Day of the Dead displays opening at Latino Arts Gallery

Dia de los Muertos Ofrendas

October 28 – November 18

Latino Arts Gallery

Opening Reception: Friday, November 4 at 5:00 p.m.

Celebrate life with Latino Arts’ annual Day of the Dead exhibition, featuring a dazzling array of ofrendas (altars) prepared by local, regional, and international artists.

Concrete River shrine

Environmental artist Melanie Ariens and I have reprised and reformatted our Concrete River shrine/reliquary and it is on display along with the many more traditional ofrendas at the United Community Center's Latino Arts Gallery. 

My photographs of the Kinnickinnic River are mounted on panels that represent the concrete channel. Melanie once again has created two assemblages. On one side is a shrine honoring the river, water in general, and the Great Lakes. On the other side is a reliquary composed of detritus removed from the river. In keeping with the spirit of Dia de los Muertos it is meant to symbolize the life, death and rebirth of the KK River.

Concrete River reliquary

I hope you can join us for the opening. If not the exhibit remains on view through Nov. 18. 

The Latino Arts Gallery is open to the public Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m.

The United Community Center is located at 1028 South 9th Street in Milwaukee. For more information go to the Latino Arts website.

 

Latino Arts: Gardens, Gods and Grids by Dara Larson

The full title is a mouthful: Gardens, Gods and Grids: Retracing Nature, Culture, & Infrastructure in the Americas. The multimedia exhibit by Milwaukee artist Dara Larson, which fills the huge Latino Arts Gallery at the United Community Center, is also a lot to take in.

As the title suggests, the work is from "the Americas." In this case it means throughout North, South and Central America. Larson clearly has done a lot of traveling. She did confess to me that she's been collecting materials and images over many years. However, the current work is recent.

Most of the prints in the exhibit are digital collages. Larson's images begin as photographs, but her complex layering and collaging techniques demolish normal perspective and any kind of typical photographic picture plane.

The center of the gallery is dominated by a day-of-the-dead style ofrenda, or shrine. Larson is a regular contributor to official Day of the Dead exhibits, so it comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with that work. But this ofenda is made up largely of old travel guidebooks and maps that show the varied destinations.

Gardens, Gods and Grids runs through February 26, so there is plenty of time to get in there to see this fine show.

The Latino Arts Gallery is open Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.

All images courtesy Dara Larson.

Ofrendas: Art and offering

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We all die. I was reminded of that in church today. As undeniable as that truism is, it isn’t a popular message in our culture in or out of a religious setting. Other cultures don’t have the same aversion to death, however. We are reminded of this each autumn around this time when the over-commercialized holiday of Halloween is accompanied, as it increasingly is, by the Day of the Dead.

Alverno College Ofrenda, detail (UCC)

The traditional Mexican observance of Día de los Muertos was a family affair held in the home or at a cemetery where ancestors were buried. Altars called Ofrendas ("offerings" in Spanish) often were lovingly created to honor the dead. Over the years this reverential folk tradition has been expanded and Ofrendas have become more diverse. Today in Milwaukee you can find contemporary versions of Ofrendas in several local art galleries. Many of them hew closely to the time-honored conventions that feature skull motifs, skeletal figures, flower arrangements and foodstuffs, along with photographs and other images of the deceased.

Others take the themes of the occasion as a point of departure to make artistic, societal and even political statements. Over the past week I visited three galleries that have chosen to recognize the Day of the Dead by inviting artists and others to create Ofrendas on site in their spaces. I’ve taken some photographs (which should be no surprise.) In most cases I didn’t capture the whole Ofrenda, choosing instead to focus in on a detail that caught my attention.

My hope is to encourage you to visit these places and spend some time with the Ofrendas in their intended context. Their meanings cannot be taken in at a glance in any case and they deserve to be experienced in the reverential spirit with which they were created.

Thoughtful descriptions or artists’ statements accompany many of the Ofrendas. I have included excerpts from some of them.

Alfons Gallery

The Alfons Gallery is a bit off the beaten track, located on the second floor of the imposing main building of the School Sisters of St. Francis campus on South 27^th St. The gallery invited artists, interns, staff, and volunteers at Redline Milwaukee to collaborate in a single large altar. I particularly enjoyed seeing this Ofrenda within its religious context, among the permanent collection of sacred artworks.

Walker’s Point Center for the Arts

Leann Wooten: “It was very healing for me to work on this piece with my father in mind. I felt a spiritual connection to him on this artistic journey….” 

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Sue Vliet: “Beautiful, laughing brown eyes, my paternal grandmother had kind eyes, always full of mirth and mischief. My memories of her are clear and happy…. She allowed me to eat cake for breakfast, kept an can of ‘spray’ whipped cream in her refrigerator for special snacks, took walks with me, listened to my stories, and laughed at my jokes.”

Gary Niebuhr: “I am not comfortable…thinking about my own mortality. I would rather think about someone else’s mortality…. I never practiced the witchcraft of art until after the passing of my father. I often wonder if his death was a freeing experience or if it is the shadow of guilt that follows me. “

Sally Kuzma: “This ofrenda is in memory of my mother Ellie….  The word for bellybutton—a tangible connection to our mothers—hangs in the air, contributed by friends, colleagues, and students of mine who have ties to dozens of different languages.”

Latino Arts Gallery

United Community Center

“Remembrance Altar” (detail) by the UCC’s art therapist and selected clients in honor the memories of loved ones who have passed away.

Jeanette Arellano: “This altar is dedicated to our loved ones who have lived with mental illness…. I wanted to make this piece interactive because all of us have at some point in our lives lived with a mental illness or know someone who has, however we keep it hidden as though it doesn’t exist, which is something I can personally attest to.” [Visitors are invited to inflate balloons in remembrance of loved ones with mental illnesses and to think about moments they share with them.]

Ximena Soza: “Nidos Vacíos is dedicated to the sons and daughters that have been lost to violence. Whether it is in Palestine, Ferguson, Milwaukee, or Mapuche land in Chile, the loss of sons or daughters speaks the same language of pain…. My ofrenda is a piece of fabric with a dress and a nest in the center representing the grieving process of mothers and families, the emptiness of death lives in those who are alive.”

Clay relief sculptures with acrylic paint by second grade students at Bruce-Guadalupe Elementary School based on discussions about community wishes.

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What do George Washington and Vince Lombardi have in common? How are these and other well known historical and pop cultural figures related to deceased parents, grandparents, and family pets? They are all well represented in the wall-sized, multidisciplinary and collaborative ofrenda created by fifth graders at University School of Milwaukee.

detail

This was a lovely experience, clearly a crowd favorite at the opening reception Friday evening. I witnessed many people carefully viewing each of what seemed like hundreds of tiny individual memorials that make up this ofrenda. 

detail

detail

On Saturday, November 1 there was a Día de los Muertos parade in Milwaukee. If you missed my earlier post and photo essay about that, click here to see it.

Remembering ten years of Milwaukee Art.

“The Calatrava” is ten years old this year. To mark this anniversary of the Milwaukee Art Museum’s famous new wing the Journal Sentinel’s art critic, Mary Louise Schumacher, is asking her readers to comment on a series of questions about the last ten years. Here are some of my random thoughts. (The complete set of questions is below and on her blog at Art City. If you are as inspired by them as I was, please go to her blog and give her your responses.)

Is Milwaukee’s art scene as exciting…? Beauty, they say, is in the eye of the beholder. Excitement, I’d suggest, is an equally subjective response to a set of circumstances. For me Milwaukee’s art scene has become more and more exciting in the past ten years. If I am projecting…, well, I hope my excitement is infectious.

First, let’s get the bad news out of the way. The political trends of the last ten months threaten to overwhelm ten years of building optimism. Among the most ominous developments have been the decimation of arts programming in schools along with what seems to be a deliberate dismantling of public education in general.

Regarding architecture, Calatrava and the museum threw down a gauntlet ten years ago. That building is still pretty damn exciting, if you ask me. I rarely drive by without thinking it’s a miracle that it was built and that I am seeing it right here in Milwaukee.

What is missing? No similarly bold architecture has been built in ten years. A Calatrava design proposed for a pedestrian bridge over the former North Avenue dam site was scrapped for a less expensive alternative. A clumsy attempt to mimic the Art Museum’s tour de force at the adjacent Discovery World was wisely reconfigured.

Park East corridor

The excitement generated by the demolition of the Park East freeway, which made national headlines, has long dissipated, its still largely vacant corridor a constant reminder of untapped potential.

Sixth St. Bridge

Two architectural developments that come closer than most are both in the Menomonee Valley, which itself qualifies as having had a pretty exciting ten years. They are the twin Sixth Street bridges, ushering visitors into the revitalized Valley, and the remodeled Intermodal Station.

Which artists represent Milwaukee’s avant-garde today? Why the emphasis on “avant-garde”? I’m all for “forward-looking,” if that’s how it’s interpreted, but skeptical of the merely unconventional. Novelty devoid of content or relevance is vacuous. What is most exciting is the vigor of the art scene and how deep is the bench, both in visual and performing arts.

Lenz: Wishes in the Wind

I hesitate to begin a list of individuals because so many good artists are working in the region today that I would inevitably overlook many of them. So, I’ll pick just one: David Lenz. Avant-garde? You choose your definition; he fits mine.

What experiences have changed your perspective about the power of art? First, I have never doubted the power of art. Second, my experiences here and elsewhere have continually reinvigorated my faith. Here are a few things that I managed to dredge from my memory of the last ten years:

Staab: Nature Belle

Eyes Wide Open: TheHuman Cost of the Iraq War, at the then Midwest Express Center (2004). Roy Staab’s Nature Belle, a delightfully kinetic environmental installation in the Menomonee Valley (2005). Chris Jordan’s billboard sized photographs called Runningthe Numbers at the Union Art Gallery (UAG) in 2007. The UAG also had an exhibit that included an installation of a freeway ramp; can’t recall the title, definitely recall the bold use of that unique gallery space. Alverno College hosted a powerful exhibition of art by cancer survivors. Riverpulse, art and science combined to make the health of the Milwaukee River visible – an installation underneath the Holton Street Bridge (2007).

Of course, Milwaukee’s most famous public art piece of the past ten years is the one that was rejected, Oppenheim’s “Blue Shirt.” Much has been written about this early victim of then County Executive Scott Walker.

The performing arts scene is every bit as vibrant and deep as the visual arts. If I had to pick a single play from the last ten years, I think it would have to be the Milwaukee Rep’s production of Angels in America. And the whole idea of Combat Theater, which is just incredibly exciting.

I don’t get out to see dance as often as I’d like, but I’m sure glad I caught Wildspace’s use of the Chimney Park in the Menomonee Valley (before the Chimneys had to come down!)

What impact has MAM had on the art “ecosystem” here? MAM always will be the 800 lb. gorilla in Milwaukee and, although some have criticized its programming as not living up to the standard set by its new architecture, I think it has hosted a number of excellent exhibitions in recent years. (If you still haven’t seen Summerof China, get there before it closes this Sunday!) However, MAM should showcase more WI artists.

Fortunately, MAM is not the only alternative, nor the only one that has grown. The Latino Arts Gallery expanded into a larger and more beautiful space. The Wustum in Racine added the RAM. The rebranded Museum of WI Art in West Bend is poised for its own exciting expansion. The Kohler Art Center in Sheboygan provides more consistently excellent major exhibitions than any other museum in the region, in my humble estimation. And MU’s Haggerty also punches above its weight. “Current Tendencies,” which just opened there to a packed crowd is testament to the vitality and popularity of Milwaukee’s contemporary art scene.

Lynden Sculpture Garden

I knew I couldn’t keep this short! Quick hits: Bucketworks! Redline! MIAD’s senior thesis shows every May. MARN. Sharon Lynn Wilson Center. The Lynden Sculpture Garden opens to the public! Have the last ten years been exciting or what?!!

Final comment: If you are an artist, have you had formative experiences in Milwaukee lately? To do this question justice I would need at least a whole new post, but I will mention one influence for which I am grateful: it was Mary Louise herself who prompted me to start blogging. Thank you!

Here is the survey:

1. Is Milwaukee’s art scene as exciting today as it was 10 years ago? Why or Why not?
2. How would you describe the health of the art scene today? Are there missing ingredients?
3. If you were to assemble a list of people that represent Milwaukee’s avant-garde today (in terms of visual culture), who would you include?
4. What experiences at local galleries, museums or other venues have you had in recent years that have changed your perspective about the power of art? How do they compare to the experiences you’ve had in previous years (if applicable).
5. If you are an artist, have you had formative experiences in Milwaukee lately? In other words, what exhibits or talks have opened your thinking?
6. What are the greatest opportunities for change/improvement for Milwaukee’s cultural scene today?
7. If critical (but informal) dialogue once centered around places like Pumpkin World and UWM’s film department and people like David Robbins, what or who are the driving forces today?
8. What impact has MAM had on the art “ecosystem” here (i.e. galleries, artists, collectors, etc.). How should that change, if at all?

 
Except for David Lenz's "Wishes...," all photos in this post are mine. I found the Lenz image at http://www.artepolitik.com/WIpainting

Day of the Dead at Latino Arts and Walker’s Point

As promised, I recently visited the exhibit of ofrendas at the Latino Arts Gallery in the United Community Center. Then I also visited a very similar exhibit at Walker’s Point Center for the Arts (WPCA). Although Halloween is today, the exhibits continue. I recommend them both for their devotion to the theme and the diversity of their installations.

Unfortunately, I missed the parade. But, here is my Halloween and Dia de los Muertos postcard/album from my visits. The descriptions are excerpted from exhibition text panels.

At the Latino Arts Gallery:


“Al pie de la tumba” by Emiliano Lake-Herrera

“This is a visual anthem to the intense nostalgia one experiences with the loss of a loved one.”

"La santa muerte" by Jose Chavez.
For some in Mexico the angel of death is sent by God to take you to Him. Considered a cult, la santa muerte is not sanctioned by the church, but is very much a part of Mexican lore.

Untitled mixed media painting by Luis de la Torre

Luis says he grew up Mexican in the U.S. and his work reveals “two cultures, two histories, and two distinct worlds fused together into a single enigmatic hallucination.”


 “Remember Aztecs” by students at Bruce Guadalupe Elementary School

 “Fronteras/Borders” by Ximena Soza

“Many cross the borders of the world. For some this is a nice dream; for others it is a nightmare.”

At the Walker's Point Center for the Arts:


 Although I missed the parade, I did get to hear these attractive skeletons play a lively tune, along with other performances, for the opening at WPCA. 

 Rosario Cabrera: the first female Mexican painter

Ofrenda dedicated to Cabrera made by the after-school Hands-On class at WPCA.


 Ximena Soza and Christian Munoz

Ofrenda “dedicated to the Chilean miners that for generations have opened the womb of the earth, to those who never left the mine and lived between the dirt and the metal until they died...” and “to the 33 miners who lived in the depth of the Atacama desert for 70 days and were able to be reborn…” and “to their children and grandchildren, so that they don’t have to die in any other mine to remind us that human dignity is worth more than…any metal.”


 Jose Chavez

This detail of Jose’s marvelous installation in the WPCA storefront resonated with me for what I hope is an obvious reason!

“Grandmother’s Kitchen” by Lisa Formanek and Dara Larson

“…Dedicated to the memory and importance of …the grandmother as nurturer, teacher, and keeper of family recipes….” This elaborate and intricate altar was also meant to be interactive. Visitors were invited to enter their own grandmothers’ special recipes into a handmade book. I did.

I offer these photos to provide a taste of the significance and beauty of these installations. But the images don’t do them justice. I hope you will visit and enjoy them in person.

The Day of the Dead continues through Nov. 19 at Latino Arts
and through Nov. 23 at Walker's Point Center for the Arts.
And don't forget, it also runs through Dec. 13 at the National Museum of Mexican Arts. To see my previous post about that excellent exhibit click here.

Día de Los Muertos at Chicago’s National Museum of Mexican Art

Detail of La Flor de Cempasúchil: Flower of the Dead

The annual exhibit of ofrendas and cultural event of el Día de Los Muertos – the Day of the Dead – opens at the Latino Arts Gallery at Milwaukee’s United Community Center this Friday. It’s my favorite Milwaukee version and I’ll be sure to see it there. I encourage you to visit if you’ve never been. Ofrendas tradionally take the form of altars and pay tribute to the lives of people who have died, usually family members. Skull and skeleton imagery abounds.

However, if you have the chance to go to Chicago anytime between now and Dec. 13, don’t miss the ofrendas at the National Museum of Mexican Art. It is the largest Día de Los Muertos exhibit in the country and the artists who create installations there often go way beyond the traditional forms. There is one tableau that fills an entire gallery with life size skeletal figures, includes a video display, and has a "ground" image with railroad tracks that visitors walk over. The displays also go beyond the traditional personal memorials to celebrate a wide variety of historical and topical themes. It being 2010, one entire room of the gallery was devoted to memorials representing the bicentennial of Mexican independence from Spain in 1810 and centennial of the Mexican revolution in 1910.

This example, called “The overlooked heroines of the Centennial and Bicentennial,” is dedicated to Mexican women who fought during the two wars.

Detail of above

This detail (below) from another one called “The Encounter of Two Worlds: Battle Scene” shows how explicit – and political – some of these displays can get.

Another room included this thoughtful homage to earthquake victims in both Haiti and Chile. It was a massive group undertaking by school children grades 1-8 at Stone Scholastic Academy, a Chicago public school.

The detail shows some of the poetry written to express the tragic loss and sympathy for the people who

have suffered. According to the display panel, the students understood that the Day of the Dead is about “rejoicing death as the second half of the journey” and that their project should be festive like a birthday party – “remembering the good of people and celebrating their entrance into a new world.”

This more traditional ofrenda (below) features La Flor de Cempasúchil: Flower of the Dead. Cempasúchil flowers have been used as offerings for centuries and symbolize the illumination of the night the way the sun illuminates the day.

And as a bonus, if you visit the museum before Nov. 28, you can also see a second exhibit called Millas y Kilómetros. This brings together the work of nine artists of Mexican descent currently working in Chiapas and Chicago. Here is just one sample by Juan Chawuk called “Migrant Nahual.”

 Detail

Detail

Website links:

National Museum of Mexican Art
Latino Arts Gallery at the United Community Center

Read my post about Milwaukee's two Day of the Dead exhibits here.

P.S. I apologise if the spacing on this post looks a bit screwy. Blogger is giving me a lot of trouble (and I'm not happy about it! - is anyone at Blogger listening?!!!)

Unofficial gallery night this Friday in Milwaukee

Officially, gallery night (and day) comes around four times a year. I enjoy gallery night, especially when the weather is good. It’s great to rub shoulders with so many folks out to see art—and in some of the busier locations I often literally do rub shoulders; it has gotten that popular. But there’s a down side to gallery night, and it’s due largely to its popularity. The art seems to be taking a back seat to the socializing.

I’m all for socializing, especially with people who like art. It beats sitting home alone—and it’s good for one’s mental health as well.

On the other hand, if you want to see art, this Friday is shaping up to be a mini gallery night, judging from the surprising number of openings. Not being an official gallery night, you’re less likely to run into the pure socialites and more likely to run into to pure art lovers.

Here are my picks for Friday, Sep. 10. There are others, but one can only do so much and I hope I make it to all of these. Unfortunately, they are all over the map! (Which will make it hard to get to them all, but is also nice to note.)

Walker’s Point Center for the Arts is having its annual membership show opening. Their website is down for some reason, but you can still get the info and address by clicking here.

Alverno College is showing Pause to See: A Photographic Journey through Bhutan, Nepal, Thailand and Ecuador by Suzanne Garr. Sounds to me like she’s covering a lot of territory there. Click here for info.

Cardinal Stritch University is hosting the “90-day lawn ornament” by Gary John Gresl. The title itself is intriguing but for anyone who knows Gary’s penchant for intricate and provocative assemblages, this sounds like a must-see. Click here for info.

There is always something happening in the Marshall Building in the Third Ward. Light Ideas Gallery is opening "The Freetimers Book of Light"—a group photography show to benefit AWE (Artists Working in Education), a great program to support! Click here for info.

If the Latino Arts Gallery at the United Community Center is not on your list of regulars, I recommend you add it. The show that opens Friday is Luis Barragán Legacy. Barragán is one of Mexico's most important architects and probably THE most important modernist. The image below is from this show. Oh, and you don't want to be late for this opening - the UCC puts out the best appetisers and they go fast! Click here for info.

Let me know where you’ll be going and I’ll try to bump into you there. (gently.)