Widely known for his alteration of preexisting media such as old books, maps, record albums, and cassette tapes, contemporary artist Brian Dettmer is a native of Naperville, Illinois. He earned a BA in fine arts from Columbia College Chicago, where his principal focus was painting. Following graduation, he worked as an artist and in positions related to graphics and signage…

According to Mellencamp, “German painting remains the basic foundation for what I do, same as folk music is the foundation of my songs. Discovering Beckmann to me was like discovering Woody Guthrie or Bob Dylan.” Mellencamp’s paintings have been the subject of a number of exhibitions—Nothing Like I Planned at the Tennessee State Museum in 2012, and The Paintings of…

Perhaps golf’s leading artist, Linda Hartough graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1970. She made a living as a professional artist in Chicago until 1980, when she moved to South Carolina. She painted landscapes, portraits, and horses until 1984, when Augusta National Golf Club commissioned her to paint the famed thirteenth hole, which began her…

This exhibition was a representative sample of a large collection of birdhouses, which were acquired by the Morris over the past several years—gifts from one of the museum’s most generous supporters, collector Julia J. Norrell. To Norrell, birdhouses reflected the region’s vernacular architecture wrought small. Over the years, her childhood fascination evolved into a love for the larger world of…

Prolific and multifaceted, artist Steffen Thomas (1906–1990) was born in Fürth, Germany, but lived most of his adult life in Georgia. Though he’s particularly noted for monumental public art, he was the master of many media, including painting (oils, watercolor, and encaustic), sculpture, mosaic, and printmaking. Much of his work exhibits the influence of expressionism, which originated in Germany early in the twentieth…