CROSSMAN GALLERY

The Crossman Gallery, established in 1971 with the construction of the Greenhill Center of the Arts, is the primary visual art exhibition venue for the Department of Art and Design at UW-Whitewater. The gallery organizes several exhibitions annually that showcase a variety of artistic expressions, and also provides a venue for arts-related activities and events, such as the renowned Schuh Visiting Artist workshop and exhibition. As a teaching gallery that both enables art students to showcase their work for public audiences and facilitates thoughtful engagement with art for all students, the Crossman serves the educational mission of the university. Situated in southern Wisconsin, the Crossman Gallery is a cultural driver of our region, as well as a local artistic hub serving communities in and beyond campus.

The Crossman Gallery stewards a permanent collection of over 1,600 artworks and is particularly strong in the work of “Outsider” (untrained or self-taught) artists and works on paper, including German Expressionist prints generously donated by Marvin and Janet Fishman. The gallery has been the grateful recipient of a number of substantial gifts from donors like Ernella Hunziker, who presented the Crossman with dozens of objects from various indigenous American cultures, and Patricia Smith, who gifted the gallery numerous Japanese textiles. Other highlights of the collection include works by renowned Modern and Contemporary artists like Andy Warhol, Käthe Kollwitz, Claes Oldenburg, and Judy Chicago, in addition to local and regional artists like Leon Pescheret, Evelyn Guhr Sweeney, and Fran Achen, as well as previous Schuh Visiting Artists such as Kiki Smith and Della Wells.

The permanent art collection stewarded by the Crossman Gallery continues to grow each year with gifts generously donated by alumni, emeriti, and members of the community. In the future, we plan to make the full permanent collection digitally accessible to everyone, so please check back at a later date.

WOTA Collects Art
"WOTA Collects Art" is a new initiative, established in 2023, with the aim of not only brining students across campus to the Crossman Gallery, but to engage them directly in growing the art collection that ultimately belongs to them. Thus, each fall, the College of Arts and Communication invites “World of the Arts” (WOTA) students to vote on a new artwork to acquire for the Crossman Gallery’s permanent collection. The artwork with the most votes will be purchased and then will be displayed in the Center of the Arts atrium for the remainder of the academic year. In the permanent collection database, the artwork will forever be credited as “acquired by the WOTA class of 2025.” In the inaugural year (2023) of this important initiative, students selected a four-part risograph print series about water and the environment by Nipinet Landsem, a two-spirit, nonbinary Michif, Anishinaabe, and mixed European-descent artist. Last year (2024), students voted to purchase "Alice Visions Octavia," a quilt portrait honoring Black women icons in the arts, namely jazz musician and composer Alice Coltrane and science fiction author Octavia Butler, by Milwaukee-based artist Rosy Petri. Stay tuned to hear what UW-Whitewater students decide to add to the collection in 2025!

The Gallery is always free and all are welcome.

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