WPCA, Milwaukee, WI

Visit Our New Blog!

2010-09-28T13:23:00.001-07:00

http://walkerspointart.blogspot.com/

Visit Our New Blog!

2010-08-26T18:13:00.001-07:00

http://walkerspointart.blogspot.com/

Exhibition Opportunity, Sept 2010

2010-08-26T11:05:00.000-07:00

Annual Members Exhibition

Become a member of WPCA and enter up to three pieces in our Annual Members Show.

Check out our website at www.wpca-milwaukee.org for more information and to download our membership letter, entry forms, terms and conditions and membership form. Only current members are eligible to enter work. Contact: maryo@wpca-milwuakee.org with any questions regarding membership or the Members Exhibition.

Sailing the Barbarous Coast with Colin Matthes and Anthony Smith Jr

2010-07-03T14:27:00.000-07:00

May Day Immigration March

2010-07-03T14:06:00.000-07:00

The marched walked from Voces de la Frontera, just down the block for us towards the Mitchell Park.
Many friends and WPCA members joined in to demand the immigration reform.

WPCA Volunteer Exhibition, Party and Critique

2010-07-03T12:36:00.000-07:00

Installation view with the fraction of the work by Roy Staab, three pieces by Paula Schulze (two drawings and a mezzotint), and encaustics by Keith Nelson.

At our Volunteer Appreciation bash, artist Roy Staab arranged im promptu artists' talk/critique. It was a lot of fun, since most of the wonderful artists who helped us out knew little about one another.

Roy Staab questions COPA's William Zuback about his photographs.

COPA member and Alverno professor Jill Moore explains her interest in the portrayals of horses as historically and symbolically powerful subjects.

Paula Schulze and Jean Sobon exchange remarks about their works. Good, sharp questions bring out the laughs...

Paula is withstanding Roy's scrutiny...

Emiliano Lake-Herrera and his tradition-inspired pieces.

Roy talks about his process and materials with Jose Alfredo Chavez.

And the party continued late into the night...

"In the Balance" by Amanda Gerken, Josie Osborne and Heather Wiedeman.

2010-07-03T12:17:00.001-07:00

Installation views of the exhibition.
South wall: mixed-media untitled miniatures by Heather Wiedeman, threee groupings of the "Core" series by Amanda Gerken and Josie Osborne's assemblage installations further in the back. Heather's mixed-media print collages complete the exhibition on the rear wall.

Heather Wiedeman and her guests.

Amanda Gerken and friends.

Josie Osborne with artist Evelyn Patricia Terry.

A whole bunch of new photo-posts for you!

2010-07-03T11:59:00.000-07:00

Spring and the early summer have been incredibly exciting time at WPCA and have kept us extremely busy. If you have visited, you know we are tremendously excited about our new space and thrilled to see the excitement it generates. We are currently on the exhibition number two at our new gallery and the education program upstairs is in the midst of Summer Art Camp 2010.

Following a successful opening of the new gallery on Spring Gallery Night with In the Balance featuring the work of Amanda Gerken, Josie Osborne and Heather Wiedeman as well as a small group show featuring the work of our amazing volunteers, we are continuing the season with Sailing the Barbarous Coast, a two-person show by Colin Matthes and Anthony Smith, Jr.

For your enjoyment, in the following posts, we are sharing with you a number of pictures photo-documenting our recent activities.

WPCA to feature artist members for Gallery Night and beyond!

2010-04-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

WPCA has always enjoyed an extraordinary support of the local community. Our artist members and volunteers have been the life and blood of our organization and recently, have had ample opportunities to prove their loyalty.

Jean Sobon, Gravitation, collage, 10" x 13"

For the past three months we have been working extremely hard moving the Center, cleaning up the old space (imagine what a job it was after 17 busy years) and renovating the building at 839 South 5th Street. Working with a shoestring budget we created two galleries, changed configuration of the walls, laid down and finished new floors, painted the entire space and are about to install spiffy track lighting. These are just the big projects – it is hard to account for all the mundane and detailed tasks that have also been completed. We would have never been able to accomplish all this without the help and contribution of our artist-friends. They dedicated a lot of their time and talent and we will never be able to fully pay back our debt. Over 70 people spent uncountable hours cleaning, hauling garbage and ripping out old tile. It’s been a truly extraordinary effort. We are thankful to them all!

Richard Knight, Studio Heap, mixed media on paper, 36" x 48"

With our sparkling new facility, we can showcase the work of our members on a regular basis and we are looking forward to curating them into a variety of exhibitions. On the Spring Gallery Night, April 16th, we will start by featuring the work of our special friends who have been essential in our recent endeavors.

We are proud to display works by:

Sean Cairn
José Alfredo Chávez
Emiliano Lake-Herrera
Richard Knight
Jill Moore
William Mueller
Keith Nelson
Paula Schulze
Jean Sobon
Roy Staab
William Zuback

Keith Nelson, untitled, encaustic on panel

Vibrant Afternoons with Art!

2010-04-12T14:18:00.001-07:00

While the downstairs spaces have been buzzing with electric sanders, squeaking with paint rollers and smelling of polyurethene and latex, our gorgeous classroom spaces welcomed the sunny spring with the first installment of AFTERNOONS WITH ART.

Nearly 30 young people descended on WPCA to explore color and its expressive impact through visual art and movement exercises. We are sharing here some records of their joyful presence in our space. Look for more soon, as our friend, member and amazing volunteer, Jose Alfredo Chavez is currently assembling a video documentation of this fun project.

If you know any young people, keep your eye for our Drop-in after School sessions that will be resuming very shortly! And, remember that the Summer Art Camp starts June 22 - it is not too early to save your spot, for just one week, or all seven of them.
More fun times to come!

WPCA's busy art education programs!

2010-04-10T14:24:00.000-07:00

This fun mandala that is going to be on display at Barnes and Noble bookstore at Mayfair Mall for the month of April as a part of MPS Afterschool Programs Art Show. It was created by the talented Kagel Elementary students at the Latino Community Center.

This project was produced as a part of Dare to Dream curriculum developed in partnership between Walker’s Point Center for the Arts and Arts@Large to provide quality art programming to Milwaukee’s youth. This program combines art and movement. Students learn a choreographed piece from Puerto Rico named bomba. Students also study the meaning of mandalas, cultural and historical contexts and how mandalas can be used as tools to visualize and achieve their dreams and aspirations.

The beginning of the piece is a photograph of the students in bomba formation taken from above. Then the photograph is enlarged and transferred to canvas so that students can paint and embellish it.

Students are taught elements and principles of art and dance for deeper understanding and meaningful art making process.

Dance Vocabulary: movement, space, time, level, direction, beat, duration...
Art Vocabulary: line, shape, symmetry, color, repetition, rhythm, balance...

The artist instructors for this project were Kate Bradley and Miriam Levie.

Spring Break Afternoons with Art!

2010-03-27T13:06:00.001-07:00

It's spring (yes, yes – believe it or not, but theoretically we are IN the spring already), so our first official educational program to kick off at the new location is all about the wonderful, sensuous world of color! Afternoons with Art start on April 5th and run throughout MPS Spring Break. If you know youth aged 6 – 12 encourage them (and their parents) to sign up and check out our sparkling new, bright and sun-filled classroom space.

After weeks of packing, moving, unpacking, cleaning, mopping, tearing tile and other fun activities, our new home is finally beginning to look like an inhabitable space. And, it is looking VERY nice, if you haven’t seen it yet. Kate and Kristin made a lot of little miracles happen to turn the upstairs rooms into two gorgeous, cozy and friendly classrooms. Not only do we have separate art and movement areas, but also a lot of small, fantastic perks: as a cozy reading nook, an observational drawing site, and a puzzle table to account just for the main attractions.

When I peaked upstairs yesterday, Kristin was working on a giant, movable color wheel. How I wish I could put my hands on it… Well, chances are I will not, but hey, the device is perfect for the hands somewhat smaller than mine. I am also sure that Kristin could find a learning project for me too. We are all very excited to have her here as she brings to our table a wealth of experience in the arts, working both with children and adults.

In any case, Kristin awaits a bubbly group with a score of fun activities planned for the Break. Through visual art, dance, movement and group activities each student will create their own color portfolio, including their own pocket guide to color. This is a FUN way to teach color theory. All projects focus on this crucial element of art, but exploring the artistic principles has never been more exhilarating. All the works created during the week can be taken home on the last day of class in students’ own hand-crafted WPCA portfolio!

SPRING BREAK Afternoons with Art
WALKER’S POINT CENTER FOR THE ARTS
New classroom: 839 South 5th Street
Milwaukee, WI 53204

Monday through Friday, April 5–9th, 1–5pm; for children ages 6–12.

Class size is limited.
Call Kristin to register: 414-672-2787
$ 35 per week, includes all art materials and healthy snacks!
Free for the students of Bruce Guadelupe.

PLEASE JOIN US!

Gallery Night at WPCA - closing reception of CoPA 3rd Annual Juried Show

2010-01-13T13:25:00.000-08:00

On Friday, January 15th you have the last opportunity to come and check out the fine selection of photographs included in the Coalition of Photographic Artists' 3rd Annual Juried Show. We will be hosting a special Gallery Night Reception from 5 to 9 pm.

The show features 47 images by 34 artists chosen for the exhibition by a renown curator, Paul Ha, of the St. Louis's Museum of Contemporary Art. A wonderful group of Wisconsin, Michigan, Minessota and Illinois-based photographers assembled by Ha includes: PJ Boylan, Richard Bublitz, Eddee Daniel, Patricia Delker, C.M. DeSpears, David Draeger, Michael Dvorak, Mary Familant, Susan Foley, Marcia Getto, John Hart, Perry Heideman, Kurt Kamka, Kristen Keshena, John Koeppen, John Kohl-Riggs, Susan Lukas, Terrence Molter, Trevor McNaughton, Jill Newton Moore, Chris Norris, Ashley Rick Quinn, Robb Quinn, Mike Reinders, Karl Schroeder, Bernard Spinelli, Mike Starling, Benjamin Stewart, Miriam Sushman, Rikki Thompson, Ruth Yasko, Jessica Zalewski, Yong-ran Zhu, and William Zuback.

Chris Norris, Madison, WI: Night Light, 15" x 20", HONORABLE MENTION

Mary Farmilant, Chicago, IL: Room 1107, 20" x 20", BEST IN SHOW

Consider helping Haiti

2010-01-13T12:24:00.000-08:00

In the wake of the devastating quake that ravaged Haiti yesterday, we would like to encourage you to make a donation to one of the many relief organizations that serve the area. As far as we know, due to logistical constraints and damage to the infrastructure, monetary gifts are most desperately needed at the moment.

The New York Times ran a list of organizations to consider on its Lede blog. Our friend and member, as well as an advocate extraordinaire, Peter Goldberg suggested donating to Oxfam, with prior Haiti experience, or World Vision. The Employee Development Department of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee suggested contributing to Ventures in People, Inc (http://www.viphaiti.org/), a local humanitarian group that has sent medical teams to Haiti on a regular basis. Currently, there is a team of Wisconsinites over there as well.

Please, think about this.

WPCA members co-found a new gallery

2010-01-13T12:04:00.000-08:00

WPCA artist members Jean Sobon, Virgi Driscoll and Marie Mellot are among the co-founders of a new gallery, called simply "THE Fine Art Gallery," which opens its doors to the public this upcoming weekend. Other artists involved in the project include: Darlene Wesenberg Rzezotarski, Robert Popp, J. J. Joyce, Tom Pscheid, Susan Gay Hatfield and Dagmara Costello.

This collectively organized space is located in the Marshal Building, 207 E. Buffalo St., Suite 210 in the Historic 3rd Ward. Tomorrow, on Thursday, January 14th, the Gallery hosts the Opening Gala from 5 to 8 pm. The space will be also open for Gallery Night and Day, Friday, January 15th, from 11 am to 9 pm, and Saturday, January 16th, from 11 am to 4 pm.

For more information you can visit their website.

WPCA Holiday Schedule

2009-12-14T14:39:00.000-08:00

We will be closed on and around Christmas and New Year. The gallery and education center will be open during the week between the holidays. On these days (December 28 - 31) we will also host Afternoons with Art, exciting opportunity for children age 6-12 to spend time off school.

Afternoons with Art are $5 a day for WPCA members and $ 10 for non-members. Scholarships are available.

Please register by calling Kate at 755-8892.

Thursday, December 24, Christmas Eve - CLOSED

Friday, December 2, Christmas Day - CLOSED

Saturday December 26 - CLOSED

REGULAR HOURS,

December 28 - December 31: noon - 5 PM

Monday, December 28 - Afternoons with Art, 1 - 5 pm

Tuesday, December 29 - Afternoons with Art, 1 - 5 pm

Wednesday, December 30 - Afternoons with Art, 1 - 5 pm

Thursday, December 31 - Afternoons with Art, 1 - 5 pm

Friday, January 1 - CLOSED

Saturday, January 2 - CLOSED

THANK YOU TO ALL MEMBERS AND SUPPORTERS IN 2008/09 SEASON!

2009-12-07T14:41:00.000-08:00

YOU MAKE THIS ALL POSSIBLE!

ARTIST MEMBERS
Jordan Acker Anderson
Chris Andrews
Nancy Aycock
Cicely Babb
Al Balinsky
Stephanie Bartz
E. Jane Bekos
Bill Berens
Austin Boechler
Frank Bondzinski
Angela M. Brandon
Richard Bublitz
River Bullock
Donna Burdge
Christine Buth-Furness
José Alfredo Chavez
Valerie Christell
Rise Christensen
Tamiko Dargan
Melva Darrough
Heather Eiden
John Fatica
Fred & Margaret Figie
Susan Foley
Mary Galinowski
Lee Gierke
Jeffrey M. Goldberg
Regan Golden-McNerney
Tom Halfmann
Katie Hassemer
Connie Hawkins
Judith & Svend Hestoft
Maria Ellen Huebner
Eriks Johnson
Carrie Joubert
Henk Joubert
Kat Klemp
Frank Korb
Geri Laehn
Jason Lantagne
Theresa Lauer
Riccardo Liotta
C. Matthew Luther
Gregory Martens
Scott May
Mark McBride
Lynet McDonald
George Mee
Todd Mrozinski
Cristian Muñoz
Roberta E. Nelson
Barbara Nelson-Fuqua
Karen Norris
Lance Orr
Louis Anthony Orr
Nicolaus Ortiz
Boris Ostrerov
Dan Patrinos
A. Marie Phillips
Simon Phillips
Jenny Poetzel
JoAnna Poehlmann
Jessica Poor
Deidre Prosen
Douglas Pruitt
Steven Rademan
Ari David Rosenthal
Pacia Sallomi
Vicki Samolyk
Denis Sargent
Mary Anne Schall
Greg Schoeneck
Paula Schulze
Monica Sirimarco
Renee Skiba
Peter Skiba
Henry H. Smith
Thomas & Jean Sobon
Ximena Soza
Diane Steigerwald
Ann E. Stein
L. Yvonne Stevenson
Morgyn Stranahan
Sandy Lee Sugden
Cynthia Taylor
Judith Z. Tolkan
Inés Villanueva
Louise Webb
Sandra Westbrook
Savoy Westbrook
Charles Wickler
Fo Wilson
Leann Wooten
Paul Zovic & Joanne Lipo Zovic
Clarice Zucker
Jim Zwadlo

Individual/Family Members $ 50–$ 99
Harmonie & Daniel Baker
Daniel & Janet Brophey
Barbara Brown Lee
James Byrne
Vicki Chiger
Christopher Davis-Benavides & Karen Gunderman
Carol & Buz Dittrich
Nan Fitzpatrick
Sheila Jozwik
Mr. & Mrs. Robert J. Lauer, Sr.
Mary Ellen Lukaszewicz
Jose Montoto
Heather Pantoga
Scot Dragan & Jean Berens
Mary Mellowes
Patricia Obletz
K. Lee Peterson
Adolph & Suzanne Rosenblatt
Marilyn Schmid
Corinne Tobin
Vivian & Paul Traskowski

Supporting Members $ 100–$ 249
Elfrieda Abbe & Daniel Sargeant
Byron Becker
Fred Berman
Dorota Biczel Nelson
Kate Brosnan Bradley
Andrea & Charles Bram
Diane & David Buck
Robin Coffman
Virgilyn Driscoll
Phil Fisher
Michael & Donna Flanagan
Tim & Susan Frautschi
Gianfranco Tessara/Inspired Artisans, Ltd.
Sharon Giesfeldt Van Ruiswyk
Constance P. Godfrey
Peter Goldberg
Janet & Fred Goldsmith
Sue Goldwomon
Gary John Gresl
Russ Jankowski
Jenevie & Russell Jensen
Lona Long Velasco
Janet Matthews
Polly Morris
Scott Paulus
Fabiola Rodriguez Strande
Louis A. & Barbara J. Stippich
Tori Tasch
Pegi Taylor Christiansen
Carolyn White-Travanti & Leon Travanti
Mel & Dan Trittin
Gary Tuma
Jamie & Dan Ward
Marie Mellott & Yehuda Yannay
Rosa Zamora

Collectors $ 250–$ 499
Mr. & Mrs. David French
Gary Polzen
Jim & Marie Seder
Norma Trevino
Mr. & Mrs. Richard L. Weiss

Sustainers $ 500–$ 999
Diane Ekstrand
Mrs. Henry E. Fuldner
Kay & Richard Knight
Luz Mercado
Christine Symchych

Benefactors $ 1,000–$ 4,999
Barbara E. Manger & Bill Lynch
Ruth De Young Kohler

Foundations, Corporate and Government Supporters
Arts at Large
ASQ
ATT Foundation
Helen Bader Foundation
Jane Bradley Pettit Foundation
Brico Fund
Community Shares of Greater Milwaukee
Chambers & Owen, Inc.
City of Milwaukee Arts Board
CPL Industries, Inc.
Patrick and Anna M. Cudahy Fund
The Gardner Foundation
Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s:

John C. and Harriett Cleaver Fund
Mary L. Nohl Fund
Non-profit Management Fund
Walker’s Point Center for the Arts Endowment Fund

Harley-Davidson Foundation
The Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation
Herbert H. Kohl Charities
Milwaukee County CAMPAC
Milwaukee Public Schools – Partnership for the Arts
Mortimer Charitable Lead Trust
Northwestern Mutual Foundation
St. Rafael the Archangel School
Wellpoint Matching Gift Program
Windhover Foundation
Wisconsin Arts Board with the funds from the State of Wisconsin, the National Endowment for the Arts and National Recovery Act
Woman’s Club of Wisconsin

Opening of CoPA's 3rd Annual Juried Exhibition

2009-12-07T13:14:00.000-08:00

First signs of impending winter did not scare CoPA's members, artists and photo enthusiasts, who came out in force to celebrate the opening of CoPA's 3rd Annual Juried Show. Even though this year's juror, Paul Ha of St.Louis's Contemporary could not join us due to previous (certainly important!) art engagements, he was kind enough to send us a video tape with his thoughts on the jurying process and photography he selected. It's a great addition to the show that helps to see the work included in the exhibition from a new, fresh perspective.
We were fortunate too, that all the award winners were able to join us: Mary Farmilant of Chicago, IL, awarded "The Best in Show," John Koeppen of Racine, WI and Chris Norris of Madison, WI, who both received "Honorable Mentions," and Kristin Keshena, enthusiastically selected to receive "Viewers' Choice Award." Thank you all for coming - it was a wonderful night!

Outpost Exchange Alternative Gift Fair

2009-12-05T15:20:00.001-08:00

This December marks the return of the Outpost Exchange Alternative Gift Fair. As an alternative to a traditional trip to a shopping mall, you can honor family and friends by donating to an organization that fits their values. Donations take the form of “gifts” that participating non-profits offer shoppers. The event calls attention to the growing needs in the community in a manner that invites you to come to the table in the spirit of holiday giving traditions. Last year’s fair drew hundreds of visitors and raised several thousand dollars for local charities. For us, The Alternative Gift Fair is a great as it helps to build relationships and community.

When you visit the Exchange Alternative Gift Fair, you will receive a “shopping list” of participating non-profit groups which show the different donation levels shoppers can support. Gift cards will be available to complete the gift giving experience. WPCA will be offering memberships of different levels, starting with our basic artist membership of $ 25, together will limited edition T-shirts featuring WPCA artists and special artistic goodie bags.

The Alternative Gift Fair will be in conjunction with the Buy Local Fair, sponsored by Our Milwaukee, a local business alliance that advocates for locally owned, independent businesses. Together, both events bring attention to the importance of supporting and living local. For a complete list of participating AGF organizations, visit the link.

Last House Productions AUDITIONS

2009-11-30T11:00:00.000-08:00

AUDITIONS for the short film, The Bully.

Award-winning filmmakers of Last House Productions will hold auditions for their next short film, The Bully on Saturday, December 5th, 2009, 12:15 – 4:30pm.

Shooting of the film will take place in and around the Milwaukee area in late March and early April of 2010. Meals will be provided on lengthy shooting days.

Young actors of all types, ages 7 to 18, are encouraged to audition for lead roles. Also needed are adult actors ages 25 to 50.

Auditions will be videotaped and will consist of improvisation and readings from the script.

More information about The Bully can be found at the official website.
For an audition appointment call Matthew at (562) 261-4637 or email thebullymovie@gmail.com

WPCA - Milwaukee's best gallery of 2009!

2009-11-11T18:12:00.001-08:00

Many, many thanks to all of you who took the time to vote for us in the Shepherd Express's annual poll of Milwaukee's Best! We feel very thrilled to be named Milwaukee's best art gallery of 2009.
We all know that the competition in the gallery category must have been tough as there are many amazing people here in town, including many of our dear friends, working extremely hard to both embrace Milwaukee's wonderful artists and bring in the fresh talent from elsewhere. Hence, we are even more honored to be awarded this title.

To see complete results in Arts and Entertainment category, please visit this link.

We are very grateful to everybody who contributed to our success: our supporters, unbelievable members, all the volunteers and interns, our Board and all the funders who back up their faith in us with their monetary funds. We couldn't have done it without you - it's been a truly team effort.

But above all, many thanks to artists who worked with us to make the gallery events true success. Starting with the most recent, we have to acknowledge Rosa Zamora, who carefully curated the current Day of the Dead Exhibition, an amazing group who under auspices of Terry Daulton and Dolly Ledin put together Paradise Lost, truly wonderful Jennifer Harris and Regan Golden (we are sending big thanks to Regan in Houston, TX), MARN mentors and mentees, Gabriel Villa and Rene Hugo Arceo and all the good folks of Pilsen, Richard Knight, members of the Southeastern Chapter of Wisconsin Visual Artists, and - above all - our artist members who stand by us through thick and thin. THANK YOU!

Faces of Día de los Muertos

2009-11-07T13:58:00.000-08:00

Many, many thanks to over 320 attendees of the Día de los Muertos celebration: artists, friends and neighbors, who came to participate in the special festivities of the night. As always, Rosa Zamora brought together an unforgettable, diverse group of people to create the ofrendas for the loved and important ones who passed away. The evening was full of attractions for anyone from age 1 to 101: from yummy food and snacks, sugar skulls meticulously crafted by Rosa herself, face painting by Eriks Johnson, to wonderful traditional music by the Mexican trio and a lecture on Oaxacan tradition of the Day of the Dead by Dara Larson and Dan Leister of Alverno College.
I know we haven't been very good about posting recently, so I hope that a small sampling of our pictures from the evening will make up for the lack of posts.

Gary Tuma and our artist members, Paula Schulze and John Fatica. Beautiful hand-cut flags above their hands were meticulously prepared by Rosa.

This amazing mural was created by Armando Gallegos, who spent a long week crafting his piece.

Eriks Johnson's face-painting services were in such high demand by both children and adults alike, that he didn't leave his chair until 9.30 pm. Water and snacks were brought to him by nice volunteers. Waldek Dynerman of MIAD looks on as Eriks is starting his another creation.

The altar by Ximena Sosa "We can't stop a bullet but we don't have to shoot" is created to commemorate victims of gun violence.

Ximena Soza and Cristian Muñoz, who also created an ofrenda for this years' exhibition.

Educational team extraordinaire: WPCA's Director of Education, Kate Bradley (right) and Teresa Lauer.

Lona Long Velasco, our Board President and curator, Rosa Zamora.

Eriks hard at work - he seriously did not stop for 3 hours!

Cristian Muñoz, Ximena Soza and Rosa Zamora.

Antv Antinao created an altar dedicated to the Mapuche people (living in nation of Chile) he descends from.

Dara Larson of Alverno College.

The Board: Lona Long Velasco and Morgyn Stanahan.

Gary Tuma, Dale Christiansen, Pegi Taylor Christiansen.

Milwaukee's art funding in danger

2009-10-10T11:35:00.000-07:00

As you might have heard, the funding provided annually by the City of Milwaukee for the Milwaukee Arts Board is in real danger, so it is pertinent that we voice our opposition to the proposed budget cuts for the upcoming year.

We can express our concerns about the Arts Board funding at the Mayor and Common Council Joint Public Hearing on TUESDAY, October 13th at 6:00 pm, in the Council Chambers at the City Hall (Third Floor, 200 E. Wells St.)

If you cannot attend, you can also email the Mayor at mayor@milwaukee.gov.

BELOW, YOU'LL FIND THE LETTER WE RECEIVED FROM ALDERMAN MURPHY.

***

Dear Members of the Milwaukee Arts Board and fellow Arts Organizations,

As you may already know, under Mayor Barrett’s proposed budget for 2010 the Milwaukee Arts Board will lose approximately two thirds of its funds. The Mayor has recommended cutting $110,000 from the 2009 allocation of $160,000. The subsequent result of this action will also be a loss of $25,000 matching grant dollars from the Wisconsin Art Board’s.

I am clearly opposed to such a cut; the largest reduction in any department. This proposal would result in a total loss of almost 75% of the board’s funds. I thus encourage you to attend the Joint Public Hearing being held by the Common Council and the Mayor Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 6:00 PM in the Common Council Chambers, Third Floor, City Hall, 200 E Wells Street, to share your concerns. As many factors are taken into consideration when determining the next year’s budget, it is important that the Common Council hear your voices in opposition to the Mayor’s budget.

I look forward to seeing you at the hearing to support art in the City of Milwaukee.

If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to call me at 286-3763.

Sincerely,

Michael J. Murphy

Alderman, 10^th District

***

Stimulus Grant

2009-08-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday, Governor Doyle announced the awarding of $300,000 in stimulus grants for Wisconsin arts organization. Walker's Point Center for the Arts is a recipient of one of the $15,000 grants. That evening, a local legislator questioned the use of federal stimulus funds for the arts. On Wednesday, Vice President Joe Biden announced a $299 million award to a local firm for research and development of automotive battery technology. There was nothing but praise for that funding. And rightly so, since green technology research and development is a stated goal of the current administration.

In doing the math ($299 million vs. $300,000) I was reminded of the monetary value we place on arts and culture in this society and how arts are often the last funded and first cut when we have an economic downturn. I was also reminded how the arts are the focus of attack simply because artists often challenge the status quo and push our emotions on political, social and economic issues. The arts can also calm us in trying times and unite us in common cause. These are the very reasons the arts are necessary to sustain our vitality and continue our national dialogue around issues of culture and the arts.

The current recession has impacted all sectors of employment not just the financial or automotive sectors who have received the vast majority of stimulus funds. The purpose of stimulus funding was to create and restore jobs. The arts grant received by WPCA will result in the restoration of our part time classroom art teacher position providing free after school art education. These are Milwaukee youth in a neighborhood that has seen significant job loss during the past year. This position was cut in February due to the current recession and funding challenges facing many nonprofit organizations during the past several years. I am also reminded that artists' wages are far lower than those of research scientists or financial managers who have benefited most from the stimulus funds.

"Decorative Directive" in the news

2009-08-01T09:21:00.000-07:00

"Decorative Directive" is a wonderful exhibition and it has enjoyed some excellent press coverage so far.

It was among the Gallery Night picks of Kat Murrell in the Third Coast Digest, Peggy Sue Dunigan in the Shepherd Express and Mary Louise Schumacher in the Journal Sentinel.
To find out more about the exhibition you can read the review in the Shepherd and also an interview with Regan Golden on their website.

If you haven't seen the show yet, these articles can give you a wonderful background to truly enjoy and appreciate the work of both Regan Golden and Jennifer Harris. Please, come visit us before August 22.

New Art Fair in Madison, WI

2009-07-23T16:13:00.000-07:00

We received this information from one of our artist members and thought that some of you, who do exhibit at art fairs, may be interested in this opportunity. ArtWorks: Madison Show is a new event developed by designer Colin Murray. More information on the website: www.ArtWorksMadison.com.

Get involved!

2009-07-23T15:49:00.000-07:00

This is a fabulous opportunity to get involved in a project of Milwaukee Gay Arts Center, please consider supporting their fundraising efforts.

Saturday Softball League (SSBL) will be holding an art event on August 19, 2009 to raise funds for the NAGAAAFest 2009 - the Gay Softball World Series.

The event will be held at the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center and across the street at Gravity Marketing - (formerly Don Quixote restaurant).
Promotional partners include; BESTD Clinic; AIDS Resource Center of WI; Milwaukee Gay Arts Center; Challenge Board and Cream City Foundation's Joseph R. Pabst LGBT Infrastructure Fund; to name a few.

The $25.00 event will include a wine/beer tasting, food, entertainment, an art exhibition, and a silent auction with donated pieces from numerous galleries and individual artists.

The names of artists or contacts at galleries that might be interested in donating art to the silent auction, or loaning pieces to the exhibit are needed ASAP. If you know of anyone, please send an e-mail to Mike Kuharske at mkuharske@gravitym.com with the artist’s name, phone number and/or e-mail.

If you are willing to contribute to either the auction or the exhibition, this link explains how you can participate: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=eb_2fd3mR8YkeSij_2b8miKSMQ_3d_3d

For supplying a contact or two, you’ll receive a complimentary invitation to the event!
Also, approximately a dozen volunteers are needed at the event as well. If you’re interested in helping, please contact:

Mike Kuharske, Partner
Gravity Marketing LLC
704 S. 2nd Street
Milwaukee, WI 53204
414.202.5874
414.755.0842 fax

http://www.linkedin.com/in/kuharske

mkuharske@gravitym.com

Getting ready for the new show!

2009-07-16T12:49:00.000-07:00

While the kids are happily working on the earthworks in the Menomonee River Valley, we are getting ready for our next exhibition, which promises enticing food for both the eyes and the minds. On Gallery Night (July 24th), we're opening a two-person exhibition by Regan Golden and Jennifer Harris titled "Decorative Directive."

Perhaps in a surprising pairing, the show brings together two artists with seemingly radically disparate backgrounds. Regan Golden received her MFA training in the department of painting and drawing at UW-Milwaukee and has a strong background in art theory and philosophy from her studies at the Grinell College. Today, she works primarily with cut paper. Jennifer Harris, on the other hand, studied industrial design during her undergraduate career and later engrossed herself in jewely and metalsmithing at the MFA program at SUNY-New Paltz. Having taught and maintaining the labs at UWM for a few years, she has recently returned to her roots in industrial design.

Regan Golden, What is yours is mine is yours: Part Three, 2006. Hand cut and wrapped Seamless Photography backdrop paper, dimensions vary.
Jennifer Harris. Etiquette Tray (detail), 2004. Fiberglass tray, original image, 16 1/2 x 12 x 1 inches.

Despite those different backgrounds, both artists share a number of interests that both aesthetically and conceptually bring them together in a refreshing and unexpected duo. While their aesthetics is strongly influenced by postminimalist art movement, they both use processes that are normally asocciated with feminine craft, rather than high- or avant-guarde art. They also both are deeply engaged in the question of what it means to be a female today and how our tumultuous relationship with what we inherited from the past shapes the values we associate with "femininity" today.

Peggy Sue Dunigan previewed the exhibition for The Shepherd Express. You can see her article here.

From our image archives...

2009-07-16T11:42:00.000-07:00

We're posting a number of installation shots from the MARN Mentors exhibition. It was a great show and I think it is worth it to feature it here: so many wonderful artists in one place!

Do you know whose work is what? Quiz yourself on the knowledge of the local scene!
If you don't know these artists, you better start polishing your Milwaukee contemporary art vocabulary!

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And we're back!

2009-07-10T13:52:00.000-07:00

June was an incredibly busy month at WPCA and it might seem like our online presence has diminished greatly. This is only because the Center itself was bustling with activity. While our Director of Education, Kate, was gearing up for our annual Summer Art Camp, the gallery was filled floor to ceiling with the work by our artist members.

This year the Annual Member Show represented a truly unprecedented number of artists, which did not remain unnoticed by observant Mary Dally-Muenzmaier, of CricketToes. You can see her post about the show here. Yet, as a matter of fact, the exhibition was even larger than Mary had estimated. It featured 73 artists and over 140 works.

As always, the show brought together old and new members; those who had been supporting WPCA for the past 20 years and artists who had just recently joined. The exhibition also put together artists very young, just at the beginning of their education and careers, like Lance Orr, who is heading off to MIAD in the fall to begin his BFA studies there, and artists who had been the most esteemed staples of Milwaukee art community, like Suzanne and Adolph Rosenblatt. In the same gallery space we showed artists who received MFAs from the most prestigious institutions and the artists who did not receive formal training. We were also fortunate to represent all the rich ethnic and cultural diversity of our community.

Our exhibition is also a rare occasion, in which the judgment of what actually makes one an artist is completely suspended and we rely solely on self-identification to determine the participants. This is a rare opportunity for us to reveal different "art worlds" and present them all together in one space. Sometimes these worlds are clashing, sometimes they work in harmony, but one thing for sure, they are many, varied, and often absolutely, rivetingly unexpected.

Gearing Up for the Annual Members Show

2009-05-30T11:54:00.000-07:00

OPENING RECEPTION:
Friday, June 5, 5 pm to 9 pm

Exhibition runs through July 2nd.

Work drop off:
Saturday, May 30,
10 am to 5 pm.
Monday, June 1,
10 am to 5 pm.

Each member is eligible to submit up to three recent pieces (from the last 3 years). No-jurying - All Welcome!

Chicago Alderman orders mural destroyed

2009-05-22T07:49:00.000-07:00

As we continue to discuss public art here in Milwaukee, I received an e-mail from artist Gabriel Villa that stated“The city white washed my mural.” Villa recently organized the Artists of Pilsen exhibition at WPCA. Villa has been working on the mural in Chicago's Bridgeport neighborhood at Kaplan’s Liquors 960 W 31st St. Days ago it was destroyed by the city on orders of Alderman Balcer. Gabriel was granted permission by the owner of the building to paint the mural.

Announcing "Public Art in Milwaukee - a Panel Discussion"

2009-05-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

Recently public art became a bone of discontent and heated debate in the community with the discussion of Janet Zweig's proposal for the project slated for the east end of Wisconsin Avenue. Milwaukee’s artistic community successfully came together to save the project, yet, this one-time action did not clarify many issues pertinent to public art implementation.
Therefore, we're pleased to rely the message that MARN is hosting a panel discussion on Public Art in Milwaukee:

Monday May 18th, 2009
7-9pm
Bucketworks
1340 N. 6th St.
Milwaukee, WI
Admission is Free

It seems that he fight over Zweig's proposal left the community with a number of unanswered questions, including:

What is Milwaukee's Public Art Process?
Who has the voice?
How does the public effect change in this process?
As an artist how do you "get in on the action"?
How to make sure things don't go haywire?
What to do when things DO go wrong?

Join MARN as they moderate a panel discussion to address these issues. The panelists include:

Alderman Micheal Murphy: City of Milwaukee
Anne Katz: Arts Wisconsin
Polly Morris: Milwaukee Arts Board
Jill Sebastian: MIAD
Beth Haskovec: IN:SITE

MARN Mentors Opening

2009-05-10T11:39:00.001-07:00

On Friday, May 1st, WPCA was tightly packed. A perfect convergence of a great group of artists (literally and figuratively) and a warm spring weather brought the Milwaukeeans out in force to attend the opening of MARN Mentors exhibition. In fact, we counted a ground breaking attendance of over 300 people.
Thank you all for coming and perhaps you can see yourself somewhere in the background of the photos.

Jake Palmert and John Riepenhoff (of Green Gallery) and Melissa Musante. In the background, Josie Osborne.

Tamiko Dargan (Artist, WPCA board) and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Mary Louise Schumacher.

Dorota Biczel Nelson (WPCA's Marketing/PR/membership Coordinator) and Tiffany Knopow, artist.

A. Marie Phillips (photographer) & Richard Taylor (sculptor).

Boris Osterov.

Barbara Miner (photographer) with friends.

Artists katherine e. martin & Collin Dickson, and Pegi Taylor.

Artist/designer Simon Phillips and Kate Bradley (WPCA's Education Director)

Artists Cheryl Olson Sklar, Tiffany Knopow, Jennifer Harris and Leah Schreiber.

MARN long-standing Mentor Jason Yi and artist Lisa Moline.

Ben Rothschild with friends.

Kevin Miyazaki, Lane Hall, Ben Rohschild.

Pegi Taylor and Laura Maker.

Karin Haas and Fahimeh Vahdat.

Bob Smith, Melissa Musante (MARN's Executive Director), River Bullock.

Boris Osterov and Holly Vanderbusch.

Congressional Art Competition

2009-04-28T08:20:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to accept an invitation by Congresswoman Gwen Moore to judge the 2009 Fourth Congressional District Art Competition. This annual event takes place in congressional districts all over the country and acknowledges and honors the talent of creative high school students. This year's Milwaukee exhibition will be displayed during May at the Chase Tower at Water and Wisconsin in Downtown Milwaukee. The first place winner, along with their parents, will receive a trip to Washington, D.C. to attend the award ceremony. The winning piece will be hung in the Cannon Tunnel in the Capital for one year.

Congresswoman Moore is strong advocate for art and works hard to improve opportunities for young people of our district. Thanks Gwen for all you do.

Old shows, new shows... Gallery Night at WPCA.

2009-04-23T19:12:00.000-07:00

Future WPCA artists visiting us: Tiffany Knopow (left), who will be in MARN Mentors exhibition opening Friday, May 1st, and Jennifer Pollock Harris (right), whose two-person exhibition with Regan Golden McNerney, Decorative Directive will be on display in July and August.

Board members, Jose Montoto and Heather Pantoga came to visit with their family.

Dos hermanos @ Tres Hermanos.

36th Annual Juried Art Show at UWM's Union Art Gallery

2009-04-23T13:04:00.000-07:00

Gary Tuma and two of our colleagues, Melissa Musante, Executive Director of MARN and Darryl Jensen, printmaker and instructor/print lab technician at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, were this year's jurors for 36th Annual Juried Art Show at UWM's Union Art Gallery that opens tonight, April 24th from 5 pm to 8 pm.

Come by and see what they chose from the large poll of works that were presented to them!
Dorota is very proud, because a former student of hers, Jes Myszka, received an honorable mention for her piece Disintegration, a small installation/assamblage with intaglio-printed book. It's an amazing piece - in itself a great reason to stop by the gallery. (And as you might know, Dorota doesn't compliment anything lightly!)

The juried show at the Union Gallery has a long history of supporting local emerging artist and is a great opportunuty to see some of the new work from area's current students and recent alumni. Go and see what they're all up to!

Thank you sent to Alderpersons

2009-04-22T11:03:00.000-07:00

The following communication was sent to all the Alderpersons who voted in favor of the Zweig project on behalf of WPCA.

"On behalf of Walker’s Point Center for the Arts, our board, staff, artist and community members and the many young people we serve through our art education program, thanks for your support of the Zweig public art commission. We know that art education is thoroughly realized through exposure to an array of art forms and creative interpretations. Public art that introduces our residents to new concepts through hands on interaction is a most winning formula. The Zweig project accomplishes this most creatively using local artists and resources. Our art education program at WPCA is called “Hands On” for this very reason. Zweig’s project can and will inspire Milwaukeeans to a new appreciation for art in all its forms. Public discussion of art, and indeed public debate, is one of the essential tools in this educational process."

April Afternoons with Art

2009-04-18T13:11:00.001-07:00

Thank your Alderman...

2009-04-16T15:22:00.000-07:00

... if (s)he voted in favor of Janet Zweig's public art project.

Click here, to find out how.

Hearing for Zweig's project

2009-04-09T14:10:00.000-07:00

We just got a word from Christine Harris on this and we're imploring you to attend!

The public art project will again be heard at a special meeting of the Public Works Committee on Tuesday, April 14th, at 8 a.m. in advance of the full Council meeting at 9 a.m in Room 301-B (at the City Hall). It will be important for those supportive of this initiative to be present and offer their input on this project.

Start planning for Gallery Night!

2009-04-09T11:50:00.000-07:00

If you're planning your gallery hopping route for Friday, April 17th, make sure to include us as one of our stops.
The Pilsen show is closing soon and you wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to see it.
We will be celebrating with a reception from 5 to 9 pm.

Thanks to our benefactors!

2009-04-09T11:06:00.000-07:00

Walker's Point Center for the Arts wants to express deep gratitude to our continuous supporters, Northwestern Mutual Foundation and the Windhover Foundation. In these uncertain times their unwavering support and generosity cannot be underestimated.

The grant from Northwestern Mutual Foundation will allow us to continue and improve our "Hands On" education for youth, while the grant from the Windhover Foundation will help sustain our general operations and support our programming.

On behalf of WPCA's board, staff, volunteers and participants: THANK YOU!

Updates on the Creative Coalition

2009-04-06T13:10:00.000-07:00

Gary Tuma and I attended March 25th Creative Coalition meeting at the Italian Community Center and I do owe everybody updates. For the official version of the event, you can check out the report posted on Milwaukee Cultural Alliance's website by Christine Harris. That way, I can spare you dry, bureaucratic details and just cut right to the chase.

Interestingly, due to the recent (and fully justified) upheaval surrounding Janet Zweig's public art project, the Creative Coalition's activities have been off the radar screen. Perhaps this is also why I haven't heard from the Coalition, even though I volunteered for one of the task forces (I opted for Communications lead by Jonathan West, mostly because I respect his position within the Coalition's constellation of players). It is a busy time, everybody pulling hair over a threat of loosing Zweig's project to the chopping - pardon, "voting" - block. I have to acknowledge though, that I did receive an electronic "Thank You" note.

Now, on to the issues. Two things were striking about the meeting:

appalling homogeneity of the crowd in which minorities were barely represented,
complete lack of involvement from our political "representatives."

While I hope the first will be remedied immediately with smart outreach efforts on the part of the Coalition's leaders, the latter needs closer scrutiny.

Given the current uproar around the rejection of Zweig's proposal, the exclusion of politicians from the planning process (be it self-imposed, or not) should be quite instructive and serve as an important lesson - I taught for many years, so I do trust you will bear my tone- that the Creative Coalition should seriously consider.

From many cultural plans that I had studied in the recent months, both from the US and elsewhere, Milwaukee is the only instance in which the planning process is being lead entirely by a private - non-for-profit - but nonetheless, entirely private enterprise. The groundbreaking Chicago Cultural Plan, for example, was initiated by the Mayor Harold Washington and lead by the newly founded Department of Cultural Affairs. The funding was provided by the NEA and Chicago Community Trust, a good, ol' mix of public and private funding. Many other plans I had seen were sponsored by similar conjoined effort of both civic leaders, public and private bodies. While Chicago's case is certainly unprecedented in terms of governmental involvement, that kind of involvement provides a firm footing for other plans as well. I don't find it particularly surprising. For a plan to succeed, it needs a support coming from all the significant constituents.

What I do find rather shocking is the divorce of public and private that seems to be taking place in Milwaukee right now. I don't know how it happened that no politicians were involved in the Creative Coalition. I am not willing to speculate here why this might have occured. However, if the Creative Coalition trusted its own intelligence and power just less than two weeks ago, perhaps we have just learned a harsh lesson that without involvement of the political leadership, no "creative"/cultural plan can come to fruition. Without a smart strategy to engage and secure the support of the Mayor, the Common Council etc. we are just waiting for other valuable projects to get shot down. So while you're calling your alderman to ask her/him for a vote in favor of Zweig's project, also consider asking them how come they do not participate in the Creative Coalition.

MARN workshops this weekend

2009-04-06T12:38:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we're hosting two of MARN's Professional Development Workshops for artists and I'd like to encourage you to come! Graeme Reid curator and Assistant Director at the Museum of Wisconsin Art will be leading a workshop on writing artist statements and Sally Stanton will guide you through intricacies of grant writing. You can find the details here.

Anyways, I just wanted to share some thoughts on artist statements and spell out some reasons for potential usefulness of this workshop (as I don't doubt Graeme will do a wonderful job).

As an artist, I dread writing statements. It's not even that I don't like to write down thoughts on my work, quite the contrary, I thrive on writing. However, the statement needs to encapsulate the most essential things about the work in a relatively small amounts of words. The issue of space is important to me as my own projects include quite diverse visual languages/ manifestations. How do I clarify what brings them together without writing a lengthy essay?
Then, there's a question of language, perhaps even more challenging one. The statement needs to be accessible, speak not just to the curator and the specialist, but also to the public, but yet - somehow - avoid cliches. It needs to illuminate without making the work seem trivial.

I take that last problem very seriously from the personal experience of jurying/curating exhibitions and looking through dozens of artists statements. As a matter of fact, I just went through such an ordeal last weekend. Trust me, there are few things that can do otherwise decent work a greater disfavor than an obscure, convoluted or banal statement.

Anyways, I am not here to run the workshop for Graeme - I just wanted to share some thoughts to encourage you to attend.

2009-03-30T10:27:00.000-07:00

We are pleased to announce that Walker's Point Center for the Arts was selected as one of the grant recipients by the Woman's Club of Wisconsin. In these uncertain economic times, it is wonderful to see the organization that upholds its mission and continues its commitment to the community. To see whom we shared this honor with, see the press release below.
And of course, many, many thanks to our generous donors!

WOMAN’S CLUB OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES
THIS YEAR’S GRANT RECIPIENTS.

Distribution of Grants to Follow, 12:00pm Luncheon on April 2, 2009 at 813 East Kilbourn Avenue, Milwaukee.

Woman’s Club of Wisconsin Foundation continues to help meet community needs despite hard economic times. Organizations throughout the Greater Milwaukee area will receive financial support.

About the WCW Foundation: community service has been a hallmark of the WCW since the club was founded in 1876. The Foundation was officially incorporated in 1965.
Purpose of the WCW Foundation: to further worthy charitable, scientific, literary and educational activities.
Its Mission: to support philanthropic, education and cultural programs and to ensure, through our expanding endowment, that the Woman’s Club of Wisconsin’s historic commitment to community service endures and flourishes.

Woman’s Club of Wisconsin Foundation has announced this year’s grant recipients in the following categories Arts & Education, Health & Human Service and Youth & Family:

ABCD: After Breast Cancer Diagnosis
Adoption Resources of Wisconsin
Artists Working in Education
Boys and Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee
Cathedral Center
Center for Resilient Cities
CORE/El Centro
Dominican Center for Women
Friends of Boerner Botanical Gardens
Grand Avenue Club
Interfaith Senior Programs, Inc.
Literacy Services of Wisconsin
Malaika Early Learning Center
Milwaukee Ballet
Milwaukee Children’s Choir
Mt. Mary College Historic Costume Collection
My Good Mourning Place
Next Door Foundation
Ozaukee Family Services
Renaissance Theatreworks
Skylight Opera Theatre
Sojourner Truth House
St. Marcus School
Walker’s Point Center for the Arts
Wisconsin Breast Cancer Coalition
Wisconsin Foundation for Independent Colleges
Wisconsin Humane Society

If you would like more information about this event, or to schedule an interview with our Marketing Director, Filippa Weber call the Woman's Club of Wisconsin at (414) 276-5170.

What is being said about "Artists of Pilsen" show.

2009-03-25T13:17:00.000-07:00

Angelina Krahn reviewed "Artists of Pilsen" for the Shepherd Express. Click here to see what she has to say about the exhibition.
What Gary and I really liked about the review is that it managed to pinpoint our core reasons for doing programming like this and we are happy to see they come through!

Loose thoughts on the cultural planning process(es)

2009-03-19T18:09:00.000-07:00

I do remember that I promised to share my thoughts on cultural planning with you! Yes, yes: I have been thinking about it quite a lot, trying to come up with the best way to encapsulate a number of conflicting and tumultuous thoughts. And let me also tell you, studying cultural policy formally doesn’t make forming those opinions any easier. Quite the opposite, it often seems to complicate things – not a bad thing in itself, but certainly not welcome when one hopes for a well-rounded, concise answer.

In any case, Gary and I will be participating in the next gathering of the Milwaukee Creative Coalition that is taking place at the Italian Community Center the upcoming Wednesday and I do hope that my rather skeptical views of the whole process will change after that meeting. As long as we can really get involved and the process can indeed become more collective, perhaps my outlook will brighten up. I surely hope so.

Not without caution I want to say that so far I have felt very doubtful about the entire process initiated here, chiefly because I don’t believe that a top-down planning approach can generate a kind of popular mandate that is necessary to keep whatever plan is conceived of alive for an extended period of time. I admit I do share Peter Goldberg’s concern of an expensive, slick report that will be collecting dust on some bureaucrat’s shelf for the next 10 or 20 years.

However, what worries me even more about the process is its emphasis on the notion of “creative economy.” Mary Louise Schumacher mentioned this when she criticized what appears to be a blind adherence to Richard Florida’s discourse on her blog. I am worried primarily because I absolutely do not want economy and culture to become synonymous. Obviously, it would be both naïve and irresponsible to deny the connections between the two. We, artists, do have to eat and in the ideal world, we would rather not have day jobs, I assure you. However, the use of the two distinct concepts as practically interchangeable is highly dangerous. It can easily obscure and confound what our priorities should be.

If Milwaukee needs any kind of plan, it needs a cultural plan. If we’re lucky, creative economy that so many seem to stake our future on (a whole separate debate) might arise from our culture, but there is no way it is going to happen the other way around. Consider this a chicken and an egg problem, but let me assure you: I am strongly convinced that in the case of culture/creative economy dilemma, it is very clear to me what is comes first and what – second. You can’t institute culture through the top-down approach; however, you can certainly help nourish it through sensible and sensitive policies.

When Rex Winsome commented on my previous blog post, he expressed doubt about possibility of grass-root organizing on the city-scale. However, as Chicago’s example clearly shows, with enough stamina and determination, it can be done. Chicago Cultural Plan (dating back to 1985) was created through a long (yes, very long) process of micro-scale meetings. As Michael Dorf, director of the Plan poetically described:

We met in church basements in West Town and bank boardrooms in Albany Park. In union halls in South Chicago and park field houses in Austin. In libraries, movie houses, schools ... dance studios, community centers, theaters, museums ... and in every other place where people could come together. And they came. They came to South Shore in the middle of a blizzard and to Beverly in the midst of a summer thunderstorm. To Pilsen on a dark Wednesday night and to Lincoln Square on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Parents came, and kids came, and businessmen, and aldermen, and teachers, and librarians, and historians, and artists and artisans of every kind. They told us of ways to use the arts in the everyday life of the city. They told us of the joy the arts bring to the soul. We realized again and again the central role and image in the world at large. In all, thousands of Chicagoans participated in setting forth a vision for the cultural future of Chicago. They are the authors of the Chicago Cultural Plan.

The thing is, the Plan wouldn’t have looked much different, had it been written by the Department of Cultural Affairs (Chicago has one). Yet, it was giving the people the sense of ownership and agency that in the long run made the plan a “success.” It is partially this grass-root initiated support for culture that lets Mayor Daley get away with the multi-million dollar deficit on the Millennium Park. By saying all this I don’t mean that Chicago is a scene we should model ourselves after, but I merely want to indicate that certain processes are possible, with enough political will and social responsibility behind them. If Milwaukee’s Creative Coalition is indeed able to expand its base (and I certainly hope so), we might be ok, provided we put the clearly defined culture first.

Professional development workshops for artists this Saturday!

2009-03-19T17:03:00.000-07:00

If you’re an artist looking to professionally "develop" yourself, don’t miss the upcoming MARN workshops at WPCA this Saturday. The topics are: “An elevator speech” and “Media relations”. Artist Josie Osborne of UWM (and formerly of MIAD) and Mary Louise Schumacher of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel will be leading the workshops. Click here, for more information.
If you have any questions, contact Melissa Musante, executive Director of MARN.

Pilsen artist making some splash.

2009-03-19T16:46:00.000-07:00

Pilsen-based muralist, Hector Duarte, whose large-scale painting El Maleficio de Cuauhtemoc is an outstanding feature of our “Artist of Pilsen” exhibition recently got a review in the Chicago Sun Times. The article covers his exhibition at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago that I have written about a few days ago. To see the review and learn more about Duarte’s work, click here.
Make sure to come visit and see his work first hand at WPCA!

Board member, Tamiko Dargan, on Radio Milwaukee.

2009-03-19T16:42:00.000-07:00

Our new board member, printmaker-extraordinaire, Tamiko Dargan spoke recently to Adam Carr of Radio Milwaukee. To listen to what she had to say of the love of her craft, click here.

Pilsen opening

2009-03-16T11:56:00.000-07:00

The special treat of the Friday night was a visit of the group of artists from Chiapas involved in "The Chiapas/Chicago Connection" at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, who came up in force accompanying Gabriel Villa on his trip to the opening. Artists René Hugo Arceo with his family, Ricardo Santos Hernàndez and Diana Solis were also here answering myriad of questions by our inquisitive public. It was a night for fabulous conversations!

WPCA board member and director of The Crossman gallery at UW-Whitewater, Michael Flanagan and artist George McCormick.

Gabriel Villa with guests.

René Hugo Arceo (in red vest) in conversation.

Our new board member, Tamiko Dargan and Carmen Murguia with a painting La Sirena by Robert Valadez.

Artist Diana Solis (on the right) and the crowd. You can also spot WPCA's Gary Tuma on the left.

Gabriel Villa, Pilsen's Salvador Jimenez (on the left) and visitors from Chiapas.

Ricardo Santos Hernàndez and Milwaukee's own José Alfredo Chavez.

Get ready for the arrival of artists from Pilsen!

2009-03-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

Several days ago I made a trip to the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen, Chicago to meet with artist Gabriel Villa, who generously put together "Artists of Pilsen" exhibition for us. I must shamefully confess that it'd been few months since I last visited and the trip reminded me why I should indeed do visit more often.

When I came, muralist Hector Duarte was putting finishing touches on his 150' long mural sobre lienzo, which completion were to be celebrated that night. While I don't have the pictures to share with you, I hope I can describe the work with the adjectives flowery enough to entice you to come visit on Friday and see Duarte's work that's included in our exhibition. This work stems from the traditions that we do not often see in Milwaukee and for this very reason it is worth seeing.

Duarte studied murals in the workshop of the giant of Mexican Muralism, David Alfaro Siqueiros in 1977, but aside of the scale, his work has little to do with sombre, restarained pallette and form that Siqueiros used. The mural at the National Museum wrapped around the gallery space incorporating the doorway into its composition and splinterred into a dazzle of bright, saturated colors. The splintering was also literal, as the image taking on as a subject the border fence between Mexico and the U. S. cut into the gallery space with the actual barbed wire that crowned the top of the painted barrier. Fluctuating from deep ultramarines through sensuous red and oranges and into bright, luminous yellows the image evoked a long and painful journey through night and day that scores of people undertake across the border that divides two intimately tied countries. I must say I am not a mural afficionado, but I was immediately absorbed into the flowing, dynamic strokes that zigzagged through the surface of the wall and enveloped the space of the gallery. Michael Fried couldn't have been prouder of that experience (that's a high theory inside joke, so-please-bear with me)!

Gabriell Villa, Roy.

While we do not have a spectacular mural to share with you, we have plenty of other works that all do situate themselves within the unique Mexican and Chicano heritage. Many artists, like Gabriel Villa, embrace not only Mexican tradition their work stems from, but also the urban cultures they interact with on day-to-day basis. It's a rare mix, don't miss an opportunity to see it!

Richard Knight's reception

2009-03-09T11:03:00.000-07:00

If you weren't here on Friday night, not only did you miss great work, but you also missed a great party!
Thank you to all who came and if you didn't have a chance to visit, here is a photo report of the night.

More of Richard's sculptural pieces will be shown at the James Watrous Gallery of Wisconsin Academy in Madison this summer. The show will open July 7 and run through August 16. The opening reception for the show is Friday, July 10, 5:30-7:30 pm. Mark your calendars!

Melissa Musante, the new Executive Director of MARN, with husband Jeff White.

Richard Knight and Denis Sargent of UWM's Visual Art Department.

Artist Roy Staab showing off his fresh tan straight from Key West.

Gary Tuma and Graeme Reid of the Museum Of Wisconsin Art in West Bend.

Kay Knight of UWM's Visual Art Department.

Our long-standing members, Bill and Joanne O'Dell.

UWM's Polly Morris.

Artists Eriks Johnson and Marla Sanvick.

Greg and Irma Klassen with son Max admiring Richard's objects.

Milwaukee Cultural Alliance/MARN listening session 2

2009-03-05T15:44:00.000-08:00

On March 3rd we hosted the second listening session between the Milwaukee Cultural Alliance and MARN. This report is well too lengthy for a blog post, but to give everybody a full scope of the discussion that took place on Tuesday night, there’s no way to trim it. I am just pretty much trying to give you minutes of the meeting, but I must admit that there were a few moments in which I couldn’t resist and inserted my own comments as well. A few personal thoughts on the cultural planning process(es) will follow soon.

Introductions:
Christine Harris extended her thanks to Gary Tuma of WPCA for hosting the event and welcomed Melissa Musante, the new Executive Director of MARN (with whom she already has a working relationship). The meeting was not well attended: aside of Gary and myself on the side of WPCA, Christine and Denise Lubotsky of the Cultural Alliance, and Melissa representing MARN, there were only three people present: Shirah Apple, Thea Kovac and Jeff Holub. Even though most of the time Christine reported to the group, the meeting definitely had informal tone to it. If you weren’t here, not only did you miss Christine’s report, but also a very energizing dance performance.
I wonder whether poor attendance says anything about people’s feelings after the first listening session that took place in late January. Is it just the mater of time and effort, or do people feel like their voices wouldn’t be heard anyways? Is anyone willing to comment on this?

Milwaukee Cultural Alliance’s report:
According to Christine, as of recently, the role of Milwaukee Cultural Alliance is evolving. The Alliance is interested in partnering with existing programs (such as MARN) to foster community and leverage the resources that we have.
Perhaps not the most fortunate nickname, the moniker “Kre8 Kamp” was used just “for fun” for the two–day planning session that took place in on February 4th and 5th. The decision to make the session public through blog and video was made last minute, so the organizers were not really prepared for it.
As Christine indicated, the cultural planning process set in motion for Milwaukee is unique as it brings together both non-profit and for-profit sectors. On the outset, it was decided that the planning process for Milwaukee would take top-to-bottom approach [rather than from the ground-up approach], with gradual widening of the circles and stakeholders involved in it.
As I am writing this summary, I am struck by the impersonal phrasing that was used to describe the decision-making process. Who exactly decided that the cultural plan should take top-to-bottom approach?

As you might have heard, the chief goal of the planning process is to ensure that Milwaukee is a globally competitive, distinct region with sustainable creative economy. The answer to the question “What makes us distinct?” has not yet been ironed out, but the hope is that the planning process will illuminate the resources and cultural assets that we have here.

These are the 7 task forces Creative Summit implemented:
1. Vision
2. Leadership
3. Planning and process – seeks means to extend the planning process and build one team of creative individuals working in the region.
4. “Low hanging fruit” – tries to grapple with the question of what can be done now to move us forward. One of immediate aims is to create a creative coalition website that would provide a comprehensive information database and connectivity.
5. Education and workforce development – finding ways of providing lifelong creativity learning.
6. Efficiencies and resource management – geared towards organizations, works towards shared services and resources.
7. Communications – promotes creative economy.

One of the most important aspects of the process is gathering information: generating a creative asset map (locating those assets geographically within the region) and establishing the vitality index. Benchmarking for sustainable public/private funding is also crucial.

The process is staffed by the Cultural Alliance that is also currently seeking to hire somebody to help with the process for 30 hours a week. Chances are the Alliance might need additional money to move the process forward.

Widening the circle:
The important next step will take place on March 25th, when a larger gathering of folks (about 200 people) from the creative economy will take place. The Cultural Alliance seeks to gain perspective from the insights of variety of groups: individual artists, designers, illustrators, architects, writers, actors, musicians, educators, also artists employed by larger institutions such as Milwaukee Ballet, [artists who have union representation, unemployment insurance and other benefits, but still don’t work 12 months a year], people working in advertising, film, galleries, hi-tech industry, design engineers, culinary arts, fashion, gaming, industrial design, recreation and parks, as well as from neighborhood groups. The aim is to work on the vision statement.

Discussion:
Gary Tuma expressed concern on how community-based, informal initiatives are defined and accounted for.

Melissa Musante emphasized that MARN needs to be reaching out there to different types of artists as so far it hasn’t reached out beyond the East-side. In her assessment, we really have no idea of the breadth of artists working in the city, or of the ways these artists work.

Christine Harris suggested the census of other creative assets, outside of formal organizations. Currently, under the auspices of LISC (Local Initiative Support Corporation) there is a work being done on designating “main street” areas. A Cultural Vitality Index is being created for Milwaukee (according to the guidelines established by Urban Institute). From what I understand, this is happening through UWM's Urban Anthropology department. One of the outcomes of this process could be a template for gathering further information on other vital areas of the city. Ideally, such process would lead to building a comprehensive database of what’s happening in each neighborhood within the area in order to stimulate partnerships and exchanges and foster build cultural community from the ground up. Engaging leaders from the communities would enhance the process.

As Melissa suggested, one of the outcomes of such an initiative might be bridging social gaps in the city.

Melissa also mentioned that there is a lot of art programming for kids in the city, but no support for adults. MARN is committed to be focused on adults and nurturing development of working artists.

In the discussion that ensued there were a few issues raised:
WPA as an example of governmental involvement in sustaining artists (Jeff), problems related to donating art to fundraising functions (Thea), preserving neighborhoods and affordable brick-and-mortar living and work spaces for artists (Thea), maintaining economic stability of neighborhoods (Shirah), necessity for funders to think “outside of the box” (Gary), creating some kind of “trading floor” for artists, artisans and designers (Jeff), supporting organizations who are willing to/and know how to use artists as a resource, as ACLU, for example (Shirah), recognizing our sweet water resources as an asset (Shirah).

Christine asserted that the Cultural Alliance will do its best to influence the policies. She also raised the question on what cultural district models we could build on. Suggestions from the group were: Baltimore, Minneapolis, and Torpedo Factory in Arlington, Virginia (Shirah), Bema Center in Omaha, NE (Melissa), Pima County Cultural Plan and Chicago Cultural Plan (Dorota).

At the end, Melissa asserted that MARN will be working towards making sure that artists work for the paycheck. Yet, she also said all MARN could do was to empower the artists, but couldn’t do their work for them.

As promised, my remarks will follow soon. In the meantime, feel free to comment.

Calling all members: proposals for the Milwaukee Artist Marketplace.

2009-03-05T08:51:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, July 25, 2009 (Gallery Night and Day weekend) there will be an outdoor local Artist Marketplace Day at the Milwaukee Art Museum. The goals of the Marketplace are to provide the community access to locally created artwork and to foster partnerships between local arts organizations, the Museum and the community.

Walker’s Point Center for the Arts has about 6 spots available for its members at the event. Due to significant interest in the Marketplace, this year we would like to select WPCA members who would represent us at the Marketplace through jurying process. In return, WPCA will cover the $ 50 booth fee as a benefit of membership at WPCA.

To be considered for participation at the Milwaukee Artist Marketplace, please submit:

an artist statement,
a short bio,
4 images representative of the work that would be shown at the Marketplace,

by March 31st, 2009.

Send all the materials electronically to:
dorota@wpca-milwaukee.org

or by snail mail:
Dorota Biczel Nelson
Walker’s Point Center for the Arts
911 W. National Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53204

You must be a WPCA member in good standing to apply.

Here’s an excerpt from the guidelines provided by the Milwaukee Art Museum:

Open to local artists 18 years or older who are invited to participate by the designated partnering organizations.
Artists or representatives from partnering organizations must be in attendance during the entire marketplace. No agents, dealers, or representatives may attend in place of the artist.
The Artist Marketplace is designed for local Milwaukee area artists and artisans who create and execute original professional quality work.
Ineligible items include items made with commercially available molds or patterns or any items produced commercially (such as t-shirts) or by anyone other than the artist. No kits or hobby crafts. It is understood that some assemblage artwork may include found items. Professional presentation of work is mandatory.
Reproduction Policy: Offset lithographs and giclées of original works on display are acceptable only if each one is labeled REPRODUCTION. Reproductions may not be framed or hang on the walls of the booth. They may be displayed in one (1) bin in a non-prominent area of the booth. Reproductions in the form of postcards and note cards of work may be displayed on one (1) small table or pedestal. No other types of reproductions are allowed. All reproductions may consume no more than 20% of the entire booth space.
The digital art category is defined as an original work for which the artist used a computer to execute the original image. Such works must be in limited editions, signed and numbered, and on archival quality materials. No Xerox copies.
Booth spaces are 10’ x 10’. Artists are responsible for providing their own self-supporting displays. If you are planning on bringing a tent, it must be white. No stakes, nails or other supports may be driven into pavement or walls; no ropes may be strung across walkways. Tables must be covered on all sides. Cartons, etc., must be out of sight. Bring protection from sun or sudden showers. All vehicles must be removed prior to the opening of the marketplace and should not return until the close of the event. No electricity is provided. No banners other than name of the artist or artist’s organization may be displayed at booth.
Participants are prohibited from distributing literature of, or promoting in any other manner, any religious, fraternal, foundation, political, or commercial organization. Literature and information pertaining to the artist’s work or affiliated artist organization are permitted.
Participants are responsible for the security of their work. Neither the Milwaukee Art Museum, nor ABEA, AC Art Association, Artist Enhancement Program (Goodwill), Bay View Arts Guild, CoPA, Hmong Women’s Professional Circle, League of Milwaukee Artists, MARN, MATA, Riverwest Artist Association, Walker’s Point Center for the Arts, WDCC, WVA or any other participating organizations will assume any responsibility for any loss or damage to any artistic works or display materials from any cause whatsoever.
Artists are required to provide a Certificate of Insurance along with their application. If an artist doesn’t have liability insurance, the artist MUST sign the Milwaukee Artist Marketplace Liability Waiver included in the application packet.
Artists are solely responsible for collecting monies for work sold and for obtaining all licenses or permits required for the sale of his/her product to the public. Copies of such licenses/permits shall be submitted along with the Artist Application. For more information on the permit process, please contact: State Sellers Permit, http://www.dor.state.wi.us/forms/sales/btr-101.pdf
Artists should include a short bio and if you want to have your work considered for publicity purposes, submit one representative 300 DPI electronic image.
By signing the Artist Application Form, the artist is agreeing to the guidelines outlined in this document. All procedures and rules stated in this document will be strictly enforced.

Percent for Art: CALL FOR PROPOSALS

2009-03-05T08:24:00.000-08:00

The Wisconsin Arts Board announces a commission opportunity associated with the UW Madison Wisconsin Institute of Discovery. The selection committee is seeking qualifications from artists for artwork that focuses on a sense of discovery in a dynamic and engaging manner rather than artwork that is an alliteration of the building's function. Please review the prospectus and consider submitting your qualifications if you are interested. The application deadline for artist's qualifications is April 9, 2009. Please note that the application form is currently being reformatted and will be posted shortly. Here is the link:

http://artsboard.wisconsin.gov/static/percent/current_opportunities.htm

For more information contact:

Chris Manke
Percent for Art Coordinator
Wisconsin Arts Board
101 E Wilson St. 1st. Fl.
Madison, WI 53702
voice:608-266-9737
fax: 608-267-0380
chris.manke@wisconsin.gov

Cultural quiz time (again)!

2009-02-26T15:34:00.000-08:00

In the recent days, Mary Louise Schumacher of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has been posting answers to her quiz "How well do you know your cultural scene?" on her blog, Art City.

If you have had difficulties with the quiz, we wanted to propose an alternative: you can figure out the answers to Mary Louise's questions by responding to our very own set of queries below. If you do so, you will certainly be enlightened on some important aspects of Milwaukee's cultural scene.

Here are our questions:

1. What public installation organization displayed "You are Beautiful," a collaborative effort brought to Milwaukee in conjunction with Chris Silva's "Public Display of Affection" installation at WPCA?

2. Who curated "Please Love Me" at WPCA?

3. Name the contemporary gallery whose owner did his college internship at WPCA?

4. Which spoken word artist conducted a writing series and performance at WPCA?

5. Which publication presented a review of WPCA's Annual Members Show exulting its celebration of the "democracy of art"?

6. What prestigious annual award was received by Mat Rappaport, Fred Stonehouse, Gary John Gresl, Faythe Levine, Colin Matthes and Nicolas Lampert who exhibited at WPCA?

7. Students from what UWM Department will again present their annual Milwaukee Underground Film Festival at WPCA in May? Which faculty member of this UWM Department coordinated the exhibition "Driving East through Indian Country" at WPCA?

Thanks to Gary for his witty questions.
Last, but not least, comes my question:

8. As inferred from the questions above, could you live without WPCA?

AWE needs your help!

2009-02-26T11:53:00.000-08:00

I am relying this information on behalf of Kari Couture. AWE needs your help!

Artists Working in Education (AWE) is currently seeking Intern/Assistants for their summer Truck Studio program.

AWE's fleet of brightly painted Truck Studio vans visits parks and playgrounds to provide free art activities to children ages 4-14 (June 29 - August 7). The Intern/Assistant position is a seasonal, hourly position in which you meet and work alongside other amazing local Teaching Artists and art students to bring creative art opportunities to children all across the city!

Visit AWE's group on facebook for more information about the organization and programs or check out their website: www.awe-inc.org.

If you have any questions, contact Kari Couture:
414-933-3877
kcouture@awe-inc.org

We're hosting a screening organized by Public Allies/Stand Together Milwaukee.

2009-02-19T12:51:00.000-08:00

We need your help bringing local youth to the screening!

When: Thursday, February 26, 2009, 6 pm
What: Sceening of Dear Rita, followed by a community art project led by Artists Working in Education(AWE).

Dear Rita is a personal story from Milwaukee focused on the pain of losing a family member to gun violence. This is the first in a series of New Moon Productions and community discussions presented under the tile Guns, Grief and Grace in America that take an in-depth look at gun violence in America, viewed through the diverse lenses of local, state and national communities.

Stand Together Milwaukee (STM) and Public Allies Milwaukee (PA) joined together to facilitate these discussions. Through collaborative efforts, Public Allies Milwaukee and Stand Together Milwaukee chose to facilitate the screenings and discussions because of its shared commitment to local communities. STM and PA are working to build a strong movement of change to Milwaukee neighborhoods.

The purpose of The Community Engagement Campaign is to raise public awareness of the impact gun violence continues to have on our community every day. These films and discussions are unique because they look beyond gun legislation and focus on gun violence as a Public Health Issue. Come and connect with a network of professionals and individuals in Milwaukee committed to engaging the community, and working together to reduce gun violence.

If you know high schoolers living around Walker's Point, South Side and Bay View, please encourage them to come!

A gift from Mary DiBiasio.

2009-02-19T10:17:00.000-08:00

Artist Mary DiBiasio visited us recently and sent us a following visual gift from her visit:

Mary has started photographing intensively in the last several weeks and we're curious to see what will come out of this transition from very tactile, collage-based print into digital photographic print. We're also happy to see that she found our windows so inspirational! You can see more of her recent photographic work on her blog.

A full disclosure: Mary is both a personal friend and a friend of WPCA. She is my studio-mate and we showed here together in the fall of 2006, together with Keith Christopher Nelson. Mary was also in the exhibition "Art in Balance: Conflict and Harmony" with Heather M. Wiedeman and Benjamin John Van Male in the spring 2008, so as you can see her and WPCA have quite a history already. Here you have it!

Village Playhouse of Wauwatosa at WPCA Friday and Saturday

2009-02-19T08:27:00.000-08:00

Timothy Scott Harris' THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN NEATO-MAN is a fast-paced, quick-witted farce. Captain Neato seeks for a super-hero side-kick so together they can save the world. Horatio, an innocent nerd answers an employment ad and winds up in the clutches of the combination of Batman/Superman... Mother, and Horatio's childhood sweetheart, Trixie, add the wackiness and the rather poignant insights into what is real and what is... well... the world of Captain Neato-Man...

Come join us for an hour of laughter as the Village Playhouse of Wauwatosa previews this entry into the AACTFest's Wisconsin Theatre Association state theatrical competition.
The proceeds help the troupe fund the performance at the Fest.

Friday, February 20: 8 pm
Saturday, February 21: 8 pm
$13 at the door/ $11 in advance
For advance tickets e-mail: CaptainNeato@villageplayhouse.org

AACTFest is a biennial competitive festival for community theatres throughout the United States and the overseas armed forces bases under the auspices of the American Association of Community Theatre (AACT). These festival take place at a state level which picks shows to perform at a regional festival. (Wisconsin is part of Region III -- Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.) The winners from the regional festivals will proceed on to perform at the national festival held the end of June.

Richard Knight at WPCA.

2009-02-16T14:06:00.000-08:00

Friday, March 6 and Saturday, March 7, we are featuring a special two-day exhibition by Milwaukee-based painter, Richard Knight.

Many of you might know Richard better as the director of Tory Folliard Gallery in the Milwaukee's Third Ward. Yet, he is also an accomplished artist with nearly 20-year exhibition history in the Midwest. WPCA show can be considered a special sneak peak preview before Richard's solo exhibition at the James Watrous Gallery of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters in Madison, scheduled for the summer 2009.

I have known Richard's work for a while and I must say – entirely on the personal note – that I am really looking forward to this show. I have always thought of Richard as the painter's painter: an artist who is highly skilled and sensitive to the language of his medium. Richard's gestural works irresitibly evoke lyrical abstraction of the late 1950s and early 1960s; Cy Twomby – probably more than anyone else – comes to mind when you look at this work. That's because so many of Richard's mark resemble attempts at writing: energetic scribbles that try to articulate something that just eludes words.

In a sense, Richard's elegant work can be seen as a heritage of modernism and if you are a skeptic, it is hard not to ask what it might mean in the messiness of today's art landscape.

What I love about the upcoming exhibition is that it actually helps you answer this question. Aside of his mixed-media works on paper, Richard will also be showing two of his found-object sculptures, which cast a completely different light on his two-dimensional work. These sculptural objects are built out of variety of common, everyday materials: the stuff that accumulates in the artist’s studio as refuse and waste. The materials are utterly humble and ordinary: – wax, tar, wires and paper, but they are juxtaposed with one another in poetic, unexpected ways.

These rich assemblages made out of discarded materials have a dual function: they are art objects in their own right, but often they also become sources for the new two-dimensional works on paper. Together these works create a visual language that documents intuitive and tactile process of making sense out of the world. As opposed to modernist painting so concerned with itself and its own means and ends, Richard's work is entirely of the humble, material stuff we live in and with.

Exhibition hours:
Friday, March 6: 5 pm – 8 pm (artist's reception)
Saturday, March 7, noon – 4 pm

Milwaukee Cultural Alliance - the listening session summary.

2009-02-02T14:19:00.000-08:00

The next feedback session with MARN and Cultural Alliance will be held at WPCA on Tuesday, March 3rd.
It will be accompanied by African Ameri-Dance performance by Souljah.
Check back soon for more details!

Since the discussion about the Creative Community Summit is raging, here is a promised summary of the previous listening session.
A big thank you to Denise Lubotsky and Christine Harris of the Cultural Alliance and Melissa Dorn Richards of MARN for letting me quote them in this summary.

Since the stakes of the enterprise of Wisconsin Creative Community Summit are high, we believe it'd be useful to provide a semi-permanent web-space to archive the development of dialogue in our community. Many individual artists felt left out from the cultural planning processes initiated by the Milwaukee Cultural Alliance, so as a membership-based organization, we partnered with MARN to provide a physical venue to facilitate the discussion. We will try to record the essence of the conversation as it continues.

February 27, Listening Session.

The Creative Community Summit – or Kre8 Kamp as you might prefer – was held at Lake Lawn, Delavan, on February 4 and 5. As stated by Christine Harris at WPCA meeting, its purpose was “to commence a planning process for growing our creative community.” The expected outcome is “an overall vision of our creative community with the start of a roadmap on how to get there.” The participants were limited to 45 and were selected based on “representation of all stakeholders, geographic coverage, decision makers in their fields, influencers beyond their job role, and availability for the full two days of the process.” The session was facilitated by Marble Leadership of Chicago, with Leslie Marquard as lead facilitator.

There has been much discussion on the summit in the Milwaukee blogosphere, so here we just want to account for the voices of individual artists as the group that was not well represented at the summit (to say the least).

The listening session started off with Christine Harris explaining the mission of the Alliance: to act as a policy leader, a connector/convener, and a promoter. According to Harris, and I quote from the notes provided by Melissa Dorn Richards here:

…as a policy leader the Cultural Alliance represents the sector at the regional, state and local community table, advocates on public funding and policy issues, increased private and public funding, providing research for policy issue discussions, such as GMC Cultural Asset Inventory. As a connector, the Alliance works to create links between artists and arts organizations and schools and youth serving agencies. Currently through Bader Foundation three year Arts Education Collaborative – the Alliance is providing the State's first ever 'artist educator' web directory. The Cultural Alliance offers seminars and workshops for organizational capacity building, is working to broker collaborations; such as shared services and resources, and representing region in national organizations, such as Americans for the Arts. As a promoter, the Alliance works to develop marketing resources to help build audiences around the region, building web connections for groups and the consumer and is currently working to incorporate social media into the fold.

An important mention was that the Cultural Alliance and MARN are preparing to undertake a survey in order to better know the local artistic community and define it.

Major concerns expressed by the attendees were:

Transparency.
Adequate representation of individual artists and small organizations. Jeffrey Holub expressed a need for individual artists to advocate for their needs, and proposed an idea of repository where artists could identify their needs. It was suggested the artist survey proposed by MCA and MARN would be a good place to gather this information, and Jeffrey volunteered to help with the survey. According to Implementation of actual change as expressed by Peter Goldberg who voiced his reservations about the GMC handling the Creative Summit/Cultural Asset.
Importance of hearing the voices from both non-profit and for-profit sectors and the increased awareness of how the two intersect.
Healthcare as a perpetual problem of individual artists – an attendee shared information about artist/healthcare exchanges he'd heard about in New York. The group at large decided that gathering for this type of open discussion was particularly useful and should happen with more regularity, every 1-2 months.
Examples of successful Cultural Alliances and their practices. Both Cultural Alliance and MARN are part of the United Arts Funds, a division of the Americans for the Arts (AFTA). According to Christine, many Alliances do funding and re-granting, as well as marketing and promotion, among other services.

The meeting was attended by 35—40 participants.

The listening session with Milwaukee Cultural Alliance.

2009-01-29T14:25:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, January 27th together with Milwaukee Artists' Resource Network we hosted a listening session with the Milwaukee Cultural Alliance.
As many local artists expressed concerns about the Alliance's activities, the session was an essential aspect of generating productive dialogue within Milwaukee's artistic community. I am currently gathering reports from the people who attended the meeting and will be posting a full report about it soon.
While the discussion on the MARN forum are essential, I feel it is also crucial to provide a semi-permanent space for documenting those discussions.

Welcome!

2009-01-26T14:55:00.000-08:00

To keep you updated with our daily activities, we created a blog.
We hope to stay in touch and keep you informed about everything we're doing. We're working very much in the trenches here at Walker's Point, so we need your continuous support.
Please, stay in touch.