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Seeing Green: Art, Ecology and Activism in Milwaukee
Woodland Pattern Book Center
720 E. Locust St.
Milwaukee, WI 53212
(414) 263-5001
seeinggreenartshow.wordpress.com
April 12-May 10
Posted April 30, 2008. The 'seeing green' which this show promotes is
intended to take place not just in the gallery space, but more so as viewers interact
with the world outside. In a way, this is more an exhibit of visual statements than
an exhibit based on the experience in the gallery. The show clearly bears the
stamp of curator Nicolas Lampert, including his emphasis on raising awareness
through art-as-commentary, and his desire to break down boundaries between art
and community. It is an impressively multidisciplinary show, including statements,
posters, architectural plans, a mural, a design project, a children's book, a
computer piece; and that's not including the short movies, and artist talks, that are
also a part of the project.
There's a strong guerrilla art aspect to the show. That tone can be found in stencils
created by Jason Ludke and Max Estes; the flags placed by fre.axis; William
Andersen's placing posters critical of Wal-Mart within sight of actual Wal-Marts;
and in an overall attempt to use art as a public intervention, to raise public
awareness. The photographs on the North wall of the exhibit feel more designed
to demonstrate those interventions than to function as artistic statements in their
own right. They focus on showing the intervention and the locale it was placed in,
on making people think. The main exception is the Milwaukee River Watershed
Mosaic by Eddee Daniel and Charles St. Charles III, which selected a few of its
most striking images of the river to display. Again, that's a project extending
outside the gallery, as they encourage the public to submit images, as a means of
increasing understanding of the watershed. The images selected focus on the river
itself, emphasizing the water and unusual hues.
The East wall consists of architectural plans by Chris Cornelius. These are plans,
not artworks in themselves, but they usefully remind us that a more sustainable and
aesthetically appealing world relies on better designs. The South wall includes an
appropriate technology project, a rainwater collector by Michelle Woggon and
Zachary Nesgoda. Unlike the work of Cari Enot in the MIAD senior exhibition
(where many students share the concerns of this show; see my review on this site
for details), it is presented not so much as an item that might be used, but as a
design that could raise awareness. The West wall mostly displays posters, some
of which are also depicted as interventions in the photos on the North wall.
In general, this exhibition feels as if it mostly exists outside the gallery space;
earlier in time, in other places, and continuing on after its display ends. Indeed,
Lampert noted that the show's catalog and website (which is very thorough) were
designed with the intention that it would live on beyond its time in the gallery. Even
the location itself is not just treated as a gallery to walk into; the show includes an
architectural plan by Cornelius for a future, more sustainable Woodland Pattern,
and it extends outside the bookstore, with a large mural by Susan Simensky Bietila
painted on the wall. Similarly, the exhibit gives a taste of Mary Osmundsen's work
with Riley Elementary students to help envision the Kinnickinnic River, work that is
also expected to carry on into a small book. The impressive designs of Cornelius
for the Oneida Maple Sugar Camp, and RiverPulse for a video installation, are
also presented here. If these projects are built, they will enable their local
communities to raise their awareness of how humans interact with nearby natural
systems, as this show attempts to do for Milwaukee.
Jeff Filipiak is an environmental historian, humanities instructor, and frequent
contributor to Susceptible to Images.
Woodland Pattern Book Center
720 E. Locust St.
Milwaukee, WI 53212
(414) 263-5001
seeinggreenartshow.wordpress.com
April 12-May 10
Posted April 30, 2008. The 'seeing green' which this show promotes is
intended to take place not just in the gallery space, but more so as viewers interact
with the world outside. In a way, this is more an exhibit of visual statements than
an exhibit based on the experience in the gallery. The show clearly bears the
stamp of curator Nicolas Lampert, including his emphasis on raising awareness
through art-as-commentary, and his desire to break down boundaries between art
and community. It is an impressively multidisciplinary show, including statements,
posters, architectural plans, a mural, a design project, a children's book, a
computer piece; and that's not including the short movies, and artist talks, that are
also a part of the project.
There's a strong guerrilla art aspect to the show. That tone can be found in stencils
created by Jason Ludke and Max Estes; the flags placed by fre.axis; William
Andersen's placing posters critical of Wal-Mart within sight of actual Wal-Marts;
and in an overall attempt to use art as a public intervention, to raise public
awareness. The photographs on the North wall of the exhibit feel more designed
to demonstrate those interventions than to function as artistic statements in their
own right. They focus on showing the intervention and the locale it was placed in,
on making people think. The main exception is the Milwaukee River Watershed
Mosaic by Eddee Daniel and Charles St. Charles III, which selected a few of its
most striking images of the river to display. Again, that's a project extending
outside the gallery, as they encourage the public to submit images, as a means of
increasing understanding of the watershed. The images selected focus on the river
itself, emphasizing the water and unusual hues.
The East wall consists of architectural plans by Chris Cornelius. These are plans,
not artworks in themselves, but they usefully remind us that a more sustainable and
aesthetically appealing world relies on better designs. The South wall includes an
appropriate technology project, a rainwater collector by Michelle Woggon and
Zachary Nesgoda. Unlike the work of Cari Enot in the MIAD senior exhibition
(where many students share the concerns of this show; see my review on this site
for details), it is presented not so much as an item that might be used, but as a
design that could raise awareness. The West wall mostly displays posters, some
of which are also depicted as interventions in the photos on the North wall.
In general, this exhibition feels as if it mostly exists outside the gallery space;
earlier in time, in other places, and continuing on after its display ends. Indeed,
Lampert noted that the show's catalog and website (which is very thorough) were
designed with the intention that it would live on beyond its time in the gallery. Even
the location itself is not just treated as a gallery to walk into; the show includes an
architectural plan by Cornelius for a future, more sustainable Woodland Pattern,
and it extends outside the bookstore, with a large mural by Susan Simensky Bietila
painted on the wall. Similarly, the exhibit gives a taste of Mary Osmundsen's work
with Riley Elementary students to help envision the Kinnickinnic River, work that is
also expected to carry on into a small book. The impressive designs of Cornelius
for the Oneida Maple Sugar Camp, and RiverPulse for a video installation, are
also presented here. If these projects are built, they will enable their local
communities to raise their awareness of how humans interact with nearby natural
systems, as this show attempts to do for Milwaukee.
Jeff Filipiak is an environmental historian, humanities instructor, and frequent
contributor to Susceptible to Images.
| Copyright 2008 Art History Chicks LLC |
| fre.axis., Just Add Salt |
| Exterior of Woodland Pattern with mural by Susan Simensky Bietila. |