RACINE, WI.- Racine Art Museum's Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts continues an important Racine tradition with the opening of Watercolor Wisconsin 2016. One of the museum's most popular shows, Watercolor Wisconsin is a statewide competition organized by the museum annually since 1966. This long-running, juried exhibition attracts a wide range of artists. Limited only by their materials--aqueous media such as acrylic and watercolor--artists are free to create two-dimensional and three-dimensional works on paper. This year's show features a variety of subjects, from animals, flowers, and landscape to figurative studies and the abstract. The exhibition will be on display at Wustum, through April 22, 2017.

Peter Power--Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Print Media at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago--and Doug Stapleton, Associate Curator of Art with the Illinois State Museum Chicago Gallery--an adjunct faculty in the Interdisciplinary Arts graduate program at Columbia College Chicago, and a visual artist--juried this year's show. Power and Stapleton considered 272 works submitted by 155 artists, narrowing down the selection to 98 works by 71 Wisconsin artists.

Also on view, Honoring Fifty Years of Watercolor Wisconsin at Racine Art Museum until February 5, 2017, features works that were acquired from past juried shows for the permanent collection. These acquisitions were made using various special funds dedicated to growing RAM's holdings in contemporary watercolor or were gifted by donors.

Artists in the Exhibition: Appleton: Gary Hanks; Brookfield: Julia F. McMurray; Burlington: Jimmy Yanny; Cedarburg: Patrick Doughman, Sandra Pape; Franksville: Sue Horton; Fredonia: Tim Day; Glendale: Kathleen Bergstrom; Grafton: Wallis Coffman, Jean Crane; Hales Corners: Betty A. Storey; Hartford: Harold E. Hansen, Barbara Sorenson Rambadt; Janesville: Connie Glowacki; Kenosha: Dennis Bayuzick, James Block, Judy Gotta, Sande Jensen, Robert Marcella, Beverly J. Mich, Carlotta Miller, Paula Touhey, Greg Uttech, Rebecca Venn; Madison: Randal Feig, Linda P. Hancock, Doug Haynes, Brian McCormick; Mequon: Kathleen Nelson, Alice Struck; Middleton: Michael Kratochwill; Milwaukee: Michael D. Andrysczyk, Joyce Eesley, Steve Horvath, Matt Kuhlman, Kiefer Ledell, Susan Leopold, JoAnna Poehlmann; Mount Pleasant: Robert W. Andersen; Nashotah: Alice Rossman; Neenah: Kathryn Wedge; New Berlin: Julie San Felipe; Oak Creek: Al Minzlaff; Oconomowoc: Virgilyn Driscoll; Racine: Jerry Belland, Mary Burant, Ellen Cardwell, Lisa Englander, Maureen Fritchen, Christopher Johns, Edwin Kalke, Jeff Kosmala, John Krewal, Karen Mathis, Sharon Mellberg, Lance Raichert, Linda Somogyi, Susan M. Sorenson, Dina Walker, Sue Wolff; Salem: Harry Wirth; Waterford: Norman Abplanalp, Linda Gerard Dzik, Edith Kubicek; Waukesha: Bruce Boeck; Wausau: Diane Shabino; Wauwatosa: Chris Sommerfelt; Whitefish Bay: Anne Miotke; Whitewater: Christine B. Miller, Linda Tump; Williams Bay: Lynne Railsback