The MARN Mentors exhibitions show what happens when Milwaukee's most respected artists are partnered with the city's hottest young talent. Kari Garon, Anne Kingsbury, Kevin Miyazaki, Ashley Morgan, Caroline Morrell, Donna Neuwirth, Mel Trittin, Fahimeh Vahdat, Jason Yi & Rina Yoon are featured in the second show.

To strengthen the network of support for artists, provide in-depth professional resources and to contribute to the health of Wisconsin's arts community, MARN created MARNmentors specifically for visual artists, literary artists, filmmakers and arts administrators in the Milwaukee area. MARN acts as a liaison between established working artists and administrators and those who are pursuing a career in the arts. Eleven established artists and two established arts administrators with a track record of professionalism and who have a desire to pass on their knowledge to developing artists, were selected to be Mentors. Those thirteen Mentors chose a Mentee to work with out of a pool of over 50 applicants.

MARN and its Mentors believe it is essential to Milwaukee's art community that we cultivate relationships among our artists, and provide opportunities that encourage emerging artists to stay and work in Milwaukee.

MARN's Mentor program, exhibitions, workshops, community outreach and economic development activities would not be possible without the vision and financial support of Brico Fund, LLC, Milwaukee Arts Board and Wisconsin Arts Board.

Kamryn Boelk
Originally from Oakfield, Wisconsin, I'm the oldest daughter in a family that built itself on farming and crafting. My family taught me much of my initial art skills. My mother did everything from painting to sewing to screen printing to creating John Deer tractor Halloween costumes. My grandmother was known throughout our village as a master quilter, she also did amazing embroidery work. My father on the other hand builds hand-made sail planes and rebuilds them, and rebuilds them. As I got older I started to dabble in a variety of these areas. I was always making something, turning ideas over and over in my head.

I went to college at the University of Wisconsin Fond du Lac it was a two-year program, I was there for two and a half. I didn't really like it there; it wasn't what I expected from the "college experience". But I was able to take art classes and was introduced to oil painting and exploring the human figure. I painted in my free time and found that people were interested in my work.

My art professor, Griff, liked my work and thought that I had potential, he encouraged me to go to art school. I spent the next four years at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.

I graduated from MIAD in 2007 with a B.F.A. in Sculpture, and a minor in Interior Architecture and Design. I found my interests dealt with more dimensional creations.


Juliet Jaeger
In 2006, due to a physical obsession for mark making, Juliet Jaeger, a Milwaukee native, earned her B.F.A. form the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design in Printmaking and Drawing. This obsessive energy currently occurs within her studio in Milwaukee's Bay View neighborhood. Her work springs from a conceptual preoccupation with Science, specifically Geology and Biology. Her drawings, prints, and books often feature a message of environmental conservation. Jaeger is also working the field of paper conservation with James E. Twomey, MS owner of Book Restoration Co. in Kenosha, WI. Her concentration is the restoration of 19th Century Wall Maps.


Dara Larson
Dara Larson is an Associate Professor of Art and Chairperson of the Aesthetic Engagement Ability Department at Alverno College in Milwaukee, WI. She teaches printmaking, fibers, papermaking, artist's books, contemporary topics in art and international studies courses to Spain and Mexico. Her work at the college included participation in the United States Department of Education Grants in Latin Studies and Peace and Conflict Studies. Larson relies upon the experiential elements of travel study to inform the content of her teaching and studio practice. She has lectured and studied in Europe, South American, Central America, North America, Australia and New Zealand. In July of 2008, Larson will exhibit and lecture at the Saitama Museum of Modern Art in Japan with other artists from the Wisconsin Painters and Sculptors Wisconsin Saitama Art Exchange.


Josie Osborne
Josie Osborne is a mixed media artist and printmaker living and working in Milwaukee, WI. She is Director of Community Outreach at Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, where works with nationally recognized programs and leads annual art trips to New York City.She exhibits her work regionally and nationally and is in many private collections. She was recently selected for a fellowship to Fundacion Valparaiso, an artist residency in southern Spain. Her work as an arts administrator has served and supported thousands of K-12 students, teachers, community members, alumni and college age art/design students. Osborne is a member of the City of Milwaukee Arts Board, the Milwaukee Art Museum Print Forum Board and the Latino Arts Board. She received her M.F.A. in graphics (printmaking) from UW-Madison and has a B.A. in art history and criticism and a B.F.A. in drawing and painting from UW-Milwaukee.


Robert Smith
Robert Lewis Smith is an award-winning photographer who lives in Milwaukee. Smith discovered the joy of photography as a young boy. Using a camera given to him by his parents, Smith recorded his family. Years later, one of those photographs would be exhibited at the Milwaukee Art Museum. It was a harbinger of work to come, but by age 10 Smith put down the camera. It was not until after earning a Bachelors degree (History and Art History) from Williams College that Smith returned to photography.

Smith came back to Milwaukee and earned a Masters degree in education. By now, however, the allure of photography was too strong for a part-time involvement. After studying photography at the Milwaukee Center for Photography, Smith worked as a commercial photographer and part-time photography teacher. A free-lance photographer, Smith was also a long-time faculty member of the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design. Smith's personal projects concentrate on family and landscape. Smith's work has been exhibited at: Benham Gallery (Seattle), Bucknell University (Lewisburg, PA), The Center for Fine Art Photography (Fort Collins, CO), Elaine Erickson Gallery, Haggerty Museum of Art, Hood Museum (Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH), The Houston Center for Photography, Meridian House (Washington, D.C.), Michael H. Lord Gallery, Milwaukee Art Museum, Photo Midwest (Madison, WI) and the Wustum, Museum of Fine Arts (Racine, Wisconsin).


Richard Taylor
Richard Taylor is a nationally represented artist, having shown recently at the OK Harris Gallery in NY and the Tory Folliard Gallery in Milwaukee. He is also represented by galleries in LA, Chicago, Michigan and Minneapolis.

His work has been featured in shows at the Tucson Art Museum and the Navy Pier Show as curated by Dave Hickey. He served as artist-in-residence for Quad/Graphics from 1987-1999, painting large, abstract murals and creating sculpture for numerous plant ocations. His studio is in Riverwest.


Joe Ventress
Born in 1963, Joe Ventress grew up in Los Angeles. In previous incarnations he has been a Prop Master, brewed beer in the Catskills, played in thrash bands, stage tech'ed, washed dishes and more. He received his B.F.A. in Film Production and Film Studies from UW Milwaukee in 2007. He currently resides in Riverwest with his girlfriend, Chandra, and their pup, R.K. a.k.a. "Road Kill."


Della Wells
The Hurn Museum of Contemporary Folk Art considers Della Wells one of the leading African American folk artists. Her studies in sociology, African American and women studies shape much of the images in her work. Her work has appeared in exhibitions throughout the country and in Italy. She has exhibited at various museums, art centers, galleries and festivals such as the Hurn Museum of Contemporary Folk Art in Savannah, Georgia and in Florence, Italy, The Kohler Art Center, The Milwaukee Art Museum, The Appleton Art Center, The Museum of Wisconsin Art, Coastal Discovery Museum in South Carolina, The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Walkers Point Center For the Arts, Invoa Gallery, David Barnett Gallery, Katie Gingrass Gallery, Grava Gallery, Charles Allis Museum, Peltz Gallery, UW-Madison, the Mark Wooley Gallery in Portland, the van der per Gallery in New York, Main Street Gallery in Clayton, Georgia, the Ridgefield Guild of Artists in Connecticut, Obsidian Arts in Minnesota, Outsiders and Others pilot Gallery in Minnesota, Southside Community Art Auction in Chicago, Illinois, Susan Woodson Gallery in Chicago, The Kentuck Festival of Arts in Alabama and the Outsiders Art Fair in New York. She has curated art exhibitions such as Wisconsin Contemporary African-American Art at the Mother Kathryn Daniels Conference Center, Wisconsin and Sister Stories at Walkers Point Center Center For the Arts. She is one of the artists mention in Betty Carol Sellen and Cynthia J. Johnason book Self Taught, Outsider, folk Art Guide to American Artists, Locations and Resources, 2000 ed.


Megafaun (Durham) • 9PM • May09 • Hotcakes
Join us for a weird folk/bluegrass blow-out with North Carolina's Megafaun at 9PM on Friday, May 9th. As witnessed on their recent release "Bury The Square" on Radium/Table of the Elements, Megafaun combine footstomping, southern back porch sing-a-longs with damaged electronic and improv tendencies buried in lush three part harmonies.

Listen to Megafaun here: www.myspace.com/megafaun


Hotcakes Gallery's Upcoming Shows / Events
3rd MARNmentors Show
May 9 - May 24 - click on artist's name for more info
Artists TBA (Milwaukee)
Opening May 9, 6-9pm

The Deep End Ensemble
May 28 - click on artist's name for more info
The Deep End Ensemble (New York)
Opening May 9, 6-9pm


The Deep End Ensemble at Hotcakes MAY28 • 7pm
Ian Ash is the director and author of . He utilizes a variety of mallet instruments to compose organic jazz music. His music is interwoven with international rhythms, international harmony, 21st century counterpoint, polyphonic textures, exotic themes, American Jazz theory, eclectic improvisation structures, and spontaneous experimentation. The Deep End Ensemble features Bruce Eisenbeil (CIMP recording artist, co-leader of Carnival Skin) on guitars, Eddy Rollin (New York session player) on wind instruments, and Wilbo Wright (Yo La Tengo, Car music project) on Double Bass. The Deep End Ensemble has performed at The Rotunda (@ University of Pennsylvania), The Manhattan Room, and Saint Lukes Church performing series (@ University of Pennsylvania), Connexions Gallery (Easton, PA) and will be performing at the Boise, Idaho experimental music festival during 2008. Ian Ash has played percussion with innovative guitarist Bruce Eisenbeil, blues man Sonny Rhodes, saxophonist Sonny Fortune, Sun Ra guitarist Dave Middleton, bassist Christian McBride, trombonist Bill Watrous, violinist John Blake, and Mingus Big Band drummer Jonathan Blake.


About Hotcakes - Milwaukee's Favorite Gallery
Hotcakes Gallery focuses on contemporary installation and fine art created by local, national and international artists. Hotcakes provides patrons a comfortable environment to engage art that is affordable without compromising intellectual integrity. Since Hotcakes opened, February 6, 2004, the gallery has continued to grow Milwaukee's young collector base, many of its sales have been to first time art collectors.

In the A.V. section of their July 18th issue in Milwaukee, the Onion says, "Mike Brenner of Hotcakes Gallery just might save this town." and that "Hotcakes Galllery has quickly become a leading independent gallery."

Gallery Hours are Th - Su 12pm-5pm or By Appointment. Click HERE for more information about Hotcakes Gallery.