As summer starts winding up this May of 2026, the Art Guild of Menomonee Falls (AGMF) winds down its 2025-26 year. May is the month for the AGMF Member’s Art Show. Beautifully poised and placed on our gridded wall in the Art Lounge, 30-odd pieces of unique art were entered by Guild members, hung to be viewed by the public. Some were available for purchase and all of them were judged to see if their piece earned a win, a place, or a show!

The 2026 AGMF Member Show was judged by Bob Fesser. Bob is an encaustic artist who lives and works in the Milwaukee area. Encaustic painting is created using fire, wax, and colored pigments. Bob is a self-trained artist, with a goal of making people say, “Wow!” when they see his pieces. And, WOW is also the acronym for his website, “World of Wax.” Along with the pieces he has for sale on his own website, Bob currently also has art for sale in Plumb Bottom Gallery in Door County, and in Menomonee Falls’ very own Art Lounge.

Bob did the Guild the honor of weighing in on the diverse artwork: digital, photography, mixed media, and paintings of all paint types (e.g., watercolor, acryllic). Bob used the following criteria, along with his “gut reaction” – Bob wanted the winners to be those that made him say, “Wow!”

Concept: The artist putting themself into their work. It’s the message or voice of the piece. Did the artist’s medium accurately display the depth of the piece?

Composition: The artist’s design, balance, rhythm, layout, use of positive and negative spaces. How did the artist combine all of those elements combine to set the viewer’s eye across the artwork?

Craftsmanship: The artist’s technical skill with their selected medium/media. Was the artist’s control of their tools intentional and effective?

Color: The artist’s palette of hues, tones, values (i.e., darks and lights) and colors. Did the colors work together across the composition to communicate the artist’s message and balance the composition?

Capture: The judge’s gut reaction. How long does the viewer stare? How does the piece make the viewer react or feel? Do they smile, nod, and keep walking? Stare unblinking with their mouth open and a tear in their eye? Or start pulling out their wallet?

Bob’s careful survey of the pieces occurred prior to the May Membership meeting. 10 pieces stood out to him. From those ten, two honorable mentions and three winners were awarded. Your fellow Guildsmen are listed here in descending order. Congratulations to the Guild for another successful year, and to the wonderful artists who surely wowed us.

1st place: “Sheltering,” Laurie Runnoe

2nd place: “I am, I said,” Kathleen Ciskoski

3rd place: “Dancers in Grey,” Jeaninne Rapont

Honorable Mention: “In the Pink,” Jane Mirocha

Honorable Mention: “Power House,” Jerry Higgins

The ten “Capture” pieces includes those mentioned above and below, in alphabetical order by artists last name:

• Holly Erfdmeyer, “Hang On”
• Marta Gwizdala, “Bloom Me”
• Tim Savino, “Nautical Nonsense”
• Michelle Thomas, “Childhood”
• Ronny Trabeau, “Blue Tit”

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April 28, 2026 Guest Speaker: Keighley Sadler, Cutesy Macabre

cute-sy (KYOOT – see) adjective: adorable, fun to look at, precious, endearing, makes you say, “Awww!” or “Ooohhh!”

ma-cabre (muh – COB) adjective: creepy, disturbing, eerie, spooky, might make you grimace or cringe, makes you say, “Aaahhh!” or “Eeeeek!”

These two descriptors may seem to be at odds. Rather than think they contradict, flip the script and align them. Visualize art that is oddly adorable, or adorably odd. 

This unique handle, CutesyMacabre, represents muralist, illustrator, painter, self-portraitist, one-time seamstress, art fellow, and all around super interesting and inspiring gal: Keighley Stadler from Milwaukee, WI. Growing up in a home that valued art and creative expression, as a young child, Keighley had no idea just how much influence these values would have on her as an adult. This included the influence of some specific art pieces from her childhood: the blank-eyed children and posters of rather affably animated fruit.  

Outside of the artistic realms, both performance and visual, Keighley was drawn to work helping others, especially children with special needs. She found great work as an aide for children with disabilities. Loving the students was easy, although the work could be tough. A few grievous moments occurred during her tenure. Her concussions resulted in major life changes. 

The doctor prescribed Keighley to be placed on “brain rest,” a recovery strategy where physical activity and cognitive activity are avoided or extremely minimized. No screens, no reading, no puzzles. Nothing that created any stress on her healing brain. Besides sleep, what else was there to do? 

Draw. 

Keighley returned to a childhood hobby of drawing bobby pins, books, and bananas. In an epiphanic moment, she invented her handle and manifested her email, Facebook, and Instagram accounts. And she drew, and she painted, and drew, and painted, and her skills grew.

Through her networking on social media, one artistic opportunity after another came her way – and she said, “Yes!” to all of them. She also wanted to say yes to another type of work: one that returned her to a place where she could again help others. She found this perfect blend of creating and motivating as an art specialist for adults with disabilities and the elderly at Donna Lexa Art Center.

Keighley’s journey is one of community, exploration, positivity, bravery, and creation. She reminds us to find and embrace the different sides of ourselves and find alignment between them. Don’t think it’s weird to be afraid, and don’t be afraid to be weird. Just keep drawing.

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March 24, 2026 Guest Speaker: Cheryl Anderson, The Dotting Chick

Once our Guild members got settled in their seats, Cheryl, The Dotting Chick got this polka-dot party started! Beautifully packaged kits included all the dotting tools one would need at their disposal:

• A stencil
• A plastic palette – although, we used the paint bottle caps as an ink well
• Q-tips (read: erasers)
• Glass rods and styluses of varying sizes.

With smocks donned, plates were picked along with self-selected tri-color paint preferences. And the dip-dot-dip-dotting commenced.

The first 45-minutes were a workshop to familiarize attendees with the tools and their uses. Styluses were put into play to create the small dot (a dotting staple), the swoosh (a small dot with flare and swagger), and the ‘walking dot’ ( a series of dots in superlative sizes that can be placed in close proximity around larger dots in single, double or triplicate rows). Rods were employed to create larger, central dots, and needed a bit more control. Rods required more paint and flat contact with the paper, both of which needed to be controlled as the excess paint tends to pull the paper up with the rod. Stencils were chalked or penciled on the plate to provide guidelines. With heads bent, our attendees were engrossed, studiously placing their dots on their plate with precision and care.

Dotting is often enjoyed for its meditative qualities. Dotting is also a great example of ‘practice making one more perfect.’ Placement and spacing are key elements of these mandala-like designs. Skills required for the desired effects of dotting include:

• Redipping the tool before each new dot (except for the walking dot and the diminishing paint on the tool creates the shrinking size in this pattern). Be careful to dip your tool back in the correct color lest you add an anomaly to your pattern.
• Dotting with a consistent amount of paint, placement, and pressure.

Cheryl has been providing workshops at The Art Lounge in Menomonee Falls for the past three years. She got into dotting once she had retired from a career in hairstyling. After completing a bucket list of things she thought would be very interesting to do, she found herself bored and wanting a new challenge. On a whim, she purchased a paint dotting kit from Amazon, and the rest is history! Cheryl is dedicated, doting, and determined to help her students dive into dotting. If you ever have a chance to take a class with her, you’ll be sure to walk away with a smile and a groovy little gift that you made, one dab and dot at a time!

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Feb. 24, 2026 Guest Speaker: Amanda Massman, of Burlap and Barnwood

From humble beginnings at places like Benjamin Franklin Craft stores in Oconomowoc, Wis., Amanda is now an independent business owner, offering artistic workshops across the United States because she, “said, ‘Yes,’ to random situations.”

Her journey is a winding road, with a variety of stops and opportunities. A consistent symbol throughout her endeavors is the sunflower, representing optimism, direction, and adoration. Amanda has painted, woodstained, markered, and woodburned sunflowers on anything and everything: furniture, purses, bowls, oven covers, and most recently, hats. All of her designs trend toward the feminine and pretty flavor, and her just sunflowers sell the best. Amanda’s hallmark sunflower table video is what really put some gas in her tank, allowing her to really get noticed, by 22 million views resulting in 100,000 followers. 

And while Amanda obviously loves making a living (and employing others) by making her art, “the joy of teaching,” holds the real value and impact for her, as it allows her to reach 20-40 people at a time – a far further reach than creating a singular, bespoke table to sell online. Amanda’s workshops are hosted across diverse venues: bars, stores, restaurants, distilleries, even during line dancing events! She hopes to become a franchise in the near future. And you can bet your boots that when this opportunity does come along, she’s gonna say yes!

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Coach agreed that watercolors can be intimidating.

On top of that, Lance chose to address everyone’s fear of portraiture.

To ease us in, Lance shared that most portraits still begin with a pencil sketch. Then, he pumped us up taking us through his challenging backstory and inspiring us with his ambitious approach to his art.

A class at Mill Road Gallery in Door County taught him to paint with coffee! Add Windex to a cup of coffee and that will help to keep the odor to a minimum. Coffee is amazing for laying down your first couple levels of value.

He prefers to “hit” dark colors right away which is the very opposite of most watercolor techniques, layering from light to dark. He actually calls this “destroying” his painting! Lance shared a quip from his childhood baseball coach, “The team that makes the most mistakes, wins.” I think most artists can relate to the happy accidents that occur along the way that invite us in a new direction.

Lance works fearlessly. Lance likes to add bold color to the background—blue, yellow, red. He suggests using a separate brush for each color.

Spraying watercolors? Spraying “pushes” the colors around. He also sprays clear water to create highlights.

Members, and Lance himself, weren’t quite sure his demonstration portrait could be fixed after watching the splashing and spraying chaos at his presentation. But sure enough, Lance grandly posted his beautifully finished watercolor piece the next day!

Lance founded GRAS (Green Room Art Studio) Ministries in 2020 with the purpose to create art that will help people reflect on God’s Word and the wonders of His creation. You can find Coach Lance on several social outlets: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok as well as his GRAS Ministries website.

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Rich knew early on that he wanted to be a comic book artist. At 7 years old, he remembers his excitement of buying a comic book from the magazine rack at his dad’s PDQ store. Rich could have taken the easy path to take over the family grocery store business but his creativity was pulling him in another direction.

Rich started his comic career developing and marketing his own comics. This involved traveling to 15-20 shows per year: setting up booths with his own books that were then sold to distributors. Next he worked in an animation studio. Here, he proposed to do storyboards for Sonic the Hedgehog, breaking that character into the comic book world. He then moved on to work on the famous Archie comic series illustrating over 10,000 pages to date!

Rich realized that his ultimate goal was to take his own ideas to the publisher, Top Shelf Productions. He wanted to tell his own stories. For his first publication, “Three Fingers,” Rich received validation from Top Shelf because they didn’t change a single word of his submission. Rich followed with “The King,” an offbeat tale of Elvis. Rich’s books are unusual and satirical.

Rich dreamt of a bold new concept, likening superheroes’ careers to baseball’s tiered farm system. After pitching it to a major player in the industry, Rich learned the tough lesson that it’s difficult to protect ideas. He did come out on top and you can now find his second “F.A.R.M. System” book out now. Rich did all the lettering, inking and illustration taking full ownership of the entire creative process. He has also recently illustrated, all by hand, a new kid-friendly graphic novel, “Flash Gordon Adventures! Vol. 2.”

Besides authoring and inking his graphic novels, Rich shares his knowledge with students at Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD) as an Illustration professor.

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Our recent Scholarship winner also made a repeat visit bringing samples from his Art Camp experience last summer. You can find that story on our Scholarship page.

After graduation, Natalie worked many jobs: mural painter, screenprinter, even working with Stacie at Uptown Art in Sussex! But Natalie craved to develop her own products versus fabricating from other people’s ideas.

Natalie’s senior thesis back at MIAD was to create plushie to go with the cartoon characters she had illustrated. She had learned to sew from her grandmother who was a seamstress. She dipped her toes by first creating a “froggy hat.” Her handsewn knit hats were a hit, but found that sourcing out the embroidery was the way to make the product profitable.

As an apprentice under a Milwaukee toy inventor, Natalie applied for an open position with Kidrobot and landed on their design team. Kidrobot produces and sells designer toys.

Kidrobot’s sales team will propose what character to produce and how to fashion it (mood, pose, etc.). As a designer, Natalie will modify the character utilizing several computer programs into Kidrobot style, “cutifying” them with big eyes and head. Final specifications and sketches are sent overseas for production and packaging.

You can learn more about Natalie’s talents on her website, NattyBic.com.

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Mary Beth Drabiszczak [pronounced Drab-i-zak] is an artist, educator, and art historian based in Waukesha. Mary Beth earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and graduated in 2023 with a Master’s in Art History from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. She is a Signature Member of the Wisconsin Pastel Artists (WPA) which holds membership in the International Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS).

As a pastelist, Mary Beth showed how she works with saturated color and gestural mark-making. She works in her studio and en plein air, often creating studies from direct observation. Her goal is to capture while observing portraits of the landscape, animals, or figures. Mary Beth explained her approach to document these experiences, which can be quickly notated in pastel through bold and suggestive strokes. 

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Tom encouraged artists to get out and show their work. Tom is a perfect example taking an opportunity to display at Fiddleheads in Menomonee Falls. Tom and Suzanne also stressed the importance of talking with other artists as we speak the same language, which can offer constructive input or reactions. Recently, Tom has challenged himself with a fresh approach to color and going in a new direction with his dog portraits – examining the relationship between dog and owner.

Tom and Suzanne reminded us that judging is ultimately subjective, but they considered three factors in their choices: technique, individuality/creativity and elements (color, composition). Two Honorable Mentions were also determined by votes from the public and the other from our membership. The Sheas’ offered valuable comments on the winning pieces: commenting on what made their selections stand out and commending the artists on their strengths. Winning artworks were recognized with a special plaque placed next to the artwork for the remainder of the show and the artists received gift cards.

1st Place
“Cool Summer Evening” by Jerry Higgins (oil)
Our judges admired these qualities in Jerry’s painting:
– mostly dark with a few hot spots that evoke a feeling of warmth
– overall nice composition
– zigzag of purple is a welcome, bold, highlight

2nd Place
“Shelter from the Storm” by Laurie Runnoe (watercolor)
Tom and Suzanne appreciated these characteristics of Laurie’s watercolor:
– warm shapes with lovely variation between them
– wonderful negative shapes
– abstract background appears to be a “design by accident” that definitely belongs

3rd Place
“The Earth Whispers” by Kathy Gebauer (watercolor)
In Kathy’s watercolor, The Sheas recognized:
– flowing feeling
– hazy quality
– subtleness in not defining all the details

Honorable Mention – Members’ Choice
“Reflection” by Tim Savino

Guild members voted this as their favorite piece.

Honorable Mention – People’s Choice
“Amazon Eyes” by Ronny Trabeau

Ronny’s piece was the most popular with the public.

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Dave eased us in by explaining foundational concepts, pointing out different digital tools and their settings within the software’s palette. Dave demonstrated the stylus’s pressure sensitivity as he drew across his digital canvas—a Wacom tablet. He encouraged us to try out 2D still work on our own computers by downloading free software. Adobe offers a painting and drawing app called Fresco and Microsoft has its Fresh Paint. 

Dave likes the physics of animation and interpreting movement of forms and employs Blender, a robust drawing program with 3D and animation capabilities. 

Dave drew an example on his tablet of “onion skinning” where seeing a faint image of the frame before and after helps the artist envision a smooth transition of movement and gain insight on how to draw the next image. His grandchildren are the stars of an animation short Dave produces for their 5th birthdays.  

The myriad 3D sculpting tools in Blender allow artists to create 3D objects. By selecting a tool and dragging a point on the object’s mesh grid, Dave proceeded to morph shapes in crazy ways. You can even output your final model to a 3D printer!

Interested members were invited to approach Dave’s workspace and experiment with drawing and painting digitally using a stylus on a screen. Thanks Dave for opening our eyes and minds to the virtual world of art! 

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