Field of Vision
Each July, Ox-Bow gathers artists and patrons alike on the Warnock Meadow for Field of Vision, our signature summer benefit. This evening of connection and celebration brings together our creative community over artisanal cuisine, cocktails, and curated art auctions featuring works by distinguished artists. Join us on the meadow for an unforgettable night that sustains Ox-Bow's mission and artistic legacy.
2026 Field of Vision: Beyond the Canvas
Join us on Saturday, July 11, 2026 at 5:00 p.m.
James Brandess, Ox-Bow Afternoon, 2013, sand, gravel, and acrylic paint on wood, 41.5 x 39 inches
For more than a century, painting has been at the heart of Ox-Bow — the discipline that first drew artists to this place and that continues to define its creative identity. On July 11, 2026, we gather on the Warnock Meadow to celebrate that legacy and the community it has built. We hope you'll join us for Field of Vision 2026 as we honor generations of artists, commemorate decades of creative excellence, and contribute to a vibrant future.
Visionary Honorees
Michelle Grabner,
Art and Environment Honoree
Todd Warnock,
Community Honoree
Early Bird tickets - $300 available until June 1, 2026
Sponsorships for the 2026 benefit are also available
Host Committee Co-chairs: Barbara Carr, Joe & Paige Dooley, Ned Janotta & Erica Pearsall, and David Warnock & Michele Speaks
About our Honorees
Michelle Grabner, Art and Environment Honoree
Michelle Grabner is an artist, writer, curator, and educator whose multifaceted practice has shaped contemporary art discourse over the past three decades. Born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in 1962, Grabner has built a career that integrates studio practice, critical writing, curatorial innovation, and pedagogical leadership.
As the Crown Family Professor of Painting and Drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago since 1996, Grabner has influenced generations of artists while maintaining an internationally recognized studio practice. Her work, which explores pattern, repetition, and the aesthetics of domestic labor, is held in major collections including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Walker Art Center, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, among over forty institutions worldwide. Her paintings and sculptures have been exhibited in solo survey exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland and the Schneider Museum of Art, and she participated in the 2017 Whitney Biennial alongside artist John Riepenhoff.
Grabner's curatorial work has been equally significant. She co-curated the 2014 Whitney Biennial and served as Artistic Director for FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art in 2018. In 2016, she curated the Portland Biennial, a state-based exhibition with sites throughout Oregon, and most recently co-curated "50 Paintings" at the Milwaukee Art Museum with Margaret Andera, a traveling exhibition.
Emblematic of Grabner's commitment to supporting artists outside traditional institutional frameworks is her co-direction of The Suburban, an alternative exhibition space she founded with artist Brad Killam in Oak Park, Illinois in 1999, which relocated to Milwaukee in 2015. She also co-directs The Poor Farm, a non-profit exhibition and project space at the Waupaca County Poor Farm in Wisconsin, established in 2009.
Grabner's connection to Ox-Bow School of Art & Artists’ Residency spans three decades. She served on the Ox-Bow’s Program Committee from 2013 to 2015. As teaching faculty, her time at Ox-Bow spans as far back as 1998 when she taught painting with George Liebert and then returned through the years with some highlights including in Summer 2008 when she co-taught Bad Etching: Mono Print Mania with Brad Killam, and in Winter 2017, she co-taught Graduate Projects with John Neff. She returned as a visiting artist in 2020. Most recently, she has co-taught Draw, Paint, Print for three consecutive summers (2024, 2025, and 2026) alongside Molly Zuckerman-Hartung and Brad Killam.
A prolific writer and critic, Grabner has contributed essays and reviews to publications including Artforum, Art in America, Frieze, and The Brooklyn Rail. She has been recognized with numerous honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2021, the Mary Nohl Fellowship in 2025, and election as a National Academician at the National Academy of Design in 2019.
Throughout her career, Grabner has exemplified what it means to be an artist-citizen—building institutions, mentoring emerging artists, curating groundbreaking exhibitions, and maintaining commitment to her studio practice. Her work challenges conventional hierarchies between the domestic and the institutional, the decorative and the conceptual.
Todd Warnock, Community Honoree
Todd Warnock has been a passionate supporter of Ox-Bow and the Saugatuck–Douglas arts community for several decades. His family has owned cottages in Saugatuck for four generations. He served as Chair of Ox-Bow’s Board of Trustees from 2004 to 2011, helping guide the organization through key periods of growth while deepening its connection to artists, educators, and the region. Under his leadership, Ox-Bow completed its first major capital campaign as it entered its second century, as well as, strengthened its governance and strategic partnership with the School of the Art Institute (SAIC).
Todd’s impact is also deeply embedded in the physical landscape of Ox-Bow. He was instrumental in several key campus initiatives, including leading the 2006 expansion and winterization of the historic Ox-Bow Inn and privately funding The Janie and The Marshall (named in honor of his children), our first two winterized dormitories on campus. Todd played a critical role in the construction of the Metternich building on campus via the gift of Michigan artist/scholar Dale Metternich. And Todd led our 2009 effort to protect the pristine beauty of Ox-Bow by purchasing the land adjacent to campus and establishing the Saugatuck Harbor Natural Area.
A dedicated arts advocate, Todd also served on the School of the Art Institute of Chicago Board of Governors from 2004 to 2012. During this time, he was instrumental in launching SAIC’s first independent fundraising campaign, which raised $55 million to strengthen academic programs and expand student access. He also served on the search committee to hire Elissa Tenny as SAIC’s first Provost. In 2016, Todd endowed the Marion Kryczka Teaching Excellence Award in honor of a beloved SAIC faculty leader, underscoring their shared commitment to outstanding art education. Todd also served as a member of the Trustees of the Art Institute of Chicago and remains a life trustee.
Todd’s civic leadership includes service as former Chairman and Director Emeritus of the Greater Chicago Food Depository, and former board member of the Academy for Urban School Leadership.
Professionally, Todd served as a Managing Director of Credit Suisse and as Founding Partner of Roundtable Healthcare Partners, a private equity firm. He earned his MBA from the University of Chicago in 1988 and his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1983. He resides in Saugatuck in the summer as well as Palm Desert, CA and Dornoch, Scotland, where he is proprietor of Links House at Royal Dornoch—an extension of his appreciation for heritage, community, and place.
Ox-Bow is proud to honor Todd at Field of Vision in recognition of his enduring support of artists, educators, and communities, and for a leadership legacy that is quite literally built into the fabric of Ox-Bow.
Photos by Natasha Moustache
Why Support Ox-Bow?
Ox-Bow is more than a school—it’s a community rooted in creativity, care, and connection. For over a century, Ox-Bow has nurtured artists at every stage of their journey, offering time, space, and resources to create, reflect, and grow. Supporting Ox-Bow is an investment in the transformative power of art to foster empathy, spark dialogue, and inspire change.