Rick Ponzio Sculpture - University of Wisconsin-Sheboygan's Fine Arts Gallery

A 'Coincidence?'

New UW-Sheboygan painting and sculpture exhibit to open Nov. 4

Sheboygan-area art lovers are invited to visit the University of Wisconsin-Sheboygan's Fine Arts Gallery for its newest exhibition, "Coincidence?," an exhibition of original paintings and stone sculptures from UW-Sheboygan associate professor of art Tom Uebelherr and communication and theater arts lecturer Rick Ponzio.

An opening reception with the artists and light refreshments will be held from 5 to 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 4, in the Fine Arts Gallery. The exhibition will run through Dec. 10.

Uebelherr came to UW-Sheboygan in 2001 and was promoted to tenure and an associate professor of art in 2007. He received bachelor's and master's degrees from the UW-Milwaukee, where he studied with the late UW-Sheboygan dean Raymond T. Hernandez.

Besides teaching a full load of art courses at UW-Sheboygan, Uebelherr also has served on several campus committees and worked to establish the digital arts lab and digital imaging program here. He also created the outdoor sculpture exhibit "Inside Out" and the annual High School Art Scholarship Program and Exhibit.

Outside of UW-Sheboygan, Uebelherr serves as the president of the Coalition of Active Sculpture Teachers (CAST) and has exhibited at a number of juried exhibitions. His work is included in a number of permanent collections, including those at the Madison Civic Center Arts Center, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center and the Menomonee Nation Logging Museum. Uebelherr received the Annual Alliant Energy Underkofler Excellence in Teaching Award in 2008.

Ponzio. a native of Kenosha, has a long career in the arts and education. He received a bachelor's degree in philosophy from UW-Parkside and a master's in speech/theater from Bowling Green University.

Ponzio describes himself as a self-taught, primitive, Wisconsin-born sculptor interested in the surreal, the unlikely, the impossible and the unconscious in his art. He sculpts directly in the stone and "engages in a dialogue allowing his obsession to interact with the personality of the stone. He prefers to sculpt in calcium-based materials such as marble, limestone and dolomite.

He has sculptures in permanent installation at Cowern Elementary School in St. Paul, Minn., and Becker County Public Library in Detroit Lakes, Minn. He is currently showing at Portal Wisconsin's Juried On Line Gallery (portalwisconsin.org), Neimi Outdoor Sculpture Gallery in Bristol and at Zio Verde Private Sculpture Park in Plymouth. He has exhibited in numerous galleries and institutions, including the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Flanders Gallery, Carthage College and Kenosha Institute of Arts, to name a few.

Outside of UW-Sheboygan, Ponzio has been a keynote speaker and presenter at Young Authors' Conferences, taught writing classes, done artist residencies and presented folk literature through the Minnesota Literature Live program (Loft). He has received a Forecast Public Art Project Grant in 2000-01 and the Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship in Literature twice.

The Fine Arts Gallery is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Most of the artwork is available for purchase.

For more information about the show or UW-Sheboygan's Fine Arts Gallery, contact gallery director Dan Smith at dan.smith@uwc.edu or call (920) 459-6649.