Michelle Grabner. Photo: Myrica von Haselberg

By CGN Staff

The John Michael Kohler Arts Center (JMKAC) in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, has announced that it will become the principal institutional home for the work of artist Michelle Grabner following an extraordinary gift spanning nearly her entire career.

The donation includes more than 2,000 works created over the past three decades—from early paintings to recent sculpture—as well as approximately 300 works from Grabner's personal collection and an extensive archive of teaching materials from her years at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Together, the gift establishes one of the most comprehensive institutional holdings of a living American artist's practice.

For Chicago audiences, Grabner's influence extends well beyond her own studio. She has taught at SAIC since the mid-1990s, where she currently serves as Crown Family Professor of Art and Chair of the Department of Painting and Drawing. Her career has also included co-curating the 2014 Whitney Biennial, directing FRONT International in Cleveland, and co-curating Sculpture Milwaukee alongside Theaster Gates.

Michelle Grabner, Patterns and Practicalities (continuation), 2020–21; vitreous clay, glaze, underglaze, mason stain, cloth, and steel. Photo courtesy of John Michael Kohler Arts Center.

The gift reflects an already deep relationship between Grabner and JMKAC. Since participating in the Arts/Industry residency in 2017, she has collaborated with the institution as an exhibiting artist, curator, and creator of a permanent artist-designed washroom for the Art Preserve.

Beyond documenting Grabner's artistic practice, the donation preserves decades of teaching materials and studio pedagogy while strengthening the longstanding artistic connection between Chicago and Wisconsin. The Arts Center noted that the archive will support future scholarship and research into both Grabner's work and the broader history of Midwest contemporary art.

JMKAC will begin cataloging and researching the collection in the coming months, with exhibitions and public programs to be announced at a later date.

100 Patterns and 3 Heuristics: new work by Michelle Grabner installation view, 2021. Courtesy of the artist and The Green Gallery, Milwaukee.

Living Rooms installation view at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, work by Michelle Grabner, 2016. Photo courtesy of John Michael Kohler Arts Center.