Executive Director of the Paine Art Center and Gardens Aaron Sherer announced the launch of Wisconsin Art Destinations, a collective effort among in-state art museums last week.

“The Paine is thrilled to be coming together with our fellow art museums around the state to highlight the truly remarkable artistry that is around the corner in Wisconsin,” Sherer said. “We’re proud to be sharing the power of art and elevating the vitality it brings to our communities and state.”

Wisconsin Art Destinations includes 13 visual arts museums in Wisconsin. Several locations are in the Fox Valley, including the Paine Art Center and Gardens, Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass in Neenah  and the Trout Museum of Art in Appleton.

The idea for Wisconsin Art Destinations was formed over two years ago, and was inspired by virtual meetings between local art directors while social distancing, Sherer said.

“The directors of Wisconsin’s art museums started meeting by Zoom during the pandemic,” he said. “This experience motivated us to continue working together. Ultimately, the goal of the collaboration is to encourage people to visit Wisconsin’s art museums as well as explore the communities we’re located in.”

Sherer said another goal of the program is to encourage people to raise the profile of Wisconsin as a destination for the visual arts.

“Wisconsin is well known for several things, like the Packers, our state parks and natural areas and beer and cheese,” he said. “However, people may not realize that Wisconsin also has a strong tradition of community-based art museums, big and small.”

However, people often don’t have to travel too far to experience different art locations, Sherer said.

“We hope to show people that our museums are located pretty close to one another, and that it would be easy to visit one, two, three or more of us on a single trip,” he said. 

For example, a drive from the Paine Art Center to Neenah’s Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass and then to Appleton’s Trout Museum of Art takes less than 45 minutes. 

Although Wisconsin Art Destination museums are located relatively close to each other, they each have something different to offer through their buildings, exhibitions and educational resources, Sherer said.

“There’s so much great art to see right now,” he said. “You can enjoy exquisite crafts down at the Racine Art Museum, and all the way up in Wausau, you can experience the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum’s celebrated ‘Birds in Art’ exhibition. In between, there’s contemporary African Art on view at the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, and there’s the John Michael Kohler Art Center’s mind-blowing new Art Preserve in Sheboygan. And, these are just four of the art destinations!” 

To follow the Wisconsin Art Destinations motto, “Travel Beyond Your Horizon,” museum visitors should do two things, Sherer said.

“First, while it may not originally be something you thought of, we encourage you to travel to a museum that probably isn’t too far away from where you already are or plan to be,” he said. “Second, once you arrive at an art museum, you will probably have a learning and growing experience that expands your thinking.”