Museum of Wisconsin Art

Founded in 1961 by Melitta Hedwig Suder-Pick with an initial collection of three hundred paintings and drawings by her great uncle Carl von Marr, the Museum of Wisconsin Art has grown into a collection representing more than three hundred artists and spanning two hundred years of American art history. Today MOWA operates two permanent venues, its West Bend home and MOWA | DTN in downtown Milwaukee, and describes itself as "a different kind of museum" built around the idea that enjoying art should be easy and welcoming. The West Bend museum's award-winning building sits along the Milwaukee River and offers 12,000 square feet of gallery space alongside a mix of indoor and outdoor settings available for private events, from intimate gatherings of ten guests to celebrations of up to 150. The West Bend Mutual Insurance Company Atrium, with its crisp white walls and abundant windows, hosts ceremonies, seated dinners, and cocktail receptions, while the Shoemaker Family Courtyard and the hydrangea-lined MOWA Gardens provide outdoor settings for ceremonies and receptions. The Pat and Judy Sebranek Studios offer a more intimate, configurable space suited to showers and business meetings. A venue rental does not require museum membership, making the galleries and grounds accessible for weddings, corporate gatherings, and social celebrations alike.