Erin Shirreff: Permanent Drafts
Overview
-
May 30–August 31, 2025
-
Herzfeld Center for Photography and Media Arts
-
Free for Members
-
Included with admission
Erin Shirreff creates boundary-crossing art that explores the gap between images and the things they picture. Permanent Drafts features over 40 of her recent collages, photographs, sculptures, and videos, including installations specific to the Milwaukee Art Museum.
Trained as a sculptor, Shirreff understands photography as a significant but imperfect means of conveying three-dimensional objects. Her work focuses on the reproductions through which we often access art, inviting audiences to consider how each of us sees and interprets the world around us. Shifting across time, material, and dimension, these works reward in-person engagement and slow, close looking.
The renowned artist’s most comprehensive exhibition in a decade, Erin Shirreff: Permanent Drafts was curated by Kristen Gaylord, Herzfeld Curator of Photography and Media Arts at the Milwaukee Art Museum.
Selected artworks
Erin Shirreff (Canadian, b. 1975), Cuttings, 2018.
Cyanotype photogram and muslin over panel. 80 × 70 in. Christine A. Symchych and James P. McNulty. Image courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, New York. © Erin Shirreff
Erin Shirreff (Canadian, b. 1975), Drop (no. 20), 2024.
Cor-ten steel. 83.5 × 86 × 8 in. Courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, New York. © Erin Shirreff.
Erin Shirreff (Canadian, b. 1975), Maquette (split circle), 2021.
Bronze. 39⅜ × 31½ × 23 in. Courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, New York. © Erin Shirreff.
Erin Shirreff (Canadian, b. 1975), New Moon Construction, Number 10, 2021.
Dye sublimation prints on aluminum and latex paint. 73¼ × 71¼ × 5¾ inch. Lent by the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Gift of funds from Mary and Bob Mersky. Image courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, New York. © Erin Shirreff
Erin Shirreff (Canadian, b. 1975), Drop (no. 17), 2024.
Cor-ten steel. 95⅝ × 29 × 8 in. Courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, New York. © Erin Shirreff.
Erin Shirreff (Canadian, b. 1975), Fig. 4, 2017.
Archival pigment print. 43½ × 57½ × 3¼ inches. Courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, New York. © Erin Shirreff.
Erin Shirreff (Canadian, b. 1975), Inside times, 2020.
Cyanotype photogram and fabric over panel (diptych). 80 × 120 in. Courtesy of the artist; Bradley Ertaskiran, Montreal; and Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, New York © Erin Shirreff.
Erin Shirreff (Canadian, b. 1975), Surface capital, 2022.
Dye sublimation prints on aluminum and latex paint. 71¼ × 60¼ × 5¾ inches. Courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, New York. © Erin Shirreff.
Erin Shirreff (Canadian, b. 1975), Drop (no. 18), 2024.
Cor-ten steel. 88.5 × 72 × 8 in. Courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, New York. © Erin Shirreff.
Erin Shirreff (Canadian, b. 1975), Fig. 5, 2017.
Archival pigment print. 43½ × 57½ × 3¼ inches. Christine A. Symchych and James P. McNulty. Image courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, New York. © Erin Shirreff
Erin Shirreff (Canadian, b. 1975), Maquette (standing curve), 2024.
Bronze. 30 × 13 × 15 in. Courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, New York. © Erin Shirreff.
Featured events
View all featured eventsLoading...
Upcoming events
View all eventsLoading...
Support
Leadership sponsors
Estate of Anna Cordelia Parkin
Milwaukee Art Museum’s Friends of Art
Christine A. Symchych and James P. McNulty
Exhibitions in the Herzfeld Center for Photography and Media Arts are sponsored by
Herzfeld Foundation
The Milwaukee Art Museum extends its sincere thanks to the Visionaries.
Mark and Debbie Attanasio
Donna and Donald Baumgartner
Murph Burke
The Helmerich Trust
Kenneth and Alice Kayser
Joan Lubar and John Crouch
Joel and Caran Quadracci
Sue and Bud Selig
Jeff and Gail Yabuki
