• Honored in the ”Individual Leadership” category are Betty Harris Custer and J. Corkey Custer of Madison.
• Selected in the ”Arts Organization” category is The Wormfarm Institute, Donna Neuwirth and Jay Salinas, Directors, Reedsburg.
• Electronic Theatre Controls, Inc. (ETC) Fred Foster, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Middleton, is recognized in the ”Corporate/Business” category.
• Bruce W. Pepich, Executive Director/Curator of Collections, Racine Art Museum Association, Inc. is honored in the ”Arts Administration” category.

The Governor’s Awards in Support of the Arts is an annual event, sponsored by the Wisconsin Foundation for the Arts, with support this year from ABC Supply Co. Inc., Beloit.

Honorary Chair of this year’s Governor’s Awards ceremony is Diane K. Ballweg of Madison.

Betty Harris Custer and J. Corkey Custer are honored for several decades of leadership supporting the arts in Madison, offering insights and energies on multiple boards and generous philanthropy. As Board President of Madison Ballet, Betty Custer led the organization to create a new school that generates operating revenue and an array of dance supporters in Wisconsin. As its Board President, Corkey helped navigate Children’s Theater of Madison through a difficult transition of mission, leadership, reorganization and worked with other leaders to retire CTM’s significant debt. Other arts programs benefiting from the Clusters’ support include: Overture Center for the Arts, Lussier Community Education Center, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art and Madison Public Schools.

The Wormfarm Institute works to build a sustainable future for agriculture and the arts. Artists Donna Neuwirth and Jay Salinas moved from Chicago to rural Reedsburg in 1995 and began expanding the idea of ‘’sustainability” beyond nourishment to include a vibrant creative community in which to thrive. At the forefront of a ”rural renaissance,” the 2010 Wormfarm Institute’s programs include mobile roadside culture stands designed and built by local artists used to sell art and fresh produce, community based educational programs, murals, art exhibits, Reedikulus Puppet Festival, and a travelling Smithsonian exhibit Key Ingredients: America by Food. For more information: www.WormfarmInstitute.org.

Electronic Theatre Controls Inc. (ETC) is recognized for generous financial contributions and equipment donations to countless theaters, schools, lighting design programs and lighting professionals in Wisconsin and internationally. Since its founding in 1975, ETC has grown to be an industry leader and has earned dozens of awards for innovative lighting fixtures, lighting control consoles, dimming systems and architectural control systems. ETC is especially committed to supporting arts education and mentoring students interested in lighting design and entertainment technology. ETC, under the leadership of CEO Fred Foster, is leading innovation in the arts not only in Wisconsin, but also on the worldwide stage.

Recognizing a distinguished 37-year career with the Racine Art Museum Association (RAMA), Bruce Pepich will receive a professional Arts Administrator Governor’s Award. Pepich oversees all aspects of RAMA operations at two campuses: the Racine Art Museum (RAM) and the Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts (Wustum). With an interest in contemporary crafts, Bruce established the area as a second focus which attracted generous donations from local and national collectors creating one of the premier craft collections in North American art museums. The collection outgrew its facility, prompting fundraising for a new museum which opened in 2003. Pepich oversees a collection of more than 5,000 works and a studio art program offering classes for children and adults.

Each recipient of the 2010 Governor’s Award will receive a gift of original art, in addition to a personal citation signed by the Governor.

This year the Foundation commissioned Wisconsin artist Jon Michael Route of Frederic, whose handmade metalwork is featured in many of the best art/craft festivals in the United States. A 1998 Wisconsin Arts Board Individual Artist Fellowship recipient, his work was featured in Metalsmith magazine’s 2001 ”Exhibition in Print,” and in his solo show at the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum, Milwaukee in 2009. For more information, visit portalwisconsin.org/ gallery/metal or www.JonMichaelRoute.com.

Video highlights of each recipient’s work supporting the arts will be shown at the ceremony. Those highlights, coupled with scenes from the award presentation, are aired on many commercial and public television stations following the event. This year the video program is supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board, with funds from the State of Wisconsin.

The Governor’s Awards in Support of the Arts began in 1980 to encourage and celebrate support of the arts throughout Wisconsin. Since 1980, the Wisconsin Foundation for the Arts has honored more than 145 businesses, individuals and organizations whose extraordinary contributions to the vitality of the arts in local communities or statewide deserve recognition. Governor Jim Doyle and four previous governors have hosted the ceremony and personally presented the awards.

The Wisconsin Foundation for the Arts is a nonprofit public organization supported solely by membership dues and contributions. For more information, contact Jeffrey Bartell, Chair of the Wisconsin Foundation for the Arts (608/283-2447) or Kristi Williams, Executive Director.

Honored in the “Individual Leadership” category are Lane and Linda Ware of Wausau. Selected in the”Arts Organization” category is the Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation, Bill Haberman, President, Milwaukee. And Hudson Hospital, Marian Furlong, President and Chief Executive Officer, Hudson, is recognized in the “Corporate/Business” category. A special Governor’s Award honors innovation and diversity of First Wave Spoken Word Learning Community (UW-Madison Office of Multicultural Arts Initiative), Willie Ney, Executive Director.

Lane and Linda Ware are honored for more than three decades of leadership supporting the arts in Wausau and statewide, offering their time, financial resources, insights and energies on multiple boards. They stepped into leadership roles at crucial turning points in the development of the arts in North Central Wisconsin.

In the 1970s, Lane Ware presided over the founding of the Wausau Area Performing Arts Foundation and the establishment of its Artists in the Schools program and United Performing Arts Fund, both of which continue to this day. Linda Ware led the Wausau Area Performing Arts Foundation through its transformation into the management company for the Grand Theater and served on the Wisconsin Arts Board, Wisconsin Humanities Board, plus the Poet Laureate Commission.

The Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation is well known for grants in arts, culture and education in the Milwaukee area. Herzfeld Foundation has a strong commitment to support arts and culture through a variety of capital, operating, program and arts education grants totaling more than $17 million since 1997. Bill Haberman, president, and Carmen Haberman, vice president, provide a “hands-on” approach to grant making. For nearly a decade through its Arts in Education program the Foundation has provided access for Milwaukee students to participate in a variety of art forms at recognized arts institutions.

Hudson Hospital is recognized for its Healing Arts program, a collaboration between the hospital and The Phipps Center for the Arts. The program’s mission is to bring the creative and visual arts to patients, visitors and staff. The 25-bed hospital design gives patient rooms enlarged windows positioned to allow a clear view of nature from the beds. Outside each window is an original mosaic birdfeeder created to welcome birds from all seasons. “Healing art” adorns the walls. Outdoor healing garden landscaping wraps around the main door allowing visitors to experience healing before entering the building. An outdoor labyrinth welcomes the walker to a life journey through reflection along the pathway.

A special Governor’s Award salutes the cutting-edge, artistic First Wave Spoken Word Learning Community in the UW-Madison Office of Multicultural Arts Initiative (OMAI). First Wave, which attracts students from across the United States, is the only university program in the country centered on spoken word poetry and hip-hop culture. The program captures the aesthetic and intense cultural identity of the urban experience, highlighting and promoting this emerging art form. Now in its third year, First Wave brings 15 full-scholarship freshmen from diverse backgrounds to the UW each year.

Each recipient of the 2009 Governor’s Award will receive a gift of original art, in addition to a personal citation signed by the Governor. This year, the artwork to be awarded celebrates the Hmong tradition of fiber art with paj ntaub (reverse appliqué flower cloth) and story cloth (embroidered pictorial narrative explaining the Hmong experience). Nationally recognized artist Xao Yang Lee of Sheboygan is practicing the art form and teaching successor generations.

The Wisconsin Foundation for the Arts presents the annual event, with major sponsorship this year from We Energies through the Wisconsin Energy Corporation Foundation and the Wisconsin Arts Board. Honorary Chair of this year’s Governor’s Awards ceremony is Ruth DeYoung Kohler of Sheboygan. In 1997, Ruth Kohler was honored for her “spark of inspiration and fuel of tireless effort” expanding Sheboygan’s John Michael Kohler Art Center and generosity broadening artistic opportunities in eastern Wisconsin. A former member of the Wisconsin Arts Board, Kohler also served on panels of the National Endowment for the Arts.

WFA’s 2008 commissioned artist is a graphic designer by training with a BFA from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and an art director by profession. Her career includes stints as an art director for a television station and a performing arts complex. When she moved to Wisconsin in 1994, she was hired as a senior art director at Pleasant Company, which she remembers fondly.

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Painting farms to preserve them
With an appreciation for family farming, Georgene frequently paints the Donald Farm, Dane County’s oldest working farm, although it is now part of Donald Park. ”I think it’s important for us to preserve a way of life that is so important to Wisconsin and the people of this state,” the artist says.

”I am drawn to our wonderful old barns in Primrose Township, Dane County, and love painting them. I also love the solid farmhouses that epitomize the tenets of form and function with a sense of proportion and balance which fit so comfortably into their environment. ”Painting these old farms is my stake in preserving them because, as timeless as they seem, our way of life is undergoing major changes. Often, I will have painted a farm only to come back a year later and find it’s no longer there,” she adds sadly.

Appreciation for ecological harmony
”I’m a believer in man and nature being able to live together quite harmoniously, and these farms reflect that. Farmers are stewards of the land and have great care and concern for it,” Georgene smiles, dips her brush in more pigment and continues painting. Earliest memories were making art

Georgene remembers as a little girl she loved to draw horses and her parents gave her riding lessons. For her first competition she painted Sox, the horse she rode. ”I was thrilled to learn my painting won the national competition in my age group, seven, and I was pictured in The Chicago Tribune,” she admits with a smile.

While in high school, Georgene took classes at the American Academy of Art in Chicago and she has returned for intermittent sessions since graduating from college.

A joy to paint landscapes
”When I’m painting a landscape, I’m in the moment, totally relaxed. Hours will go by–time is suspended. With my painting I’m communicating from my heart to an audience that I hope will appreciate what I’m doing, at a more personal level.

”I strive to capture the quality of light in my work. In this area of Wisconsin it is an ever-changing phenomenon; the time of day and the season combine to create an atmosphere unique to that moment.

”I try to distill the essence of what I’m seeing in my oil paintings. I go there and can bring someone else along when they enjoy the finished work,” Georgene clarifies. ”I’ve always been an artist, whether I’m painting or drawing or designing a means of expression. The world just falls away.”

Asked to explain the impact of design and art direction in her painting, she explains, ”the disciplines of design and art direction inform my painting and what I bring to my painting informs my design and art direction as well. My sense of color, composition, the focal point and what I’m trying to communicate, it’s the same for both.”

Awards and publications
In 2008, two of Georgene’s paintings were selected for giclee prints as Governor Jim and First Lady Jessica Doyle’s personal gift presented to visitors. The annual Dane County Calendar of Places has featured her work nine times and, in 2001, Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission’s art poster was her work. She was then named DCCAC vice chair.

Several books have featured Georgene’s paintings on the cover, including: In a Pickle, Jerry Apps, 2007; What the Postcard Didn’t Say, Shoshauna Shy, (poetry) 2007; Shorts, John Lehman, (poetry) 2005; and Wisconsin, a monograph book on the state’s art and culture, published in 2001 by Harry N. Abrams.

In 2002, Georgene was the featured artist for WHA-TV’s annual Art and Antique auction and the International Breast Cancer Research Foundation’s Annual Art Auction.

In 2006, Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters chose her painting to accompany the feature article highlighting ”The Future of Farming and Rural Life in Wisconsin” study.

Edgewood Orchard Gallery in Door County and Fanny Garver Gallery in Madison regularly feature Georgene’s work in their Gallery Shows.

Chosen to receive the 2008 Governor’s Awards in Support of the Arts were, in the “Individual Leadership” category, John and Patty Noel of Stevens Point, and John W. Thompson of Madison. Selected in the “Arts Organization” category was Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, Fran Richman, Executive Director, Milwaukee.  M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank, Mark F. Furlong, President and Chief Executive Officer, Milwaukee, is recognized in the “Corporate/Business” category.

The Wisconsin Foundation for the Arts presents this annual event in cooperation with the Governor’s office.  Sponsorship in 2008 was provided by The Boldt Company of Appleton, with support from Johnson Financial Group.

Honorary Chair of our 2008 Governor’s Awards event was Pleasant Rowland Frautschi of Middleton.  At the 1999 ceremony, Pleasant Rowland was recognized as the visionary behind Madison’s popular Concerts on the Square and for her generosity in subsidizing and broadening artistic and cultural opportunities for children.

John and Patty Noel were honored for nearly two decades of supporting the arts in Central Wisconsin, providing access for the most underserved and disadvantaged people.  Their million dollar donation to UW-Stevens Point enabled a $26 million renovation and expansion of the University’s fine arts center.

John W. Thompson was recognized for a generous lead gift to rescue CTM-Children’s Theater of Madison and another major gift to Overture Center for the Arts Great Performance Fund.  His many years of leadership and philanthropy sustained Madison Opera and Madison Area Concert Handbells.  Other gifts by Thompson benefited Madison Symphony Orchestra, VSA arts Wisconsin and Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.

Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra recently celebrated its 50th anniversary season and was honored for its lead role in the national youth orchestra world.  The largest youth orchestra program in the nation, it serves nearly 850 young people in its full season core programs, plus many thousands more through its work at Boys & Girls Clubs, Neighborhood Concert Series and school-based Community Engagement Concerts.  Increased commitment to diversifying its membership, music and audiences resulted in a half-dozen new programs in the last five years and minority enrollment has quintupled.  MYSO’s vision in developing the Youth Arts Center greatly benefits the community.

M&I Bank of Milwaukee was recognized for generous statewide support, giving to nearly 90 arts programs including: United Performing Arts Fund, Renaissance Theaterworks, Latino Arts, Inc, Ko-Thi Dance Company, Waukesha Civic Theater, River Arts, Inc. (Sauk City), Concerts in the Park (Reedsburg), Dodgeville Blues Fest, Madison Bach Musicians, Janesville Presents, Beaver Dam Area Community Theater, Geneva Lake Art Association, Green Bay Symphony Orchestra, Fox Cities Children’s Museum, UW Fox Valley Foundation Arts Campaign, Wausau Area Conservatory of Music, Wisconsin Rapids Community Theater and UW Stevens Point Department of Music.

Each recipient of the 2008 Governor’s Award received a citation from the Governor, along with a gift of original art created by a Wisconsin artist.

In 2008, the Wisconsin Foundation for the Arts commissioned Wisconsin artist Georgene Pomplun, whose oil paintings reflect the stunning beauty of her rural Mount Horeb landscape and its wonderful old barns and farmhouses, as well as her reverence for a way of life that is increasingly threatened.

The Governor’s Awards in Support of the Arts began in 1980 to encourage support of the arts throughout Wisconsin.  The Wisconsin Foundation for the Arts has honored more than 135 businesses, individuals and organizations whose extraordinary contributions to the vitality of the arts in local communities or statewide deserve recognition.  Four previous governors have hosted the ceremony and personally presented the awards.

The Wisconsin Foundation for the Arts is a nonprofit public organization supported solely by membership dues and contributions.  For more information visit the Website:  www.wiffa.org or contact:  Jeffrey Bartell, Chair of the Wisconsin Foundation for the Arts (608/283-2447) or Kristi Williams, Executive Director (608/839-4758).

The 2007 recipients demonstrate their love of the arts with generous financial gifts and an outstanding record of volunteer leadership. Honored in the “Individual Leadership” category are Ellsworth and Carla Peterson, of Sturgeon Bay; and Susan Vette of Oshkosh. Selected in the “Arts Organization” category is Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua, with founder, producer and artistic director, Warren Nelson, of Washburn. American Girl’s Fund for Children, Carol Hay, President of the Board, Madison, is recognized in the “Corporate/Business” category.

Northwestern Mutual Foundation of Milwaukee is partnering with the Wisconsin Foundation for the Arts in sponsoring the annual event. Edward J. Zore, President and Chief Executive Officer of Northwestern Mutual, will represent the company at the ceremony.

Honorary Chair of this year’s Governor’s Awards in Support of the Arts was Chris Abele, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Argosy Foundation, of Milwaukee. In 2005, Abele received a Governor’s Award in Support of the Arts for generous philanthropy and volunteer leadership supporting performing arts organizations and venues in Milwaukee and the surrounding area.

Each recipient of the 2007 Governor’s Awards received a gift of original art. In 2007, the WFA commissioned pastel artist Kristine Martineau Gellerman of Marshfield to create the art.

“As a visual artist I have become keenly aware of the myriad effects of light; how light creates all form and shadow, color and texture. In each of these paintings my goal is to be true to the light that inspired its conception.

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“Pastel is the medium I most often choose. It is pure pigment of rich color so soft, yet strikingly bold and so capable of capturing the dramatic and subtle effects of light and shadow. No matter how technically correct a painting may be, it is the unpainted qualities that emerge from beneath pigment on paper that evoke a response from the viewer.”