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Art Education Studio at Home

Kohl’s Art Generation Studio at Home: Painted Birds

Four birds sitting together in a birdcage

Did you miss Kohl’s Art Generation Family Sundays at Home: Animals in Art? No worries! We’ll be featuring some of our favorite activities from the virtual event in the coming weeks.

Learn to paint birds with Liala.

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Art Collection Contemporary Education Studio at Home

Kohl’s Art Generation Studio at Home: Shape and Line

Abstract art with black and white shapes
Al Held, Inversion XIII, 1977 (detail). Acrylic on canvas, 96 × 144 1/4 in. (243.84 × 366.4 cm). Gift of Herbert H. Kohl Charities, Inc. M1983.208 Photo by P. Richard Eells © 2017 Al Held Foundation, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Abstract art with black and white shapes
Al Held, Inversion XIII, 1977. Acrylic on canvas, 96 × 144 1/4 in. (243.84 × 366.4 cm). Gift of Herbert H. Kohl Charities, Inc. M1983.208 Photo by P. Richard Eells © 2017 Al Held Foundation, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

American artist Al Held (1928–2005) was an abstract painter, most famous for his large-scale, geometric works. His paintings are full of circles, squares, cubes, and other geometric shapes and forms that overlap. In the painting below, he used a masking technique to create lines with sharp edges. He masked (covered) the white sections with tape and painted the remaining sections black.

Here’s how you can make your own geometric painting using materials you may already have at home:

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Art Collection Education Modern Studio at Home

Kohl’s Art Generation Studio at Home: Create a Shadow Box

Shadowbox with map background, cutouts, bird figures, and shells
Joseph Cornell (American, 1903-1972). Celestial Navigation by Birds, ca. 1958. Mixed-media box construction

American artist Joseph Cornell (1903–1972) was famous for his imaginative, mixed-media shadow boxes. A shadow box is an enclosed box, with glass on the front, that contains artistic or personal objects. Cornell purchased trinkets from secondhand stores and cut out images from magazines to use as art supplies. He then arranged these objects to create dreamlike, mysterious, and whimsical scenes. Many of his shadow boxes had themes, like outer space or birds. Cornell spent a lot of time by himself; each shadow box offers a glimpse into his private world.

Here’s how you can create your own shadow box, using objects you find at home!

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20th and 21st Century Design Art Collection

Functional Fashions

Installation view, “Functional Fashions,” Milwaukee Art Musuem, 2019.

*Within the disability community today, some may prefer identity-first language (e.g., “disabled person”), or person-first language (e.g., “person with a disability”). Because the curators do not know the preferences of the historical subjects in the “Functional Fashions” display, they chose to use identity-first language based on the recommendations of collaborators.

The mistaken belief that there is no history of clothing designs for disabled users has had a number of repercussions. Among them: nearly all designers treat their own iterations as inaugural, there has been a dearth of innovation as designs are continuously repeated, and disability-led innovation is written out of the historical record [1]. Not only is there a long history of clothing designed by and for disabled persons, but in some cases it sets a higher standard than the efforts that followed. “Functional Fashions,” a display in the 20th- and 21st-Century Design Galleries at the Milwaukee Art Museum, introduces the largest collaborative clothing line for disabled persons in American history.

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Art

Book Donation Drive Through March 10

Two men crouching and holding tennis rackets inside a fenced area
Unknown (American), Selections from the San Quentin Prison Archive, 1930s–1980s (detail). Courtesy Nigel Poor & San Quentin State Prison Museum with thanks to Warden Ron Davis & Lieutenant Sam Robinson.
Two men crouching and holding tennis rackets inside a fenced area
Unknown (American), Selections from the San Quentin Prison Archive, 1930s–1980s. Courtesy Nigel Poor & San Quentin State Prison Museum with thanks to Warden Ron Davis & Lieutenant Sam Robinson.
Donate books.

In conjunction with the exhibition The San Quentin Project, The Milwaukee Art Museum is collecting books for the incarcerated people in our community. The book drive continues through March 10, 2019, through the run of the exhibition The San Quentin Project: Nigel Poor
and the Men of San Quentin State Prison
.

Categories
Art Collection Curatorial Exhibitions Photography and Media Arts

Curating Ho-Chunk Objects in Mrs. M.—’s Cabinet at the Milwaukee Art Museum

Painting of a brown, woven basket
Egg basket (circa 1900).
Egg basket (circa 1900).
Egg basket (circa 1900).

Ho-Chunk presence and their arts contributed to the development of Wisconsin Dells tourism—and to the material and aesthetic culture of the state. While Ho-Chunk representation is not always considered by tourists beyond stereotypical art for the trade, there is still a long and well-documented history of Ho-Chunk material life in the Wisconsin Dells area. The Ho-Chunk objects currently on exhibition in Mrs. M—’s Cabinet, are not the expected souvenirs of the Wisconsin Dells trade, but give a glimpse into the unfamiliar Ho-Chunk objects made and used in the Dells in the late 19th century.

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Art Collection Curatorial European

From the Collection: “The Martyrdom of St. Justina of Padua” by Domenico Brusasorci

Attributed to Domenico Brusasorci (Italian, ca. 1516–1567), Martyrdom of St. Justina of Padua (detail), mid–16th century. Oil on slate. Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of Myron Laskin Jr. M2016.117 Photo by John R. Glembin
Attributed to Domenico Brusasorci (Italian, ca. 1516–1567), Martyrdom of St. Justina of Padua, mid–16th century. Oil on slate. Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of Myron Laskin Jr. M2016.117 Photo credit: John R. Glembin.

Images of women martyrs have always been popular in art. Their stories are ripe with dramatic moments that capture the imaginations of both artist and audience. The subject also offers examples of moral virtue. Images of martyrs could be used as teaching tools for women in the early modern era, visually showcasing the moral ideals that they should embody.

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Events Museum Store

Our Resolution in 2018 is to Help You Keep Your Resolutions

Unknown, Untitled [family portrait] (detail), ca. 1810. Oil on canvas. Purchase, Leonard and Bebe LeVine Art Acquisition Fund M2010.34. Photo by John R. Glembin

Every year, millions of Americans make resolutions to start on New Year’s Day. The Milwaukee Art Museum always wants to inspire you, but your art museum also wants to inspire you to reach your goals this year.

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20th and 21st Century Design Art Curatorial Exhibitions

John J. Reiss: Artist, Designer, and Collector

John J. Reiss, photographed for Wisconsin Architect, January 1968
John J. Reiss, photographed for Wisconsin Architect, January 1968

Milwaukee has been home to many talented designers over the years, but they often fly under the radar. A designer’s main concern is to convey a message or idea on behalf of a client; one’s identity is secondary, but a talented designer finds a way to stand out.

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Art

Social before Social Media: Paul Druecke: A Social Event Archive, 1997–2007

The exhibition Paul Druecke: A Social Event Archive, 1997–2007 has been extended until August 27th! Come discover this Milwaukee artist’s project that looks at how “social” was defined in the era before social media.

In 1997, conceptual artist Paul Druecke began going door to door asking local residents to contribute a snapshot of a “social occasion, public or private, current or historical” to his project A Social Event Archive. Predating Instagram and Facebook and the blurring of private and public that such social media platforms encourage, the collected 731 photographs reflect a democratic definition of social events, up to and including picnics and potlucks, planned events and spontaneous moments.