Carter, Curtis L.

English

epublications@Marquette

Marquette Universitye-Publications@MarquettePhilosophy Faculty Research and Publications Philosophy, Department of4-9-2013Past, Present and Future: The New Museum ofWisconsin ArtCurtis L. CarterMarquette University, curtis.carter@marquette.eduPublished version. Published in the newspaper entitled " Shepherd Express". April 09, 2013: 26.Permalink. © 2013 Shepherd Express. Used with permission.I A&E:: VlSU.-:a.&.ILK'1.alI. Past, Present and Future THE NEW MUSEUM 'OF WISCONSIN ART nSYCURTISL.CARTER rpe new Museum ofWisconsinArt 205 Veterans Ave.) in West Bend opened to the public last Satur-day. Set alongside the Milwaukee River on a triangle-shaped lot, MOWA is a destination for anyone interest-ed in exploring the range of creative works by Wisconsin artists. For the inaugural exhibition, Executive Director Laurie Wmters has chosen "Anti-fragile," representing 1B glass artists with links to Wisconsin, and Reginald Baylor's "Repetitive Patterns," with creations made especially for the museum. Baylor is a Milwaukee Art's Board 2013 Outstanding Artist of the Year. A selection of works by premier WlSCOIlSin artists from the past, in-c1uding Carl von Marr's masterpiece, The F14gel/ants, complements the two contem-porary exhibitions. The current MOWA builds upon the leg-acy of its predecessor estabIished in 1961. Among the aims of this new regional art museum is the goal to connect contempo-rary and future developments in WlSCOnsin art with the state' s rim cultural heritage. The museum's mission statement calls for celebrating "the value, diversity and uniqueness of the visual arts and artists of Wisconsin." . The facility, designed by Hammel, Green & Abrahamson (HGA), inc1udes 12,000 square feet of gallery space, approximately 7,000 square feet of space for special events, an expansive art storage area, art education studios, a gift shop featuring WlSCOnsin oe-ations and an outdoor sculpture garden. . Like the University of Alaska art center and the Walker Art Museum (both projects of HGA), the MOWA is executed in a late modernist architectural vocabulary. Oean, 2& I APRil 11. 2013 angular Iines merge into abstract forms am-plified by a generous supply of natural light to offer quietly dramatic spaces inside the museum. -Absent from this building is the domi-nating ego of the architects, which so often overshadows the art displayed in contem-porary museum architecture. Instead, the interior spaces offer a balance between transparency and the materiality of the glass, metals and other construction staples. Transparency and flow in the gallery spaces is intended to motivate viewers to engage freely with the art. The price for the freedom that abstract ar-chitectural forms offer is the absence of any obvious dialogue between this new build-ing and the museum's past when it was housed in a more conventional, but chann-ing, structure. Instead, connections between contemporary art and artistic heritage must rely on the progression of the art itself as it unfolds in the viewers' experiences. On first glance, this new, modem struc-ture might appear to be a stranger to its set-ting, marked by a flowing Milwaukee river and the back side of a row of retail build-ings. Connecting the beauty embedded in the museum's abstract architectural forms and the beauty of its riverside setting is a project for West Bend to ponder through the possibility of arenovated cityscape with the new museum as its centerpiece. In any event, West Bend has chosen to advance the future of WlSCOnsin and re-gional art while providing a contemporary environment for examining the past and the present. And this is a choice that will enhance the culturallife of the region while challenging its artists to even greater excel-lence. VIS~ALART I PREVIEW REVISITI NG MILWAUKEE'S AVANT GARDE COFFEEHOUSE Inova's series of '60s flashbacks n SY PEGGY SUE DUNIGAN , R evisit the grassroots of blues, folk and fingerstyle guitar this April at UW-Milwaukee's Inova Gallery with the exhibition "The Avant Garde Coffee-house Project."In the 1960s,on the cusp ofthe counterculture, the Avant Garde Coffeehouse (2111 N. Prospect Ave.) was avenue for experimen-tal art and films, performance, poetry and music.lt was the local center for the folklblues revival and encouraged the emerging fingerstyle guitar playing. This provides a link to UWM, wh ich sponsors the only university-Ievel coursework for fingerstyle guitar training in the world. . This year, the Avant Garde Coffeehouse and UWM's Peck School of the Arts share their 50th anniversary. ln a collaboration between departments, the Peck School re-searched and documented the history of this important venue. The fascinating retrospective includes artifacts, film, photographs, recordings and videos on display through May 12. While the exhibition opened AprilS, there will be special performances and programs throughout the next six weeks at the Inova Gal-lery and the Peck School ofthe Arts. One ofthe highlights will be the world premiere of Meet Me at the Avant Garde, a play written by Peck School alumnae Fly 5teffens, April 26-May 5. For a complete event schedule, visit yoa.uwm.edu. CISSIE PELTZ Gallery owner Cissie Peltz died on April 3. The long-running Peltz Gallery features artists from across America, many from Wisconsin.AII those who treasured Mrs. Peltz' exuberant presence and love for the creative life will miss her. VISUALART I HAPPENING "ART IN BLOOM" Milwaukee Art Museum 1 700 N. Art Museum Drive This populm four-day event (April 11-14) celebrates art and flowers by showcasing MilwaukeEi florists throughout the musewn's permanent art collections. Featured is British florist Neil Whittaker who will offer a mas-ter dass in European Design on Fiiday. April 12. VJSit mam.org/bloom/ to register. "IMMIGRATION: STORIES, ART, " THE LAW" Latino Arts 11028 S. Ninth St. The program and exhibition features Taller Yonke, a collective of art-ists from Nogales, Mexico, whose werk focuses on human rights and people caught between nations and cultures. In addition. lawyers from Straub hnmigration will provide information and insight on immigration issues, Thursday. April' IB, 5-7 J).m. SHEPHERD EXPRESS 

Past, Present and Future: The New Museum of Wisconsin Art

https://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1313&amp;context=phil_fac

Past, Present and Future: The New Museum of Wisconsin Art

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

epublications@Marquette