Not sure who to vote for? Pick up a copy of “Row, Row, Row Your Vote,” a nonpartisan candidate information booklet created by Professor Bauer’s Art & Creative Democracy class. Booklets will be available at the shuttle-to-the-polls event and in the Bush Art Center.
After voting be sure to visit the Bush Art Center galleries, it will be one of the last opportunities to see the Art Against the Odds, Handwriting the Constitution, Voices of Freedom, and Just exhibition!
This fall, the Bush Art Center Galleries at St. Norbert College present a series of exhibitions exploring the relationships between art, democracy, human rights, justice, and civic participation. Together, these exhibitions demonstrate the power of art to foster reflection, dialogue, and public engagement while examining the ways individuals and communities navigate questions of freedom, rights, belonging, and collective responsibility.
Art Against the Odds
Art Against the Odds features work by artists who are currently or formerly incarcerated within Wisconsin’s justice system. Highlighting the creativity, resilience, and diverse experiences of artists impacted by incarceration, the exhibition invites viewers to consider the intersections of art, justice, human dignity, and self-expression.
The exhibition also marks the establishment of the Wisconsin Prison Art Research Collection at St. Norbert College. Generously donated by the Portrait Society Gallery in Milwaukee, the collection will serve as a permanent resource for teaching, research, and public engagement. As a growing archive, it will support ongoing inquiry into the role of art within carceral systems and the broader social, cultural, and historical contexts of incarceration in Wisconsin.
By preserving these works and making them accessible to students, scholars, artists, and community members, the collection creates new opportunities for dialogue about creativity, rehabilitation, social justice, and the lived experiences of those impacted by incarceration.
Handwriting the Constitution
Handwriting the Constitution is a social art project begun in 2017 by artist Morgan O’Hara. The project invites people from all walks of life to gather in public spaces to handwrite the United States Constitution or other documents created to protect human rights and freedoms.
Developed as a form of concentrated writing and civic reflection, the project encourages participants to slow down and engage deeply with foundational texts. Through hand-copying, participants often discover new meanings in familiar documents, gaining a deeper understanding of the rights and responsibilities embedded in democratic society.
The exhibition arrives at a particularly meaningful moment as the United States marks its Semiquincentennial year, the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding. Visitors are invited to engage directly with the Constitution and reflect on its continuing role in shaping the promises, challenges, and aspirations of American democracy.
Voices of Freedom brings together works from three important portfolios: Carving Out Rights, Voices From Outside, and Community Defense: Voces de los Artistas. Through printmaking and graphic art, the exhibition examines issues of human rights, incarceration, immigration, and community defense. The exhibition includes work by artists responding to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, challenging the prison-industrial complex, and working alongside immigrant rights movements to support communities impacted by detention, deportation, and family separation.
Collectively, these works demonstrate how art can serve as a form of civic participation and public education, and highlight how artists contribute to broader struggles for justice and human dignity while creating visual languages that inform, mobilize, and connect communities.
Just
Also on view is Just (2002) by Korean artist Joon Soo Ha. Through the progressive degradation and transformation of image and sound, the work reconsiders one of the most recognizable symbols in American culture: the flag.
Repeatedly reproduced through digital and analog processes, including video, photocopying, printing, scanning, and re-rendering, the image gradually shifts away from its familiar form. In doing so, Just asks viewers to consider how symbols acquire meaning, how context shapes interpretation, and how cultural narratives evolve over time. Rather than presenting a fixed statement, the work creates space for reflection on the instability of images, the construction of meaning, and the ways visual culture influences public understanding.
Exhibition Dates & Public Programs
Taken together, these exhibitions demonstrate the many ways art can function as a form of public scholarship and civic engagement. Whether through the voices of incarcerated artists, the contemplative act of handwriting the Constitution, or the reexamination of national symbols, each exhibition invites visitors to think critically about democracy, human rights, justice, and the role of culture in public life. The St. Norbert College Art Department invites students, faculty, staff, and community members to engage with these exhibitions and the important conversations they can inspire.
Throughout the semester, a variety of public programs will accompany the exhibitions, including artist lectures, curator talks, gallery discussions, research presentations, and participatory engagement opportunities. Featured events include a campus visit by artist Morgan O’Hara, curator programs related to Art Against the Odds, and public Handwriting the Constitution sessions.
These exhibitions will open on August 24, 2026, and a public reception celebrating all four exhibitions will be held on September 10 from 6:00–7:30 p.m. in the Bush Art Center Galleries.
Professor Bauer will be included in the upcoming exhibition, The American Landscape: Beyond the Horizon, at the Museum of Wisconsin Art!
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, this exhibition offers a timely reconsideration of the landscapes we inhabit and the meanings we attach to them. Drawing from the Museum of Wisconsin Art’s collection alongside significant loans by Georgia O’ Keeffe, John Stuart Curry, and contemporary artists who reflect Wisconsin’s legacy. The exhibition also highlights contemporary voices engaging Wisconsin’s artistic legacy.
Opening Reception: May 2, 2:00–4:00 PM On View: May 2 – July 19
Join us tonight, 6:00–7:30 PM at the Bush Art Center for an evening celebrating 70 years of art at St. Norbert College.
Experience four exhibitions: the Senior Capstone Exhibition in the Baer Gallery, new work by Donald P. Taylor in the Godschalx Gallery, Past Present Future featuring faculty across generations in the Permanent Collection Gallery, and Masking Tape, a rediscovered early video work by Bill Bohne in the Media Space Gallery.
The evening also includes a special screening of Bill Bohne’s The Last Lecture in BAC 130!
Bill Bohne – Last Lecture: A Performance Piece (1974) B/W, sound, 31:11, VHS transfer to digital video (original video source unknown)
Bill Bohne’s Last Lecture: A Performance Piece (1974) is a work in the vein of early conceptual video art, emphasizing duration, repetition, and the body. This approach frames performance as a procedural and conceptual act rather than a theatrical event.
The video begins with humorous meditations on the notion of the “last,” moving between popular culture and high art while foregrounding the lecture as a constructed performance. Language becomes both subject and material through repetition and self-reflexive commentary. Bohne states, “I don’t want to be there for my last lecture,” and goes on to say, “You’ll notice when you look around the room this evening that I am not there, only in a mediumistic manner.” These statements destabilize presence and authorship, aligning the work with conceptual strategies that privilege idea over object.
Formally, the video adheres to and disrupts the conventions of performance for the camera. Bohne’s face is never fully visible, either cropped out or turned away, reinforcing the sense of absence. Repetition structures both language and movement, while rudimentary analog editing reflects the technological conditions of early video.
Described by Bohne as a “death avoidance fake-out,” the work culminates in his promise to give the lecture the “run-around.” For the remainder of the tape, he circles the camera continuously. After briefly attempting to follow him, the camera returns to a fixed position, allowing him to pass through the frame at regular intervals, foregrounding a static viewpoint and durational action central to early conceptual video practice. The soundtrack layers repeated phrases of “this is my last lecture,” which Bohne describes as an incantation. This accumulation transforms language into a rhythmic, quasi-ritualistic structure, collapsing meaning into sound and duration. In this way, Last Lecture exemplifies how early conceptual video reduces performance to procedural constraints through which presence, authorship, and temporality are tested with both rigor and humor.
Art students Kyler Lasee and Tyli Scheetz will present about their exhibition, It All Matters Now: A Creative Resistance, as part of the SUNY New Paltz Undergraduate Art History Symposium. The exhibition, curated from the St. Norbert College Art Collection, explored themes of freedom of expression through works from the College’s permanent collection. It was presented in collaboration with the Fall of Freedom national initiative at the Bush Art Center’s Godschalx Gallery and was on view from November 3 to December 5, 2025.
Their presentation will take place as part of Session 8B on Thursday, April 9, at 7:45 p.m. (CT) and can be viewed via Zoom with registration.
The Bush Art Center Galleries are pleased to present a new slate of spring exhibitions celebrating the past, present, and future of the St. Norbert College Art Department.
This year marks a significant milestone: the 70th anniversary of the Art department and the 25th anniversary of the Bush Art Center as our department home!
The Art program was established in 1956 to bring art education to the campus community. Founded by Professor Daniel F. Dickhut, the College’s first full-time art faculty member and notably its first lay faculty member. The Art department played a pivotal role in shaping the institution’s evolution. In many ways, the Art department helped usher in a more expansive, interdisciplinary academic environment at St. Norbert College.
The exhibitions on view reflect this legacy, featuring selections from the permanent collection, new work by past and present faculty, and the Senior Capstone Exhibition, which highlights the achievements of graduating seniors as they prepare to carry their creative practices beyond the College and into the broader world.
Exhibitions Include:
2026 Senior Capstone Exhibition (Baer Gallery) Featuring work by Margaret Byrne, Itzel Chavarria-Castaneda, Lara Deshler, Kyler Lasee, Finn Noto, Meredith Posanski, Tyli Scheetz, and G. Szczerba.
Donald P. Taylor: are you making any Art? (Godschalx Gallery) Presenting new work by emeritus faculty member and former gallery director Donald P. Taylor.
Past Present Future (Permanent Collection Gallery) Showcasing work by current and former faculty, including Brandon Bauer, Bill Bohne, Daniel Dickhut, Abbey Gagne, John Gordon, Jim Neilson, Charles Peterson, Brian Pirman, Marilyn Stasiak, Donald Taylor, and Michael Wartgow.
Masking Tape by Bill Bohne (Media Space Gallery) A work of early video art recently rediscovered and digitally archived for exhibition.
The opening reception will take place on April 17, 2026, from 6:00–7:30 p.m. and will include a special presentation of Bill Bohne’s video performance piece, The Last Lecture, in the Bush Art Center Lecture Hall (BAC 130).
Please join us in celebrating 70 years of art at St. Norbert College and the vibrant community of artists, educators, and students who continue to shape its future.
Join us for an evening of art and conversation at the Carol & Robert Bush Art Center!
Now on view: The Days Go By Like Wildnessby Colin Matthes in the Baer Gallery, Tell Me What Democracy Looks Like by Aaron Hughes in the Godschalx Gallery, and The Cut by Eliseo Ortiz in the Media Space Gallery.
Meet artists Aaron Hughes and Colin Matthes at the exhibition reception on Tuesday, February 24 | 5–7 PM.
Carol & Robert Bush Art Center St. Norbert College 403 3rd St, De Pere, WI 54115
Exhibition curated by Kyler Lasee & Tyli Scheetz, Presented in collaboration with Fall of Freedom, St. Norbert College, Bush Art Center, Godschalx Gallery, Exhibition on View from November 3 – December 5, 2025
It All Matters Now: A Creative Resistance is a student-curated exhibition exploring freedom of expression through works from St. Norbert College’s permanent collection. The exhibition examines how artists use creative expression as a means of resistance, reflection, and dialogue in moments of social and political urgency. Join us for a reception and interactive activity on November 21 at noon.
Artists in the exhibition: Kelly Armer, Brandon Bauer & Colin Matthes, Tom Diedrich, Harold E Hansen, Marion Howard, Nicolas Lampert & Paul Kjelland, Josh MacPhee, Tom Martin, Walter Nottingham, Peter Popalski, Pete Railand, Erik Ruin, Shaun Slifer
Also on view a two day exhibition of Social Media Delivers People (After Serra & Schoolman), my contemporary reinterpretation of Richard Serra’s 1970s video critiquing the power of media, in the Media Space Gallery, November 21–22.
