Portrait of a Textile Worker by Terese Agnew

From the information posted on the wall next to the quilt at the Museum of Wisconsin Art:

“On April 24, 2013 a garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed killing 1,127 workers and injuring 2,500. Following this tragedy, a conversation quickly began at MOWA to see if we could exhibit Terese Agnew’s Portrait of a Textile Worker, constructed from 30,000 clothing labels stitched together over two years (completed in 2005). The quilt is based on a photograph of a young textile worker in Bangladesh by Charles Kernaghan, Director of Global Labor and Human Rights.

The disaster at Rana Plaza in Bangladesh has raised awareness worldwide where much of our clothing in the United States comes from, who makes it, and under what conditions. MOWA wants to contribute to the conversation by displaying Agnew’s work. When you see Portrait of a Textile Worker, we’re quite sure you will never see clothing labels quite the same way again.”

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Susan Stuart Goodrich Frackelton Book at MOWA

The Voices of Friends Concerning John Plankinton, Milwaukee’s Foremost Citizen, The Father of the West Side. With the Accompaniment of Illuminations by St. Frackelton, 1911.

“And so, it is strange that my thought of him in all the passing years should be of a man, simple and self-effacing strong to achieve, to conquer, to upbuild, yet gentle as a woman, sweet natured as a child, kindly, considerate, and charitable to the verge almost of prodigality.” – Charles King*

This is the extremely elegant clasp along the edge of the binding to secure the book when closed.

*King apparently didn’t hang out with real women and children. Just sayin’.

Rest in Beech

I happened to find this wiry guy hanging out in a beech tree on campus today. Artist unknown.

3D Works at the Museum of Wisconsin Art

 

Cabinet by Jim Rose made from scrap steel, painted and rusted.

 

Bureau by Tom Loeser

 

Up North Stele by Gary John Gresl.

 

Honey, let’s get a couple of these for the bedroom!

Scottish Boy, Dutch Girl, Italian Girl. WPA-Milwaukee Handicraft Project. Fabric.

Glass Works from the Museum of Wisconsin Art, West Bend

The MOWA hosts a fabulous collection of artwork from Wisconsin artists. This particular room showcases what the gallery is calling “Antifragile Contemporary Glass,” studio art glass that goes beyond functional work to conceptual pieces that address modern issues such as genetically modified food crops and global warming.

Toulouse by Chuck Savoie, 2013. Hand-blown glass and cast bronze.

A close-up of the lower part of the sculpture.

Hi Boys by Stephan Cox, 2012. Glass.

Laid Table with Fish by Beth Lipman, 2011. Glass, wood, paint.

Goblets, Coral, and Oysters by Beth Lipman, 2012. Glass, wood, paint.

Watercolors by Douglas Sigwarth and Renee Newgaard Sigwarth, 2013. Blown glass.

This pieces consists of twelve blown glass wavy plates or flattened bowls, flower-like and happy, hanging individually across the wall, casting shadows as elegant as the glass itself.

Husk-a-Ruckus: An Installation by Michael Meilahn. Cast bronze and blown glass. Each of these “cobs” is about 2-3 feet long, with occasional smaller unformed glass cobs poking out from among the husks. The bronze husks look dry and crunchy and I wanted to lift a cob to see how heavy they were, but don’t worry – I didn’t.

The Odyssey by Lisa Koch, 2010. Antique wood, wood, blown mirrored glass.

Condensation of Sensation by Stephanie Trenchard, 2013. Cast Glass with Painted Inclusions.

The backside has a different look from that of the front.

The Incredible Beingness of Light: Moose by Steve Feren, 2012. Concrete, glass, aluminum. The moose is made out of concrete with thousands of tiny glass balls stuck into its surface. The small circles theme is picked up in the dots on the glass “bell” and you can even see the moose head reflected upside-down in the round glass ball on top of the bell, as shown in the second photo below.

Lakefront Festival of Arts

The first thing you see when you enter the festival grounds is this large sculpture made out of wet sand. Rain was in the forecast all day so I hope they had a tent at the ready, just in case. The detail was amazing.

As you can see, they were still working on it. I think there were at least two artists going at it.

For some reason this woman was walking around with a joey in a purse. Turns out she was there as a representative of the Kahalari Water Park in the Wisconsin Dells area, a popular tourist spot about 2.5 hours NW of Milwaukee. Another guy had a tiny little animal that looked like a miniature lemur that he was carrying around. Little kids (ok, and some of us adults) were going gaga over these adorable things. Good marketing ploy.

Shiny silver glass “rocks”.

Bird bath. Nice.

This is where kids can make art. These creations were hanging up to dry.

We had rain all last night and the ground was rather muddy. Looks like someone found that out by sitting on it. At least I hope that’s all that was.

Again, this was all from the http://lfoa.mam.org/ put on every year along the shore of Lake Michigan by the Milwaukee Art Museum. There is a listing of artists on the website, including those few shown here. There were many, many more in the tents and in the museum itself, but I am not good at taking photos of others’ artwork. Many artists posted signs saying “no photos please” so I just looked. These outside pieces were easier to shoot.

Milwaukee Art Museum

Someone removed the “UM” from the end of this door decal leading to one of the lower level galleries. Still makes perfect sense.

This is the long west side hallway of the Calatrava wing, an addition to the museum completed in 2001. It is very shiny and reflective. Also a bit cold and sterile. But that’s just my opinion.

Textile piece by Sonji Yarbrough Hunt.

Close-up of a large piece by Milwaukee artist Reginald Baylor.

These iconic little people grace the beams of the west hallway and make their own counter-arch from north to south. They are also in a similar configuration on the other side of the beams when walking from south to north. Even traffic symbols and restroom indicators enjoy a day at the museum.

This piece is really cool and I hadn’t seen it before today. It is down in the back of the War Memorial building where museum visitors can enter from the north parking lot. Two local 5th grade classes spent time learning about US history and then created this large, beautiful “Freedom Mural” with help from artist Sally Duback. There was no photography allowed in the special exhibit we came to see upstairs, so I spent my energies shooting this. I just love it.

Fireworks!

A close-up of some of the “junk” and stuff that comprises the mural.

And here at the end of the day, outside the building in back by the north parking lot, numerous visitors have affixed their exhibition stickers to this power box on their way out.