Scene Unseen: Viewing Notes

“Instant Art Critic” at INOVA in Milwaukee for three days in June –

05/17/2013 Leave a comment

INOVA PRESENTS 60 WRD/MIN ART CRITIC

Art critic Lori Waxman guarantees brief, serious reviews to all visual artists on a first-come, first-served basis in a performance about art criticism.

For three days at INOVA, 2155 North Prospect Avenue in Milwaukee, Chicago-based art critic Lori Waxman will receive artists in need of reviews as part of her project, the “60 wrd/min art critic.” Reviews, which are free of charge, will be scheduled and written in twenty-five minute increments only during these hours: Friday, May 31 to Sunday, June 2, 11-1:30 & 2:30-5:00 each day.

Reviews will be signed, published and ready for pick-up within the time frame of the performance. Artist, artwork, critic, and review will all exist in the same space simultaneously, thereby helping to demystify the art review process. The reviews will be posted at the performance site and will remain on view throughout the weekend. In addition, the reviews will be published by the Shepherd Express (select reviews in print and all reviews online) in the week following the performance.

Advance appointments can be made as of May 17, 2013 by emailing critic@60wrdmin.org. Walk-in hours will be held Sunday, June 2, from 2:30-5:00.

The 60 wrd/min art critic is many things: an exploration of short-form art writing, a work of performance art in and of itself, an experiment in role reversal between artist and critic, a democratic gesture and a circumvention of the art review process. At a time when newspaper and magazine art columns are disappearing, the “60 wrd/min art critic” aims to get a community talking about its own art.

Milwaukee is among 10 U.S. cities included as destinations for the “60 wrd/min art critic.” Waxman has focused her project on vibrant regional arts communities from Kansas City, Missouri to Austin, Texas to Durham, North Carolina whose artists may rarely have opportunities to receive nationally published art reviews. This past summer, a 100-day version of the project was included in dOCUMENTA (13), the major survey of international art held every five years in Kassel, Germany.

Lori Waxman is a Chicago-based critic and art historian. She publishes a biweekly column in the Chicago Tribune and has written for Artforum and Parachute, as well as for catalogues large and small. She is the co-author and co-editor of Girls! Girls! Girls! in contemporary art (Intellect Press, 2011) and teaches art history and new arts journalism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

The 60 wrd/min art critic is a project of the Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant Program. More information on this national project can be found at http://www.60wrdmin.org.

Filed under correspondence, exhibition, Public Talks Tagged with INOVA, Instant Art Critic, Lori Waxman

Life on Lake Michigan at the Turn of the Twentieth Century – glass plate negatives made into large format prints

05/16/2013 3 Comments

I became obsessed with UW-Parkside Archive’s collection of dry plate negatives last year when director Anna Stadick shared them with me. I determined to scan, print and research a group of the negatives for a little show for the Parkside gallery. We have just installed an exhibition of large format digital photographs pulled from high quality scans of the original negatives that date to 188os to early 1900s. These photos show mostly beautiful boats on the Lake Michigan, but there are a few other subjects as well. Enjoy this slide show and vista Parkside’s E. H. Mathis Gallery located in the theatre lobby if you can.

By researching the names of the vessels mentioned in the index to the slidesI found that many of the ships shown were well-known racing yachts at the time. I had no idea that yacht racing was a popular spectator sport at the turn of the century, and that the Lake Michigan Yachting Association hosted a regatta in 1901 that sailed between Chicago and Kenosha. The images are marvelous.

What is a Dry Plate negative?

The Dry Plate process was first invented in 1871. It replaced a messy and time-sensitive process that required the application of wet chemicals (wet collodion) to a glass plate minutes before a photograph was taken. This means that before the Dry Plate process, a photographer could not take a photograph without having a “dark room” to create a light sensitive “Wet Plate” for use in his or her camera. The Dry Plate process made photography much easier because the light-sensitive silver gelatin emulsion was applied and allowed to dry on the plate before it was used by a photographer. A photographer could simply carry dry plates and load them into a camera to take a photograph. By the 1880s factory-made silver gelatin dry plates were widely available, and this brought photography to a wide audience of amateur practitioners. Glass plate photography began to decline when flexible roll film was invented and it virtually disappeared by the mid-1920s, replaced by George Eastman Kodak cameras that used only flexible roll film. (from the galley website)

: “Milwaukee Cadillac, 1st trial race for Canadian Cup” July 20, 1901.Yacht racing was a popular spectator sport during the late 1800s, especially on Lake Michigan. The Canada’s Cup pitted American and Canadian Great Lakes yacht clubs against one another. Records for the Canada’s Cup Competition of 1901 indicate that a boat names the “Cadillac of Detroit,” sailing for the Chicago Yacht Club lost to the Canadian yacht “Invader” (shown elsewhere in the gallery) in 1901. This photograph appears to show an early trial for the competition held in Milwaukee. (UW-Parkside Archive negative)

: “Final Mile Open” by Chandler of Waupaca,Racine, September 6, 1897. Shows the start of the race. UW-Parkside archive holds three glass negatives showing the start and finish of a bicycle race, all labeled “Final Mile Open, Racine.” We can’t find a record of this race, but assume “Chandler of Waupaca” is S.S. Chandler, a member of the competitive curling team in Waupaca during the 1880s and 1890s. Bicyclists still compete in the historic Washington Park velodrome in Kenosha, which opened in 1927 and does not appear to be pictured here. (UW-Parkside Archive negative)

: “Three men fishing (Ryan and Van Arsdale), ”No Date. (UW-Parkside Archive negative)

: “Ice. Looking North” Kenosha Harbor1898. (UW-Parkside Archive negative)

: “Ice. Looking Northeast” Kenosha Harbor1898. (UW-Parkside Archive negative)

: “Invader” 8/12/1901. The Canadian yacht “Invader” raced against the “Vencedor “ racing for the Chicago Yacht Club. The competition was hosted in Chicago and finished in Kenosha habor. (UW-Parkside Archive negative)

: “Grisham” at Milwaukee September 5, 1897. This photo shows a cargo ship near the mouth of the Milwaukee River and Lake Michigan, possibly dropping over stock to the F. Dohmen Company, a pharmaceutical business that now stands at a new location about a block away. The large building on the right remains today at 301 N. Water St. in Milwaukee. (Jason Hedman, history student s research) (UW-Parkside Archive negative)

: The Schooner “Blackhawk” in Kenosha Harbor Around 1900 (UW-Parkside Archive negative)

Filed under exhibition Tagged with Anna Stadick, Life on Lake Michigan, patricia briggs, UW-Parkside Archive, UW-Parkside Gallery

Photographs of the Great Lakes by Robert Burley / Please send me links to artists doing work about the Great Lakes

04/20/2013 2 Comments

Screen Shot 2013-04-20 at 1.54.46 PM Screen Shot 2013-04-20 at 1.47.38 PM

Screen Shot 2013-04-20 at 1.48.11 PM

Screen Shot 2013-04-20 at 1.55.02 PM

Click here to visit the webpage for this series by Canadian photographer Robert Bruley.

Filed under Great Lakes Water Tagged with critic, Great Lakes, patricia briggs, Robert Burley

“Veterans Book Project” at Milwaukee Art Museum through September 2, 2013

04/15/2013 1 Comment

As many as 100,000 people will visit the Milwaukee Art Museum this spring and summer while the Veterans Book Project by Monica Haller is on view in the small gallery adjacent to the entryway to the permanent collection galleries.

Now numbering fifty volumes, the VBP is complete. Seeing the entire library comprised of written accounts by veterans, family members of veterans, Iraqi-Americans and Iraqi refugees, on display at MAM, I was impressed by Haller’s ability to transform just about any space into an incredibly welcoming room for quiet reading.

At the “reading workshop” facilitated by the artist before the opening reception I read two of the new books written by Milwaukee veterans during Haller’s final VBP workshop which took place during the winter at the museum. Zach LaPorte, one of the Milwaukee authors, was a team leader with 2nd battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment, an airborne infantryman from January 2004 to April 2007. His book is a powerful rumination on the downright savagery of war and make it seem impossible that any soldier could ever return from war deeply troubled. Roger Quindel chronicles of his experiences during the Vietnam War in his book dedicated to the more than 58,000 American soldiers, including his buddy Richard Meighan, lost in it. Quindel, who served with the 25th Infantry Division from February 1967 to October 1968 and was wounded in action, explained during the panel discussion that his participation in the VBP workshop gave him the opportunity he needed to research the actual events he had lived through, but had only understood as personal experiences. Writing the book Quindel was able to trace for the first time the battles he fought in and the bases where he was treated for his injuries within the historical record of the war, allowing him, he says, to know what happened to him much more fully.

Eight books in the VBP are written by Wisconsin authors. Hopefully the close proximity between MAM and the War Memorial Center (they share a building) will introduce Milwaukee veterans and their supporters to this remarkable project.

Opening evening with authors and artists. Mike Jackson (author) to the left.

IMG_1122 Web IMG_1161 web IMG_1233 web

The VBP library-50 volumes.

: Quotes drawn from the pages of the library.

Haller, Zach LaPort, and Mike Jackson discussing the project.

: Roger Quindel putting his book together in the MAM workshop in January.

Filed under exhibition, Veterans Book Project Tagged with Milwaukee Art Museum, Monica Haller, patricia briggs critic, Roger Quindel, Veterans Book Project, Zach LaPort

Pop-Up Gallery in Kenosha, next to Char’s Cafe Saturday 4/13 (tomorrow 4-9pm, jazz music 6:30-8pm)

04/12/2013 Leave a comment

Screen Shot 2013-04-12 at 9.57.18 AM

Pop-Up Gallery tomorrow at this location!

Exhibition features

Tremper High School jazz combo
Photographic studies of downtown Kenosha architecture by Harborside Academy high school students (see the work at this link! It is amazing)
Mixed media and painting by Maureen Fritchen
Sculpture by Gary Wolfe
Painting by Beth Cumbo
Photography by Jessica Zalewski Schafer
Chalk Talk Kenosha photographs
Do-it-yourself Newspaper Poetry
And much more!
Harborside Academy high school student picture of downtown Kenosha.

Harborside Academy high school student picture of downtown Kenosha.

Harborside Academy high school student picture of downtown Kenosha.

Filed under exhibition Tagged with gary wolfe, Kenosha Art Association, Maureen Fritchen

Milwaukee Art Museum | Pressroom: “Veterans Book Project” exhibition April 4-September 2, 2013

03/30/2013 Leave a comment

Milwaukee Art Museum | Pressroom.

Readers of “Scene Unseen” have seen numerous posts about Monica Haller’s Veterans Book Project (VBP) over the past few years. I am happy to report that the Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) is exhibiting the project this season. The entire VBP library will be on view at MAM April 4-September 2, 2013, with the opening Thursday, April 4, 5–8 pm. Because I have organized exhibitions of the VBP and assisted with VBP workshops I have been invited to be a panelists discussing the project along side artist Monica Haller and local authors April 4 at 6:15pm.

In my view the VBP is one of the most important artworks of the decade. It is a library of 52 books authored by veterans, family members of veterans or refugees with first hand experience of American led wars. These books were created in workshops Haller facilitated across the country over the past four years. She worked with local Racine and Kenosha veterans in a workshop sponsored by UW-Parkside Galleries last winter and this this year she finalized the library with a workshop sponsored by Milwaukee Art Museum.

Wisconsin veterans have played a big role in this project – please pass the word about the MAM exhibition to veterans and others who would like to know more than they can read in the newspaper about war and its impact from people with first hand experience of it.

Too see online versions of books written by area veterans look for these names when you visit the VBP library online: