Milwaukee Arts Board honors Antler and Staab

Arts Without Borders salutes Antler and Roy Staab, who were awarded Milwaukee's Outstanding Artists of 2012 yesterday.

Antler is Milwaukee's award-winning former poet laureate and a lover of nature. He is well paired with Staab, an internationally reknowned artist who uses nature as his canvas and found natural objects as his artistic materials.

The ceremony was held in the cavernous new lobby of Next Act Theater. Mayor Tom Barrett joined with Arts Board Chair alderman Michael Murphy and other Arts Board members in honoring the two awardees.

Arts Board members Anne Kingsbury, of Woodland Pattern, and Polly Morris, of the Lynden Sculpture Garden, introduced Antler and Staab respectively.

Upon receiving the award Antler treated the crowd to three selected poems while images of Staab's many local installations played across a rear projection screen. Staab commented that by selecting only local pieces some of his most significant accomplishments went unheralded. In her remarks, Morris added that Staab probably is more well known abroad than here in his hometown.

It is to be hoped that this award will help to remedy that!

Nature Belle, Menomonee Valley, Roy Staab

To read selected poems by Antler, go to his website.