Meet the Artists Behinds Our Exhibitions
Women in Arts and Sports Exhibition - September 2025
Friends and fellow artists, Marianne Rice, Sarah Gillert, and Sandra Albers came together to paint at the RAD Open House, celebrating their shared creative bond. Their collaboration runs deeper than a single event, between September and October 2025, the trio presented the exhibition “Women in Arts and Sports,” a collective showcase highlighting strength, movement, and the female experience through their distinct artistic voices. The show not only reflected their individual talents but also the synergy that has grown from years of friendship, shared studio time, and a mutual commitment to supporting one another’s creative journeys.
Artesã Gallery is a private, non-commercial, artist-run studio gallery operating in partnership with the Rivoli Arts District (RAD). No sales or services are offered. Artists listed have exhibited at the gallery or currently have work on view and are not represented by Artesã Gallery.
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Marianne Rice
Artist
Marianne Rice (b. 1979) is a self-taught fine art oil painter based in rural Wisconsin, where she lives with her husband and four sons. Since discovering oil painting in 2019 at the age of 40, she has devoted herself to representational work, focusing on portraits, the human figure, and still life. Blending indirect and alla prima techniques, her art seeks to elevate everyday moments into something sacred and emotionally resonant. Inspired by both classical and contemporary artists, she continually studies and grows through workshops, community painting sessions, and her involvement with organizations like the Oil Painters of America and the Portrait Society of America. For Marianne, painting is a profound human impulse, one that connects us across time and stirs deep emotional responses.
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Sandra Albers
Artist / Gallerist
Sandra Albers is a Brazilian-born, U.S.-based multidisciplinary artist and gallerist working in photography, sculpture, and painting. With advanced fine arts studies as her foundation, her work explores themes of movement, memory, and human connection, often through techniques such as motion blur, double exposure, and low-light photography that transform everyday moments into poetic visual experiences. In sculpture, she extends these themes into physical form, focusing on gesture and emotion. As the founder and curator of her downtown studio-gallery, Sandra is deeply involved as a volunteer in the local art community, committed to fostering creative dialogue and supporting both emerging and mid-career artists. While she curates and promotes the work of others, her own photography and artwork are not for sale, as she is currently focused on education and personal artistic projects. Her curatorial vision reflects her values as an artist: thoughtful, experimental, and rooted in storytelling.
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Sarah Gillert
Artist
Sarah Gillert is an award-winning fine artist currently living in southwestern Wisconsin. Sarah earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Broad Area Art from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in 1998, with emphases in painting and sculpture. Originally from the woodlands and lake country of northern Wisconsin, she is especially inspired by the natural world which has been such a profound influence in her life. Specializing in acrylic, watercolor, and mixed media painting, as well as drawing in various media, Sarah often portrays animal subjects in ways that juxtapose realism and abstraction, restraint and action, utilizing vivid color and rich texture. She has taught art in private school settings, and enjoys inspiring and equipping others in their artistic journeys.
