Artist’s legacy ‘To be continued’ in Port

“To be continued....” is the current exhibit at Gallery 224 in downtown Port Washington, but it’s so much more than that.

It’s an expression gallery founder Jane Suddendorf used often when it came to art.  It expresses her belief that people need to let go of the details and let things become what they will, and to experience the end result to its fullest.

It also expresses Suddendorf’s legacy and her impact on Port Washington. 

“I think Jane’s real impact comes in the desire to keep going and see what comes next,” her friend Susan Niederfrank, who serves as secretary for the board of the Port Washington Saukville Arts Council, which oversees Gallery and Studio 224, said. 

“I think that’s what Jane would have done.”

Suddendorf, who was synonymous with the gallery and studio, died on July 4 of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but her love of the arts continues.

It will be celebrated during an opening reception for “To be continued....” from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 17, at Gallery 224.

The exhibit, which features some of the works of artists in the ARTServancy program, is the 53rd show Suddendorf curated for the gallery since it opened in 2011.

During that time, she featured the works of more than 600 artists at the gallery and also founded Studio 224, which provided a space for artists to create and exchange ideas.

She created a vibrant space that invited the public in to not only view art but to experience it, a place where they could not only listen to artists discuss their works but also make their own art through programs like its Drop In and Draw Fridays.

She brought in artists from near and far, embracing a variety of mediums and styles, creating exhibits that generally followed a theme and included the works of numerous artists.

That’s something Suddendorf embraced.

“I feel like that’s a great teaching tool,” she told Ozaukee Press in 2019. And the artist talks that come with the exhibits are equally important, she said.

“They’re conversations, not lectures,” Suddendorf said. “If people know the story and the process and where the piece came from, it’s more interesting.”
In the process, Suddendorf created spaces that the public embraced.

“She was thrilled by the community of artists who made the gallery and the studio come alive,” her family said in her obituary. “She was incredibly grateful for the support she received from gallery patrons and all those who believed that art galleries and studios are an essential part of every community.”

She also helped drive home the importance of the arts, even in a small town.

“The arts are so important to any community. It elevates the community and brings the community together,” said Tracy Milkowski, the vice president for institutional advancement at Milwaukee Institute for Art and Design who was recently named chairman of the board of directors of the Arts Council.

“It’s amazing what Jane has done all these years,” Milkowski said. “It really is a gem for Port Washington. The arts will attract people.

“When you go to a lot of towns, they don’t have a gallery like this. You have to have somebody who is passionate about art, who understands how to fundraise, who has business acumen, to have this. It really is unique.”

Suddendorf was an artist who particularly enjoyed working in pastels and colored pencils, Niederfrank said.

But she was much more than that, working as an art teacher at Port Washington High School from 1997 to 2016.

And that led to Gallery 224, said Niederfrank.

Suddendorf, who taught an Advanced Placement art class, spied an empty storefront in the Port Shopping Center along the north harbor slip and realized it would be a good place to exhibit her students’ art, Niederfrank said.

“That was the beginning. She wanted her students to live out an artist’s life for that year,” Niederfrank said, adding Suddendorf thought a pop-up gallery there would help students realize the culmination of their work during the school year. 

That summer, she said, Suddendorf put out a call for artists for her first exhibit, “Birds of a Different Feather” and from there the die was cast.

“In Jane’s life, she followed step by step whatever came organically,” Niederfrank said. “She got a lot of pleasure out of teaching, and these are teaching and learning spaces. She just loved curating artwork and putting people and works together that were beautiful. That meant a lot to her.

“She wanted to create an artists’ community, and then she wanted it extended into the community.”

Suddendorf was inspired by the possibilities of empty spaces, Niederfrank added. She created Studio 224 in an empty space at the Boerner Mercantile Building on Franklin Street, later adding a darkroom using equipment no longer needed at Port High  when it converted its photo classes to digital photography.

Although Port Washington has been home to many artists, they were often hidden from view and people didn’t realize they were in the community. Suddendorf set out to change that, Niederfrank said.

“I think she wanted people to know it was there,” she said. “She wanted people to think about the art that was in front of them, and that it had its own impact on lives.

“She took real pleasure in hanging works so the work was complementary to the artist and the space. She made spaces that are a pleasure to spend time in — and we need that.”

Suddendorf also started the ARTServancy program, pairing artists and area nature preserves for a year as a way to forge a connection with the natural world and translating it into art that the community can enjoy.

But perhaps most importantly, Suddendorf forged relationships, Niederfrank said.

“Part of what Jane built was relations, and that still stands,” she said. “I know that the people who have been associated with the gallery are determined to carry it on. That shows the depth and breadth of the relationships she grew in the community. Her real impact comes in the desire to keep going and see what comes next.

Milkowski agreed, saying, “We’re going to continue that legacy. Jane did so much on her own, but our plan is to bring in more people. We don’t want to lose this. We’re going to build on what Jane started. I think this really is just the beginning. This is going to start the conversation to strengthen the arts in Port Washington.”