2025 Art Show Gallery

WisCon is very glad to be presenting work from artists in our community again this year!

Check out the images below and the links to explore more from each artist. If you’re registered for this year’s con, you can also discuss the work and possibly meet the artists in the #art-show channel on the con Discord.

Melissa Gay

I am a neurodiverse LGBTQ+ artist who is equally passionate about sci-fi, fantasy, and wildlife art. Myths and legends about the natural world inspire me, as does our increasingly detailed view of the Universe through science and technology. I love to create hazy, dreamlike, otherworldly scenes, and my goal is to incorporate just enough detail to fire the viewer’s imagination and inspire them to fill in the story.

Beginning my career as a scientific illustrator, I went on to create covers and interior illustrations for publishers such as Baen Books, Llewellyn Worldwide, Hay House, Apex Press, Three Ravens, and 78 Tarot, as well as working on many Gold and Silver Ennie award-winning and fan favorite tabletop roleplaying games such as Delta Green, Over the Edge, Trail of Cthulhu, the Dracula Dossier, the Dresden Files, Part-Time Gods, Mermaid Adventures, Sagaborn, Surviving Strangehollow, Fate Worlds, Hero, the Yellow King RPG, and many more. Two of my illustrations have won Chesley awards. My work has been featured in ImagineFX Magazine, io9, tor.com, and several of the Infected By Art anthologies.

My art books are Finding My Familiar (animal drawings on toned paper with various pencils) and Earth and Water (ink drawings and paintings), and I am currently working on a third book of acrylic sci-fi paintings called I Dream Of Space.

Apart from drawing and painting, I am happiest when gaming with my spouse or creating my own woodland adventures on hiking trails!

I use no AI in the making of my artwork, ever.

Melissa has no online shop, but you can see more at melissagayart.com and email about buying originals or prints at gay.melissa@gmail.com.

Painting of a pod of blue whales swimming through clouds, seen from below. The central whale has a city on its back.

Melissa Gay, Sky Whales
Acrylic on gessoboard, 12" x 16".

Melissa Gay, Peacock Angel: Temperance
Acrylic on illustration board, 14" x 22". Temperance card commissioned for the "Tarot of the Wild" deck by 78 Tarot.

Painting of a female figure with long black hair in a flowing yellow robe, standing on a glowing crescent moon and steering it with a tiller.

Melissa Gay, Steering the Crescent Moon
Acrylic on illustration board, 15" x 22". A homemade fairytale about the Moon Fairy steering the crescent moon across the sky like a gondola.

Painting of a woman's face emerging from greenery and branches, with a magical blue glow. Her eyes are open.

Melissa Gay, Dryad Wakes from a Dream
Acrylic on illustration board, 12" x 18". I envision the spirit of the Earth awakening with wonder. Will she like what she sees?

Painting of a woman with long black hair squatting in front of a tree by a pool of water, holding a staff and a bird's skull. In front of her is a rock with a feather atop it.

Melissa Gay, Ritual Space
Acrylic on illustration board, 12" x 18". Accessing our power in liminal spaces where the elements meet.

Painting of a woman with a staff, carrying a basket of glowing objects she has gathered from the ground. In the background is a night sky with a huge ringed planet.

Melissa Gay, Harvest
Oil on illustration board, 20" x 30"

Painting of a black-haired woman in a flowing black dress, hovering amid storm clouds, lightning, and ravens.

Melissa Gay, Rising Storm
Acrylic on paper mounted to board, 18" x 24". In a world that wants to control every aspect of who and what we are, sometimes rage is the appropriate response. Our rage can be a rising storm, and together we can push back against our oppressors.

Painting of an older Medusa with brown and white snakes for hair, seen from over her shoulder as she twists them into a braid.

Melissa Gay, Medusa at Home
Acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20",

Painting of an owl perched on a branch, looking out at the viewer. Behind the owl is a galaxy of stars.

Melissa Gay, Screech Owl Contemplates the Milky Way
Acrylic on board, 9" x 12". A young Eastern Screech Owl gazes into the night sky and contemplates the vast cosmos.

Painting of a spaceship resembling a flower with yellow-orange sails, hovering against the backdrop of a purple nebula.

Melissa Gay, Helianthus
Acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20",

Tessa Davidson

My work centers around the whimsical and the zany, but primarily that which is envisioned through the lens of childhood. Illustration acts as my medium to celebrate unashamed imagination and a sense of playfulness. The art I make plays heavily into the idea of the fantasies of children and exaggerations of reality.

See more at https://www.instagram.com/tadillu or tadillu.com. Shop at https://tadillu.bigcartel.com. (Tessa also made the art for some of our WisCon 2025 merch!)

Painting of a child in a winter hat and scart with their mouth open, the long curling figure of a dragon emerging from their mouth like a word balloon.

Tessa Davidson, Dragon Breath
Watercolor and colored pencil

Painting of a child in the back seat of a car, curled under a blanket, holding hands with the moon through the window.

Tessa Davidson, Lunar Friend
Watercolor and colored pencil

Painting of a child in an artist's outfit in a museum, presenting a drawing to an audience. The child and the drawing are in bright colors while the rest of the piece is in grayscale.

Tessa Davidson, Little Artist
Watercolor and colored pencil

Painting of a child in bed, only their eyes and hair visible, under a big red-and-white-checked blanket, scattered with toys, books, clothes, and a cat.

Tessa Davidson, Bedtime
Watercolor and colored pencil

Colorful painting of a child in a turtle-shaped backyard sandbox, digging up bones, including a T, rex skull.

Tessa Davidson, Backyard Archaeology
Watercolor and colored pencil

Painting of a child in a fancy chair at a dining table scattered with small dolls, a juice box, and a candelabra. The child is holding a fork to her mouth, about to eat something green.

Tessa Davidson, Fine Dining
Watercolor and colored pencil

Painting of a child with binoculars amid a savanna-like landscape, surrounded by giant pink and white animal crackers.

Tessa Davidson, Animal Cracker Safari
Watercolor and colored pencil

Painting of a woman and a poodle, both with pink curly hair, sitting under purple salon hair dryers.

Tessa Davidson, Poodle Salon
Watercolor and colored pencil

Painting of a child dressed as a surgeon operating on a stuffed bear, assisted by another bear holding a heart to be inserted.

Tessa Davidson, Teddy's Operation
Watercolor and colored pencil

Margaret Treanor Frey

Margaret draws and writes in Glendale, CA. Her exhibit pieces frequently take the biological to surreal extremes, and she is nearly finished with the first six issues of a fantasy-based graphic novel called Assuming You Survive.

Selected merch can be found at www.visceravitae.com.

Pen and ink drawing of a plant-like form with white spiky leaves or petals radiating from a stem at the bottom, against a black circle.

Margaret Frey, (Dis)order

Pen and ink drawing of a hand made up of maple seed forms, holding a string that rises off the page.

Margaret Frey, Aloft

Pen and ink drawing of a set of lungs. The one on the left is a bird's wing and the one on the right is patterned in abstract swirls.

Margaret Frey, Taking the Air

Pen and ink drawing of a kidney in cross section, abstracted to resemble a yin-yang symbol.

Margaret Frey, Electrolyte balance

Pen and ink drawings of the letters A through Z decorated with various biological forms.

Margaret Frey, Bioalphabet

Pen and ink drawing of a stylized bat-like creature curled around and reading a book.

Margaret Frey

Pen and ink drawing of a white net-like form growing from a stalk, with a gray organic form inside it, against a dark background.

Margaret Frey

Pen and ink comic page with three characters riding on a horse-drawn cart, having this conversation: "Beautiful views." "Sure. If 'middle of nowhere' is an aesthetic you're into." "I'm sure there'll be lots to do in Adventure Village." "You mean 'Foxville'?"

Margaret Frey, Assuming You Survive Issue 1

Pen and ink drawing of a button-eyed doll lying upside down against a wall, stuck with many pins.

Margaret Frey

Bookish Stickers

Bookish Stickers is known for our quietly subversive stickers, magnets, buttons, prints, and more. Our fun, inclusive, and progressive designs are known for saying the quiet part out loud. Topics covered include politics, social issues, books, pop culture, memes, sardonic humor, and more! We were honored to have a table in the 2023 WisCon Art Show and received a great response from attendees.

See more at https://www.instagram.com/bookishstickers or shop at bookishstickers.com.

Five stickers with trans-friendly and queer pride designs.

Bookish Stickers

Six book-shaped stickers. "Burning Bridges: An Autobiography," "The Horrors Persist But So Do I," "Ibuprofen & Coffee and other classically millennial ways to start your day," "Be the Witch You Wish to Meet in the Bog," "I Cry a Lot but I Am So Productive," Feels Like a Good Time for an Emotional Breakdown"

Bookish Stickers

Bookish Stickers

Eight colorful stickers shaped like cassette tapes labeled with different sayings.

Bookish Stickers

Bookish Stickers

Bookish Stickers

Bookish Stickers

Bookish Stickers

Four book-themed stickers. "Books Are Magic," Reading and Collecting Books Are Two Separate Hobbies," "The Introvert's Bookshelf," "My happy place is between the pages of a comfort book."

Bookish Stickers

Six stickers with political and abortion-rights-related sayings.

Bookish Stickers

A. Lucek

Lucek is a disabled AFAB genderqueer individual who produces unique and eclectic art with a distinct sci-fi/fantasy vibe. Their art combines knowledge of traditional handicraft processes, cutting-edge digital tools, and innovative materials to create unexpected beauty through experimentation-and-refinement. Some of their specialties include embroidered circuit boards (sometimes with functional LEDs soldered into the designs), aromatherapy jewelry, repurposed bookfolding sculptures, and more. “No matter how small you are yourself, your imagination can never be contained. If I can make one person in the world remember that fact when they look at my work, then I have succeeded beyond measure.”

During the con, use the code WISCON25 to get 20% off any work from Lucek’s website, https://unicoherent.com, including works not featured in the show (excludes giftcards).

Embroidered scene of a female figure in a dress, seen from behind, against a background of green binary code, reaching up toward a light blinking red and blue.

A. Lucek, Decision/Consequence
Embroidery with functional LEDs, 13.5 x 16 x 3″

Art piece: black circular form painted with stars, half wrapped in silver fabric resembling a moon.

A. Lucek, Lunar Subjunction
Interference painted fabric on wood, 15″ round, 3″ thick

Abstract painting in blue and magenta with gold and white splatters.

A. Lucek, Interstellar Whalesong
Resin painting on canvas, 9 x 12"

+ $Art piece with detailed fractal patterns in orange, pale yellow, and blue, radiating from a black circle at the left.$

A. Lucek, Fractal Quilt
Limited edition print of fractal art, 11 x 14"

Photo of a black, lacy, choker-style necklace with several black pendants hanging from thin black chains.

A. Lucek, A Penchant for Perfumed Pendants
Aromatherapy necklace (comes unscented with instructions)

Photo of two hands wearing a white lace sleeve that extends in a point over the hand, decorated with silver metal charms.

A. Lucek, Butterfly Garden Forearm Sheaths
Metal charms on shaped lace with thin ribbon lacing

Hexagonal white canvas with gold metal filigree shapes arranged in a symmetrical radiating pattern.

A. Lucek, Exquisite White Space Mandala
Metal filigree on hexagonal canvas, 13.5 × 15.5″

The head of a white unicorn with multicolored mane, cross-stitched on a green and silver circuit board.

A. Lucek, Crossed Circuits: Unicorn
Embroidered circuit board, 12 x 18 cm

A framed piece of cream-colored fabric printed with the words "Bind Love to Lasting Bound". Below the words is an embroidered design on a small rectangular circuit board, sewn on a strip of lace.

A. Lucek, Celtic Runes – Bind Love to Lasting Bound
Embroidered circuit board sewn to printed cotton and framed, 8 x 6"

Abstract painting in dark green, red, and gold, with a gold metal drawer pull mounted in the center, in a heavy black frame.

A. Lucek, Those Who Draw
Mixed media resin art, 9 x 12"

Nine white hexagonal canvases arranged in a cluster, painted with branching abstract designs in blue, purple and turquoise.

A. Lucek, Starship Orion
Ink and acrylic on a modular structure of mini hexagonal canvases, 16.25 × 9″

Jamey Penney-Ritter

Jamey’s art typically is inspired by real-life destinations, but she has a love for sci-fi and fantasy. She is a native of Superior, Wisconsin, and has been a photographer, graphic designer and illustrator for over 30 years. Her work can be seen in homes and businesses across the country. Her collection currently includes over 240 travel posters featuring your favorite places to live and visit across the Midwest.

See more at bemusedposters.com, https://www.facebook.com/BemusedDesign, and https://www.instagram.com/bemuseddesign/.

Blueprint-style poster of a sailboat with the name "Muntjac"

Jamey Penney-Ritter, Muntjac

Stylized poster illustration of a four-winged creature against the moon, with the text MICRORAPTOR ZHAOIANUS

Jamey Penney-Ritter, Microraptor

Travel-style poster illustration of a mountain scene with the words DESTINY 2

Jamey Penney-Ritter, Destiny 2

Poster illustration of a hooded figure with a gun sitting in front of a black pyramid, with the words DESTINY: BEYOND LIGHT

Jamey Penney-Ritter, Destiny Beyond Light

Travel-style poster illustration with the words WISCONSIN RIVER over a scene of a boat on the river.

Jamey Penney-Ritter, Wisconsin River Dells

Stylized poster illustration of a horned beast with a long red tongue and the text HODAG: LEGENDS OF THE NORTHWOODS

Jamey Penney-Ritter, Hodag

Travel-style poster illustration with the words LAKE MENDOTA over a scene of the Wisconsin Union Terrace chairs by the lake in Madison.

Jamey Penney-Ritter, Madison Lake Mendota Union Terrace

Poster illustration with the words MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM against a stylized view of the museum's iconic hall.

Jamey Penney-Ritter, Milwaukee Art Museum

Stylized poster illustration of people gathered in front of the Capitol holding signs, with the text "19th Amendment 1920-2020"

Jamey Penney-Ritter, 19th Amendment

Jamey Penney-Ritter, Bio

A L Raden

A L Raden (she/her) is a multidisciplinary storyteller (artist, writer, designer) who loves exploring layered, character-driven storytelling, especially with an emphasis on magic, myth, and nature. Her art primarily features joyful fantasy and science fiction original charcoal drawings and pointillism-style paintings. She’s also contributed to multiple comic, essay, and prose fiction anthologies and stories as a writer, inker, and letterer.

See more at https://linktr.ee/radenstudios.

Charcoal drawing of a kelpie (black horse with a fish tail) against a background of flowers and waves

A L Raden, Floral Folklore: Kelpie
LE giclee print, original medium was charcoal

A long narrow print of a unicorn leaping through a fence with an apple tree in the background

A L Raden, The Unicorn Breaks Free
giclee print, original medium was pointillism-style acrylic on canvas

A bookmark featuring a charcoal drawing of a goat in a spacesuit.

A L Raden, One Giant Leap for Goat Kind
giclee print, original medium was charcoal

Long narrow print of a charcoal drawing, showing a dragon standing atop a hoard of dice, reaching up for a large D20 on a pedestal

A L Raden, Just One More
giclee print, original medium was charcoal

Colorful print of a cat in diving gear swimming after a fish

A L Raden, Curiosity: Touch da Fishy
Giclee print, original medium was pointillism-style acrylic on canvas

Bookmark with a design of a dog in a spacesuit

A L Raden, Mars Woofer
Metal bookmark, original medium was charcoal

Bookmark with a design of two cats investigating a cauldron

A L Raden, Double, Double, Toil and Trouble
Metal bookmark, original medium was charcoal

Charcoal drawing of a raven perched on a ship in a bottle, atop a stack of books with an ominous eye looking out and a heart at its foot

A L Raden, Quoth the Raven
giclee print, original medium was charcoal

Charcoal drawing of a smiling axolotl surrounded by cookies, popcorn, and fruit

A L Raden, Snaxolotl
Rigid magnet, original medium was charcoal

A set of six enamel pins featuring designs of cats, dragons, a dog in a spacesuit, and an axolotl

A L Raden, Artist Series Enamel Pins
Hard enamel pins, based on original charcoal drawings

Tahlia Day

I make map- and landscape-inspired watercolor/ink paintings with occasional mixed media elements such as collage, metal leaf, and most recently cyanotype printing. I also do digital illustrations building on watercolor elements and sometimes set in the worlds of my other pieces.

See more at tahliaday.com or on Etsy and Instagram.

Tahlia Day, Leviathan Reef
watercolor, ink, gouache, colored pencil, paper mounted on panel

Tahlia Day, Cyanoterritories 2 (Rhubarb Leaf 2)
watercolor, acrylic, ink, colored pencil, cyanotype on paper

Tahlia Day, Cyanoterritories 3 (Tree Trunk)
watercolor, ink, colored pencil, cyanotype on paper

Tahlia Day, Marsh Nymph
watercolor and digital

Tahlia Day, Mermaid
watercolor and digital

Tahlia Day, Wallpaper Coast
wallpaper scraps, acrylic, watercolor, ink on panel

Tahlia Day, Viridian Cape
watercolor and ink on panel

Tahlia Day, Realized: Viridian Cape
watercolor and digital

Tahlia Day, Rainbow Territories 2
watercolor and ink on paper

Tahlia Day, Dryad
watercolor and digital

For more information about the WisCon Art Show, see http://wiscon.net/events/art-show/. At in-person WisCons, participating artists’ work is on display in a physical space for the length of the convention, and attendees can buy it.

Applications for the next show should open in January. We encourage all artists considering attending the con to apply, and we also accept mail-in art. To receive announcements about the Art Show and the next con, you can sign up for the WisCon email newsletter or follow WisCon’s blog or social media.