “With romantic melodies, dazzling orchestration and evocative dance rhythms, the audience can expect to be moved emotionally by music that speaks directly to the heart.”

All audience members can provide feedback on Bogza and the other conductors after each concert to help the SSO make its final decision in May.

Tickets can be purchased at the Weill Center’s ticket office at 920-208-3243 or online .

► Sheboygan Police Department launches summer Junior Police Academy: Sheboygan Police Department is starting a Junior Police Academy with two sessions this summer.

Session one will run June 27-July 1 and session two will run July 18-22.

Both are from 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. at the police department, 1315 N. 23rd St.

The academy is free for participants and allows middle school students in the Sheboygan Area School District to interact with officers.

Students enrolled in grades 6-8 can enroll by May 26. Those who are selected will be notified prior to June 9.

More info is online or email Junior Police Academy contact Police Officer Holly Kehoe at Holly.Kehoe@sheboyganwi.gov.

► Sheboygan Pops Concert Band spring concert May 10: The Sheboygan Pops Concert Band has scheduled its spring concert for 7 p.m. May 10.

The concert will be in the Lutheran High School Worship and Fine Arts Center and will be led for the first time by new director Greg Kiehl.

Various high school soloists and ensembles will perform between band selections. Highlights of the concert include “Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman,” American Finale” and “All Shook Up.”

The concert is free, but free-will donations will be accepted.

► Historical Research Center shares May events: Here’s what the Sheboygan County Historical Research Center has planned in May. Call 920-467-4667 for more details.

• History on the Move: The spring season of this series concludes at Generations, 1500 Douglas Drive, Plymouth, at 2 p.m. May 4. The topic will be “Touring Wisconsin by Tombstone.” Cemeteries are a fascinating way to tour a community. Wisconsin has many historically significant burial grounds and others that are just beautiful. They are all full of fantastic stories and history. Take a trip through the state by looking at the many different styles of stones used. Hear crazy stories and sad stories, and meet the people who go with them. The presentation is free and open to the public.
• Genealogy class: “What Photos Tell Us, Mysteries and Answers” will begin at 1 p.m. May 9 at the Historical Research Center, 518 Water St., Sheboygan Falls. On the surface, a photo might be a simple family snapshot or a street scene in your small hometown. You may see the focus of the image, the people, the family dog or your childhood home. But if you look beyond that, you may see so much more. The class will go through the steps to use a photo in genealogy. Registration is appreciated.
• Second Saturdays - Journeys into Local History: The season concludes at 9:30 a.m. May 14 with “The Beauty of Waukesha Springs” with John Schoenknecht . From 1868 to 1918, Waukesha was a center of the mineral spring water industry. Following the discovery of the healing powers of Bethesda Spring by Col. Richard Dunbar in 1868, the mineral springs industry grew by leaps and bounds. At first, people crowded the city to taste the waters. Then, as the rich and famous visited the city, it became a social center and vacation destination. Finally, large regional and national bottlers established plants in the city. Through newspaper articles, written accounts and diaries, along with hundreds of photographs from his private collection, Schoenknecht will paint a picture of this fabulous time in Waukesha history, and of its sad decline. The program is free and open to the public and will be at the Historical Research Center, 518 Water St. in Sheboygan Falls.

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Your weather forecast

• Monday: High 47, low 33, mostly cloudy and cooler
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• Sunday: High 48, low 41, low clouds

Courtesy of accuweather.com .

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This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: A Sheboygan art teacher and art preserve have been honored with Wisconsin Visual Art Achievement Awards