Dick Folse earned his Master of Fine Arts from Illinois State University in 1990, where
he studied studio art with notable landscape painters James D. Butler, Harold Gregor,
and Ken Holder, and had a lengthy internship with painter James McGarrell. He has taught
art at Bradley University, Illinois State University, and Illinois Wesleyan University.

Dick has exhibited nationally and internationally, including in China and Japan. He has
lived and painted in Spain, and taken five plein air painting trips to southern France. He was
the Best in Show award recipient (along with Art MidWisconsin) at the 2023 Green Lake
Fine Art Show, received First Place in Drawing for the State of Illinois at the
Professional Art Exhibit held at the state fair, and was a featured artist in Studio Visit
Magazine, Volume 45. He is the founder and president of Art MidWisconsin
(Mid Wisconsin Visual Artist Connection, mwvac.org).

Dick lives in Ripon Wisconsin on the Ceresco Prairie. He produces unique, original
oil and watercolor paintings of the prairie landscape and nearby Green Lake. The work has a sense of place – evoking mystery, displaying graciousness, suggesting
solace and comfort – that harkens back to the artistic sensibilities of mid-century
when painting was aethetically straight forward. Often, he keeps paintings balancing
on a line between abstraction and representation while he translates events of nature
as the seasons change.

Dick fits strongly with artists working as Contemporary Landscape Painters in the
American Tradition, highlighting a renewed sense of the preciousness of land and its spirit.

Solo Exhibitions

Dick Folse Pop-Up Gallery, Ripon, Wisconsin – 2023

McLean County Art Center, Bloomington, Illinois – 2016

Hoogland Center for the Arts, Springfield, Illinois – 2014

Kelly’s Bakery Cafe Gallery, Bloomington, Illinois – 2014

Kelly’s Bakery Cafe , Bloomington, Illinois – 2012

Kelly’s Bakery Cafe , Bloomington, Illinois – 2011

Hoogland Center for the Arts, Springfield, Illinois – 2010

Kelly’s Bakery Cafe , Bloomington, Illinois – 2009

IAA Gallery, Bloomington, Illinois – 2008

Kettering Art Center, Kettering, Ohio – 1991

Four Seasons Art Center, Springfield, Illinois – 1991

Peoria Art Guild, Peoria, Illinois – 1991

Four Seasons Art Center, Springfield, Illinois – 1990

Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois – 1990

Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois – 1988

Two-Person Exhibitions

Quad Cities Art Center, Davenport, Iowa – 1994 (with painter Susan Maakestad)

Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois – 1993 (with ceramicist Rob Reedy)

Residencies and Painting Trips

Eixample near the Arc de Triomf, Barcelona, Spain – Winter 2017 – Summer 2018

Shiro Oni Studio Artist Residency Program, Onishi, Japan – Summer 2016

Domaine du Haut Baran near Puy-l’Eveque, France –  2014, 2012, 2010 (2 weeks each)

Group Exhibitions

MWVAC at Thrasher Opera House, Green Lake, Wisconsin – 2024

Green Lake Fine Art Show (with MWVAC), Green Lake, Wisconsin – 2023

Springfield Art Association Collective, Springfield, Illinois – 2017

Kanna Fall Arts Festival, Onishi, Japan – 2016

Shiro Oni Studio Exhibit, Onishi, Japan – 2016

McLean County Art Center, Bloomington, Illinois – 2016

McLean County Art Center, Bloomington, Illinois – 2013

Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois – 2013

Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois – 2010

McLean County Art Center, Bloomington, Illinois – 2009

Prairie Art Alliance, Springfield, Illinois – 2009

Prairie Art Alliance, Springfield, Illinois – 2008

Window on Windsor, Springfield, Illinois – 2008

McLean County Art Center, Bloomington, Illinois – 2007

Illinois State Museum, Springfield, Illinois – 1994

Three Rivers Festival, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – 1994

Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts, Shenyang and Beijing, People’s Republic of China – 1991

Rutgers University, Camden, New Jersey – 1990

Kemper Group Invitational Exhibition, Long Grove, Illinois – 1989

Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois – 1989

Parkland College, Champaign, Illinois – 1989

Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois – 1989

Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute, Indiana – 1988

Elgin Community College, Elgin, Illinois – 1988

Harper College, Palatine, Illinois – 1987

Permanent Collections

Arizona State University

Bradley University

Illinois State University

Illinois Wesleyan University

Ohio State University

University of Dallas

University of Massachusetts

University of South Dakota

Education

Master of Fine Art (M.F.A.), Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois – 1990

Teaching

Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois (Art and Community Development) – 2010 – 2013

Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois (Corporate Training in Web Technologies) – 2000 – 2004

Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois (Basic Drawing, Figure Drawing, 2D Design, Web Design) – 1991 – 1997

Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois (Basic Drawing) – 1989 – 1990