Located on the second floor of the Noel Fine Arts Center, The Edna Carlsten Art Gallery exhibits local, national, and international artists, hosts community events, and contributes to overseeing and maintaining a unique permanent collection of fine art and design works. The gallery is a beautiful space with three ceiling mounted projectors and a sound system that can be used through the entire gallery or specific spaces.

Housed within the Carlsten Gallery is the Schneider Gallery, dedicated to showcasing current and past student works, allowing experimentation, research, and real-world gallery experience. If you have interest in using the space, or working with the Carlsten, please contact us. 

Email:  kknoke@uwsp.edu        Phone: 715-346-2669

Swept Over the Rug – A Commemoration of Caretaking.

Michelle Grabner + Brad Killam

January 23-March 7, 2025

Opening Reception: Thursday, February 6, 5:00-8:00 p.m.

A visually arresting and wonderfully provocative installation. Bronze-leafed wash buckets to porcelain toilet paper rolls to Wisconsin landscape paintings.

Michelle’s tableau of custodial implements memorializes janitorial labor. A concept that emerged from her artist-in-residency experience at Kohler Co. Michelle transforms these elements in silverleaf, bronze, and porcelain in celebration of their design and use. 

The unexpected juxtaposition of Brad’s bucolic landscapes causes us to wonder about our own custodial practices and responsibilities in the world around us — and reflects the couple’s shared life as dedicated artists, teachers, and parents.

Grabner’s interplay between material experimentation and conceptual rigor is contrasted with Killam’s enthusiasm for traditional genre painting and its histories. While their ongoing engagement with their daily environments may yield different approaches to artmaking, art as a lived experience is something they both value.

Michelle Grabner is a Guggenheim Fellow and Crown Family Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Brad is a professor at College of DuPage. These domestic partners have collaborated on artwork, curating, and publishing since the 1990s.

Gallery Hours

Special hours may be added during University events.

The gallery is closed on all major holidays.
Please check our Facebook page prior to visiting to ensure that our hours have not changed for any reason.

Schneider Student Gallery

The Schneider Student Gallery, an addition made possible by the generosity of Richard and Myrna Schneider, is a dedicated gallery space within the Edna Carlsten Art Gallery for student solo, dual, or group installations and projects. This gallery space offers students an opportunity to design and realize exhibitions of their own work.

Upcoming Events/Exhibitions