An art exhibit at UW-Stout will highlight the work of two alumni, children’s book author/illustrator Eliza Wheeler and sports logo designer Ryan Foose.
The exhibit will open Tuesday, Jan. 22, at Furlong Gallery in Micheels Hall and run through Saturday, March 2. An opening reception will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 24. Wheeler is scheduled to attend. Both Wheeler and Foose plan to give talks in February on campus.
Wheeler, a 2006 graduate in graphic design, lives in Los Angeles, where she illustrates and writes children’s books. She has illustrated more than a dozen picture books, chapter books and middle grade novels for major U.S. publishers, including Penguin Random House, Little Brown Books, Simon and Schuster, HarperCollins and MacMillan.
In 2013, she authored her first book, which she also illustrated, “Miss Maple’s Seeds.” It debuted on a New York Times bestseller list.
In 2017 Wheeler, who grew up in Solon Springs in northern Wisconsin, received the prestigious Sendak Fellowship Award. She spent a month at a retreat owned by the late Maurice Sendak, author and illustrator best known for “Where the Wild Things Are.”
There, she began writing and illustrating her picture book “Home in the Woods.” It will be published in the fall by Nancy Paulsen/Penguin Random House. The book was inspired by her grandmother’s childhood in northern Wisconsin during the Great Depression.
In March, the book “When You are Brave” by Pat Zietlow Miller with illustrations by Wheeler is scheduled to be published by Little Brown Books.
Foose, a 2011 graduate in graphic design and in industrial design, specializes in creating logos for sports teams. He is head of brand development for Minor League Baseball in Tampa/St. Petersburg, Fla., and owns Fooser Sports Design. He previously worked for IBM as a user-experience designer.
His work has been featured in ESPN magazine, Sports Illustrated, Sporting News and other major media outlets. He has created logos for the Atlanta Silverbacks soccer team, Brooklyn Italians soccer team, Lewis & Clark collegiate summer baseball league and Peoria Mustangs hockey team, along with many others.
“To be a designer is to be a storyteller,” he said.
Foose, who grew up in Waukesha, also has a master’s degree in graphic design from North Carolina State University.
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Photos
Eliza Wheeler wrote and illustrated the 2013 children’s book “Miss Maple’s Seeds.”
Eliza Wheeler
Ryan Foose
