Sunny in Baumgartner Galleria

You know how sometimes you just need to become a tourist in your own hometown in order to truly appreciate all the wonderful places to go and things to do?  Although the Milwaukee Art Museum is my permanent home, I recently decided to spend the day like I was visiting for the very first time.

Christine grooming Sunny

Wanting to look my best for my day out and about, I stopped by the Museum Store, where Christine gave me a special grooming session…

Sunny's comb

…With my own comb that the Store keeps just for me!

Sunny and Shady

Here is a photo of me with my cousin “Shady” before his grooming appointment.  Serious bed-head!

Sunny gets admission

Feeling refreshed and eager for my day sniffing around the Museum Collection, I headed next to Windhover Hall to pick up my admission sticker from Gretchen and Michelle.  They were so nice and suggested lots of art for me to see and fun things to do at the Museum.

Sunny and Dale Chihuly, Isola di San Giacomo in Palude Chandelier II, 2000. Blown glass. Milwaukee Art Museum, gift of Suzy B. Ettinger in memory of Sanford J. Ettinger.

On my way into the art galleries, I paused for a photo in front of Dale Chihuly’s colorful glass sculpture (a must-have for any scrapbook!).

Sunny gets an iPod Touch tour

I wanted to make the most of my “visit,” so I stopped by the Kohl’s Art Generation ArtPack Cart to pick up a free iPod Touch Tour for kids from Jenni (you can also download it from the iTunes Store!).  She showed me how it works and told me about all the other art activities I could do, like a Sketchpack or a Scavenger Hunt.

Sit, Sunny!

Every time I tour the Museum I love to “Sit! Stay!” in the Chair Park on the Lower Level.  Which chair out of the circle do you like the best?

Sunny at Coffee with a Conscience

After visiting a few galleries, I decided it was time for a snack from Coffee With a Conscience.  Their spice cookies are the best!

Sunny takes a breather

One more level to go!  I took the stairs the whole way to the Upper Level—when I got there, I knew it was time to relax on Peg Bradley’s couch for a little bit while I enjoyed the collection of art she gave to the Museum.

Will the real Sunny please stand up? Alex Katz, Sunny #4, 1971. Oil on canvas. Gift of Mrs. Harry Lynde Bradley. © Alex Katz/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY.

I had to save the best for last. Can you guess which painting is my all-time favorite?  Now, that’s a good-looking dog!

The Grand Opening of the Kohl’s Education Center is Saturday, February 25, 2012, and I hope to see you there!  We’ll explore what happens behind the scenes here at the Museum, and learn about how some of our favorite movies are made.  Plus, I am in the Kohl’s Art Generation Studio every Sunday—come make some art with me!

Editor’s Note: A big thank you to Donele Pettit, who accompanied Sunny on his Museum visit and took all of his glamour shots! And PS: If you’ve got any photos of your Sunny’s visit to the Museum, please email them to us! We’d love to post them on the blog!

Donele Pettit organizes events, promotions and communications specific to the Milwaukee Art Museum Store and loves to introduce art and design objects for visitors to take home and enjoy in their daily lives.

Calvin Black (American, 1903-1972) and Ruby Black (American, 1913-1980). Possum Trot Midget Doll Theatre, ca. 1950-1972. Wood, wood paneling, laminated Masonite, nails, bolts, paint, electrical components, and carved and painted wooden dolls. Milwaukee Art Museum, The Michael and Julie Hall Collection of American Folk Art M1989.325.

It’s back!

After being off view for nearly ten years, the Museum’s popular Possum Trot is back!  And it’s kicking, spinning, and singing up a storm.  Not to mention riding a bike.

Possum Trot was one of the most famous, extensive environments of self-taught art ever made.

Between about 1950 and 1972, transplanted Southerners Calvin and Ruby Black created what they hoped would be a tourist trap in the California desert.  Visitors could get a cold drink, buy bait or souvenirs—and, most importantly, witness a show featuring a cast of performing wooden dolls.

Now part of this tremendous work of art lives at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

The girls of Possum Trot were designed and carved out of wood by Calvin Black, while his wife Ruby made their dresses.

Calvin Black and Ruby Black, Possum Trot Midget Doll "Miss Mary Ripple", ca. 1950-1972. Carved and assembled wood with painted cloth apparel, metal jewelry and electrical components. The Michael and Julie Hall Collection of American Folk Art M1989.325.3.

Calvin based his characters both on celebrities and friends, creating distinctive personalities for each doll, like “Miss Mary Ripple” at right.  He engineered a dedicated performance space, the Birdcage Theatre, for the wooden ladies, whom he rigged to move through various mechanical devices.   In addition, Calvin wrote and recorded speeches and songs for each doll, which he played for the guests as a revue.

Each doll had particular attributes, which you can see here on Miss Mary’s quirky hat—or like on the doll Maple Harris’s cap gun, which keeps her safe on her bicycle while out for a spin!

In addition, Calvin designed “kitty” or tip jars for each doll.

In the original revue, customers were able to give each doll tips, which the Blacks used to buy jewelry, perfume, and trinkets for the most popular performers. The Museum has one of the original kitties on view, complete with pennies in its eyes. You can see the “kitty” at the center of the shot below.

After the Blacks’ deaths, the Possum Trot performance complex was disbanded and the dolls were scattered.

You can watch an excerpt from a documentary about Possum Trot here.

Calvin Black and Ruby Black, Possum Trot Midget Doll Theatre. ca. 1950-1972. Wood, wood paneling, laminated Masonite, nails, bolts, paint, electrical components, and carved and painted wooden dolls. The Michael and Julie Hall Collection of American Folk Art M1989.325.

Artist and folk/self-taught art collector Michael Hall assembled the largest surviving collection of the dolls, as well as other original materials, then built a stage set to evoke the original theater.  This was given to the Museum in 1989 as part of the Michael and Julie Hall Collection of American Folk Art, here you can visit an earlier Museum blog post about The Newsboy from the Hall Collection.

Today, visitors to the Museum can see Miss Ripple, Helen Marvel, Little Red Riding Hood and others perform, accompanied by an archival recording of Calvin Black’s songs and patter.  Come in to see this work on the upper level with “Folk & Self Taught” art collections, but please don’t tip the ladies today:  they’re now non-profit employees!

William Keyse Rudolph is the Museum’s curator of American art and Decorative arts, focusing on the Museum’s collections of American painting, sculpture, ceramics, glass, furniture, silver, and textiles from the 17th to the 20th centuries.

Jacques de l'Ange (Flemish, active in Antwerp 1631–1642), Gluttony, ca. 1642. Oil on canvas, 49 1/4 x 40 1/4 in. Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of Frank A. Murn M2006.45. Photo credit John R. Glembin.

Alas, the Milwaukee Art Museum does not own a Caravaggio painting.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (Italian, 1571-1610) was a revolutionary painter who combined theatrical compositions and lighting with realistic depictions of humans to make some of the most dramatic and memorable paintings from the early Baroque period.

Unfortunately, he died young and his paintings are hard to come by.  Some of my favorites are The Calling of Saint Matthew in Rome and Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness in Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum.

But no need to despair!  Many artists who traveled to Italy in the 17th century—and lots who didn’t—were inspired to use the style of the great artist Caravaggio.  The Milwaukee Art Museum has great paintings by some of these northern European artists, which hang in Gallery #5 with Northern Baroque paintings.  Two of them—Christ before the High Priest by Mathias Stom and Mars, God of War by Gerrit von Honthorst—are by well-known artists of the phenomenon.

I’ve found myself recently admiring one in particular, by the least-known artist in the gallery: Gluttony by Jacques de l’Ange.

Jacques de l’Ange was a Flemish artist, active in Antwerp (which is in modern Belgium) between 1631 and 1642.  He has only recently been specifically identified.  Previously he was known as “Monogrammist JAD” because he signed his paintings with just his initials.

How does l’Ange emulate Caravaggio’s sytle?  Caravaggio used one light source in his paintings to cast dramatic, almost theater-like shadows.  In Gluttony, l’Ange uses a candle on the right side of the composition as his single light.  Not only does this make the scene emerge from the darkness in the back, but it also gives depth to the painting by accentuating the modelling of the figures.

What I really like about Gluttony is that this powerful technique adds to the mood of the subject matter.

Gluttony, which is the excessive indulgence in food and drink, is one of the seven deadly sins.  The seven deadly sins, which all Christians are to protect themselves against, are pride, envy, avarice, wrath, lust, gluttony and sloth.  First established by Pope Gregory the Great in the 6th century, the seven deadly sins become an essential part of the Catholic Church’s catechism. In the 13th century, they are discussed by the great theologian St. Thomas Aquinas in Summa Theologica, and in the 14th century they are a key theme in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Dante Alghieri’s Divine Comedy.

These sins are deadly because they can cause death, but also because they are dangerous to the fate of the soul—commit these sins, and the soul will pay after death.

Needless to say, this is serious stuff and perfect subject matter for an artist like Jacques l’Ange, who lived in Catholic Flanders.  A picture is worth a thousand words, when you are warning people about the possible fate of their soul.

Jacques de l'Ange (Flemish, active in Antwerp 1631–1642), Gluttony, ca. 1642. Oil on canvas, 49 1/4 x 40 1/4 in. Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of Frank A. Murn M2006.45. Photo credit John R. Glembin.

In the Museum’s painting, l’Ange shows himself as an artist at his easel, distracted by drink.  His clothes are so disheveled that his shoulder is bare.  To make it clear that he is being overindulgent, he holds a cup in each hand.  The bartender hovers over his shoulder, ready to refill one of them when it is empty.  Clearly, the young man is not going to get much painting done tonight!

And just to add to the foreboding tone of the painting, the figure holding the candle that so dramatically illuminates the scene is a young horned devil, looking very pleased at the results of this young man’s gluttony.  You can almost imagine his evil chuckle as the candle flickers, casting ominous shadows on the artist.

The seven deadly sins is a popular subject matter for artists.  Hieronymus Bosch (Netherlandish, 1450-1516) painted a work that shows the sins in a circle.  (Here’s a blog post that explains more.)

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Netherlandish, 1526/30-1569) did a set of drawings depicting the seven deadly sins, which were published as prints in the mid-16th century.  Here is Bruegel’s version of gluttony (gula in Latin).

Milwaukee’s work was originally thought to be a depiction of one of the other seven deadly sins, sloth.  After finding out that the Ashmoleam Museum at the University of Oxford has a full set of paintings by Jacquest l’Ange of the seven deadly sins—they are smaller, and done on copper—we discovered that that this Museum’s painting is actually representing gluttony.  (Sloth shows a sleeping man.)   Because the Ashmolean owns all seven from the series, it is a great opportunity to see l’Ange treatment of the other sins, as well as how he handles the single-light source technique.

And I like to think that Gluttony is popular in Milwaukee because of the single-light source painting technique, rather than the double-fisting artist.
Catherine Sawinski is the Assistant Curator of Earlier European Art. When not handling the day-to-day running of the European art department and the Museum’s Fine Arts Society, she researches the collection of Ancient and European artwork before 1900.

Ceramics in place

If you’ve read curator Mel Buchanan’s posts Painting the Gallery Walls or Layers of Exhibition Paint, you already have a general sense of how an exhibition physically comes together.  A lot of those same processes apply to the execution of an exhibition store, as well.

While Impressionism: Masterworks on Paper was still in full swing, Director of Retail Operations Karen McNeely and Store Manager Jeanne Tripi met with the Museum’s Exhibition Designer John Irion to discuss the dimensions and the colors of the Accidental Genius: Art from the Anthony Petullo Collection exhibition store.  In fact, the Impressionism store and the Accidental Genius store are located in the exact same space–just the configuration of the walls has shifted.

Ceramics waiting to go on display

Bearing in mind the available retail space and the art featured in the exhibition, Karen and her team of buyers started choosing or producing merchandise for the Accidental Geniusstore, which was gathered on rolling racks until it could be brought upstairs into Baker/Rowland Gallery to be displayed in the new store.

Product in storage

As the merchandise arrived at the Museum’s Southwest Dock, it was unpacked, counted, scrutinized for flaws, priced and organized on rolling racks by the store’s receiving team, Brieanne and Anna.

Christine and Jeanne survey the space

Jeanne considered all space, fixture and product information and plotted how to “merchandize” the items in a way that is compelling, unique, reflects the content as well as the spirit of the exhibition, and welcomes visitors to linger and shop.

Jeanne priming

Several sales associates came in to help Jeanne prime and paint fixtures and shelves.

Stevie and Dan work on the mural

For Accidental Genius, Stevie Weishan designed and painted her own original mural on the wall directly facing the exit doors of the exhibition store.  One afternoon, she enlisted the assistance of her artistically talented co-worker, Dan.

Anna renovating frames

Earring display

Anna chipped in to remove chicken wire from a frame, staple by staple—this winter, small French tumbled marble tiles hung from the wires in the Impressionism: Masterworks on Paper exhibition store.  The frame was given a couple coats of paint, mounted over some burlap and became an earthy and effective display for jewelry.

Closeup of Erin painting

Erin came in to lend a hand by painting the retail ecosystem for the adorable stuffed blue monkey, inspired by David Pearce’s Monkey at the Door, on view in the exhibition.

Exhibition T-shirt

Product Development lead Julia Jackson did a brilliant job creating Accidental Genius exhibition keepsakes like postcards, notecards, magnets and posters, fabulous mugs based on by Johann Garber’s Ein Leopard, and one of my favorite exhibition tees of all time, featuring a work by Albert Louden.  (If you look to the background of this image, you can see the blue monkey, swinging happily in the habitat that Erin and Jeanne created for him!)

Opening a featured exhibition store requires innovation every time: there are the new dimensions and layout to work with, new products, new colors, a new design aesthetic, and new problems to puzzle out.  Here are before and after shot, now that you have a fresh perspective on how much thought and hard work goes into this ever-changing little space!  Ta-da!  Hope to see you there soon!

An early view of the exhibition store

Finished view of the exhibition store

All photos by Donele Pettit

Donele Pettit organizes events, promotions and communications specific to the Milwaukee Art Museum Store and loves to introduce art and design objects for visitors to take home and enjoy in their daily lives.

To celebrate the exhibition, the Museum has a variety of programs and Gallery Talks scheduled, as well as panel discussions, dance performances, and a special MAM After Dark.

Also this month, be sure to include the entire family for Play Date with Art (Friday, February 17) and the grand opening of the Kohl’s Education Center (February 25 and 26). Don’t forget, kids age 12 and under are free every day at the Museum.

Finally, the Museum is continuing its popular One-Hour Exhibition series in the Herzfeld Center on Tuesday, February 21 (1:30 p.m.) and Thursday, February 23 (5 p.m.). Don’t miss it!

Stay tuned for more exciting events at the Museum, including the upcoming Art in Bloom event, March 29 through April 1.

Kristin Settle: PR Manager for the Milwaukee Art Museum, otherwise referred to as Museum cheerleader.

Attributed to John Henry Belter (American, b. Germany, 1804–1863), Sofa, ca. 1850. Rosewood, rosewood laminate, modern velvet upholstery, 54 x 93 1/2 x 40 in. Milwaukee Art Museum, Bequest of Mary Jane Rayniak in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph G. Rayniak M1987.16. Photo credit Larry Sanders.

I’m a Modernist. Give me George Nelson over the Herter Brothers any day.

But all my normal predilections aside, I do love this sofa in the Museum’s collection. It is positively dripping with flowers and leaves and fruit, puffed up with ornament and upholstery stuffing, and tufted on every square inch of its way-too-high-to-be-practical back.

This sofa is exactly the type of “disingenuous” factory-produced Victorian-era object that the reforming Modern designers of the early 20th century–heck, many stylish designers of today–decried as soulless.

So in the spirit of Valentine’s Day–a holiday that is also decried by cynics (me included) as soulless, mass-produced, and disingenuous–I thought I’d ignore all the star-crossed and wanton lovers in Museum paintings to point out this great red sofa that seems to embody all the over-the-top love and lust and chocolate truffles of this greeting card holiday.

This is the Valentine’s Day of furniture. A guilty pleasure we love.

Attributed to John Henry Belter, Sofa, ca. 1850. Detail. Bequest of Mary Jane Rayniak in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph G. Rayniak, M1987.16. Photo by the author.

This sofa is attributed to the German immigrant craftsman John Henry Belter (American, 1804–1863), one of New York City’s most fashionable furniture makers. We can’t say with authority that it was his, because none of his objects are labelled and his factory records do not exist. There is a strikingly similar Belter example in the collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Belter shop had over 40 woodworkers, utilizing innovative methods of bending and laminating wood to supplement highly skilled hand work like you see in all the carved details. Belter turned out massive, curving forms that were strong, lightweight, and lavishly carved in the taste of the Victorian-era. You can see in the detail at right that the lavish carved ornament on the front is not found on the back, which is a curved rosewood sheet that is lovely in its own right. (Or, to a Modernist like me, perhaps more lovely.)

Stylistically, this sofa is an example of the Rococo Revival style that was popular in the middle years of the 19th century. This style “revived” the references to nature that were popular in the 18th-century’s Rococo taste. To a stylist of the 1850s, they may have called this ornament “modern French style”, referencing the French 18th-century style of Rococo done with a little extra up-to-date Victorian “umph”. You can see “rococo” style in the fruits (like the grapes below), flowers, curving cabriole legs, and profusion of S and C shapes.

Detail showing cluster of grapes and patterning in the rosewood. Attributed to John Henry Belter, Sofa, ca. 1850. Detail. Bequest of Mary Jane Rayniak in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph G. Rayniak, M1987.16. Photo by the author.

Though this sofa was made in the mid-19th century in the middle of an era of greatly increased affordability for factory-produced goods, it would have been quite expensive. According to Belterfurniture.net, an existing Belter company invoice from 1855 lists a ten piece parlor set for $1,165. That’s about $26,000 in 2010 dollars, but $1,165 was also what an average worked made in about four years in the 1850s. This was still very luxurious furniture, even if it was factory-made.

Attributed to John Henry Belter, Sofa, ca. 1850. Detail. Bequest of Mary Jane Rayniak in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph G. Rayniak, M1987.16. Photo by the author.

In the late 19th-century reformers advocated for improvements in all parts of life–higher wages, better health standards, equality in politics and education, but also art and design changes.

Many design reformers looked at this Victorian style of furniture and claimed that it had no meaningful connection to the place where it was made or the workers that made it. Reformers offered various different models for what an alternative “good design” might be–resulting in a wave of design philosophies including the Arts & Crafts Movement and Art Nouveau. Some design reformers thought that good design should be crafted by hand (not machine), or that it should have abstract geometric ornament that did not refer to another time period, or even that as Americans we should look to Native American Indian ornament for inspiration as true to our place.

So looking back at this design 150+ years later, we of course see this not as an insult to our tastes, or a representation of oppressed workers, or a mindless adoption of watered down historic styles.

We’ve literally put it on a pedestal in a Museum and use it as a historic document. This sofa tells a specific visual story of a time and place, and yet we still enjoy arguing over the aesthetic merit of the Victorian era.

Milwaukee Art Museum lower level "American Collections" gallery showing the Belter sofa on view. Photo by the author.

Have you found yourself in that argument? Do you disagree with your children or your spouse or your mother about tassels? Do you love tufted furniture, but have friends or decorators that insist you’d be better served with something simple? Does this style remind you of your grandmother? Or do you find Modernism cold?

I find it fascinating that this conversation has lasted for 150 years!

And just like the merits of Valentine’s Day, we’ll have to agree to disagree about whether it is tasteless and soulless, and perhaps enjoy debate as we feel smug about our preference. I for one won’t be sitting at a red-heart-balloon-infested restaurant celebrating the holiday, but I may sneak a few pink foil wrapped chocolates as I turn my nose up at all you lovers out there.

And I might prefer Ray and Charles Eames, but sometimes I do want to toss a patterned pillow with tassels (or ten!) on my sofa.

Mel Buchanan is the Assistant Curator of 20th-century Design. Mel’s curatorial responsibility includes interpreting, displaying, and building the Museum’s collection of craft, design, and decorative objects.

Puzzle Jug, 1771. Bristol, England. Buff earthenware/Bluish-white tin glaze. Chipstone Foundation Collection; Photo by Gavin Ashworth

Drinking games conjure up images of college students, Ping-Pong balls and red plastic cups. As the verse above suggests, though, this was not always the case. The puzzle jug was at the center of a humorous drinking game popular from the 16th to the 19th century. The jug, examples of which can be seen in the Hidden Dimensions exhibition on the Lower Level of the Milwaukee Art Museum, was meant for use in inns and public houses.

The game is straightforward: drink from the puzzle jug without removing it from the mouth or spilling any of the contents. This would be easy if it wasn’t for the puzzle jug’s form. The vessel, usually containing an amusing verse challenging the game’s participants, is bulbous with a neck pierced with geometric designs. There are usually three or more spouts sprouting out of the neck’s upper rim. If you try to drink in a conventional manner, by tipping the jug over, the contents would spill everywhere.

Puzzle Jug, 1771. Bristol, England. Buff earthenware/Bluish-white tin glaze. Chipstone Foundation Collection; Photo by Gavin Ashworth

So, how do you drink from a puzzle jug? The verse above, which is written on one of the puzzle jugs in the lower level gallery provides a clue. There is a hidden tube that runs around the rim and down the handle with an opening inside the jug. You need to suck on one of the spouts, yet as the puzzle jug proclaims, “the Reason is no Suction they have found”. For the spout to work, the drinker has to cover up the other two holes so that one of the holes functions as a straw. This was still deemed too easy at the time, and a small hidden hole was usually added underneath the jug’s handle. This hole also needed to be covered in order for the “straw” to work.

The jug would be passed around as each person took his/her turn trying to drink from the puzzle jug. The game required good hand and eye coordination, and momentary distractions increased the risk of a finger moving from the hole it was meant to cover, causing the drink to spill. I imagine that it was entertaining to watch the participants as they attempted the challenge. As one of the labels in Chipstone’s If These Pots Could Talk exhibition stated, “They say there’s no fool like an old fool. But the fools who spilled their liquor while trying to figure out which spouts to close on a puzzle jug had to shoulder the idiocy of the ages.”

Now you know the puzzle jug’s playful secret. Come down to the gallery to listen to the puzzle jug challenge you to a game.

Claudia Mooney works for Chipstone, the Milwaukee-based foundation dedicated to promoting American decorative arts scholarship. She researches objects and creates relevant programming for Chipstone’s exhibitions at the Milwaukee Art Museum and in the community.

Gabby made pies inspired by Wayne Thiebaud's "Refrigerator Pies."

This past semester, I was fortunate enough to have a talented, dedicated art education student named Jessica Janzer interning as a teaching assistant for the Satellite High School Program. Jessica worked hard every Thursday and Friday on all of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into creating a program, and also taught one of the sessions. As part of her internship, she wrote the below blog post reflecting on the program. I’m thrilled that Jessica will continue to intern with me in the spring semester, too! –Chelsea Kelly, School & Teacher Programs Manager

The Milwaukee Art Museum. To most, the Museum is a beautiful and almost untouchable place – a place of high class and good taste, and of course, it is also Milwaukee’s most attractive asset. When I saw an internship opening there, I promptly jumped on the opportunity. The fact that I would be working at the Museum excited me, but I was intrigued even further when I learned it would be in the Education Department!

After I was hired, Chelsea Kelly, my supervisor, took me on a whirlwind of a tour through the Museum offices, the Education Resource Center, and the public spaces. I met so many new faces and was bombarded with many new names to remember, but was excited nonetheless. I started the internship right away on September 15th, the first day of the Satellite program. The program functions as an interactive art history/museum studies class for high schoolers. We worked with the teens interpreting works of art in the galleries, invited guest artists to work with the students in other fields of art, and included a few activities to connect the teens to the artwork. As I was introduced to the class, more names were on a list for me to match with the bright, young faces of the Satellite class. I found myself taking attendance every week (you wouldn’t believe how much this helped to remember their names!).

Donnie gives his presentation on Robert Gober's "Untitled." He created a painting and poem in response to the work.

Malik (far right) shares how Tara Donovan's "Bluffs" pulled him in.

We jumped in right away with exploring the galleries and getting to know one another. Everyone started off a bit shy, but Chelsea acted as a good mediator in getting us all motivated and working together. We chose works of art to explain our moods. We chose works of art that we would find hanging in our grandmother’s living room. We chose works of art that reminded us of our childhood. Other days, we chose works of art that made us most uncomfortable. We chose works of art to analyze and discuss with partners. We learned about an array of museum jobs, from public relations managers to conservators, from librarians to curators.

The teens came together as a community of artists as we delved into Taryn Simon’s rich exhibition of photographs. We contemplated Simon’s process: does the Theory of Knowledge influence her work? After sending out a surprisingly mature and philosophical letter to Simon, the students seemed to grow closer and became more comfortable sharing ideas with one another. We continued on, analyzing Georgia O’Keeffe through critic and artist quotes. We began to think of an artist as a different “species” of human – one that is labeled and raised up to certain expectations, despite the artist’s intentions or wishes.

Chelsie presents on Robert Henri's "Betalo Nude," connecting his work with her own love of music.

We learned different ways of responding to works of art. Kelly, from Danceworks, Inc., showed us how to use our bodies as a form of moving and changing visual art. We felt ourselves carefully responding to each other’s movements in sync with the music being played, as well as the chosen art piece we were responding to. Musicians collaborated with Jim Campbell’s Taxi Ride to Sarah’s Studio (2010), and the teens were able to experiment with musical instruments and lots of high-tech DJ gear.

Mowpunzor wrote and performed a song inspired by Vik Muniz' "Wheat Field with Cypresses after Van Gogh."

Chelsea even let me teach my own mini-lesson! I planned to explore Sol LeWitt’s Wall Drawing #88 with the teens, and tackled it in a way I thought they would enjoy – through hands-on interaction. We discussed the vague but crucial question of “what makes art ‘art’” and then jumped into “Jessica Janzer’s Wall Drawing, No. 1.” Each student drew up some lines within a square, according to instructions I had prepared for them. We traveled down to the gallery, and I sat them in front of LeWitt’s massive wall of delicate graphite lines.

Then it clicked. My activity applied to what was out in front of them, and they each began to have individual connections with the piece. This looking and thinking was followed with an interpretive discussion on their thoughts, opinions, and feelings. Some of the students had never even seen the piece before (a bit shocking – although I did expect this outcome). Perhaps this fact alone pushes LeWitt’s intentions even further when you think about the temporal quality of the line drawings and the inconspicuous nature of each wall drawing—the informal detachment from our notions of “art.” Either way, it was extremely enriching to see my lesson plan and intentions for the students blossom into a quizzical discussion of what art is.

Actually, I think I can say the same for the class in general. I would definitely rank my Milwaukee Art Museum internship among my top life experiences. When you yourself are the learner, and are engaged in the classroom as a student, it’s very difficult to take a step back and realize the changes and improvements that have occurred within yourself and the class as a whole. Now, however, I have seen things on a whole new level; I have seen the seeds be planted and watched them grow within the students. I watched the teens learn to appreciate art on new levels, become comfortable in a museum setting, have the confidence to communicate their thoughts with others (even strangers from other schools).

Party time in the brand-new Kohl's Art Generation Studio!

No celebration is complete without homemade cupcakes.

The students all chose a piece of art upon which to reflect and create a response, and at our last class, they presented to the whole group, including Museum staff, program funders, their teachers, family, and friends. Their final presentations were phenomenal! With over 18 guests attending, among them the Museum’s director, Dan Keegan, the students were all pretty nervous. Thankfully, they all showed up (even in the – gasp – three inches of snow we got on that Thursday night), and most had family, teachers, or friends there to support them.

Something changed within me on that Thursday night. As I watched the students present their work, and pour out emotion and humor and each of their individual personalities, I was truly touched. Because even though I was merely an intern working with the class, I realized that I had been a part of their life, within their time spent at the Museum every Thursday. I felt myself become proud of the teens – my teens. They clearly have all changed; more confidence, courage, and pride – the good kind – have been instilled within each of them. And I am so happy to have been a part of this.

Aldo gives the Satellite Program two thumbs up.

This internship was a perfect fit for me. I am currently a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, with an intended BFA in Painting/Printmaking, a double BFA in Art Education, and a minor in Art History. School keeps me busy, but I’m glad I found time for Satellite. Every week, my Thursdays went from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm, with the Satellite program tacked onto my school and work schedule. I don’t regret the experience one bit. I feel blessed and grateful to have been given this opportunity, and I plan to stay with the Art Museum and Chelsea Kelly for as long as I possibly can!

–Jessica Janzer, Milwaukee Art Museum School & Teacher Programs Intern

Note: All photos in this post are by Jessica Janzer, and were taken during the final Satellite session, in which the teens presented their final projects.

Art books to be sold to benefit the George Peckham Miller Art Research Library’s book acquisition fund. Photo by the author.

It’s book sale time again! At the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Art Research Library Used Book Sale, you’ll find wonderful materials that are either duplicative or outside of our Library’s collecting area. And, of course, all proceeds benefit the Art Library’s book acquisition fund.

During the first days of March, discover bound treasures, used books on art and art history-related subjects from the Museum’s George Peckham Miller Art Research Library as well as select sale gifts, home and fashion accessories from the Museum Store.

Whether you are on the lookout for books on the paintings of Pablo Picasso, the sculpture of Gaston Lachaise or the drawings of Georgia O’Keeffe, we have books on your favorite artists. And don’t pass up the catalog on the Louvre – we sell it cheaper than a round-trip flight to Paris!

Hope you can join us at this wonderful annual opportunity to let your shopping habits benefit the Museum’s Art Research Library!!

Used Book Sale
March 1 through 4, 2012

• Friday–Sunday, 10 AM–5 PM
• Thursday 10 AM–8 PM

Location: Northwestern Mutual Room, adjacent to Windhover Hall

No Admission required to shop.
Proceeds benefit the George Peckham Miller Art Research Library’s book acquisition fund.

Heather Winter manages and oversees the Museum’s George Peckham Miller Art Research Library, the institutional archives and the rare books collection.

Richard H. Jansen (American, 1910–1988), East Side Street in Winter, n.d. Gouache sheet: 17 1/4 x 23 3/4 in. Milwaukee Art Museum, Layton Art Collection, Gift of Layton Art League, L1948.2.

Last week I had the opportunity to drop in on a new event at the Museum. It was a one-hour exhibition featuring “Winter Scenes Across the Ages” from the prints and drawings collection. It was a perfect winter day, all blizzardy as I walked to my internship at the Museum. A better setting could not have been wished for to coincide with the winter theme of the pop-up exhibition.

I had encountered this event through the Museum’s Web site, on the Calendar + Events page. I try to check it regularly as not to miss out on the numerous special programs that are available. I was thrilled at the  opportunity to encounter art that is so rarely seen by the public (how exciting!) And, as someone interested in the inner workings of museums, I thought it was simply a brilliant idea! Museums try to find new ways to engage the public and share their collections, and to me this seemed like a lively way to see prints and drawings based on a timely issue. In this case: Winter!

The Museum’s one-hour exhibitions series will feature prints, drawings, and photographs that make up a large number of artwork in the Herzfeld Foundation Print, Drawing, and Photography Study Center that cannot be on view for extended periods because of their vulnerability to light exposure.

Keiji Shinohara (Japanese, b. 1955), Winter Garden, 1998. Color woodcut, sheet: 17 5/16 x 13 1/16 in. Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of Print Forum, M2005.1. Photo by John R. Glembin.

In the “Winter Scenes Across the Ages,” curator Mary Weaver Chapin presented a variety of works that depicted winter in some way, through assorted techniques and by different artists. Although all of the works were pleasing to the eye, four especially captured my imagination.

Winter Garden (at right) was a stunning color woodcut on paper by Keiji Shinohara (Japanese, b. 1955), showing stark limbs of thin trees before a lovely soft blue backdrop with a pattern of darker blue leaves.

East Side Street in Winter (at top and shown larger at bottom) by Richard H. Jansen (American, 1910–1988) was a gouache showing a nearly empty Milwaukee street, framed by the robust color of residences leading your eye to a solitary man at the end of the street.

Burial Procession with Umbrellas (L’Enterrement aux Parapluies), a color woodcut on paper by Henri Rivière (French, 1864–1951), evokes the somber emotion inherent at a funeral. As you can see in the image below, a long line of mourners trudge behind a horse and carriage while they shield the gray rain that is coming down in sheets. Faces are obscured by umbrellas, but we can imagine their expressions. In style and color and mood, Burial Procession with Umbrellas seems to convey the idea “Could things get any worse?”

Henri Rivière (French, 1864–1951), Burial Procession with Umbrellas (L’Enterrement aux Parapluies),1891. Color woodcut, block: 13 1/16 x 9 11/16 in. Milwaukee Art Museum, Purchase, with funds from the Ralph and Cora Oberndorfer Family Trust, M2007.68. Photo by John R. Glemin.

Finally, Emil Nolde’s Cottage on the North Sea in Winter was a watercolor that reflects much of the wonder and beauty I find when passing by Lake Michigan each day. But also Nolde’s work somehow makes me dream of the far north and the magical light of the Aurora Borealis, dancing in the sky, over a dark winter landscape.   As a Museum intern, I was able to look up the work in the Museum’s database of artwork, and learned that “the watercolor is the view from Nolde’s house and studio at Seebüll [Germany] towards the neighboring farm at Hülltoft.  At the right a part of the sea, the Hülltoft Deeps, can be seen.”

In the Museum’s one-hour exhibition of winter scenes, I enjoyed seeing how differently all the artists encountered and chose to represent winter. It made me reflect on my own winter experience earlier that day walking to the Museum, insulated by the snow falling all around me. Whether in the real winter wonderland, or seeing it depicted in great artwork, I escaped into my own world, free to daydream as I often do in those moments.

One of my favorite parts about my walk is looking out over the lake and the Museum buildings as I approach the Quadracci Pavilion in winter.  At times its wings are spread wide, embracing the day, and other times its pointed head can be seen peeking above its shoulders, as if wrapped in a blanket while it rests its appendages. This outdoor lake scene, water and sky, is a constantly changing canvas, with a continuous cast of characters, birds and great steel ships of all different sorts making cameos as they move through this frame.  Sometimes the water is concealed by fog, while at others large groups of birds can be seen huddled, floating together to shield themselves from the frigid chill in the air.  What a contrast it is to the clear skies of summer, with delicate sailboats atop mirror-like water shimmering in the distance.

Richard H. Jansen (American, 1910–1988), East Side Street in Winter, n.d. Gouache sheet: 17 1/4 x 23 3/4 in. Milwaukee Art Museum, Layton Art Collection, Gift of Layton Art League, L1948.2.

After last week’s one-hour exhibition, the beauty of winter is on my mind. I look forward to discovering other one-hour exhibitions highlighting a different theme, style, medium, or artist each month.

The next one-hour exhibition features “Love in the Lens” photographs with curator Lisa Hostetler on Tuesday, Feb 21, 1:30–2:30 p.m. and Thursday, Feb 23, 5–6 p.m.  More are planned through the spring, so watch the Museum calendar for details!

-Lydelle Abbott, Museum curatorial intern