June – August 2021
Erica Hess
Erica Hess lives and works in Appleton, Wisconsin. She received her M.F.A at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where she focused on printmaking, textiles, and sculpture. She is a co-founder of the collective printmaking space, Polka Press, and currently lectures at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Erica is interested in the relationship between our emotions and objects; the ways in which people make sense of their inner psychological workings and assign meaning to the objects they surround themselves with. She explores these ideas through textiles and large-scale sculpture made of industrial and every-day materials such as concrete, moving blankets, plywood, and cardboard. Using methods and materials of protection, storage, and transport to communicate, she asks us to consider the passage of time, abandonment, preciousness, loss, and failure. Many of her abstract objects are packed into boxes, padded with foam, wrapped in blankets, asking us to consider which objects are valuable enough to transport and protect? Why? Her sculptures are a physical attempt to understand the mutable, continually changing landscape of our emotions by taking seemingly ordinary and universal aspects of life—memory, daily living—and transforming them into art objects.
MEET ERICA!
Friday: June 25, July 30, August 6 | 10am – 2pm in TMA’s Atrium. Meet Erica and watch her create live.
Past Artists in Residence
March – May 2021
Laura Schneider
Laura Schneider was born and raised in Wisconsin. She is a Midwest-based artist who colors outside the lines of life. While earning her BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Laura’s passion for photography was ignited in the darkroom. For nearly two decades, Laura has been capturing subtleties that go overlooked by the casual observer. Her perceptive nature gives her work character and revealing depth. She leverages her senses and the natural qualities of her environment to leave inspired, relatable creations in her wake. Through visual storytelling and the written word, Laura creates a connection we long for. Laura’s mission is to live to her fullest potential by creating work that matters.
Dec 2020 – Feb 2021
Devon Minor
Sept – Nov 2020
Cristian Andersson
Cristian Andersson is a Wisconsin painter and performance artist. He received his formal education from Columbia College in Chicago and the University of Wisconsin Green Bay. Cristian primarily creates abstract oil paintings based off contemporary classical compositions. The characteristic sounds of how a musician plays an instrument, a visualization of how these instruments are sonically placed in a concert hall, as well as thematic elements that composers work with all come into play in a finished painting.
Jun – Aug 2020
Tyla Hilfreich
Tyla Hilfreich is an Appleton, Wisconsin artist focusing on sculpture, collage, sound, writing, and collaboration, but works in painting, multimedia, photography, glass, fashion design, and film. Tyla is a full-time artist and entrepreneur, creating art and events of many expressions in and around the Fox Valley. Influences of his recent art and events include archaeology, language, science, and philosophy of the human body, mind, and spirit. He received his BFA with an emphasis in Printmaking from UW-Stout. His current mission is to shake up the Wisconsin culture through art.