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        | About the Artist
            
              |  | ARTIST'S STATEMENT (excerpt) "We can individually define Art, determine what it 
                  can embrace, set boundaries of our own, and give it some important meaning 
                  in our personal lives. We are supposed to have the freedom to express 
                  political observation and belief as well as to explore our individuality. 
                  The important language for expression for some of us is visual media...with 
                  few or no restrictions on what is said or how it is stated.  This freedom of expression, and the right to nibble away at edges, is 
                  what may draw many of us to the use of Art in our lives. You and I can 
                  delight in new personal discoveries, in eliminating boundaries and combining 
                  meanings. Art expression gives us the opportunity and means to expand 
                  our minds, to find satisfaction, to release emotions...to ground ourselves...and 
                maybe take a few others with us. We can question and then break rules." ~ Gary John Gresl (read more of this statement). |                Awards | Bibliography
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              | BIOGRAPHICAL & EDUCATIONAL INFORMATION 
                  
                    Born May 12, 1943, Manitowoc, WI;Attended Catholic grade school, public high school, Manitowoc County 
                      Teachers College;University of Wisconsin Stevens Point (BS with Music Minor);Additional art and art history classes thru UW Oshkosh and Silver 
                      Lake College Manitowoc; University of Wisconsin Madison, MS Related Art Dept. School of Family 
                      Resources and Consumer Sciences, (formerly called School of Home Economics 
                      and subsequently called School of Human Ecology);
 
Art classes in high school;Art and art history classes at UW Stevens Point, UW Oshkosh, Silver 
                      Lake College;Art history and Museum Training and Connoisseurship classes at UW 
                      Madison;Taught art plus other subjects in the Brillion, WI school district 
                      1966-71, Principal of a small middle school for two of those years;Self-taught in the directions and techniques of assemblage.  
                    Notable experiences and events:  
                    Exposure to Abstract Expressionism during the 1950's; During a New York World's Fair excursion in 1963-64 saw Franz Kline 
                      and Rauschenburg works in New York City; Youthful experiences as collector of various materials from rocks 
                      to coins; Creating first assemblage 1964 using found objects from an abandoned 
                      farm dump; Experiences on farms, rural and natural settings as a youth; Example of enthusiastic teaching/learning from a teacher. J. V. Ackerman, 
                      at Manitowoc County Teachers College; Real life experience and traumas of growing and teaching in Brillion 
                      WI; Marriage... children... divorce; Antique/collectible dealing; Self education in 20th Century abstract art from Kandinsky thru the 
                      70's; Recognition in age 30's/40's that personal judgment of what good art 
                      might be is as viable as anointed critics and museum personnel; Operating a business for over 25 years; Working with other professionals in the fields of antiques and art; Personal associations with artists including John Balsley, Estherly 
                      Allen, Kenn Kwint, Rudy Rotter, to name but a few.Working on the Board of Wisconsin Painters & Sculptors in all positions 
                      for a number of years.Co-founder of MVAR, Milwaukee Visual Arts Roundtable, yr. 2000Contributing author to bimonthly "Art In Wisconsin", newsletter of 
                      Wisconsin Painters & Sculptors, Inc.Nominated for 2001 Governor's Award in Support of the Arts, community 
                      organizations categorySpokesperson for adaptive reuse of the Praries School Old Coast Guard 
                      station on Milwaukee's Lake Michigan shoreline for use as a center for 
                      regional artFounder and Co-Chair of the Wisconsin Visual Art Lifetime Achievement 
                      Awards, along with the West Bend Art Museum and the Wisconsin Academy 
                      of Sciences, Arts and Letters.Served as juror for exhibitions and participant in art workshopsInvited Guest Speaker UW Milwaukee, Carroll College, and othersRecipient of a Wisconsin Visual Art  Lifetime Achievement Award.                     Winner of a $15,000 Nohl Fellowship  Award.                     |  
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                  | PARTIAL LIST OF COLLECTIONS: 
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                    Carroll College, Waukesha, WIMuseum of Wisconsin ArtRonald Wilson Reagan High College Preparatory SchoolSoap Opera Co., Madison, WIWaukesha Public LibraryNancy & Stan LamersHolley BakichDella WellsJanet Roberts, Brookfield, WIDennis and Nancy Howard, RhinelanderTerrance Coffman, MilwaukeePeter Reeves and Kathy Moss-Reeves, BrookfieldMillissa Dorn Richards, MilwaukeeMichael and Susan Kutzer, Bayview, WIDr. Nancy France, Brookfield, WILaurette Rusenberger, Milwaukee, WIAlbin ErhartRory Burke | 
                    Valerie Christell, MilwaukeeNancy Shaw, MilwaukeePeggy Flora Zalucha & Tony Zalucha, Mt. Horeb, WIMike Brenner, Milwaukee, WINancy and Randy Lewis, Wausau, WIEstherly Allen and Gene Galazan, AZDr. Mark and Therese EberhageBruce and Suzi NiemiRochelle WhitemanDoug KrimmerNeal GasparkaChuck WicklerLee GranthamMichael KutzerChris Buth FurnessEriks JohnsonOther private collections |  |  |  |