http://www.expressmilwaukee.com/articles.sec-11-1-off-the-cuff.html Since graduating from Milwaukee High School of the Arts in 2006, Kasia Wisniewski’s career has been escalating at a steady pace. Scoring high in both academics and artistic vision helped her to earn multiple Fashion Scholarship Fund (FSF) awards, as well...]]> After being frustrated with the lack of programs for pit bull owners in southeastern Wisconsin, Michelle Serocki started the Brew City Bully Club as a way to help her and her pit bull, Capone. The club benefits dogs and humans...]]> In 2004, Milwaukee’s Katie Musolff graduated from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD) with a BFA in painting. Today, Musolff is making quite a name for herself. Speaking of her name, the young, well-known portrait artist jokes that all of the tall letters come at the end...]]> Painter Elisha Ben-Yitzhak, raised in a farming community in Israel, began his art training in the 1960s. After milking cows in the morning, he would travel two hours by bus to Tel Aviv to study at the Avni Art Institute...]]> In 1994, Max Yela transferred to UW-Milwaukee from the Special Collections Department of the University of Delaware Library, becoming UWM’s first Special Collections librarian...]]> Some of the most stunning textiles sold across the country are created by hand in a studio on National Avenue. Dermond Peterson Design, created in 2001 by Susan Peterson and her sister Sandra Dermond, adorns the choicest of boutiques and design magazines from Metropolitan Home to The New York Times. In her airy, Spartan studio on National Avenue. Dermond Peterson Design...]]> Since heading off to California to move up the ranks of the record biz, Milwaukee native Cheryl Pawelski has worked at EMI, Concord and Rhino Records. Among the projects she has produced include box sets on Miles Davis and John Coltrane, The Band and Big Star. Once again she has...]]> Spurred on by economic conditions, technological advancements and social media, the T-shirt is as omnipresent as ever. After coming into its own in the late ’60s, the one-time undergarment is now a wardrobe staple—and this fashion trend shows no signs of fading. For Peter...]]> Healing critically ill pets occupies Marla Lichtenberger’s mind 24/7. This nationally renowned veterinarian specializes in emergency and specialty care, which she combines with her expertise in exotics—unusual but legal pets that include birds, ferrets, rabbits, reptiles and rodents, to mention a few. Lichtenberger accomplishes...]]> Artist Robin Kinney, owner of Bay View Book Arts Gallery, fills her first-floor studio with handmade art books for exhibition and purchase. The gallery and classroom space, which began seven years ago, has resided in the renovated Hide House...]]> English teacher, performer and author Terry Gavin knows where he’s positioned these days. And with his first novel, Shaving Without a Razor, about a self-medicating, golden-child financier, he is “bound and determined to put Milwaukee on the map.”]]> Charles Q. Sullivan has been engaged with the early music scene in Milwaukee for some decades now, seeking to bring his passion for early music to anl...]]> By the time she hit college, social worker Carrie Silver-Stock knew she wanted to help teenage girls. After getting her master of social work, she started a Web site, girlswithdreams.com, hoping to foster a sense of community among young women otherwise lost in cyberspace. The site’s success proved...]]> As southeastern Wisconsin’s premier professional children’s choir, Milwaukee Children’s Choir (MCC) offers kids from across the metropolitan area an opportunity to join in the fun of choral singing and learn some valuable life skills as well. Carol Storck, who took over as artistic director...]]> Wardrobe Mistress Mary Belle Potter has worked with the Milwaukee Ballet for 37 of its 39 years, more than twice as long as anyone in the company. What has changed over the course of your tenure at the ballet? The company is so much more professional. The different artistic directors have upgraded the quality of the dancers’ technique, so we have a top-notch group. They come from all over the world. The school is one of the largest in the country and one of the few accredited?]]> If your idea of crafts is limited to appliqué sweatshirts and Styrofoam snowmen, local artist/filmmaker Faythe Levine can help you get beyond those crafting misconceptions. For the last three years, Levine has been traveling across the country, filming and promoting Handmade Nation, a documentary about the thriving do-it-yourself (DIY) indie craft movement...]]> In a culture dominated by mass-produced fashions, running into someone wearing the same shirt isn’t uncommon. But with a pair of custom kicks by designer Rick Murphy of ILLWALKEES Custom Sneakers, you can guarantee you’re the only person on the planet who wears them...]]> For the second year in a row, the Florentine Opera Company welcomes young, talented vocalists to its 2009-2010 Florentine Opera Studio, a full season of artist-in-residence employment for exceptional singers beginning their professional careers. Joining the Florentine this season are soprano Sarah Jones of Columbus, Ohio, mezzo-soprano Julia Hardin...]]> In the notoriously fickle realm of fashion, looking “last year” can be your worst nightmare. Supported by a sales model able to meet the swift demands of today’s fashion-conscious consumers, a new breed of multifaceted apparel designers is calling upon the power of “add to cart” to put that fear to rest...]]> For Milwaukee-raised playwright and actor Sarah Moon, professional success is hardly the main objective. Though lauded for her work onstage and off, Moon found her true calling when cast in a little-known Tennessee Williams play about coal mining in 1930s Appalachia. After an eye-opening trip to Louisville...]]>