Featured image: Jill Sebastian, Fair Housing: Conklin to Buffalo, NY, 2022, laser cut wood, paint, green plexiglass, scale 1″ – 1′.
Frank Juárez
This past weekend, the Historic Third Ward Association (HTWA) hosted its quarterly Milwaukee Gallery Night, spreading across four locations: Third Ward, Walker’s Point, East Town, and Around Town. The unusually warm weather brought art enthusiasts to experience a fun-filled weekend full of artists, art, exhibitions, and activities. The beginning started slowly with little traffic, however, midway through the evening it began to gain momentum. There is a lot to see and experience in a 4-hour window. It is easy to get caught up with conversations so it is always important to cut things short and follow up later. Creating a route is a necessity in order to visit as many venues as possible, if that is your thing.
The People
I love to people watch. On occasion I will get a few glares when I am about to snap a photo, but that is part of the job, right? – to document the people that this make this event their blank canvas enjoying and experiencing the variety of artistic expressions offered. We often think about how big this world is especially the art world, but the reality is it is small. I find that the beauty lies in the people you meet along the way.
Images © 2024 Artdose magazine/Frank Juárez
The Places
How much can you see in a short amount of time? Typically, gallery night hours are from 5 to 9 pm and gallery day hours are 11 – 4 pm. Friday nights tend to be for socializing, networking, and reconnecting with art enthusiasts, collectors, and patrons. Exactly 70 venues participated in bringing art, culture, and community together. It is impossible to visit every venue in the span of 9 hours, if you attended both days. But, why would you? One of the best things to do is to curate your list of exhibitions to see, artists to meet, and if you are in the market, buying art. Luckily I arrived in the Third Ward at 4 pm so I was able to get a jumpstart. Believe it or not, an hour makes a big difference.
Places I visited are MARN ARTS & CULTURE HUB (Ink, Brush, Paper, Art and Cultural Transmission), Lily Pad West Gallery (Shadowplay: The Art of Michael Patterson), Portrait Society Gallery of Contemporary Art (Criss Cross), Kim Storage Gallery (Out of the Blue: The Blue Horse Paintings (2019-2024), Pamela Anderson Studio + Gallery, Gallery. 218 (34th Annual Exhibition), Aquae Nguvu Gallery and Studio (Being There – Bronze and Mosaic Sculpture), Oil: A City Gallery (Autumn on the Loose), The Catacombs of Neto Atkinson Art Museum, Wicked Alley (Wicked Couture: A Haunting Fashion Experience), Milwaukee Art Institute of Art & Design (MIAD Pathsetters: An Emeriti Exhibition + Of Our Time), Kimpton Journeyman Hotel, and Deborah Brooks Studio. And, I met 2 out of the 3 MIAD alumni, Erin Eastham and Caroline Fererro and 1 current MIAD student, Rachel McNeilly, that were selected to paint an outdoor large-scale painting. The 5-hour photo hustle resulted in almost 14,000 steps on Friday night. That is just in the Third Ward. I felt it the next day.
What is the best way to experience Milwaukee Gallery Night & Day in such a small window of time? We tend to be creatures of habit visiting our regular list of venues. I know I am. As I write this, I am thinking that perhaps to get the full flavor would be selecting which gallery night/day to complement which of the four locations you would spend your time at. After all, there are 4 of these art events per year.
Images © 2024 Artdose magazine/Frank Juárez
The Art
Every time I attend this event, my tastes change. Here is a small sample of works that caught my eye ranging from textiles to paintings, sculpture to photography, and mixed media to collage. A little of everything for everybody.
Images © 2024 Artdose magazine/Frank Juárez