John Mominee

John Mominee has been producing colorful abstract monotypes for over 25 years. To him, creating an abstract work of art is like playing jazz; allowing print after print to evolve from a single idea that is altered in each new work. Using unusual color combinations, he purposefully makes "discords" harmonious.

Working with the monotype allows Mominee to merge characteristics unique to printmaking and painting, thus creating art impossible to achieve any other way. Resulting works are rich in color.

His work involves using various plates, including those made of copper, zinc, magnesium, aluminum, steel, paper, and plexiglass. He never cleans the plates, allowing layer upon layer to build up, providing a printing base and a surface that retains his ideas until the next work session. A new plate begins with line drawings defining shapes and their placement on the surface. The drawings may be done with paint sticks, litho crayons, or ink and brush.

Mominee is a full-time artist living in Platteville, Wisconsin. He was former Director for the Center for the Arts and Harry Nohr Art Gallery at the University of Wisconsin-Plateville, where he also served as Artist-in-Residence. He has taught art at Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee, University of Evansville, Evansville, Indiana, and Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois. He received his Master of Fine Arts from Southern Illinois University, and his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Evansville. His work has been featured in exhibitions throughout the Midwest and is featured in over 30 corporate collections, including those of Johnson Wax, Racine, Wisconsin, Price Waterhouse, Boston, Massachusetts, and Arthur Anderson & Company, Chicago, Illinois

My ideas are created from an abstract point of view. Ideas are drawn from the
environment, the elements of fire, water, air, earth and sky, and how these elements
affect our existence. I am somewhat isolated and live in a secluded wooded area.
Nature exerts a strong force on how I live. Time creates change. There is a regularity
and rhythm to each day, as one-season ends another begins. It is manifested in the
artwork as light dances across a flat plant or shape. Dark shadows contain unknown
mysteries to me, and scarred surfaces occur with the passing of time. Smokey
apparitions are difficult to define and may become meaningful images based on
one’s personal perception.

John Mominee, 2006

EXPERIENCE

1994 Painter/Printmaker

1982-1994 Director, Center For The Arts and Harry Nohr Art Gallery, University of Wisconsin-
Platteville, Platteville, Wisconsin

1980-1982 Artist-in-residence, University of Wisconsin-Platteville, Platteville, Wisconsin

1971-1977 Assistant Professor of Art, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee

1967-1970 Instructor of Art, University of Evansville, Evansville, Indiana

1965-1967 Teaching Assistant, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

1965-1967 Master of Fine Arts, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois

1961-1965 Bachelor of Arts, University of Evansville, Evansville, Indiana

GRANTS AND WORKSHOPS

1991 Visiting artist, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee

1989 Research in the Applications of Computer Developed or Assisted Art Imagery Directed
Toward the Development of a Series of Large Monotypes. $23,000 Grant with George
Cramer, Madison art faculty, awarded by the University of Wisconsin, Madison graduate
school. The project included two weeks of work at Tandem Press.

1972 Lithography workshop, Kalamazoo Art Institute, Kalamazoo, Michigan

1967 Salt glaze pottery workshop, New Harmony, Indiana

ARTICLES PUBLISHED

1987 Ceramics Monthly, The West Begins in Omaha

1985 Wisconsin Academy Review, Wisconsin Survey: Three-Dimension Art Today, March
1985, volume 31, number 2. Woodworkers Render Primitive Power on Contemporary
Humor

1985 Wisconsin Art Today, September 1985. Painter Seth Studnicka: Different in Mineral
Point

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2007 Five Men In Black, Grace Chosy Gallery, Madison, WI

2006 New Paintings and Prints, Grace Chosy Gallery, Madison, Wisconsin

2004 China Works - New Paintings & Monotypes, Grace Chosy Gallery, Madison, WI

2002 Monotypes, Grace Chosy Gallery, Madison, Wisconsin

The New Expressionists, Dubuque Museum of Art, Dubuque, Iowa

John Mominee - Monotypes, Katie Gingrass Gallery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

2001 American Landscape Painting, Editions Limited Gallery, Emeryville, California

1998 150 Years of Wisconsin Printmaking, traveling exhibition,1998-2000, Elvehjem Museum
of art Madison, Wisconsin

Curator’s Choice: Excellence in the Visual Arts in Wisconsin,Web site Exhibition 1998
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, Madison, Wisconsin

1980-1997 Museum quality: Prints From Madison Area Collections, Madison Art Center, Madison,
Wisconsin

The Unique Touch, Cudahy Gallery, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Abstract Painters in Wisconsin, Madison Art Center, Madison, Wisconsin

Lyrical Abstraction, Paine Art Center, Oshkosh, Wisconsin

Masters of Wisconsin, Steenbock Gallery, Academy of Arts and Sciences, Madison,
Wisconsin

New Work, Locus Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri

Indiana Contemporary Artists Exhibition, Indiana State Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana

SELECTED ART COLLECTIONS

S.C. Johnson Wax, Racine, WI
Price Waterhouse, Boston, MA
Nolan & Norton, N.Y. NY
Oscar Mayer Company, Madison, WI
Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Briggs & Stratton, Milwaukee, WI
Rexnord Incorporated, Milwaukee, WI
Allen Bradley incorporated, Milwaukee, WI
Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, WI
Milwaukee Magazine, Milwaukee, WI
Quad Graphics, Milwaukee, WI
North Shore Sheridan Hotel, Chicago, IL
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
Arthur Anderson & Company, Chicago, IL
FMH Foundation, Chicago, IL
Harris Bank, Chicago, IL
Gardner Carton Douglas, Chicago, IL
Michael Syrjawen Design, Chicago, IL
Foley & Lardner, Chicago, IL
Hayes & Griffith, Chicago, IL
Hawthorne Realty, Chicago, IL
Marshall Erdman Associates, Madison, WI
Leonard, Street and Deinard, Minneapolis, MN
Donahue & Associates, Sheboygan, WI
Equitable Insurance Company, Nashville, TN
Madison-Yazoo-Leake Family Health Center, Canton, MS
G.E. Medical Systems, Waukesha, WI
RTE Corporation, Milwaukee, WI
St. Elizabeth’s Hospital MOB, Beaumont, TX
Heritage Insurance, Sheboygan, WI
Wausau Insurance, Wausau, WI
Pfister Hotel, Milwaukee, WI
Weavers Co., Madison, WI
Direct TV, Manhattan Beach, CA

ART GALLERIES
Anderson O’Brien Fine Arts, Omaha,NE
Grace Chosy Gallery, Madison, Wisconsin
Cornerhouse Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA
Katie Gingrass Gallery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Editions Limited, Emeryville, CA
Groveland Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Olson-Larsen Gallery, West Des Moines, Iowa
Locus Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri
Lisa’s Gallery, Manhattan Beach, California