Milwaukee Arts Barge makes a splash at the North End

Gallery night was characteristically fertile last night. I enjoyed a variety of exhibits, including William Zuback's moody figure studies at the Iron Horse Hotel, Pamela Anderson, Richard Taylor and Terrance Coffman at the Pfister, and too many folks to name at the Marshall Building.

The most surprising find for me last night was not at an established gallery but at the North End apartments. I'd been to their pop up gallery before and on a whim decided to check it out before heading to the usual places downtown.

The exhibit is titled Mobility Matters. According to the wall text panel, it explores "links between mobility, agency and value in Milwaukee." OK, so moving beyond the academic lingo, what really intrigued me was the 3-D map of Milwaukee and the idea of moving an "arts barge" around the community using its waterways. I'm all for "activating" the waterways, as they put it.

The map is a wonderfully graphic depiction of not only Milwaukee's lakefront and river system, but also its parks and open green spaces, which are represented in raised relief.

There is a Milwaukee Arts Barge website, which describes the project this way:

"Two of Milwaukee’s unique assets, the confluence of public waterways and its performing arts communities converge and newly engage the social fabric of the city through the construction of a floating performance space, the Milwaukee Arts Barge (MAB). The project utilizes Milwaukee‘s most underutilized public space, its network of rivers and lake, as a means to transform the city’s social, political, and cultural boundaries through the performing arts.

"MAB establishes a premiere public venue for the performing arts communities to heighten its exchanges with the city and its residents. It offers unique opportunities for both emergent and established arts communities to further propel the city as a space of civic engagement, exchange and creative place-making.

"The Milwaukee Arts Barge (MAB) develops new forms of agency for the performing arts communities to choose locations that have both creative and social impact. MAB allows these communities greater access to reimage the future of the city."

I look forward to hearing more about this project as it unfolds and hope to see a gallery of public art works floating up the Milwaukee River before long.

The Milwaukee Arts Barge is a project of the UWM School of Architecture and Urban Planning. The North End is at 1551 No. Water Street. The display will be on view through June 30, 2016.

Creating an Artist's Book: A workshop with Max Yela and Eddee Daniel, Session 2

Developing the Artist's Book: Concept and Practice
Part II: The Return

A book design and self-publishing workshop at the Lynden Sculpture Garden

You do not need to have attended Session 1 to participate in Session 2. 

April 2, 2016 - 1:00 - 4:00 pm. 

Book design has been an increasingly important aspect of my artistic practice. In the past eight years I have created 15 self-published books using online services Blurb and MagCloud. In this workshop I will share my experience and help you create your own book.

I am delighted to be joined by Max Yela, head of the UWM Special Collections Library. Max has an impressive knowledge of all kinds of books, bookmaking processes and book design ideas. His contributions will complement my own and provide a deeper understanding about how to create your own artist's book.

Session one of this workshop was held on Feb. 20 with a lively and engaged group of 9 participants. While many of them are planning to return for the second session, others are welcome to join in as there is room for more.

Here is what we covered in session 1:

Photographer and book artist Eddee Daniel and book-arts theorist Max Yela offered an introduction to the practical and theoretical approaches to working with the book form as art medium. Participants were introduced to concepts and approaches for developing an artist's book project. Skills and techniques were discussed, including the basics of self-publishing a digital, print-on-demand book.  

Using hands-on exercises and examples of artist's books from Special Collections at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries and Eddee Daniel’s personal book samples, we discussed basic book-arts concepts, including movement, pacing, and rhythm in book design; image editing for narrative sequence; form as meaning ("function follows form"); 2D and 3D composition in book design; "time" as a design element; the function of text as a visual component of design; color transformations; and the role of materials in conveying meaning and expression.

Session 2: The Return

There will be a brief review of concepts and themes introduced in Session 1. 

The main thrust of this session is for attendees to bring ideas, images, mock-ups, etc. to discuss and critique as possible book projects. Images may be brought either in print or digital formats. Each participant in this session will present their concepts and materials for review and critique by the group within the context of the ideas and approaches explored in Session 1.

Fee: $50/$45 members. 

To register, go to the Lynden Sculpture Garden website.

To see a complete listing of my photo books, go to my website.

Link to book description

Creating an Artist's Book: A workshop with Max Yela and Eddee Daniel

Developing the Artist's Book: Concept and Practice

A book design and self-publishing workshop at the Lynden Sculpture Garden

February 20, 2016 - 1:00pm - 4:00pm 

Book design has been an increasingly important aspect of my artistic practice. In the past eight years I have created 15 self-published books using online services Blurb and MagCloud. In this workshop I will share my experience and help you create your own book.

I am delighted to be joined by Max Yela, head of the UWM Special Collections Library. Max has an impressive knowledge of all kinds of books, bookmaking processes and book design ideas. His contributions will complement my own and provide a deeper understanding about how to create your own artist's book.

The workshop has two sessions. You can choose to take either one separately or both. The first session is on Feb. 20 at 1:00 pm.

Here is the full workshop description for session 1:

Photographer and book artist Eddee Daniel and book-arts theorist Max Yela offer an introduction to the practical and theoretical approaches to working with the book form as art medium. These two workshops introduce participants to concepts and approaches for developing an artist's book project. Skills and techniques will be discussed, including the basics of self-publishing a digital, print-on-demand book. While each workshop may be attended independently, together they provide an overview of developing conceptual approaches to designing a book.

Part I: The Journey
Using hands-on exercises and examples of artist's books from Special Collections at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries and Eddee Daniel’s personal book samples, we will discuss basic book-arts concepts, including movement, pacing, and rhythm in book design; image editing for narrative sequence; form as meaning ("function follows form"); 2D and 3D composition in book design; "time" as a design element; the function of text as a visual component of design; color transformations; and the role of materials in conveying meaning and expression.

Participants may bring a digital or print portfolio of images for critique as a book project.

Fee: $50/$45 members.

To see a complete listing of my photo books, go to my website.

Link to book description

Canal Street and placemaking in the Menomonee Valley

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Canal St. overpass connects east end of valley with west

(A photo essay follows.)

Sometime around the turn of the millennium I stood on the stub end of Canal Street and looked across the west end of the Menomonee Valley at a scene of devastation. Near at hand stood Falk Corporation, one of the few old heavy manufacturing industries left in the Valley, which once had been full of such factories. Off in the distance cranes hovered over the an unfinished mammoth new stadium. Between these points the 35^th Street Viaduct sliced across a broad no-man’s land dominated by the ruins of the Milwaukee Road Yards, a locomotive and railcar manufacturing and repair facility abandoned in the 1980s.

Around the crumbling buildings I also could see wide, grassy meadows speckled with wildflowers—interspersed with gravel pits and piles of broken concrete.  Along the steel-bracketed Menomonee River grew an expanding feral forest of box elder and other weedy trees. Over the next few years I found ways to explore the area, which wasn’t easy to reach. It became one of my favorite places to find what I termed “urban wilderness.” 

Jacques Vieau, a French fur trader, discovered the Menomonee Valley in 1795. I discovered a very different Menomonee Valley in 1999. But neither of us found anything new. Vieau, credited with being the first white settler in what is now Milwaukee, was preceded by no fewer than five distinct Indian tribes. When I first started to explore its urban wilderness the Valley had gone through two great periods of transformation at the hands of Vieau’s successors. The first replaced the original wild rice marsh with Milwaukee’s industrial powerhouse. The second resulted in the devastated landscape that confronted me the day I first went there.

Today, as I walk around a great sloping curve where Canal Street now proceeds down onto that former brownfield, I see notable consequences of continuing transformation. Nestled into the curve, fresh paint gleams on the Rishi Tea Company’s newly constructed factory. Rishi joins a growing number of businesses that have rediscovered the Valley, many of them right here on the former rail yards. It is no coincidence that these businesses are located along the sinuous strip of pavement that finally spans the distance from Falk to Miller Park. In fact, Canal Street has meant far more to the redevelopment of the Menomonee Valley than the average street.

When asked to describe a favorite Milwaukee street for a series in Art City on placemaking I immediately thought of Canal Street and the Menomonee Valley. Despite its storied history, for most Milwaukeeans it's the streets that cross over Canal on viaducts that have defined the Valley. The long-blighted valley floor, first with its noisy and smelly industries then later with its polluted river, crumbling buildings and vacant, often contaminated lots, was a place to avoid, a place that seemed not only unappealing but dangerous.

The Menomonee Valley was a dank, forbidding place that divided the city.

Until recently, that is. In the past 15 years the Menomonee Valley has undergone a remarkable—and well-planned—transformation. After decades of contraction, business and industry are expanding once again. The natural environment that suffered degradation while the Valley became “machine shop to the world” is being reintroduced. Perhaps most surprisingly, the Valley now attracts 10 million visitors a year to recreational and entertainment destinations.

To a large extent, the redesign and extension of Canal Street made all of this possible.

In 1999 when I first saw the Milwaukee Road Yards you could not drive the four-mile length of the Menomonee Valley. Canal Street languished beneath the viaducts as a dusty, deteriorating alley that provided truck access to the few remaining industries. Near 32^nd St. the pavement ended abruptly atop a truncated ramp overlooking the urban wilderness.

The Harley-Davidson Museum

Today Canal Street is a continuous four-lane road that connects the Harley Davidson Museum on the Valley’s east end with Miller Park on the west. Significantly, the roadway is flanked by the Hank Aaron State Trail, a unique urban park. By bike or on foot, the trail is the best way I’ve found to experience the resurgent vitality of this place.

Miller Park

Commuters drive and cycle their way in both directions along Canal and the bike trail. But they do far more than provide access to workplaces and recreational venues in the Valley. Together they have helped create a new, inviting and forward-looking identity for the Menomonee Valley.

The Valley is now recognized locally and nationally as a model of economic and environmental sustainability. Canal Street has been a catalyst for cultural as well as economic development. Public arts programming has brought performances as well as temporary installations and permanent sculptures.

"Nature Belle," temporary public sculpture by Roy Staab, 2006

Since most of the viaducts still sweep over the Menomonee Valley, access is one of the keys to its revitalization. Geographically and functionally isolated, disconnected from the municipal street grid, and handicapped by a legacy of negative perception, simply bringing people down to the Valley and enabling free movement once there has been a major accomplishment. The new Sixth Street Bridges provide gateways into the valley but it is Canal Street that physically and symbolically creates a unified whole.

Stormwater Park & Industrial Center

The street winds past the Palermo Pizza factory, under the 35^th Street Viaduct and around an industrial center, which has risen atop the former Milwaukee Road Yards. I walk beside the road on the Hank Aaron Trail, through Stormwater Park. The path arcs gracefully among tall golden coneflowers, brushy shrubs, and young oak and maple trees. I pause at a railing overlooking a pond. A heron rises abruptly from the reeds, sails off over the resuscitated river.

The newly unified Valley is in the midst of another great transformation. It is not only being revitalized but also reimagined. By design it is a place where economic development is tied to environmental restoration, community needs, and cultural assets. I believe the Menomonee Valley truly embodies an exciting vision for sustainable urban development. It all began with Canal Street.

An edited version of this essay first appeared in Art City. To see it there click here. I want to thank Mary Louise Schumacher for inspiring this essay and creating the placemaking series on Art City.

Photo Essay (all photos 2014 except as noted)

The end of Canal St., circa 2003

Construction of Canal St. overpass, 2006

Public art on Hank Aaron Trail, circa 2005 (taken 2014)

Fundraising run/walk on Canal St. and Hank Aaron Trail, 2007

Hank Aaron Trail & Canal St. looking west from 6th St.

High Rise Bridge spanning the Valley

27th St. Viaduct and Menomonee River

35th St. Viaduct

25th St. roundabout and Potawatomi hotel under construction

City Yards at 25th and Canal

27th St. Viaduct, Canal St. & CP Rail from bike trail

Stormwater Park in action after rainfall in June

Canal Street extension winds into the west end of the Valley around Rishi Tea factory and under the 35th St. Viaduct.

This post is one in a series that relates to my Menomonee Valley Artist in Residency. For more information about the residency and links to previous posts and photographs, go to MV AiR.  

FL Wright's Dana-Thomas House does not disappoint!

I don't actually keep a bucket list, but if I'd had one the Dana-Thomas House in Springfield, Illinois, would have been on it. Having been to Wingspread, Taliesin, the Robie House and Fallingwater (among sundry other examples of his oeuvre) one might think I'd seen enough Wright houses. And since I quit teaching architecture three years ago there was no pressing need.

But after so many years I finally did go to see it. This house rivals any of the others. It's definitely worth the three-hour drive from Milwaukee.

Except for the prominent front entrance, the exterior is typical enough of his early Prairie Style, if larger than most. The interior is what sets this house apart from its peers. (They don't allow photography inside. I had to borrow the one I'm including here, of the living room, one of two grand barrel-vaulted rooms in the house.)

Mrs. Dana, who commissioned Wright to design the house, was wealthy enough to let him have a free rein. Furthermore, and most importantly, the art glass windows and lamps, the furniture, art works, and other furnishings are almost entirely intact. The tour we took was also masterfully theatrical, threading its way throughout the labyrinthine floor plan, up and down a reputed 17 changes of level. (I didn't keep track, but I believe it.)

Wright's famous use of compressed spaces that open into large, airy ones was well represented in this house.

If you're curious, I recommend the official website. It has a great photo gallery with lots of interior shots. If you're ever in the Springfield vicinity and have any affinity for Wright take the time to visit. You won't be disappointed either.

"Rescued by Design" and Hip Hop heraldry

Although the writing in the New York Times is invariably excellent, coverage of visual arts, sadly, is usually relegated to the last pages of the Arts & Leisure section. Not so last Sunday when two very different but very intriguing articles made the front page of the section.

In 'Rescued by Design'  architecture critic Michael Kimmelman describes how architecture, urban planning, and simple but elegant utilitarian solutions to urban problems can alleviate a plethora of social problems. Focusing on places as far apart as Medellin, Colombia, Nairobi, Kenya, and Bangkok, Thailand, among others, the examples used make it clear that good design can provide hope for those living in "some of the world's worst conditions."

Sharing the cover is a much more introspective story entitled 'Blending Hip-Hop and Heraldry' by Melena Ryzik. It describes the life and work of Rashaad Newsome who fuses images from contemporary Hip-Hop culture with the ancient forms of heraldry to create richly detailed symbolic portraits.

Groundbreaking design breaks ground in Menomonee Valley

UEC director Ken Leinbach

“Milwaukee is an amazing city!” exclaimed Ken Leinbach, the dynamic and indefatigable director of the Urban Ecology Center

(UEC). “When it comes to supporting the work of the center,” he continued, “miracles just seem to come down from the sky!” Then he looked up…leading the crowd also to turn their heads…just in time to see tiny parachutes flutter down bearing seed packets. Children scrambled to scoop them up.

The occasion was the groundbreaking ceremony last week for the new UEC, its third satellite, which will occupy a soon-to-be renovated 1933 tavern on 37^th St. and Pierce in the Menomonee Valley.

Mayor Barrett plants seeds with a buddy

 At the completion of the ceremony the seeds were planted along the recently completed Valley Passage, adjacent to the center’s site, which leads to the Menomonee River,
Hank Aaron State Trail, and as-yet-uncompleted 24-acre park. Such notables as Mayor Tom Barrett, Milwaukee County Parks director Sue Black, and many others bearing trowels, each buddied up with one of the children.

The emotional intensity of the ceremony was electric. Speakers included board members, CEO’s of Valley businesses, major donors, DNR personnel, and representatives of the Silver City neighborhood where the site is located. Everyone was thrilled to be part of an historic moment. Most moving, I thought, was Michele Bria, CEO of nearby Journey House, who had brought the elementary students. She spoke with unmistakable excitement about the prospect of bringing them all to the new center and being able to visit the new park in their own neighborhood instead of having to ride the bus to Riverside Park.

Raising trowels in salute for the groundbreaking

The new branch of the UEC, which is slated to open in fall 2012, would be reason enough to celebrate. However, this is just part of a unique collaborative effort that will do much more than transform the Menomonee Valley, once largely a post-industrial wasteland, into a vital, ecologically significant, culturally rich, and economically powerful part of Milwaukee. It may well spark a revitalization of the entire region.

For the project, called “Menomonee Valley – From the Ground Up,” the UEC has teamed up with
Menomonee Valley Partners, a non-profit whose mission is to redevelop the Valley. The project has four components:

• Improving pedestrian/bike access to and from the Valley.
• Doubling the Hank Aaron State Trail with a six-mile western extension.
• Establishing the third branch of the Urban Ecology Center.
• Transforming a 24-acre brownfield into a visionary public park and ecologically significant natural area.

At Tuesday’s groundbreaking plans for both the UEC branch and the park were unveiled to the public.

Rendering by Uihlein-Wilson Architects

The old tavern has been reimagined and enlarged in designs by Uihlein-Wilson Architects with an eye toward sustainability. The rooftop sports an array of solar panels. An exterior stair provides access to a deck from which both the panels and the Valley can be viewed. At 6,000 sq. ft. it is smaller than the UEC flagship in Riverside Park, but will provide similar environmental programming, including community gathering space as well as science-based classrooms. The elegant new building steps down from its perch on Pierce St., visually and symbolically directing attention towards the Valley Passage and the park beyond. A lower level classroom opens directly onto the Passage.

Within five years the new branch expects 10,000 annual visitors and to provide students in 22 south side schools with environmental stewardship projects, urban recreational adventures, and science education, among other things.

Site of the new park

I took the time to walk through the Valley Passage for a peek at the new park.

Bikers already use the recently erected bridge across the Menomonee River and head west on the Hank Aaron State Trail. Looking east past the temporary gate, however, all I can see are large, featureless piles of dirt. 

The concept is compelling: to make of this vacant former railroad yard a “touchable ‘wilderness’” with “a mosaic of biodiverse landscapes, including forest, prairie, and ephemeral wetland,” and to evoke topographic formations specific to glaciated Wisconsin. What a refreshing way to conceive of “landscape architecture” – to design a long-abused urban space in such a way that it becomes a healthy, functioning ecosystem, so that it appears un-designed – natural.

Rendering by Wenk & Associates

The quality and ecological integrity of the design has already generated national acclaim. The
American Society of Landscape Architects has granted local designers Landscapes of Place, LLC
an honor award for their plan, called “Making a Wild Place in Milwaukee’s Urban Menomonee Valley.”

Before long, guided by Urban Ecology Center staff and volunteers, school children from all over the south side will be roaming the hills, exploring the woods, and discovering the river. Milwaukee is an amazing place! 

Some additional photos of the event:

Ken Leinbach juggling trowels!

Menomonee Valley Partners director Laura Bray with renderings

Students from Journey House

Hank Aaron State Trail manager Melissa Cook

Parks director Sue Black planting with a buddy

Menomonee Valley design wins award

"Making a Wild Place in Milwaukee’s Urban Menomonee Valley" won an honor award from the American Society of Landscape Architects. The award recognizes the importance of this design to the restoration of the Valley, a place that "has been mistreated for a hundred and sixty years." 

The winning design firm is Landscapes of Place, LLC. The team of Nancy Aten and Dan Collins are the principles of the firm. Congratulations!

A project description can be seen on the ASLA website. 

Project site is on the right side of the river in this view from 2008

Experimental architecture at Jazz Gallery

Plexus, an exhibition of experimental architecture by UWM students, opened at the Jazz Gallery on May 5 and runs through May 20. It is the work of thirteen designers who "transform salvaged materials and post-manufacturing scrap into provocative architectural installations."

This design, called Lotus, is for a ceiling system and is one of three full-scale prototypes on display. The trio of designers who created it found inspiration in the ancient Chinese and Hindu reverence for the lotus blossom.

The work that I enjoyed the most in this small but delightful exhibit were models of proposals to add a much needed north entrance to the Milwaukee Art Museum.

 Petar Bochukov

Panels illustrated creative solutions for enlivening walls using a wide variety of salvaged materials can be seen in the background above. 

 Jacob Himmelman and Sara Larson Mercer (detail)

Hollie Engdall, Ted Petermann, Paul Rohde

The Jazz Gallery, operated by the Riverwest Artists Association, is at 926 E. Center Street. More pictures of the installation may be seen at the Microcosm Studio website.

Designing a 100 Dollar Bill

Is it art? The new design is intended to make the bill harder to counterfeit, a utilitarian function of design. It nevertheless has aesthetic qualities - of course. These pros and cons of the new design are critiqued in the New York Times article "Anatomy of a Benjamin," where I found this image.

I find myself in agreement with their analysis. Among other things, they say that there are aspects of the old bill that work better, such as the size of the border elements and relationship of the numerals to the border. There are also improvements made, such as the removal of the oval and overall balance of the design.

As a teacher of graphic design, I have used the design as a problem for my students. We don't redesign the bill using Ben Franklin, however. I encourage them to be creative and to use someone meaningful to them. They then add other features on both sides of the bill that relate to their subject. Here is an example I made as a demonstration piece for my classes, using Andy Warhol.

I can't claim credit for this idea, however. There is a wonderful program called "Make a Fundred" that has school children all over the US drawing designs for "fundred dollar bills." It isn’t merely a clever design problem, either. It’s an even cleverer way to raise money to “eliminate the devastating effects of lead-contaminated soil that currently places children at risk for severe learning disabilities and behavioral problems.” It was begun years ago, after hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans to help with relief efforts there.

Art that makes a difference. Try designing your own 100 dollar bill. It’s fun. And then send it off to Fundred.org to make a contribution. It won’t even cost you a real $100. (It’s all explained on their website.)