Gallery Night & Day
The winter Gallery Night & Day offers a good way to come out of hibernation. Here are some ideas for what to warm up to this weekend.
Milwaukee’s quarterly Gallery Night & Day is upon us again — a good way to escape our winter hibernation.
About 30 venues throughout downtown Milwaukee and surrounding neighborhoods open their doors Friday and Saturday. Here are some ideas for what to see during Gallery Night and Day.
‘ZIP MKE: 28 Zip Codes, 1 City’
Milwaukee Public Library’s Central Library 814 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Dominic Inouye didn’t like the language he read on social media about different Milwaukee neighborhoods after the unrest in Sherman Park this summer.
“People don’t see each other enough,” Inouye said.
So he started an effort to crowdsource photographs from every ZIP code in Milwaukee. He wanted the photographs to reflect the people who live here and more than just iconic attractions like the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Mitchell Park Domes.
In three months, Inouye collected 900 photographs from more than 70 photographers. On view at the library will be a selection of about 200 depicting every ZIP code in the city. The idea is to show Milwaukee’s beauty and diversity, not the divisions.
“The moment we see each other eye to eye, then whatever assumptions we make about people and neighborhoods can go by the wayside for a while,” Inouye said. Noon until 3 p.m. Saturday. On view through Feb. 19. RedLine Milwaukee 1422 N. 4th St.
This immersive experience will take visitors through Wisconsin history by honoring ancestors and elders through a collection of 18 sculptural monuments that look like gravestones with multimedia components. The entire RedLine gallery space will be dedicated to the installation.
The monuments form what feels like a cemetery, but history comes to life with multimedia and live performances. Tapes of Ojibwe leader Walter Bresette tell the origin story of tribes. The two-year project by artist Terese Agnew and a “small army” of collaborators will travel across the state after the RedLine show. Agnew said the installation uses past wisdom to move forward.
“The axis of the future spins on what we remember, and what we choose to honor as a culture and community,” she said.
On Friday night, Blanche Brown will perform the story of Caroline Quarlls, the first person known to escape slavery through Wisconsin’s underground railroad. Contemporary folk band Anima will perform Friday night, too.
5 to 9 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. Saturday. Exhibition on view at RedLine through March 25.
‘Bronzeville: A Celebration of Community’
First Stage 325 W. Walnut St.
The play “Welcome to Bronzeville” at First Stage is a reminiscence of the Milwaukee African-American neighborhood set in 1957. The concurrent art exhibition at First Stage is about the contemporary African-American community in Milwaukee.
The art show, including painting and photography from 12 African-American artists and curated by Della Wells, shows how the artists view their community in Milwaukee. Wells said the exhibition shows all different experiences in the community.
“It’s not just one thing,” she said. “It’s all aspects of life.”
While all the works focus on Milwaukee, some, such as Mutope Johnson’s watercolor and digital images of Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong, are specific to the Bronzeville neighborhood’s history.
“Welcome to Bronzeville” is a music-filled production about cousins who hope to win an annual Bronzeville talent competition. First Stage will perform the play through Feb. 5 at the Marcus Center’s Todd Wehr Theater, 929 N. Water St. 5 to 9 p.m. Friday. Exhibition on view through Feb. 5.
‘Just the Facts’
Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design 273 E. Erie St.
“Just the Facts” is an exhibit about exhibits. The artwork on view pokes fun at traditional museum offerings and at our trust in their accuracy and objectivity.
“It’s a communication method,” MIAD Director of Galleries Mark Lawson said. “It’s like everything else — you should question it.”
For instance, Beauvais Lyons’ series of prints “Association for Creative Zoology” depicts animals like the America badger swallow and lemur darwinus in a scientific style reminiscent of old academic drawings.
“Early renderings of giraffes and other animals from Africa were inaccurate,” Lawson said. “But not this inaccurate.”
Lyons also created taxidermy animal combinations like a beaver-fish and duck-dog.
Other pieces from Tony Matelli, Mark Dion, Diane Fox and Jennifer Angus address the visual language of exhibits and interpretation of historical works.
5 to 9 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Saturday. On view through March 4.
‘Fred Stonehouse and Raeleen Kao — Hair Club’
Tory Folliard Gallery 233 N. Milwaukee St.
People in Fred Stonehouse’s work are mostly bald. Raeleen Kao draws characters with hair. In recognizing this difference, the pair decided to collaborate for the show “Hair Club.” Kao drew the hair, and then Stonehouse added the figures. The mostly black, white and red drawings reflect the contrasts between their work.
“(Kao’s) hair drawings deal specifically with her female, Asian identity, and my jugheaded characters deal with my own, particular jugheaded, male identity,” Stonehouse wrote in a news release. “The result of combining these two artistic visions is simultaneously terrifying and hilarious; both repulsive and oddly poignant, I think.”
Also on view at the gallery are paintings from Laurie Hogin depicting neon-colored animals and landscapes.
Friday 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. On view through Feb. 4.
‘Film Noir and Technicolor Characters’
Timothy Cobb Fine Arts 207 E. Buffalo St.
From black-and-white crime dramas of the 1940s and ’50s to the use of Technicolor in fantasy films, the work on exhibition reflects back to cinema history. Jeff Darrow’s portraits celebrate film noir stars such as Orson Welles and Humphrey Bogart. There’s also oil paintings, photography and sculpture. 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. On view through Feb. 10.
‘From the Past: Archival Posters Digitized for the 21st Century’
Harley-Davidson Museum 400 W. Canal St.
Harley-Davidson Motor Co. has an archived collection of 7,000 posters. Recently, the archives staff preserved the posters by photographing and digitally restoring the images. On display at the museum are 20 posters dating from 1919 to 1980.
5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday with free admission. 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Saturday with regular admission cost. On view through Dec. 31.