JULIA TAYLOR

Growing up in a small farming community in Indiana, I learned to draw early in life.  I made my spending money by sketching portraits at county fairs and illustrations in weekly papers. Art teachers in high school and college gave me a great foundation to learn to draw fluidly from life.

Graduating with an arts minor in the middle of an economic crisis, I left my art practice for many years. An afternoon art class, while on vacation, opened an affinity for watercolor. The result of that amazing afternoon opened the door for first an avocation, and now a career, in watercolor art. Last year, I was fortunate to study with Andy Evansen.

For the past 8 years, I’ve exhibited and helped organize the Occasional Artist Show which benefits the North Point Lighthouse Museum. 

My painting of the Lion Bridge in Spring was part of the Villa Terrace Museum’s “In the Park with Olmsted: A Vision for Milwaukee” Show which celebrated the 200th birthday of Olmsted.  Approaching Lion Bridge was accepted in the Wisconsin Watercolor 2021-22 exhibit in the Racine Art Museum’s Wustum Museum and in the American Watercolor Society’s 2022 Associate Member Show. 

I’m a member of the Wisconsin Watercolor Society and an Associate member of the American Watercolor Society.

Please contact me with questions or requests at [email protected].

MIKE DE SISTI

Mike De Sisti has been a photojournalist for 25 years (the last 15 at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). After abstract painting a bit some 20 years ago, Mike took up the craft again in the Spring of 2023 thanks to his daughter’s urging and a white basement wall in his home that needed art.  Mike’s work, in acrylic on canvas, is his escape from daily deadlines, technology issues, screens, and all that interrupts that flow of creativity. While he has a general idea (colors, size, etc.) of what he’s going to paint, Mike allows the paint to guide him along the way, many times resulting in something completely different than what he started out to create. 

JEFF GRZECA

Jeff Grzeca is a woodworker based out of Milwaukee’s East Side. He was involved in the restoration of North Point Lighthouse and served on its Board for many years. He is currently a chair for the Wisconsin Woodworkers Guild. Grzeca’s previous projects are varied and he started doing flat work such as custom boxes and cabinetry. Over the years, he has added wood turning as his primary interest. He takes his inspirations from the wood itself and often modifies the shape of the piece as the grain gets revealed during the turning process.

JAMES ROWEN

Jim Rowen is a retired reporter who lives on Milwaukee’s East Side and enjoys walking with a camera through Lake Park, along the Lake Michigan shoreline and elsewhere in the city. There is great beauty here bequeathed by previous generations and he is glad to record and share that legacy.

MICHAEL J BROPHY

Michael J. Brophy is a self taught artist who bases his work from home-based studios in Wauwatosa and Jacksonport, Door County.  His work is abstract expressionist and he derives his inspiration from the beauty of the natural world, particularly in Door County, as well in his interpretation of the events in the world around us, including issues related to social justice.

This is his fourth appearance at the North Point Lighthouse Occasional Artist Exhibition.  His work has also been shown as a guest artist at Gallery Night in Milwaukee’s Third Ward, the Eagleknit Building’s gallery and for various benefit events.  His work can be found on Instagram @mbrophy_art as well as Facebook.

Brophy also enjoys photographing views of Lake Michigan in the Door Peninsula and has published two books of poetry entitled Tears on the Sidewalk and Selected Poems and Rockwell’s Tears and Other Poems, both available on Amazon.     

CHUCK YERKES

I have been a watercolorist since 2015. My interests vary from Impressionism to abstract. I have participated in the ART AT THE ATRIUM in Shorewood for the past four years. My inspiration comes from my European travels to Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, Greece, England, Italy, the Netherlands, Ireland and Denmark.