Thriving, Not Surviving: Art Communities in the Midwest

Article featured in Artdose Magazine in print and online. Cross-published on the Association of Midwest Museum’s blog.

Even after seven years, the words of a college professor still resonate, “You can’t make art in a vacuum.” At the time, these words of wisdom didn’t carry as much weight as they do now. You can, in fact, make art in a vacuum. Working alone in a studio making paintings for the rest of time may sound like a dream for some. But, the truth is, art requires community. Strong communities are the backbone of successful experiences for artists and audiences alike.

Artists reach viewers through the spaces and platforms that promote their work. Curators and writers think critically about contemporary makers while developing and sharing connections. Publishers support exhibitions by communicating happenings to the general public in print and online. Each of these are necessary components in a functioning arts ecosystem.

New York City has long been known as the arts capital of the United States, followed by other coastal cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Miami, and Philadelphia, which are also well recognized for being creative and artistic hubs. Unlike coastal cities, the midwest offers affordable alternatives to securing physical spaces for studios, galleries, or independent projects. Lower living and rental costs provide artists sustainable means to support a creative practice.

The midwest is thriving with bountiful art communities sprinkled in urban, rural, and suburban areas, often overlooked in national arts and culture media. Artist-run gallery spaces operating out of homes, basements, garages, storefronts, and industrial warehouses continue to offer engaging and thoughtfully curated exhibitions in cities like Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, and Minneapolis, among many others. Small museums in these cities and others in the midwest complement their booming creative communities with robust collections, as well as challenging and relevant exhibition programming.

Carrie Johnson, Executive Director and Curator at the Rockford Art Museum in Rockford, IL describes her city’s art community, “We have a rich arts and culture scene. Rockford is unique because we are located in the center of some major cities with excellent art scenes including Chicago, IL (60 miles away), Milwaukee, WI (90 miles away), Madison, WI (65 miles away), and others. While we are a main hub, Rockford also includes several smaller communities around us like Freeport and Beloit.”

She discusses what she loves about artists and art communities in the midwest, “The scene is super diverse and has an honesty to it. It’s not contrived or forced but seems to come from within artists. There’s a certain grittiness to midwestern art that I love, it feels like this grit is derived from experience and hard work. Midwestern artists, in my opinion, have a certain confidence in their work that I have the utmost respect for. It’s not trying to fill a certain criterion or be something it’s not, it’s just naturally cool and sincere.”

Photo: Bold Abstractions: Paintings from the Thoma Collection”, 2019-2020. Photo by Rockford Art Museum.

Although some would argue that the midwest offers less opportunities for artists than larger cities like New York or Los Angeles, with fewer options for gallery representation, artists in midwestern cities continue to be integral in the formation of their own art communities. Artist and curator Jessica Bingham co-founded Project 1612 in Peoria, IL in 2015, supporting over 20 solo exhibitions of emerging artists since that time in a renovated garage gallery space. In addition to hosting the work of artists from across the nation, Project 1612 also partners with various organizations to support group exhibitions and community events like the Terrain Biennial, a public art festival. The Terrain Biennial encourages community participation across cities in the nation by way of site-specific installations in neighborhoods and unexpected areas: front porches, yards, windows, porches, and roofs. Another midwestern gem, this project was founded by artist Sabina Ott in 2011 and has grown to include over 500 participants bi-annually.

Emily Lanctot, Museum Director, Curator, and Associate Professor at Northern Michigan University shares, “If artists are willing to build it, folks will help, and supporters will come. Opportunities are and can be cultivated here.” Emily is Museum Director and Curator at the DeVos Art Museum, the only art museum open year round in the Upper Peninsula. As host of North of the 45th, an annual juried exhibition, the DeVos Art Museum celebrates the breadth and depth of artists from rural and urban areas living north of the 45th parallel in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The 45th parallel is known as the halfway point between the equator and the North Pole and is often associated with being “up north.” Initiatives to support artists in these areas are not uncommon for museums in the midwest. Located in Madison, Wisconsin, the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA) is known for their cornerstone exhibition, The Wisconsin Triennial, recognizing the strength and diversity of artists in Wisconsin. For the first time in its history, MMoCA invited a guest curator to organize the 2022 triennial exhibition. Fatima Laster, owner, operator, and curator of 5 Points Art Gallery + Studios in Milwaukee, highlighted the work of Black women artists in Wisconsin by representing intergenerational artists working across mediums in her curation.

In Wisconsin, artist-run projects in rural areas like The Poor Farm (Manawa, WI) and Wormfarm Institute (Reedsburg, WI) have gained national attention. Other artist-run spaces like Terrain Exhibitions in Springfield, IL, the Neon Heater in Findlay, OH, Public Space One in Iowa City, IA, Cultivate in Grand Rapids, MI, and Soo Visual Arts Center in Minneapolis, MN invite artists to submit exhibition proposals, complete residencies, and encourage collaboration across geographical boundaries. This short list only scratches the surface of the multitude of vibrant, bustling, and energetic art communities present in the midwest.

Photo: The Great Poor Farm Experiment (Little Wolf, WI), 2017, featured artists Monique Prieto and Michael Webster. Photo by Emily Lanctot.

Midwestern artists and organizations are not only creating exhibition opportunities, but also producing educational, networking, and professional development opportunities with a do-it-yourself attitude. MDW Fair is an artist-run assembly that convenes alternative artist platforms in the Chicago region by avoiding the financial and inaccessible practices of traditional art fairs. In Dayton, OH, a group of artists collaborated to organize Futures: A National Artist-Run Spaces Symposium. The symposium offered panel discussions and keynote speakers to benefit participants while creating a space to discuss strategies and methods of artist-run galleries, share experiences, and improve communities across the nation. Publishing opportunities exist here too, with the presence of arts writing platforms like Sixty Inches From Center, The Rib, Newcity Art, and The Third Rail, among other independent and artist-run publishing projects.

Massachusetts-based artist Kelly Clare, who recently exhibited at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point reflects, “In many ways, the midwest is a great place to make weird, contemporary art. There’s a lot of space, there’s a lot of material, there’s a lot of cheap material. You don’t find these opportunities out east where space is at a premium. There’s a certain generosity of material in the midwest that’s very fruitful and makes a lot of things possible for artists. It’s exciting.”

With affordable rent prices, vast amounts of space, and the freedom to experiment, artists are willing to begin projects, put down roots, and encourage local midwestern communities to follow along. Emily Lanctot describes midwestern art communities as “eclectic, wide-ranging, and expansive.” There is so much to experience between the coasts and beyond the conventionally known “art capitals” of the nation. The midwest’s heartbeat is strong and the network of artists and spaces here continue to discover, create, and offer compelling possibilities for all.

Artdose Magazine: On the Rise Vol. 32

Articles featured in Artdose Magazine in print and online.

Art Preserve

Sheboygan, WI

The Art Preserve of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI. Photo by Durston Saylor, courtesy John Michael Kohler Arts Center.

Constructed only three miles away from the John Michael Kohler Arts Center’s downtown location in Sheboygan, the Art Preserve is home to over 25,000 artworks and is the only space of its kind in the world. The three-story structure was designed by architecture firm Tres Birds and fabricated primarily out of concrete and wood, honoring materials that artists from the collection employed in their work. The structure itself was intentionally built into the side of a hill, utilizing the surrounding landscape as a design feature. Dual purpose timbers that span the entire facade have a jaw-dropping architectural impact, inviting visitors in as they simultaneously protect the housed artwork from sunlight overexposure. 

The Art Preserve was a labor of love nurtured into being by Ruth DeYoung Kohler, previous director of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, along with many others. The space opened in June 2021 after overcoming pandemic-related delays although initial conversations first began in 2007. While similar in many ways to a museum, the Art Preserve distinguishes its purpose to be curated, visual storage of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center’s permanent collection of artist-built environments, artworks, and objects. At the Art Preserve, one will find two-dimensional works displayed on museum storage racks, sculptures housed in climate-controlled vitrines as well as immersive, intricate installations, and much more. 

Self-taught, vernacular, academic, and folk artists like Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, Mary Nohl, Lenore Tawney, and Nick Engelbert are among artists in the collection. Artist-built environments like Emery Blagdon’s “Healing Machine” made out of aluminum foil, mechanical odds and ends, sheet metal and lights act as a focal point of the Arts Preserve’s extensive collection. Ruth DeYoung Kohler envisioned such diverse and incredibly distinctive environments being visible and accessible to the public. Curator Laura Bickford describes the space as an “exploratory laboratory that is open and welcome to everyone.” Parts of the collection are frequently rotated for the health of the objects as well as to provide new visitor experiences regularly. 

The glittery Beautiful Holy Jewel Home by Loy Bowlin is flanked by an installation of paintings by Gregory Van Maanen at the Art Preserve. Photo: Rich Maciejewski, courtesy of John Michael Kohler Arts Center

Demystifying museum culture by offering opportunities to experience behind the scenes moments of exhibition and installation execution, artwork care, and preservation is an integral function of the space itself. In addition, the Art Preserve also houses artist-commissioned washrooms, akin to their sister space downtown. Some living artists from the collection like Dr. Charles Smith and Gregory Van Maanen have collaborated with the Art Preserve on the presentation and installation of their work, while other contemporary artists like Michelle Grabner have been invited to formulate responses to the permanent collection. 

The curiosity and mystery of the Art Preserve has been successful in drawing in audiences both locally and from afar. Strategically not using the word “museum” in the name, the shorthand title Art Preserve is one that stuck, leaving room for different ways visitors can interact with the collection and allowing space for interpretation. The Art Preserve is celebrated for championing artists’ lifework and recognizing the significance of artist-built environments — Wisconsin is fortunate to be its home.

House of RAD

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Local artist Emma Daisy as she examines her 2-color print at the inaugural Steamroller Print benefit for Anchor Press Paper and print, hosted by the House of RAD. Photographer, Eric Purdue.

The House of RAD began as an idea in a sketchbook twelve years ago, but has transformed far beyond a doodle and some notes on a page. While also a slang term for excellent, “RAD” actually stands for “resident artist doers,” and operates as a communal hub and studio space for artists. The building home to House of RAD is a renovated battery factory in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood located at the intersection of Keefe and Fratney Streets. The collaborative space is home to 20 individual studio spaces that house craftspeople, artisans, and makers with different skill sets, ranging from photographers, designers and digital content creators to multidisciplinary artists, painters, muralists and sculptors. The physical space officially opened in 2020 and occupies 13,000 square feet in the old battery factory, previously the shipping and receiving department. Unlike a maker-space, House of RAD provides private studios for artists to focus on independent projects, but also includes communal areas that are useful for collaboration. 

The collection of multidisciplinary residents provides for an energetic, bustling studio where there is always a project in process. Brandon Minga, co-founder of House of RAD, describes the space as being “a place to empower artists to realize their dreams and equip them with the support and tools to do so.” Brandon, along with co-founder Tim Priebe and other resident artists, offer production and professional assistance to residents when needed. Modeling their space with a “by artists, for artists” mentality, the House of RAD is a pillar of the Milwaukee community, providing an environment that sustains and supports all types of creatives. 

Although the space doesn’t operate as a formal gallery, there is plenty of room for events. Feed Your Soul, an annual community event hosted by House of RAD, raises money for Feeding America and exceeded the $100,000 goal in 2021, supplying over 400,000 meals for families in need. Artists create live during the event and visitors are invited to participate by donating via available auction items. House of RAD also hopes to continue hosting an annual, all-day live printmaking event, STEAMROLLER MKE where the community is invited to participate and prints are created by the use of a steamroller, a true spectacle.

The space has future plans to expand into the original production warehouse of the battery factory that adjoins the current House of RAD. Expansion means that House of RAD will continue to collaborate, organize, and host events that support artists in Milwaukee, continuing to encourage “doers” of all kinds to achieve new projects and reach their professional goals.

Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum

Wausau, Wisconsin

With its mission to enhance lives through art, the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum offers an array of exhibitions and art-making opportunities, always admission free; photo by Richard Wunsch, Wausau.

The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum began with a dream and a gift: three daughters’ desire to honor their mother by giving an art museum to the Wausau community. Since opening in 1976, the Museum and dream have expanded, via its renowned Birds in Art exhibition, collection focused on art of the natural world, diverse changing exhibitions, and robust visual arts experiences, serving all of the northern Wisconsin community and beyond – always admission free. 

The Woodson Art Museum, as it’s known colloquially, is located just northeast of downtown Wausau and includes an outdoor sculpture garden, gallery spaces spanning two museum levels, two classrooms, a Rooftop Sculpture Garden which debuted in September 2021, and Art Park, an interactive space. Art Park invites visitors of all ages to engage in art-making at the Museum, complete puzzles, read books, and explore thematic, exhibition-related content.  

As the only full-service art museum in the northern half of Wisconsin, the Woodson Art Museum hosts a varied lineup of traveling exhibitions featuring an array of themes that have previously ranged from Tiffany glass and the optical illusions of M.C. Escher to children’s book illustrations and botanical art. Artist residencies, programs, tours, workshops, and special events enliven exhibitions. Offerings like take-and-make art kits and artist demonstrations encourage Woodson Art Museum visitors of all ages, stages, and abilities to absorb and explore art-making processes. In addition, the Museum’s annual flagship exhibition Birds in Art has taken flight and soared to become internationally renowned since its first iteration in 1976 as the inaugural offering at the space. 

During class visits at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, students experience artwork in the galleries and engage in art making, too; photo by Richard Wunsch, Wausau.

The story of the Museum’s early days includes a celebration of women – three daughters highlighting their mother, Leigh Yawkey Woodson, and her love of beautiful objects. During their childhood, Nancy Woodson Spire, Alice Woodson Forester, and Margaret Woodson Fisher were fortunate to be surrounded by handsome items, including their mother’s collection of porcelain birds and grandmother’s Victorian glass baskets. The daughters were inspired by their upbringing and devoted themselves to opening a space that honored their mother and provided barrier-free access to the visual arts.  

The Museum’s history includes legendary Wisconsin artist Owen Gromme, who became an integral stakeholder by orchestrating the inaugural exhibition. With the collaborative direction of the Museum’s founding families via John E. Forester, Owen Gromme invited a group of artist friends to contribute artwork to exhibit during the Museum’s debut. The exhibition, titled Birds of the Lakes, Fields, and Forests, attracted more than 8,000 people throughout four weeks and later transformed into the international juried Birds in Art exhibition. In 2011, a donation of forty-three Gromme paintings created the need and impetus to increase storage and gallery spaces. Building additions and facility enhancements ensued, improving accessibility and the visitor experience. 

The three daughters’ original dream continues to be a well-received gift. The success of the inaugural exhibition clearly identified a need within the northern Wisconsin community. Throughout nearly five decades since, Birds in Art developed a distinguished reputation, became the foundation upon which the Museum’s permanent collection was built, and continues to provide a collecting focus for the future. The Museum has a dedicated membership base and volunteer corps who exemplify the community’s participation in and appreciation for the institution.  

 As the dream and gift continue, the Woodson Art Museum evolves and grows by always striving for excellence, setting the standard for avian art, and being a treasure trove of engaging art experiences for all.