The art effect

Judy Cotter isn’t an artist.

She didn’t grow up appreciating art.

So how does someone like that end up as one of the community’s most dedicated advocates for the local art scene and chairman of the Port Washington Saukville Arts Council?

Some happenstance and some luck, it turns out, along with a fervor to volunteer and the discovery of a new passion.

Cotter and her husband Tom were born and raised in Milwaukee. They lived in Mequon for 25 years and one day stopped in Port on the way home from lunch in Kohler. They saw a billboard about a 

condo being built, and Tom took a brochure.

“Before we knew it, we were meeting with the developer,” Cotter said.

They have lived in a Harbour Lights condo in Port for the past eight years. It’s right outside one of Cotter’s favorite city attractions.

Cotter, who is retired and was looking for volunteer opportunities when she moved to Port, joined the Heart of the Harbor Committee and got art enthusiast Tracey Milkowski involved.

They became fast friends and worked tirelessly to help create a plaza with a large fire sculpture at the east end of Main Street in 2021. Cotter’s condo has a view of the attraction, and she keeps an eye on it to make sure it’s not being disturbed and that the flame remains lit.

“My husband calls me the assistant mayor,” Cotter said.

Not long before the Heart of the Harbor opened, the arts community in Port was in a transition. Gallery 224 and Studio 224 founder Jane Suddendorf died from cancer. Milkowski joined the board of the Arts Council, the umbrella over multiple Port art initiatives, and she asked Cotter to be a member.

Cotter worked for four decades in commercial insurance and risk management. She had no connection to art.

“My question was why would I be on an art gallery board,” she said.

Milkowski said they had enough artists; they needed businesspeople.

Cotter, a self-described problem solver who doesn’t like loose ends, joined the board in 2023 and took over for Milkowski as chairman last year. It turned out to be a fine fit.

“It’s a wonderful group of people,” Cotter said. “Plus I love spreadsheets. Nobody else does.”

Cotter’s rows and columns are growing. The board of directors recently welcomed four new members, doubling its size.

“There are some amazing people who moved into town. That’s why I do a lot of things,” she said. “I’ve met so many nice new friends. I feel like I’ve known them forever.”

All eight members have their sleeves rolled up.

“It’s really a working board versus a governing board,” Cotter said. “Right now it’s all hands on deck.”

Promoting art in Port is a busy job most all of the time, and now the board is preparing for its biggest fundraiser of the year.

The Artists in Our Midst event is paying homage to Suddendorf. One of Suddendorf’s fundraisers for Gallery 224 entailed artists adorning 6-by-6-inch tiles with their work and a lottery system determining when attendees who paid ahead of time could select a tile. The Arts Council has brought that back, and it will auction off other art at The Venue in the Newport Shores building on Thursday, June 5. Appetizers, cocktails and live music will be included.

Fundraising for the council is vital, Cotter said. Gallery 224 is the only nonprofit art gallery in the area. A couple of buildings away, Studio 227 offers basement space for workshops and a variety of art, from printmaking to film photography. A separate dark room is filled with donations by Port and Grafton high schools along with furniture made by Arts Council board member Chris Hewitt.

The board, Cotter said, does “whatever it takes to keep art going in Port Washington” and she is glad to do her part. “It has been a labor of love,” she said.

Cotter devotes time to the effort daily.

“I’m doing something every day, at home or at a meeting or worrying about it,” she said. “My husband calls it my job.”

When she first moved to Port, she wasn’t familiar with the Art Council and its third element, ARTservancy, a program that connects artists to area land preserves and has them create works inspired by it.

Cotter said she would like to have a larger art group formed in Port, one that would use the council name, and develop a foundation that can administer grants instead of asking the same people for money all the time.

“Port benefits from an overarching council,” she said.

Cotter’s condo has as well. When she moved to the city, she picked out art from chain stores that matched the furniture. She has since replaced those with pieces from Gallery 224 or other galleries.

“I could tell you where every single piece of art in our place came from,” she said.

Cotter has tried her hand at a few pieces herself through paint-and-sip events.

“I try to dabble. Any of my artwork is behind my bathroom door of my guest bathroom,” she said.

“Going to the studio inspires you to try new things. Chris said everybody’s an artist.”

But Gallery 224 is one of the few places local artists can display their work and sell it. Artists’ personal stories shared during receptions are what really moves Cotter.

“It almost brings tears to your eyes,” Cotter said.

Most pieces at the gallery are reasonably priced, she said, and the venue has attracted some regular visitors from out of state. A couple from Iowa recently came in to buy two pieces.

As the Art Council and the talented local art community grow, Cotter remains driven to promote and expand art in Port, Saukville and beyond.

“I want to see things to a wonderful end,” she said. “We’re really excited about the future.”

For more information on the council visit www.gallery224.org. To sign up for the gala, visit www.gallery224.org/general-8.