Featured Member Exhibition: Susan Simensky Bietila
Front Lines: A Lifetime of Drawing Resistance
April 17 – June 26, 2026
Featured Member Exhibition: Susan Simensky Bietila
Thank you to Walkers Point Center for the Arts and to my community of of activist artists in Milwaukee and around the world. The genre of Graphic Journalism did not exist 30 years ago, when I joined the World War 3 Illustrated collective. The Graphic Novel was decades away. Our politics had been considered unrealistically dark, and an extreme anarchist world view. But like the defamed “Premature Antifascists”, the Americans who went to Spain to fight for the Spanish Republic against fascism before World War II, we could see the writing on the wall. We saw the trajectory of history. Our work has became extraordinarily popular now, as our fears have been validated. With content supporting resistance to oppression worldwide and popularizing mutual aid, we build art and draw stories. At age 78, my first book was just published by PM Press. “Front Lines; A Lifetime of Drawing Resistance” is my own history of making art in collaboration with movements for justice.
Each year during WPCA’s Annual Members Show, an esteemed juror selects four exhibiting artists whose work stands out for its excellence and impact. For 2026, juror Amal Azzam conducted a blind review of submissions, applying her own criteria to identify artists whose work resonated deeply with contemporary themes and artistic innovation.
Among the selected artists is Cynthia Hayes, whose vivid, color‑rich figurative paintings immediately drew the juror’s attention for their dynamic, expressive energy. Azzam noted that Hayes “Through vibrant colors and a bit of abstraction, the work allows viewers to enjoy both the work visually and its context,” highlighting how her approach reimagines familiar forms and invites viewers to engage more deeply with the emotional and narrative possibilities of painting.
Cynthia will kick-off the 2026 Featured Member Exhibition Series with a solo show in the winter, followed by exhibitions from Susan Simensky Bietila (spring), Geornica Daniels (summer) Kristine Hinrichs (fall).