Peter Koury
Peter Koury is an award-winning contemporary painter whose unique style is largely undefined. His work uses vivid colors and realism to attract the viewer, and he combines that realism with abstraction and symbolism to make social commentary through the human experience. He prefers to work in acrylic and upcycled materials, doing what he can to reduce his environmental footprint and pay homage to his love of nature; he’s woven environmental and conservation themes into his art throughout his 30 year career.
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Erin LaBonte and Don Krumpos - Yonder
Erin LaBonte received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and her Master of Fine Arts from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Erin practices many artistic mediums in her own studio work and is an advocate for bringing art to public spaces and for community engagement. Erin is dedicated to inspiring and educating young people in their personal explorations. She served as associate professor of art at Silver Lake College in Manitowoc, WI for nine years. She is currently a a middle/high school art teacher in Kewaunee, WI.
Don Krumpos is a printmaker, designer, mural artist and puppeteer, among other things. He combines his world building narratives, with material culture of old and new, and sprinkled with contemporary absurdities into objects that focus spiritual energies from the natural world. Don started making art by cobbling impossible machines and formidable forts on his father’s century farm. He continued his craft and explorations as an art student at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay. Don has had the opportunity to teach workshops and serve as a university lecturer throughout northeastern Wisconsin. His philosophy is to diminish the barrier to making art by making techniques accessible and help problem solve creative technical and conceptual ideas.
Erin and Don formed Yonder in 2019. Yonder is brick and mortar storefront and creative space located in Algoma, WI. Our goal is to enhance the local and regional art experience through mural arts, workshops, exhibition opportunities, puppetry, performance and more!
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Andrey Kravtsov - KEY DETAIL
KEY DETAIL is a mural artist who also works with painting and illustration. He lives and works in New York, NY. A native of Belarus, he obtained his Bachelor of Architecture from the Belarusian National Technical University. Growing up in Minsk, KEY DETAIL has been active on the art scene since the 2000s. He has been creating mural art for more than ten years. The artistic map of KEY DETAIL features murals in Europe, Asia and U.S.
Expressing his creativity, he successfully managed and completed many private and public commissions, and worked closely with numerous community organizations. Eight years of architectural experience allows him to respond creatively and uniquely to site-specific design challenges. KEY DETAIL's artworks have been featured in a number of international magazines and books, and his paintings are included in private art collections throughout the U.S. and Europe. Moving forward, KEY DETAIL is continuing his life's work as an artist in order to make the world beautiful through the power of art.
Matthew Mederer
A self-taught artist, Matthew Mederer aka (CoolDiscoRich) has been pushing boundaries and promoting original ideas through his artwork for over 20 years. His depth and breadth of styles, ranging from graffiti to realism, has helped him realize an original body of work. His signature style combines realism and optical illusions. The mixing of styles gives his murals an undeniably original form.
He’s worked nationally and internationally on public art projects. He has worked with big brands such as Vans and Cisco. His art has been featured on the hit television show, NBC’s Chicago PD. Lu Calzada of The Chicago Sun-Times said of his mural ‘Prima’, his work “aims to inspire new beginnings.”
Mederer believes public art is a catalyst for more positive social interaction throughout the world.
Pablo Riesco - Kalaka
Painter, muralist and illustrator. He was born in Chile but from an early age he was exiled with his parents to Venerzuela because of the Military Dictatorship. He has a degree in Literature from the Central University of Venezuela (1998) and studied illustration and graphic art at the Escola de Comics Joso, in Barcelona, Spain (2002-2004). His family history within social and political militancy, together with the impact generated by the urban art movement that was happening in Barcelona in those years, ended up guiding his work towards the urgent and timely intervention of public space, thus becoming one of the contemporary muralists with pieces in a large number of cities around the world.
His work can be seen on walls and walls of cities such as Caracas, Mérida, Carúpano, San Carlos and Río Caribe (Venezuela), Bogotá (Colombia), Pucallpa (Peru), Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires and Ensenada (Argentina), Havana (Cuba), Mexico City and San Miguel de Allende (Mexico), Minneapolis and New York (United States), Paris and Bagnolet (France), Lindau (Germany), Barcelona, L´Hospitalet de Llobregat and Tarragona (Spain). Some of these works were carried out in different mural art festivals, among which Kosmopolite (Paris, 2008), Karupana (Venezuela, 2013), Cromasur (Bogotá, 2015) and La Puerta del Sur (Santiago de Chile, 2018) stand out. His work has been recognized in different individual exhibitions in Caracas, Barcelona and Minneapolis; among the most important are Cara Candela, Puro Corazón (Rómulo Gallegos Latin American Studies Center, Caracas, 2010), where he also gave a mural art workshop to the public; Cuestión Caribe (Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas, 2016), which was also taken the following year to the Nau Bostik (Barcelona, Spain) and the Museo de los Llanos (Lara state, Venezuela), and an untitled solo exhibition at the Indigenous Roots Cultural Center (Saint Paul, Minnesota, 2018). It was also part of the I and II Biennial of the South. Peoples in Resistance (Caracas, 2016 and 2017). He made murals in Mexico City, with the support of the Old Toy Museum of Mexico (MUJAM) in 2019 and 2021.
In the field of illustration he has published four books, three at the Publishing House El Perro y la Rana (Caracas), two of them for children, belonging to the Caminos del Sur collection: Maichak and the sacred prism, by Fanny Uzcátegui (2006) and Bichitos de mi patio by Liliana Peraza (2018); and one in the Fantomas collection: Vañka by Antón Chéjov, with a translation by Marco Aurelio Rodríguez (2017). At Editorial La Estrella Roja (Caracas), he illustrated the Anthology of Children’s and Youth Literature, prepared by José Javier Sánchez and published under the collection Palabras Andantes (2013), National Book Award winner in 2014. Likewise, his illustrations appeared on the covers of two books published by the FAO – Venezuela (2016): Cities for Life: Urban Agriculture and Sovereignties of the 21st Century and Appropriable Biotechnologies for Food Sovereignty; and the albums Me tá llamando by Akilin (Venezuela, 2017) and the albums: Conectando (2017) and 20 from the multicultural band based in Barcelona, Che Sudaka (2022). He is currently developing the art of a book of stories by the Spanish singer and composer Amparo Sánchez, cocreating public art with the mosaic artist Daniela Bianchini.
Sylvia Hecht
Sylvia Annelise Hecht is a nomadic, multidisciplinary visual artist who is passionate about exploration of the planet, nature, divinity, and the human spirit. Inspired by her travels, Sylvia’s work illustrates the complex harmony between humanity and the natural world. She has large scale murals and has headed various visual design projects in eight countries on 3 continents. Sylvia’s recognition of art’s ability to connect and teach people fuels her creative process. She believes that a beautiful atmosphere holds magic in its ability to affect the human psyche, and loves using intentional art and design to foster the creation of engaging and enjoyable environments in both public and private spaces. She will continue to travel, create large scale artwork and work to foster creative energy wherever she roams.
Natasha Platt
Natasha May Platt is a mural artist based in New York, known as @surfaceofbeauty on Instagram. She has a BA in philosophy and religion from Harvard College and received the 2010 Gardner Fellowship for a year of international creative exploration after graduation. Her fellowship led her to the embroidery and textile traditions of Kolkata, India, and she spent three years in Kolkata studying and working in textile design.
Her mural work is influenced by the color and rhythm of textile traditions, as well as her personal connection to nature and meditative states. She has painted murals for Netflix, Amazon Music, Google, Coach, Freeform Media, Apple TV, True Food Kitchen, NYC Health + Hospitals, The City of Yonkers, Bustle, Love Shack Fancy, The Ballston Quarter Mall, The Howard Hughes Corp, The Georgetown Company, The SoNo Collection, as well as murals in Mexico, Bali, India, and the British Virgin Islands.
John Kowalczyk
John Kowalczyk describes his art as "shrine-like, shiny, symmetrical, and seductive figurations that become maps of my mind combining myth, math, and magic." His work is comprised of mixed media paintings and larger than life installations that incorporate vintage fabrics, thrift store treasures, gift wrap, shelf liner, string, ribbon, repurposed drawings, glitter and gold. The collaged elements of his paintings become more than the sum of their parts exhibiting a spiritual nature.
Born in Chicago in 1988, John Kowalczyk currently lives and works in Milwaukee, WI as an artist, curator, and educator. Kowalczyk received his BFA in painting from Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in 2010, and began a three year residency with RedLine Milwaukee soon after, where he curated gallery shows and taught workshops. He currently is the Artist in Residence Program Director for Artists Working in Education, where he facilitates and oversees large scale community and public art projects throughout the city of Milwaukee. Kowalczyk’s work has been exhibited at the Sienna Art Institute in Italy, The Charles Allis Art Museum, The Harley Davidson Museum, The Cedarburg Cultural Center, and The Museum of Wisconsin Art along with other galleries across the U.S.
Heather Peterman
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I paint to promote good energy and joy through color and swirls. My art has a fun abstract style that reflects conscious and sub-conscious energies of people enjoying life. Positive energy is an ever present theme. Heather is an artist living in the Midwest. She has exhibited her work in a variety of venues including the Dirty show in Detroit, the Brown County Public Library, the ARTgarage, IQ's, A 'Bravo, WC and Northern Waters Gallery in Green Bay. Her murals are featured on the White Dog Café in Green Bay and Koko sushi in Bellevue and Downtown Green Bay. She has created images for fabric, shoes, pins, mugs, drumheads, garages and yard art as well as canvases. Her primary focus in creating “good energy” art and whether she is creating paintings to be printed on fabric to adorn clothes and accessories, her aim is to make holistic art that brings balance, sanity, and positive energy to the world.
Aleesha Ocasio
Aleesha Ocasio is a junior at John Dewey Academy of Learning. A Latinx artist, Aleesha chose to make their capsule project for school a mural and art exhibit. They have painted many of the walls inside John Dewey. While attending One Million Cups with the rest of their Entrepreneurial class, Aleesha met SAGE president Stacey Von Busch, who was giving an impromptu presentation that morning about the arts advocacy non-profit.
SAGE is excited to partner with Aleesha to assist them in completing their capsule project for graduation. To make the most of the learning experience, the organization paired Aleesha with several artist mentors.
EJ Miller-Larson is assisting Aleesha with facets related to social justice art and Scott Hill is sharing his knowledge of mural projects and public art.
Scott Hill (Wakatatlihuni) is an Oneida artist born and raised on the Oneida Reservation in Wisconsin. He was given the name, Wakatatlihuni, which translates to “he teaches himself.” The name fits his persona - as Wakatatlihuni, he is self-taught, not only in art, but across life’s spectrums. Scott has been practicing art for over 25 years in his studio/gallery, located in Oneida, creating work across mediums including pencil, clay, paint, stone sculpture, and fabric arts. Hill's work has been exhibited all over the United States and his pieces live in Japan, Germany, Austria, New Zealand, Africa, and South America.
In August, Stacey Von Busch will assist Aleesha in curating their art exhibit, where Aleesha has chosen to focus on the issue of Immigration Reform. Aleesha will graduate a year early due to their diligent efforts as a student. In May, they were given their school’s “Student Success Award.” Aleesha looks forward to being the youngest contributor to On Broadway’s Mural and Busker Festival.