Katie Musolff ’04 (Painting) is the Pfister Hotel’s 2010 artist in residence . She replaces Reginald Baylor, as only the second artist named for this honor.
Musolff is renowned locally and nationally for her realist portraits of “regular” people, and has been a full-time painter since graduating from MIAD. Widely exhibited, she is represented by the Elaine Erickson Gallery. Her many honors include being selected Featured Artist by Wisconsin Visual Artists in 2009 and receiving second place for portrait/figure art by the national Artist’s Magazine in 2007. She also teaches, including at the Peninsula School of Art in Fish Creek this summer.
The Pfister began its artist in residence program last year to expand its “reputation as a destination hotel for art connoisseurs,” said Joe Kurth, hotel general manager to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Musolff receives studio and gallery space in the hotel and a stipend. She will also be a docent for the hotel’s large Victorian art collection, giving access to the public and guests.
Musolff told the Journal Sentinel that one of her primary aims is to blur the lines between the art world and non-art world: finding regular people in everyday settings and elevating them to a subject worthy of being painted.
Six finalists were chosen by from among hundreds of applicants and exhibited their work at the InterContinental Hotel beginning in January. A selection committee chose from among the finalists, taking into account public input through voting online, in person, by text and on social networking sites.
The runners up included fellow painting alumna Sara Mulloy ’06.
More information about Musolff and her work can be found at www.katiemusolff.com and www.eericksongallery.com .
To download and read a PDF, get Adobe Acrobat Reader
