Milwaukee Art Museum Blog
This coloring book is a perfect dialogue between myself as an artist and the art museum in my hometown.
–Reginald Baylor
Ted and I visited Reginald Baylor’s studio space in development in Milwaukee’s Sherman Park neighborhood to talk about his new coloring book collaboration with the Art Museum during a freakishly cold spring storm.
Your adoring Museum Store has so many gifts that say “I love you,” you may very well swoon with delight! Read on to uncover some of our favorite gifts, then check out the online Valentine’s Day gift guide for more inspirational ideas to help you lavish your beloved with objects of affection.
The secret is out: museum stores are the savviest shopping destination for unique gifts. Most shopping malls and department stores are so much of the same—let us help you find thoughtful gifts that stand out from the crowd!
The crown jewel in the Museum Store’s gift offerings this year is the wintry, yet vibrant Snowy Afternoon ornament designed by Milwaukee illustrator Christiane Grauert. This artful ornament celebrates the historic renovation of the Art Museum against a backdrop of the Milwaukee lakefront cityscape…and if you visit the Store on December 3rd (also a Member Double Discount Day), Grauert will even personalize your ornaments for truly one-of-kind gift-giving.
I recently had the privilege of visiting the home and studio of Lois Ehlert, Milwaukee’s award-winning children’s book author, along with my photographer friend Megan Yanz. Ehlert published a personal and inspiring new book in March called The Scraps Book: Notes from a Colorful Life, which you can learn more about in our previous post about our visit to Ehlert’s studio. Ehlert’s home, as you can see from Megan’s photos that accompany this post, is a welcoming gallery-like space that deserves its own story. Please enjoy this continuation of our visit to Lois Ehlert’s home and studio.
Our senses were first enticed by the lovely scent of fresh, natural flowers as we approached Lois Ehlert’s apartment in a beautiful old downtown building on an otherwise blustery day.
Ehlert welcomed me and Megan Yanz so Megan could photograph her remarkable collection of folk art while I learned more about Ehlert’s newest publication for children, The Scraps Book: Notes from a Colorful Life (a limited quantity of copies signed by the author are available to buy online). With the feature exhibition Uncommon Folk: Traditions in American Art now on view at the Art Museum, the timing was perfect to visit Ehlert’s cozy, artful and welcoming home.
Visiting the Bay View studio of Beth Eaton Pottery, I had the enviable sense of the elements of work and family, business and creativity in harmonious balance. Beth Eaton’s work is featured in the Uncommon Folk: Traditions in American Art exhibition store, and is full of warmth and laughter and radiates a go-with-the-flow attitude as well as a clear vision. She is someone who both creates and responds to possibilities.
On a searingly sun-filled afternoon, I set out on an adventure with my intrepid photographer friend, Meg, seeking the Milwaukee studio where Heather Hambrecht creates her fantastic organic leather handbag line, (h(om)e). We were armed with an address, detailed directions and a GPS—so we weren’t really expecting a grand adventure requiring a one-woman rescue mission to get us through the final blocks to our urban destination.
I was first introduced to local designer Renotta Thompson‘s work the weekend of the Art of the Table event at the Museum in November 2010.
The Museum Store featured her work in the Art of the Table “satellite store” that weekend, and even in the company of great international design houses, her RRT Designs pewter jewelry line (crafted by her own hand right here in Southeastern Wisconsin) stood out.
Written by “Sunny” the Dog
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.
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.