Leslie Iwai
Leslie Iwai is an installation artist and sculptor whose studies in mathematics, chemistry, and architecture (MArch Virginia Tech) inform her passion to bring unusual connections found in her research and artistic process to the surface for others’ ruminations and inspiration. As the first recipient of the Bemis Community Arts Fellowship (2005) and, most recently, as a 2021 finalist for the Forward Art Prize and part of the Museum of Wisconsin Art’s Claiming Space: A New Century of Visionary Women (2021), Leslie has had many awards, solo exhibits, and residencies. Her work is in numerous private and public collections, including Duncan Aviation and the Omaha Public Art Commission. Leslie has taught in both academic and community settings in Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois and New Mexico. She has been a contributing writer and artist for Image Journal, SEEN (CIVA) and The Well (InterVarsity). She enjoys living in and exploring Wisconsin with her husband where she creates art and collaborates and connects with her community. When not in her studio, Leslie can often be found hunting for treasures at thrift stores or walking on trails near her home in Middleton, Wisconsin.
You can view her artwork at www.leslieiwai.com
Debra Brehmer
Debra Brehmer is the owner and director of Portrait Society Gallery of Contemporary Art (PSG) in Milwaukee, WI and she also manages its related nonprofit, On the Wing. She has played a number of roles in the art world that encompass writing, curating, and teaching. From 1986 to 1995 she published and edited a bi-monthly art magazine called Art Muscle which was circulated in Wisconsin and sold on national newsstands. She taught art history as an adjunct professor for 10 years at the Milwaukee Art and Design prior to opening the gallery. Brehmer is currently a regular writer for the national art publication, Hyperallergic where she often writes about women artists. Brehmer’s essay about Edouard Manet’s model Victorine Meurent is included in the book Fierce: Essays by and About Dauntless Women (2018), Nauset Press. She has also written many catalog essays for museum and gallery exhibitions. In recent years, Brehmer has been working on a series of essays about well known historical works of art and their contemporary value. These personal narratives combine travel and art history within an interpretive framework. She is also currently editing the catalog for an upcoming exhibition, “Art Against the Odds: Wisconsin Prison Art,” which will be presented by PSG’s nonprofit, On the Wing, in January 2023 at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.