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Art and About
A look at three independent public art projects in
Milwaukee.
Public art in Milwaukee usually gets quite a bad rap. We love to
hate it – especially the long-suffering “big orange thing” (aka
Mark di Suevero’s The Calling at the end of Wisconsin
Avenue), or the relatively recent Flintstone-like triumvirate,
Sentinals by Jon Barlow on the lakefront side of the Brady
Street footbridge. They’re big, they’re “bad,” and they’re here to
stay.
Is all art in the public eye as seemingly meaningless and ill-
conceived? Are we forever doomed to bureaucratic opinions of
aesthetic quality at the cost of tens of thousands of dollars?
Recently there have been a number of temporary public art
installations that indicate otherwise. To varying degrees, there
is a purpose of community involvement and sensitivity to art
and its environment. The ideological meanings of these
projects vary considerably, but they each share a profound
belief in the power of art and its significance in our lives.
Elaine Erickson, of Elaine Erickson Gallery in the Third Ward,
is a tireless and endlessly optimistic supporter of art in the
city. For the past three years, she has organized an annual
outdoor sculpture installation in the Third Ward known as
Artscape. Erickson’s feelings when walking through sculpture
parks and outdoor installations in Chicago and Minneapolis
prompted her to bring that sense back to Milwaukee, even if
only on a temporary basis. To bring her ideas to fruition, she
spoke to Nancy O’Keefe, Executive Director of the Historic
Third Ward, who was instrumental in getting the necessary
permissions not only from the city, but also the building
owners in the area.
Erickson began the curatorial process by contacting artists
who created outdoor sculptures in addition to being given
referrals. Problems such as how to secure these large scale
pieces, many measuring over five-feet high, to their locations
was a problem. The solution came from the remnants of
another public art endeavor, the “Beasties” that populated the
downtown area a couple of years ago. The concrete bases the
Beasties sat on were going to be discarded, but they instead
found a new application for the Third Ward project.
While Erickson’s project has needed to wind its way through a
myriad of official channels, other groups are designed to take
a leaner approach. A group founded in spring of 2004 by Pegi
Taylor and Amy Mangrich, an instructor in the Department of
Visual Art at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, works with
communities and artists in a grass-roots approach to
developing temporary public art installations. This
organization, called IN:SITE, is chaired by Taylor, a very active
member of Milwaukee’s creative scene as a freelance writer,
performance artist, organizer and artists’ model. IN:SITE
works to facilitate collaborative art opportunities in non-
traditional spaces that bring artists and communities together,
and circumvent administrative complexities and expensive
costs often associated with “official” public art.
Taylor believes that, in many ways, public art is a “racket,” with
commissions often going to a “stable” of established artists.
The selection process is complex affair of proposals and
committees that often struggle to an end result that may not
necessarily be a positive addition in terms of site, meaning, or
aesthetic quality. Milwaukee has various groups that deal with
large-budget projects, such as the Milwaukee County Arts
Board and the Milwaukee County Public Art Committee, but the
role of IN:SITE is to work on a smaller but more agile scale,
and to facilitate works that are conceived to relate specifically
to their site and community.
Artscape and IN:SITE share a desire for neighborhood
enrichment, as does the work of artist Jeremy Novy. Novy,
however, uses his art as a call for change, to draw attention to
urban blight and decay that shows itself in the form of boarded-
up and abandoned buildings. Inspiration for his work came in
part from lectures at UWM on art and social change, learning
of work such as that of the Yomango Group, who en masse
steal clothing from stores like the Gap in order to replace the
labels with ones that speak of the production of the garments
in sweatshops, and discussions of Krysztof Wodizko’s
Homeless Vehicle Project in New York City. This lead him to
think of how art could be used for social change in Milwaukee,
and resulted in his installations of life-size paper windows and
doors which are placed over boarded-up windows and doors
of derelict buildings.
Novy has been working on this project for about two years.
Initially he began by using real photographs pasted on the
buildings, but they were expensive and ironically, too easily
overlooked. He explains that because “they were being seen
at twenty-five miles an hour by passing vehicles, they
appeared to be real and almost a solution to the problem.” He
altered his approach, and his large-scale posters have the
quality of photocopies; they are images once-removed from
the real thing.
There is a veneer of normality to these architectural pieces, but
as you glance past Novy’s installation, you instinctively sense
something is not right, there is something different about
these buildings. In a moment, you realize that what you see is
just a cosmetic veneer, which makes the reality of these
neglected houses and business more sharply focused.
The social sense in the work of artists involved with IN:SITE
may not have the pointedly critical messages of Novy, but there
is a sensitivity to the social identity of the communities they
work in. Recent installations in the North Avenue and Vliet
Street neighborhood were aided by the dialogue with the North
Avenue Committee, and through these discussions, artworks
developed with site-specific connections. A recent project at
the Vliet Street Commons (Vliet & 50th Street) called Super
Subconscious by Nate Page and Harvey Opgenorth resulted in
a six-foot high and fifty-foot long mural comprised of banners.
These banners at first appear to display intriguing graphic
images, but upon closer inspection they reveal a variety of
commercial logos. This neighborhood is an area purposefully
devoid of chain-establishments in favor of local businesses,
and the treatment of these designs images diffuses these
logos to a decorative effect. Yet, the viewer is aware of how
familiar and recognizable they are, how they as graphic
pictures they have embedded themselves in their mind,
despite their absences from the surrounding neighborhood. It
becomes a way to appreciate their unique community all the
more.
Of the public projects discussed so far, the least site-specific
is the Artscape, largely due to accommodations and
compromises demanded as part of the installation. While
Erickson has most control over the selection of artists and
works, their siting is largely in the hands of the Historic Third
Ward and the building owners, who must agree to have the
chosen pieces shown by their property. Last year was a
controversial one in this respect. A beautiful bronze sculpture
of a standing nude female by Laura Jones proved extremely
difficult to place, simply because it was a nude. This year,
abstraction dominates and there is nary a figurative work to be
found.
The Artscape project receives financial support from major
donors, such as this years sponsors, the Herzfeld Foundation
and Pyramax Bank. Unlike the other projects, works from the
Artscape are available for sale, and the artist received one
hundered precent of the proceeds. Erickson sees a two-fold
benefit to the artist, in that they stand to gain financially from
inclusion in the project, and it is a way for their work to be seen
in a more informal setting. Residents have responded
favorably to the project, and its run has been lengthened this
year from one month to two.
Unlike the considerations faced by Artscape, the IN:SITE
installations, as a collaborative effort in the community, have
thus far gone smoothly. Novy’s installations have also been
positively received, as attested to by many positive emails.
And despite the absence of city support, his work has been
seen by officials such as the Code Enforcement Inspector of
the Department of Neighborhood Services, who sees no
problem with the project as long as it remains relatively intact
and does not contribute to a unkempt environment.
By their nature, temporary art installations have a great
advantage in their novelty. They reconfigure expectations of the
old familiar streets, whether it is at home or work. Says Pegi
Taylor, regarding the IN:SITE projects, temporary public art is a
“way of seeing and feeling a place in surprising and
meaningful ways.” Art is created in a way that spills out to
meet people during the course of their normal activities. It
releases the creative act from many commercial and official
associations, and reasserts its power to make a contemporary
statement. Jeremy Novy believes, “if this work weren’t in the
public like it is, everyone wouldn’t be getting the message. It’s
also important to realize the art isn’t about financial gain, it’s
about social change.”
There is a sense of change, of flux, of excitement that is
accessible through these works. The sculptures of Artscape
pop up like odd figures on the street; the IN:SITE installations
and the work of Jeremy Novy are tightly wed to their locales
and created to speak to viewers on a very direct, accessible
level. The ability of these artists and groups to work in such a
flexible, meaningful, and relatively unofficial manner is an
encouraging sign for public art in Milwaukee. There are plenty
of unfavorable opinions about much high-profile work in the
city, but look a little closer, maybe on your own street, and there
you may find public art that is alive and relevant.
- K. M. Murrell
Katherine Murrell is co-publisher of Susceptible to Images.
Comments? Email kmmurrell@susceptibletoimages.com
A look at three independent public art projects in
Milwaukee.
Public art in Milwaukee usually gets quite a bad rap. We love to
hate it – especially the long-suffering “big orange thing” (aka
Mark di Suevero’s The Calling at the end of Wisconsin
Avenue), or the relatively recent Flintstone-like triumvirate,
Sentinals by Jon Barlow on the lakefront side of the Brady
Street footbridge. They’re big, they’re “bad,” and they’re here to
stay.
Is all art in the public eye as seemingly meaningless and ill-
conceived? Are we forever doomed to bureaucratic opinions of
aesthetic quality at the cost of tens of thousands of dollars?
Recently there have been a number of temporary public art
installations that indicate otherwise. To varying degrees, there
is a purpose of community involvement and sensitivity to art
and its environment. The ideological meanings of these
projects vary considerably, but they each share a profound
belief in the power of art and its significance in our lives.
Elaine Erickson, of Elaine Erickson Gallery in the Third Ward,
is a tireless and endlessly optimistic supporter of art in the
city. For the past three years, she has organized an annual
outdoor sculpture installation in the Third Ward known as
Artscape. Erickson’s feelings when walking through sculpture
parks and outdoor installations in Chicago and Minneapolis
prompted her to bring that sense back to Milwaukee, even if
only on a temporary basis. To bring her ideas to fruition, she
spoke to Nancy O’Keefe, Executive Director of the Historic
Third Ward, who was instrumental in getting the necessary
permissions not only from the city, but also the building
owners in the area.
Erickson began the curatorial process by contacting artists
who created outdoor sculptures in addition to being given
referrals. Problems such as how to secure these large scale
pieces, many measuring over five-feet high, to their locations
was a problem. The solution came from the remnants of
another public art endeavor, the “Beasties” that populated the
downtown area a couple of years ago. The concrete bases the
Beasties sat on were going to be discarded, but they instead
found a new application for the Third Ward project.
While Erickson’s project has needed to wind its way through a
myriad of official channels, other groups are designed to take
a leaner approach. A group founded in spring of 2004 by Pegi
Taylor and Amy Mangrich, an instructor in the Department of
Visual Art at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, works with
communities and artists in a grass-roots approach to
developing temporary public art installations. This
organization, called IN:SITE, is chaired by Taylor, a very active
member of Milwaukee’s creative scene as a freelance writer,
performance artist, organizer and artists’ model. IN:SITE
works to facilitate collaborative art opportunities in non-
traditional spaces that bring artists and communities together,
and circumvent administrative complexities and expensive
costs often associated with “official” public art.
Taylor believes that, in many ways, public art is a “racket,” with
commissions often going to a “stable” of established artists.
The selection process is complex affair of proposals and
committees that often struggle to an end result that may not
necessarily be a positive addition in terms of site, meaning, or
aesthetic quality. Milwaukee has various groups that deal with
large-budget projects, such as the Milwaukee County Arts
Board and the Milwaukee County Public Art Committee, but the
role of IN:SITE is to work on a smaller but more agile scale,
and to facilitate works that are conceived to relate specifically
to their site and community.
Artscape and IN:SITE share a desire for neighborhood
enrichment, as does the work of artist Jeremy Novy. Novy,
however, uses his art as a call for change, to draw attention to
urban blight and decay that shows itself in the form of boarded-
up and abandoned buildings. Inspiration for his work came in
part from lectures at UWM on art and social change, learning
of work such as that of the Yomango Group, who en masse
steal clothing from stores like the Gap in order to replace the
labels with ones that speak of the production of the garments
in sweatshops, and discussions of Krysztof Wodizko’s
Homeless Vehicle Project in New York City. This lead him to
think of how art could be used for social change in Milwaukee,
and resulted in his installations of life-size paper windows and
doors which are placed over boarded-up windows and doors
of derelict buildings.
Novy has been working on this project for about two years.
Initially he began by using real photographs pasted on the
buildings, but they were expensive and ironically, too easily
overlooked. He explains that because “they were being seen
at twenty-five miles an hour by passing vehicles, they
appeared to be real and almost a solution to the problem.” He
altered his approach, and his large-scale posters have the
quality of photocopies; they are images once-removed from
the real thing.
There is a veneer of normality to these architectural pieces, but
as you glance past Novy’s installation, you instinctively sense
something is not right, there is something different about
these buildings. In a moment, you realize that what you see is
just a cosmetic veneer, which makes the reality of these
neglected houses and business more sharply focused.
The social sense in the work of artists involved with IN:SITE
may not have the pointedly critical messages of Novy, but there
is a sensitivity to the social identity of the communities they
work in. Recent installations in the North Avenue and Vliet
Street neighborhood were aided by the dialogue with the North
Avenue Committee, and through these discussions, artworks
developed with site-specific connections. A recent project at
the Vliet Street Commons (Vliet & 50th Street) called Super
Subconscious by Nate Page and Harvey Opgenorth resulted in
a six-foot high and fifty-foot long mural comprised of banners.
These banners at first appear to display intriguing graphic
images, but upon closer inspection they reveal a variety of
commercial logos. This neighborhood is an area purposefully
devoid of chain-establishments in favor of local businesses,
and the treatment of these designs images diffuses these
logos to a decorative effect. Yet, the viewer is aware of how
familiar and recognizable they are, how they as graphic
pictures they have embedded themselves in their mind,
despite their absences from the surrounding neighborhood. It
becomes a way to appreciate their unique community all the
more.
Of the public projects discussed so far, the least site-specific
is the Artscape, largely due to accommodations and
compromises demanded as part of the installation. While
Erickson has most control over the selection of artists and
works, their siting is largely in the hands of the Historic Third
Ward and the building owners, who must agree to have the
chosen pieces shown by their property. Last year was a
controversial one in this respect. A beautiful bronze sculpture
of a standing nude female by Laura Jones proved extremely
difficult to place, simply because it was a nude. This year,
abstraction dominates and there is nary a figurative work to be
found.
The Artscape project receives financial support from major
donors, such as this years sponsors, the Herzfeld Foundation
and Pyramax Bank. Unlike the other projects, works from the
Artscape are available for sale, and the artist received one
hundered precent of the proceeds. Erickson sees a two-fold
benefit to the artist, in that they stand to gain financially from
inclusion in the project, and it is a way for their work to be seen
in a more informal setting. Residents have responded
favorably to the project, and its run has been lengthened this
year from one month to two.
Unlike the considerations faced by Artscape, the IN:SITE
installations, as a collaborative effort in the community, have
thus far gone smoothly. Novy’s installations have also been
positively received, as attested to by many positive emails.
And despite the absence of city support, his work has been
seen by officials such as the Code Enforcement Inspector of
the Department of Neighborhood Services, who sees no
problem with the project as long as it remains relatively intact
and does not contribute to a unkempt environment.
By their nature, temporary art installations have a great
advantage in their novelty. They reconfigure expectations of the
old familiar streets, whether it is at home or work. Says Pegi
Taylor, regarding the IN:SITE projects, temporary public art is a
“way of seeing and feeling a place in surprising and
meaningful ways.” Art is created in a way that spills out to
meet people during the course of their normal activities. It
releases the creative act from many commercial and official
associations, and reasserts its power to make a contemporary
statement. Jeremy Novy believes, “if this work weren’t in the
public like it is, everyone wouldn’t be getting the message. It’s
also important to realize the art isn’t about financial gain, it’s
about social change.”
There is a sense of change, of flux, of excitement that is
accessible through these works. The sculptures of Artscape
pop up like odd figures on the street; the IN:SITE installations
and the work of Jeremy Novy are tightly wed to their locales
and created to speak to viewers on a very direct, accessible
level. The ability of these artists and groups to work in such a
flexible, meaningful, and relatively unofficial manner is an
encouraging sign for public art in Milwaukee. There are plenty
of unfavorable opinions about much high-profile work in the
city, but look a little closer, maybe on your own street, and there
you may find public art that is alive and relevant.
- K. M. Murrell
Katherine Murrell is co-publisher of Susceptible to Images.
Comments? Email kmmurrell@susceptibletoimages.com
| Steve Fischer, Holy Big Bird. Artscape sculpture walk. |
| Bruce Niemi, To Be Held (detail) Artscape sculpture walk. |
| Nate Page and Harvey Opgenorth, Super Subconcsious IN:SITE installation, 50th and Vliet. Photo courtesy of Art Elkon |
| Jeremy Novy. 506 E. Center Street |
| Jeremy Novy. 506 E. Center Street |
| Nate Page and Harvey Opgenorth, Super Subconcsious (detail) IN:SITE installation, 50th and Vliet. Photo courtesy of Art Elkon |
| Mark Overs, Triad Artscape sculpture walk. |
| Jeremy Novy. 2931 N. Pierce Street. |