Tag: exhibition

At the End of 2024

It’s time for the end of year reckoning. I actually got some things done this year, professionally at least. Three exhibitions, which seems like a lot. They were very different projects, but each provided a unique path for understanding something that is central in my life.

Despite seemingly disparate subjects, this year’s efforts were all about the creative process. Each exhibition provided a peek into the collaboration that is at the heart of art making. Whether exploring the teamwork inherent in industrial design, diving into one artist’s practice and how it is used to make sense of the world, or looking into how trust is built while creating a portrait of a community, all of the exhibitions can be seen as a consideration of how things get made. 

In order of opening, first up was “Creating a Legend: Art & Engineering at Harley-Davidson.” With design help from BlueWater Studio and WeatherstonBruer Associates the exhibition shares how art and design have been integral to the company since the very beginning.

Including some historical design stories and a peek into the workings of the current H-D design team with clay, models, and prototyping, the gallery is my first attempt at wrangling an industrial design topic. I hope to pursue more design stories, which are different from art stories, and this project allowed me to find some footing in that world. 

Check out the great coverage we got thanks to the best PR man in Wisconsin. See stories in Shepherd Express, RideApart, OnMilwaukee and even the MIAD blog.

My favorite thing that was arranged was a live radio interview with Sandy Maxx on 620 WTMJ. Hard to believe I enjoyed a live radio interview, but Sandy is a pro, she made us feel warmly welcomed with enthusiasm and focused questions.

Next up, in my other life as an independent curator: “Nirmal Raja: Asking a Question of Thread” was on view at the James Watrous Gallery in Madison, WI from August into October. This was a great opportunity to work with an intriguing artist as she relocated out of the state that has been her home for over 20 years. We put together a beautiful show. Check out gallery director Jody Clowes’ interview with artist in the Fall 2024 issue of Wisconsin People & Ideas.

In December, “Ezy Ryders: History and Tradition, Heart and Soul,” opened at the H-D Museum. This project grew out of years of correspondence with photojournalist Cate Dingley and is based on her book project of a similar title. It’s a gorgeous installation of her work getting to know Black motorcyclists in New York, featuring photographs and interviews with the riders.

Again, with the help of the same excellent PR support, we received good local media coverage with Urban Milwaukee, OnMilwaukee, Shepherd Express and another fun interview on 620 WTMJ.

It’s been a busy year of connection, collaboration, and examining the creative process. In the coming years will I continue the independent art curating, or will I focus only on projects for my actual job? I really don’t know. It all depends on what I want or need to explore. Because how do I make sense of the world? By making things. I happen to make exhibitions for my work, which was not a bad thing this year. 

Details!

Coming soon

This evening the artist will be interviewed by another curator. More words to weave through and around the work and her practice, more meaning to dig into, more to uncover and understand.

But will they talk of beauty? That’s what drew me to her work in the first place, the drop-dead gorgeousness of it all. Surface and material, color and texture, the space it demands. That’s what I need to convey: how artwork can carry complex and intellectual meaning but also be beautiful.  

This all started at the Alice Wilds exhibition, “Wrapping Air In Cloth and Other Seemingly Impossible Tasks: Nirmal Raja,” on display in Milwaukee during November and December of 2019.

I was lucky to attend a gallery talk by the artist and was struck by how connected I felt to the work. Raja’s use of visual language is powerful. She is able to take feelings of dislocation and loss, global experiences of violence and vulnerability, or personal practice, and transform them into visual experiences that are not only comprehensible, but also incredibly beautiful.

It is a difficult balance to achieve, I think, this equilibrium between content and aesthetics. I’m not even sure these are the best terms to describe what I’m trying to say. The meaning that many artists strive to convey can be masked or obscured by the visual experience. For works to convey meaning, it can be helpful to invite the viewer in somehow, to make them feel–if not welcome, then at least interested. Beautiful work may not always be complex, but it can whack you over the head. That’s what I am interested in. Raja’s work smacks hard. Double-whammy.

So that’s what I’m working on now. Trying to find the words, finalize the checklist, and develop the gallery layout for a group of works that will convey some powerful meaning in glorious ways. The exhibition opens in Madison at the end of August 2024.