Year: 2010

Milwaukee Art Museum Holiday Schedule

The Museum will be open every day through Sunday, January 2, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (open until 8 p.m. on Thursday, December 30).

The Museum is open on New Year’s Eve Day and New Year’s Day.

The Kohl’s Art Generation Studio will be open during Museum hours through Sunday, January 2.

Admission to the Museum is free for kids 12 and under.

Schedule of Events for Art of the Table Weekend November 18-21

Art of the Table happening this weekend at the Milwaukee Art Museum

Milwaukee, Wis. – The Milwaukee Art Museum is premiering Art of the Table, a four-day event that presents the unique tabletop installations of twenty-two area artists and designers, inspired by the art in the Museum’s galleries. A lecture by design impresario and vibrant personality Alberto Alessi is among the slate of program offerings. The event runs Thursday, November 18, through Sunday, November 21, and is included with Museum admission.

Art of the Table is a tribute to art and installation design, and the perfect complement to the feature exhibition European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century, which is on view through January 9, 2011. Twenty-two area artists and designers were each challenged to create a non-traditional tabletop installation for specific galleries throughout the Museum. Participants include local artists Ray Chi, Della Wells, JoAnna Poehlmann, Tim Garland and more, plus national retailers Anthropologie, Williams Sonoma, Design Within Reach, and Crate & Barrel.

Art of the Table was inspired by the wealth of beautiful objects the Museum has in its Collection, as well as the overwhelming success of our spring event, Art in Bloom,” said Fran Serlin, director of public programs at the Museum. “We hope that this will be the first annual Art of the Table event.”

Kicking off the festivities is a 6:15 p.m. lecture on November 18 by Italian design master Alberto Alessi, President of Alessi and CEO/Marketing Strategies and Design Management. Alessi will share the story of his family’s company and the progressive role it has played in bringing creative and functional design to the world market. The lecture is open to the public and overflow seating is available.

On Friday, November 19, MAM After Dark: Under the Table will pay homage to both Art of the Table and Under the Table, an impressively large On Site installation by Robert Therrien, located in the heart of Windhover Hall. A video of the Alessi lecture will be replayed in Lubar Auditorium at 6:15 p.m. as part of the event.

A Saturday morning book salon on Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things by Donald Norman and a Sunday afternoon lecture by Racine Art Museum Executive Director and Curator of Collections Bruce Pepich on “The Art of Dining: Creating Handmade Objects for the Tabletop” round out the weekend.

“The entire weekend will be filled with exciting events and beautiful displays of gallery-inspired tabletop art by twenty-two of the areas premiere artists, designers, retail outlets, and universities,” said Serlin. “It will be family-friendly and fun.”

On Sunday, November 21, Racine Art Museum members will receive free admission with their RAM membership card.

Hours and Admission

The Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Thursdays until 8 p.m. Admission is $12 for adults and $10 for students, seniors and active military, and is free for Members and children 12 and under.

The first Thursday of each month is Target Free First Thursdays and admission is free for all Museum visitors.

Art of the Table Programming

Thursday, November 18
Lecture: Alessi 1921–2010: The Phenomenon of the Italian Design Factories and the Alessi Case
6:15 PM, Lubar Auditorium
Featuring Alberto Alessi, President of Alessi and CEO/Marketing Strategies and Design Management

Friday, November 19
MAM After Dark: Under the Table
5 PM to midnight

Saturday, November 20
Book Salon: Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things by Donald Norman
10:30 AM
RSVP to Amy.Kirschke@mam.org or 414-224-3826

Demonstration: The Art of Plating
2 PM, Windhover Hall
Featuring Thi Cao, Executive Chef for Café Caltrava

Sunday, November 21
Lecture: The Art of Dining: Creating Handmade Objects for the Tabletop
2 PM, Lubar Auditorium
Featuring Bruce W. Pepich, executive director and curator of collections for the Racine Art Museum

Racine Art Museum Members receive free admission on Sunday, November 21.

Art of the Table Marketplace

Thursday, November 18–Sunday, November 21
Featuring the work of Iittala, Creative Danes, Acme, MoMA, Alessi, and more

About the Museum

The Milwaukee Art Museum’s far-reaching holdings include more than 20,000 works spanning antiquity to the present day. With a history dating back to 1888, the Museum houses a collection with strengths in 19th- and 20th-century American and European art, contemporary art, American decorative arts, and folk and self-taught art. The Museum includes the Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion, named by Time magazine as “Best Design of 2001.” For more information, please visit www.mam.org.

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Museum Launches “Soup for Soup” Food Drive to Benefit Hunger Task Force

MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM HOSTS FOOD DRIVE TO BENEFIT HUNGER TASK FORCE

Bring in a donation and receive free soup in the Museum’s cafe

Milwaukee, Wis. – October 22, 2010 – The Milwaukee Art Museum is hosting a “Soup for Soup” food drive to benefit Hunger Task Force, Tuesday, October 26–Sunday, November 14. Every visitor who brings in a donation will receive a voucher for a complimentary cup of soup in the Museum’s Café Calatrava.

“We recognize the importance of giving back to the community that gives so much to us,” said Daniel Keegan, director of the Milwaukee Art Museum. “Hunger Task Force is a vital partner in our region and it is a privilege to work with them again.”

Guests who wish to make a donation can bring in their items to the admissions desks in the Museum, and will be given a voucher for a complimentary cup of soup in Café Calatrava that is valid through Wednesday, November 24, 2010.

“I encourage all of our visitors and Members to bring in a donation for Hunger Task Force during the Soup for Soup food drive, and to enjoy a delicious meal in our café,” said Keegan.

HOURS AND ADMISSION
The Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Thursdays until 8 p.m. Admission is $12 for adults and $10 for students, seniors and active military, and is free for members and children 12 and under.

The first Thursday of each month is Target Free First Thursday and admission is free for everyone.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM
The Milwaukee Art Museum’s far-reaching holdings include more than 20,000 works spanning antiquity to the present day. With a history dating back to 1888, the Museum houses a collection with strengths in 19th- and 20th-century American and European art, contemporary art, American decorative arts, and folk and self-taught art. The Museum includes the Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion, named by Time magazine as “Best Design of 2001.” For more information, please visit www.mam.org.

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Milwaukee Art Museum Celebrates Architecture in 2011

Milwaukee Art Museum Celebrates Architecture in 2011
10th Anniversary of Santiago Calatrava addition, new exhibitions on Frank Lloyd Wright, The Forbidden City, and Calatrava’s Masterpiece

Milwaukee, Wis.— To celebrate the 10th anniversary of its iconic addition designed by Santiago Calatrava, the Milwaukee Art Museum has announced an ambitious exhibition and program series for 2011 that focuses on architecture.   The Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion—whose moving parts are unprecedented in U.S. architecture—has resulted in a revitalized waterfront in Milwaukee, allowed for acclaimed exhibitions, and more than doubled Museum attendance.

The 2011 anniversary program will present three exhibitions, Frank Lloyd Wright: Organic Architecture for the 21st Century (February 12–May 15, 2011), The Emperor’s Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City (June 11–September 11, 2011), and Building a Masterpiece: Santiago Calatrava and the Milwaukee Art Museum (September 8, 2011–January 1, 2012).  In addition, the Museum will feature symposiums and panel discussions on architecture and special events with visiting architects.

“Milwaukee will be an important destination for architecture in 2011,” said Daniel T. Keegan, director, Milwaukee Art Museum. “The Milwaukee Art Museum is now the symbol of the city, due to the visionary efforts of Mr. Calatrava.  We hope to attract architects and visitors from around the world to see firsthand the resounding success of extraordinary architecture, and to view our Frank Lloyd Wright, Treasures from the Forbidden City, and Calatrava Building a Masterpiece exhibitions.”

Overlooking Lake Michigan, the Milwaukee Art Museum’s extraordinary white concrete, 142,050-square-foot Quadracci Pavilion is instantly recognizable by its movable sunscreen, which lifts like wings over the Museum’s soaring reception hall—unfolding when the Museum opens each morning and folding at night.  A suspension pedestrian bridge connects the city to the Museum, and the interior cathedral-like structure has a vaulted 90-foot-high glass ceiling.  Finished in 2001, the Quadracci Pavilion is the first building Calatrava completed in the United States.

“I had clients who truly wanted from me the best architecture that I could do,” Calatrava has said.  “Their ambition was to create something exceptional for their community….  Thanks to them, this project responds to the culture of the lake: the sailboats, the weather, the sense of motion and change.”

“Museums across the country bring immense value to their communities,” said American Association of Museums president Ford W. Bell. “The Milwaukee Art Museum, with its spectacular addition, against the backdrop of Lake Michigan, has created one of our country’s great cultural icons.  Not only has its new home served to introduce its collection to nearly four million visitors over the past decade, it has also brought substantive, tangible rewards to the city‘s economy, culture and image.”  Keegan added:  “The Associated Press reported in 2007 that the economic impact on the city increased by 44 percent to $20.1 million between 2000 and 2006.”

“The Milwaukee Art Museum’s Calatrava-designed addition has become symbolic of the “new” Milwaukee and its vibrant arts and cultural scene. This lakefront icon has significantly increased our tourism profile to visitors worldwide through its award-wining design,” said Paul Upchurch, President & CEO, VISIT Milwaukee.

Related Exhibitions
Frank Lloyd Wright: Organic Architecture for the 21st Century will be on view from February 12 through May 15, 2011.  The exhibition will survey Wright’s major projects, including Unity Temple in Oak Park, Illinois (1905), Fallingwater in Mill Run, Pennsylvania (1936), and Johnson Wax in Racine, Wisconsin (1936),  known today as the SC Johnson Administration Building.  The exhibition is timed to mark the centennial of Taliesin (designed 1911–59), Wright’s home, studio and school in Spring Green, Wisconsin.  Among the highlights will be over 30 drawings that have never been exhibited before, as well as furniture, photography and work relating to Taliesin and Taliesin West, his later home in Scottsdale, Arizona (designed 1937–59).  Many of the works are on loan from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation in Scottsdale.  Frank Lloyd Wright: Organic Architecture for the 21st Century is the first exhibition to consider the relevance of Wright’s organic architecture to today’s environmentally conscious society.

In summer, the Milwaukee Art Museum will present, from the Qianlong Garden in Beijing, The Emperor’s Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City.  This major exhibition of over 90 objects will survey murals, paintings, furniture, and architectural components found in an extraordinary complex of lavish buildings and exquisite landscaping dating back centuries.  When the last emperor fled the Forbidden City in 1924, the doors were shut and the objects remained unaltered until 2001, when the Palace Museum in Beijing began a massive restoration project in conjunction with the World Monuments Fund.  These objects have never been seen by the public before, and will be in Milwaukee June 11–September 11, 2011, before returning to their permanent home in China.

“We are thrilled and honored to be one of only three museums in the country to feature these beautiful objects,” said Keegan.  “Treasures from the Forbidden City is part of a much larger exhibition schedule on Chinese art, and we are calling 2011 the ‘Summer of China’ at the Museum.  More than likely, exhibitions of this international cultural significance would not have been possible without the cachet the Calatrava-designed addition has brought to the Museum.”

Finally, the Museum will honor Santiago Calatrava’s impact on the city with the exhibition Building a Masterpiece: Santiago Calatrava and the Milwaukee Art Museum from September 8, 2011, through January 1, 2012, which will survey drawings, photography, models and video related to the Quadracci Pavilion.  Santiago Calatrava has said that buildings by Wisconsin’s native son Frank Lloyd Wright inspired his addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum.  Many of the works have never before been on public view.

Background
In 1994, the Museum’s search committee chose Calatrava from a field of 55 architects.  A $10 million then-anonymous gift from Betty and Harry Quadracci kicked off a capital campaign.  Flying to Milwaukee 40 times over the course of designing and building the Museum addition, Calatrava’s “design evolved into a very challenging project—full of curves requiring painstaking custom work and features that had never before been made for a building,” wrote Cheryl Kent in the book Santiago Calatrava: Milwaukee Art Museum, published by Rizzoli in 2005.

The building incorporates both cutting-edge technology and old-world craftsmanship.  The hand-built structure was largely created by pouring concrete into one-of-a-kind wooden forms.  It is a building that could only have been made in a city with Milwaukee’s strong craft tradition.  The Quadracci Pavilion has attracted numerous accolades, including Time magazine naming it the best new design project of the year in 2001.   

The Milwaukee Art Museum comprises three buildings designed by three legendary architects:  Eero Saarinen, David Kahler, and Santiago Calatrava.

About Santiago Calatrava
Spanish-born architect Santiago Calatrava has achieved considerable international acclaim in recent years with his breathtaking feats of engineering and his stunning architectural constructions.  His designs for the major stadium at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and his selection as architect of the highly anticipated World Trade Center Transportation Hub in lower Manhattan have put him before the eyes of the world.  Calatrava first established his reputation as the preeminent engineer of our time with a remarkable series of bridges designed for cities around the globe—Barcelona, Bilbao, Seville and Valencia in Spain, as well as Buenos Aires, Jerusalem and Venice.  In addition, Calatrava’s spectacular cultural and civic projects have secured his place in the pantheon of world-class 21st-century architects.  Among these projects are train stations in Zurich, Lyon and Lisbon; the Sondica Airport in Bilbao; and the Science Museum, Planetarium and Opera House in Valencia.

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Digital Images
To download a high-resolution press image, visit the Museum’s online resources at www.mam.org/info/pressroom

About the Museum
The Milwaukee Art Museum’s far-reaching holdings include more than 20,000 works spanning antiquity to the present day. With a history dating back to 1888, the Museum houses a collection with strengths in 19th- and 20th-century American and European art, contemporary art, American decorative arts, and folk and self-taught art.

Architectural Highlights
The grand entrance hall for the Quadracci Pavilion, known as Windhover Hall, is Santiago Calatrava’s postmodern interpretation of a Gothic cathedral, complete with flying buttresses, pointed arches, ribbed vaults and a central nave topped by a 90-foot-high glass roof. 

The hall’s chancel is shaped like the prow of a ship, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Lake Michigan.  Adjoining the central hall are two arched promenades, the Baumgartner Galleria and the Schroeder Foundation Galleria, with expansive views of the lake and the downtown.

The Museum’s signature wings, the Burke Brise Soleil, form a movable sunscreen with a 217-foot wingspan.  The brise soleil is made up of 72 steel fins, ranging in length from 26 to 105 feet.  The entire structure weighs 90 tons.  It takes 3.5 minutes for the wings to open or close.  Sensors on the fins continually monitor wind speed and direction; whenever winds exceed 23 mph for more than three seconds, the wings close automatically. 

“This building moves people.  It is that rare thing, a new experience at the scale of a building.  Even those who know what the building looks like and know that it involves motion are taken by the physical surprise of it,” wrote Cheryl Kent.  “The museum addition has that combination of technological muscle and unlikely beauty that captivates people.”

The Milwaukee Art Museum is located at 700 N. Art Museum Drive, Milwaukee, WI 53202.  For more information, please call 414-224-3200 or visit www.mam.org.

Press Contacts
For additional information and images please contact:

Vicki Scharfberg, Senior Director of Marketing & Communications
414-224-3243, vicki.scharfberg@mam.org

Kristin Settle, Public Relations Manager
414-224-3246, kristin.settle@mam.org

Contemporary Art Society’s “The Art Auction” Happening This Saturday

Press contacts:
Kristin Settle        
414/224-3246        
kristin.settle@mam.org 

Vicki Scharfberg
414/224-3243
vicki.scharfberg@mam.org      

Contemporary Art Society’s The Art Auction Happening Saturday, October 23
Silent and live auctions put over 150 items up for bid

Milwaukee, Wis. – October 18, 2010 – The Contemporary Art Society (CAS), a Milwaukee Art Museum support group, will hold its eleventh benefit auction to raise funds for the acquisition of contemporary art for the Museum’s Collection this Saturday, October 23. The Art Auction is open to the public and traditionally attracts nearly three hundred Members from the Museum donor community.

The Art Auction, a black-tie fundraiser, features over 150 museum-quality works of art in a wide variety of media, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, decorative arts, and video.  Works range in price from $500 to $120,000. 

“The Museum is pleased to host the eleventh CAS benefit auction,” said Dan Keegan, director of the Milwaukee Art Museum. “CAS plays an integral role in promoting the appreciation and collection of contemporary art, and we are grateful for their continued support. The 2007 auction set a record high of $1 million in art sales, resulting in over $400,000 in proceeds for new works of contemporary art for the Museum’s Collection.”

 All of the art is currently on view in the Contemporary Galleries until the close of silent auction bidding, at the end of the gala.

The Art Auction is presented by M&I Wealth Management. M&I Wealth Management has been an enthusiastic supporter of the Milwaukee Art Museum for many years, and sponsored the Contemporary Art Society’s 10th benefit art auction in 2007.

Reservations for the gala begin at $300 per person and may be purchased online at www.mam.org or by phone at 414-224-3266. To receive more information about the event, contact Rachel Vanderweit at 414-224-3883.
 
CAS The Art Auction Gallery Talk
Tues, Oct 19, 1:30–2:30 p.m.

CAS The Art Auction
Saturday, Oct. 23, 6 p.m.

ABOUT CONTEMPORARY ART SOCIETY
The Contemporary Art Society (CAS) is one of several support groups at the Milwaukee Art Museum. CAS focuses on the art of today and offers its members unique opportunities to attend private lectures, visit exclusive collections, and meet with artists in their studios. CAS also contributes to Museum acquisitions of contemporary art; CAS-supported acquisitions have included work by artists such as Erwin Redl, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Robert Gober, Nikki S. Lee, and Christian Marclay.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM
The Milwaukee Art Museum’s far-reaching holdings include more than 20,000 works spanning antiquity to the present day. With a history dating back to 1888, the Museum houses a collection with strengths in 19th- and 20th-century American and European art, contemporary art, American decorative arts, and folk and self-taught art. The Museum includes the Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion, named by Time magazine as “Best Design of 2001.” For more information, please visit www.mam.org.

ABOUT M&I
Marshall & Ilsley Corporation (NYSE: MI) is a diversified financial services corporation headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., with $53.9 billion in assets. Founded in 1847, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank is the largest Wisconsin-based bank, with 192 offices throughout the state. In addition, M&I has 53 locations throughout Arizona; 36 offices along Florida’s west coast and in central Florida; 33 offices in Indianapolis and nearby communities; 26 offices in metropolitan Minneapolis/St. Paul, and one in Duluth, Minn.; 17 offices in the greater St. Louis area; 15 offices in Kansas City and nearby communities; and one office in Las Vegas, Nev. M&I also provides trust and investment management, equipment leasing, mortgage banking, asset-based lending, financial planning, investments, and insurance services from offices throughout the country and on the Internet (www.mibank.com or www.micorp.com). M&I’s customer-based approach, internal growth, and strategic acquisitions have made M&I a nationally recognized leader in the financial services industry.

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Milwaukee Art Museum Opens New Exhibition on European Design

Press Contacts:

Kristin Settle
414-224-3246
Kristin.Settle@mam.org

Vicki Scharfberg
414-224-3243
Vicki.Scharfberg@mam.org

EUROPEAN DESIGN SINCE 1985 COMING TO MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM
Everyday items prove they are more than just objects October 9, 2010–January 9, 2011

Milwaukee, Wis. – October 6, 2010 – The Milwaukee Art Museum’s newest feature exhibition, European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century, opens this Saturday, October 9. It is the first encompassing, critical assessment of contemporary Western European design from 1985 to 2005.

European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century will present more than 200 seminal works including furniture, ceramics, metalwork, glass and product design that reveal the extraordinary creativity of over 100 European designers. The exhibition defines Europe’s central role in driving design’s proliferation during the 1980s and 1990s.

“This exhibition reminds us that great art is present in our lives every day. European Design Since 1985 makes art accessible,” said Mel Buchanan, Mae E. Demmer Assistant Curator of 20th-century Design. “Whether it is a light fixture, a vase, a chair, a vacuum, or a knife and fork, it is not just an object. These are useful and beautiful artworks that express ideas and opinions and sometimes genius.”

The exhibition and catalogue divide designs into two major movements, those that continue a “Postmodern” attitude and those that renew a “Modern” tradition. The show is divided into eight sections which include objects highlighting modern, postmodern, biomorphic, neo-dada and minimalist design, among others.

“This exhibition is friendly, colorful, and whimsical,” said Buchanan. “European Design Since 1985 offers a fantastic variety of objects that blur the line between fine art, craft, and design. It might differ with what some define as fine art, but you can also argue that many of these chairs and lamps are as conceptual as a bronze sculpture or abstract painting.”

European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century is organized by the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the Denver Art Museum in conjunction with Kingston University, London. It is curated by R. Craig Miller of the Indianapolis Museum of Art and coordinated at the Milwaukee Art Museum by Mel Buchanan, assistant curator of 20th Century design.

EXHIBITION SPONSORS
European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century is sponsored by the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Friends of Art.

HOURS AND ADMISSION
The Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Thursdays until 8 p.m. Admission is $12 for adults and $10 for students, seniors and active military, and is free for members and children 12 and under.

The first Thursday of each month is Target Free First Thursday and admission is free for everyone.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM
The Milwaukee Art Museum’s far-reaching holdings include more than 20,000 works spanning antiquity to the present day. With a history dating back to 1888, the Museum houses a collection with strengths in 19th- and 20th-century American and European art, contemporary art, American decorative arts, and folk and self-taught art. The Museum includes the Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion, named by Time magazine as “Best Design of 2001.” For more information, please visit www.mam.org.

MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM WELCOMES CHAKAIA BOOKER ON-SITE INSTALLATION

MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM WELCOMES CHAKAIA BOOKER ON-SITE INSTALLATION
Edgy, bold, huge sculptures on display through February

Milwaukee, Wis. – As part of its on-going On Site Installation series, the Milwaukee Art Museum welcomes Manhattan-based artist Chakaia Booker September 30, 2010 through February 13, 2011. Chakaia Booker uses cut tires to create relief, free standing, pedestal, and outdoor sculpture.

“Chakaia Booker’s sculptures stem from a tradition in modern art of using found objects and industrially fabricated materials,” said Brady Roberts, chief curator at the Milwaukee Art Museum. “Booker’s work incorporates elements of African dance, weaving, and basketry. The transformation of prosaic materials into spectacular and beautiful forms suggests multiple readings ranging from issues of labor and industry to the human condition.”

The sculptures – some of which appear to be figurative, others abstract – also have an ominous aspect suggesting the proliferation and persistence of industrial waste. Over a dozen works will be presented in On Site: Chakaia Booker.

“Booker began her career making wearable sculpture in the 1980s, and continues to emphasize the connections between life, movement, and her artworks. She is a highly talented artist, working with a difficult, tactile medium. The human-scale, industrious nature of her work in contrast to the pristine, clean white marble of the Museum will be inspiring,” said Roberts. “The sculptures are powerful, large, and starkly contrast the space they will be in. This will be a strong exhibition and invoke strong reactions.”

HOURS AND ADMISSION
The Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Thursdays until 8 p.m. Admission is $12 for adults and $10 for students, seniors and active military, and is free for members and children 12 and under. The first Thursday of each month is Target Free First Thursday and admission is free for everyone.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM
The Milwaukee Art Museum’s far-reaching holdings include more than 20,000 works spanning antiquity to the present day. With a history dating back to 1888, the Museum houses a collection with strengths in 19th- and 20th-century American and European art, contemporary art, American decorative arts, and folk and self-taught art. The Museum includes the Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion, named by Time magazine as “Best Design of 2001.” For more information, please visit www.mam.org.

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Museum receives $2.7 million grant from Kohl’s Department Stores

Kohl’s Donates More than $2.7 Million to Milwaukee Art Museum to Continue Successful Kohl’s Art Generation Program and Launch New Youth Art Education Initiatives
Largest educational gift in Museum’s history

MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis., September 28, 2010 – Today Kohl’s Department Stores  (NYSE: KSS) announced a more than $2.7 million donation over three years to the Milwaukee Art Museum that will continue the successful Kohl’s Art Generation program launched in 2008 as well as create new programs for kids and families. Building on the $1 million contribution from Kohl’s in 2008, this donation is largest gift for education initiatives in the Museum’s history.  The donation comes from the Kohl’s Cares cause merchandise program, which sells special items, including plush toys and books, and donates 100 percent of the net profit to benefit children’s health and education initiatives nationwide. 

One of Wisconsin’s premiere destinations for art and culture, the Milwaukee Art Museum serves more than 300,000 visitors each year and is nationally recognized for its art education programming. The onsite Kohl’s programs will be free with admission to all Museum attendees and school groups.

“Kohl’s and the Milwaukee Art Museum not only share a hometown community in Milwaukee, we also share a commitment to education,” said Julie Gardner, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Kohl’s.  “From kid-focused classes and tours to hands-on learning, these programs expose kids to art and inspire creative thinking. We are proud to grow our partnership with the Museum and enhance the Kohl’s Art Generation educational programs that families can enjoy together.”

The Kohl’s Art Generation program has made the Milwaukee Art Museum a leading destination for families with a hands-on children’s exhibit, art studio and mobile art experience.  This new $2.7 million gift will sustain the existing Kohl’s Art Generation program and expand services to offer additional resources for families. 

Kohl’s Art Generation program components that will be enhanced with the new donation include: 
• Kohl’s Art Generation Gallery – Each year, the Kohl’s Art Generation Gallery will feature new interactive exhibits for families to enjoy. The gallery is currently featuring an exhibit on how 3-D images are created and the evolution of 3-D technology.  In 2012, the gallery will offer more space for kids to explore when the gallery nearly triples in size.
• Kohl’s Art Generation Studio – The studio is a space for kids, families and school groups to come and create art. The studio space will more than double in size with the new program funding.
 Kohl’s Color Wheels – The mobile art experience continues with the Kohl’s Color Wheels van bringing hands-on art activities and lessons to schools, local festivals and attractions throughout the greater-Milwaukee area year round.

New program elements include:
• Kohl’s Education Center – Opening in 2012, this center, located within the core of the Museum’s galleries, will bring family-focused art education opportunities together in one fun and exciting location.  The center will include the Kohl’s Art Generation Studio, Gallery, a new Kohl’s Virtual Lab and the new Art Generator, a photo booth that transforms visitors into an impressionist painting, pop icon or medieval knight.
• Family Multimedia Tours – Beginning in 2011, families will have access to fun, interactive, new multimedia tours, using iPod Touch devices and headsets. Parents and kids will learn about the art they see in the museum by listening to the artists themselves and engaging in interactive games.
• Kohl’s Family Sundays – Families are invited to the Museum for five Sunday events that feature youth-focused artist demonstrations, hands-on activities and performances.  These events, starting October 31, will draw up to 2,000 visitors for each event. Additional event dates will be posted online at www.mam.org.

 “Kohl’s has been an extremely generous and supportive partner with the Milwaukee Art Museum and we are so excited about what this, largest gift for education programming in the Museum’s history, will do for the Museum, our visitors and the Milwaukee community,” said Dan Keegan, director of the Milwaukee Art Museum. “Kohl’s is helping to create art education programs that will inspire and engage young people in the arts at a time when several schools are cutting funding for art education.”

Since 2000, Kohl’s and the Kohl’s Cares program have combined to give approximately $34 million to support charitable initiatives in the metro-Milwaukee area, including the $2.7 million to the Milwaukee Art Museum and the following recent contributions:
• $1 million to the Zoological Society of Milwaukee County
• $2 million donation over the next three years to Discovery World
• $7 million donation over three years to the Southeast Wisconsin affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the American Cancer Society’s Midwest Division
• $3 million donation over three years to Junior Achievement of Wisconsin
• $1 million donation over three years to Penfield Children’s Center 
• $225,000 to Hunger Task Force

For more information about the Kohl’s Art Generation program at the Milwaukee Art Museum, visit www.mam.org/artgeneration.  For more information about Kohl’s philanthropic and community initiatives, visit www.kohls.com/cares.

About Kohl’s
Based in Menomonee Falls, Wis., Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS) is a family-focused, value-oriented specialty department store offering moderately priced, exclusive and national brand apparel, shoes, accessories, beauty and home products in an exciting shopping environment.  By the end of September, Kohl’s will operate 1,089 stores in 49 states with a commitment to environmental leadership. In support of the communities it serves, Kohl’s has raised more than $150 million for children’s initiatives nationwide through its Kohl’s Cares® cause merchandise program, which operates under Kohl’s Cares, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kohl’s Department Stores, Inc. For a list of store locations and information, or for the added convenience of shopping online, visit www.kohls.com.

About the Milwaukee Art Museum
The Milwaukee Art Museum’s expansive Collection includes more than 20,000 works spanning antiquity to the present day. With a history dating back to 1888, the Museum holds collections of American decorative arts, German Expressionism, folk and Haitian art, and American art after 1960 that are among the nation’s best. The Museum includes the Santiago Calatrava–designed Quadracci Pavilion, named by Time magazine “Best Design of 2001.” The Museum Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., except for Thursdays when the Museum stays open until 8 p.m. For more information, visit www.mam.org.

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Milwaukee Art Museum fountains go pink for Susan G. Komen

Press contacts:
Kristin Settle           
414/224-3246       
Kristin.Settle@mam.org    

Vicki Scharfberg
414/224-3243
Vicki.Scharfberg@mam.org      

MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM FOUNTAINS GO PINK FOR SUSAN G. KOMEN FOUNDATION
Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure happening at Museum on Sunday, September 26

Milwaukee, Wis. – September 21, 2010 – The Milwaukee Art Museum is working with the Susan G. Komen Foundation to once again color its fountains pink in honor of the 2010 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. The fountains will stay pink through Sunday, October 10.

“We are thrilled to be working with the Susan G. Komen Foundation again this year said Daniel Keegan, director of the Milwaukee Art Museum. “It’s an honor to have our beautiful facility serve as the starting point for this highly-successful annual race.”

In conjunction with the pink fountains, the Museum is a 2010 Hope Sponsor of the Race for the Cure, and will be offering all race participants free Museum admission on race day, Sunday, September 26, and all Survivor race participants will receive a voucher for free admission throughout the month of October. The Museum will also host an outdoor tent where participants will receive discounted admission coupons for European Design Since 1985, the Museum’s newest feature exhibition, opening Saturday, October 9.

“I encourage everyone who has not yet registered for the 2010 Race for the Cure to do so, and if you can’t participate, come down to the Museum and be part of the experience,” said Keegan. “It’s a fun event for a worthwhile cause.”

More information about the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure can be found at komensouthestwi.org.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM
The Milwaukee Art Museum’s far-reaching holdings include more than 20,000 works spanning antiquity to the present day. With a history dating back to 1888, the Museum houses a collection with strengths in 19th- and 20th-century American and European art, contemporary art, American decorative arts, and folk and self-taught art. The Museum includes the Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion, named by Time magazine as “Best Design of 2001.” For more information, please visit www.mam.org.

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Warrington Colescott exhibition extended through Sunday, October 3

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Press contacts:
Kristin Settle
414/224-3246
kristin.settle@mam.org

Vicki Scharfberg
414/224-3243
vicki.scharfberg@mam.org

Milwaukee Art Museum extends Colescott exhibition
Warrington Colescott: Cabaret, Comedy & Satire runs through October 3

Milwaukee, Wis. – Sept. 7, 2010 – Due to popular demand, the highly-successful exhibition Warrington Colescott: Cabaret, Comedy & Satire has been extended through Sunday, October 3, in the Museum’s Contemporary Galleries.

Warrington Colescott: Cabaret, Comedy & Satire chronicles Colescott’s raucous printmaking journey, during which he trained his piercing eye on the fashions and foibles of human behavior. The artist targets scientists, Greek gods, print collectors, tofu lunches, academics, the afterlife, presidents, joggers, famous printmakers, and showgirls, to name but a few, in prints riddled with complexities and contradictions, stinging satirical barbs and playful jokes, and exuberant color and subtle tonal variations. This retrospective exhibition honors the celebrated artist and features more than one hundred prints from his sixty-year career.

“This exhibition is captivating, engaging and fun,” said Mary Weaver Chapin, associate curator of prints and drawings, Milwaukee Art Museum. “Colescott accentuates the bawdy, the bright, and the beguiling aspects of human behavior.”

Colescott taught at the University of Wisconsin–Madison for nearly forty years and continues to produce new prints in his studio in Hollandale, Wisconsin, where he lives with his wife Francis Myers.

“Colescott has played a major role in the print Renaissance in the United States,” said Chapin. “At the heart of Colescott’s enterprise is a deep love of satire, farce, and the burlesque. It is a pleasure to bring this exhibition to the Museum and the artist himself to share his life’s work.”

EXHIBITION SPONSORS
Warrington Colescott: Cabaret, Comedy & Satire is sponsored by the M&I Foundation, Inc.

HOURS AND ADMISSION
The Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Thursdays until 8 p.m. Admission is $12 for adults and $10 for students, seniors and active military, and is free for members and children 12 and under.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM
The Milwaukee Art Museum’s far-reaching holdings include more than 20,000 works spanning antiquity to the present day. With a history dating back to 1888, the Museum houses a collection with strengths in 19th- and 20th-century American and European art, contemporary art, American decorative arts, and folk and self-taught art. The Museum includes the Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion, named by Time magazine as “Best Design of 2001.” For more information, please visit www.mam.org.

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Closing weekend of American Quilts; Museum open Labor Day 10-5

Last Chance to see American Quilts at Milwaukee Art Museum

Milwaukee, Wis. – Sept. 2, 2010American Quilts: Selections from the Winterthur Collection will end its highly successful run at the Milwaukee Art Museum on Monday, September 6. The popular exhibition tells of romance, religion, and politics from early American life (1760–1850) through exquisite works of hand-stitched art.

American Quilts features more than 40 exquisite quilts whose fabric, design, and stitching combine to provide an extraordinary visual experience. These works of art also present a wealth of new information about the lives of their makers and the world around them. Quilts make political statements, celebrate marriages, and document the early global textile trade. Close examination of these quilts show the frugal recycling of a pair of men’s wool breeches and the special purchase of fashionable and expensive fabrics used in their creation. The exhibition includes some of the finest and earliest American printed textiles, a quilted Indian palampore, and a kaleidoscopic sunburst quilt featuring over 6,700 pieces of printed cotton.

“American Quilts explores how quilts were made to commemorate life-changing events for individuals, families, or entire communities,” said Mel Buchanan, Mae E. Demmer Assistant Curator of 20th-century Design at the Museum. “The rare quilts on view were passed through generations and, in turn, have become beautiful repositories of history and memory that document women’s political, social, and cultural lives in the early American republic.”

The Museum is open Labor Day, Monday, September 6, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

EXHIBITION SPONSORS
American Quilts: Selections from the Winterthur Collection is sponsored at the Milwaukee Art Museum by the Museum’s Friends of Art. The exhibition is organized by Winterthur Museum & Country Estate. The exhibition is curated by Linda Eaton of Winterthur Museum and organized at the Milwaukee Art Museum by Mel Buchanan, Liz Flaig, and Catherine Sawinski.

HOURS AND ADMISSION
The Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Thursdays until 8 p.m. Admission is $12 for adults and $10 for students, seniors and active military, and is free for Members and children 12 and under. 

Starting September 2, admission is free for all visitors to the Museum on the first Thursday of each month, sponsored by Target. Known as Target Free First Thursdays, this program replaces Milwaukee County Resident Free Day on Wednesdays and does not apply to group tours.

 
ABOUT THE MUSEUM
The Milwaukee Art Museum’s far-reaching holdings include more than 20,000 works spanning antiquity to the present day. With a history dating back to 1888, the Museum houses a collection with strengths in 19th- and 20th-century American and European art, contemporary art, American decorative arts, and folk and self-taught art. The Museum includes the Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion, named by Time magazine as “Best Design of 2001.” For more information, please visit www.mam.org.

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Henry Luce Foundation Bestows Grant

Henry Luce Foundation Bestows Grant
American Art Renewal Grant to help fund American Art Collection

Milwaukee, Wis. – The Henry Luce Foundation has awarded the Milwaukee Art Museum a $165,000 grant through the American Art Renewal Fund that will help support a curatorial position in American art at the Museum, as well as the reinstallation of the American art collection. The Museum is one of fifteen museums nationwide to receive a grant in the first round of this limited initiative.
“We are thrilled at the support from the Henry Luce Foundation and look forward to the development of our American art collection here at the Milwaukee Art Museum,” said Dan Keegan, the Museum’s director. “Our already extensive collection of world-renowned American decorative and folk arts will be profoundly enhanced by this new opportunity. We will now be able to fully realize the reinstallation of our impressive American collection.”

The Museum’s American art collection includes paintings, works on paper, sculpture, decorative arts, self-taught and folk art, and numbers in the thousands of objects. The collection includes pieces from pre-colonial America through today.

Following the recent economic downturn, the Henry Luce Foundation developed the American Art Renewal Fund to respond to the current need to strengthen American art activities at the nation’s museums. This short-term initiative, offered through the American Art Program, provides support for operating expenses related to American art. Thus, it is a departure from the traditional focus on research and scholarship and is in effect only through 2011.

In addition to this new initiative, the Foundation has also provided more than $130 million in support for scholarly studies and awareness of American art at some 250 organizations across the country.

“The Henry Luce Foundation is committed to providing an effective effort to not only raise awareness, but also provide a solid foundation for American art across the nation,” said Ellen Holtzman, program director for American Art at the Henry Luce Foundation. “It is our firm belief that this grant will spur even greater development of American art at the Milwaukee Art Museum and appreciation from visitors for years to come.”

ABOUT THE HENRY LUCE FOUNDATION
The Henry Luce Foundation was established in 1936 by Henry R. Luce, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Time Inc., to honor his parents who were missionary educators in China. The Foundation builds upon the vision and values of four generations of the Luce family: broadening knowledge and encouraging the highest standards of service and leadership. The Henry Luce Foundation seeks to bring important ideas to the center of American life, strengthen international understanding, and foster innovation and leadership in academic, policy, religious and art communities.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM
The Milwaukee Art Museum’s far-reaching holdings include more than 20,000 works spanning antiquity to the present day. With a history dating back to 1888, the Museum houses a collection with strengths in 19th- and 20th-century American and European art, contemporary art, American decorative arts, and folk and self-taught art. The Museum includes the Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion, named by Time magazine as “Best Design of 2001.” For more information, please visit www.mam.org.

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Art in Clay: Masterworks of North Carolina Earthenware Opens Sept. 2

Contact:
Claudia Mooney       
414-220-4271        
Claudia@chipstone.org 

Kristin Settle
414-224-3246
kristin.settle@mam.org     

 
Art in Clay: Masterworks of North Carolina Earthenware Comes To The Milwaukee Art Museum
Major Earthenware Survey Alters American Ceramic History

Milwaukee, WI – August 16, 2010 –  The first major North Carolina earthenware survey completed in the United States, Art in Clay: Masterworks of North Carolina Earthenware, opens at the Milwaukee Art Museum on Thursday, September 2, 2010, and runs through Monday, January 17, 2011. Art in Clay presents groundbreaking scholarship that re-attributes ceramic forms long believed to be Moravian to diverse North Carolina cultural groups.

During the last half of the eighteenth century, potters of European descent introduced a variety of Old World ceramic traditions to the North Carolina backcountry. The achievements of these craftsmen often surpassed those of their Middle Atlantic and New England contemporaries, particularly in the application of slip-trailed decoration.

The exhibition will showcase 120 masterworks, including slipware, creamware, faience, and sculptural bottles. Among the most masterful are slipware dishes associated with Moravian potters who trained under, or were influenced by, Gottfried Aust (1722-1788) — a master craftsman who apprenticed in Saxony, Germany and worked briefly in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, before moving to North Carolina in 1756 . The Moravians came to North Carolina as part of their missionary effort, establishing one of the first potteries in the central piedmont region.

 “For the Moravians, slipware plates and dishes functioned as reminders of their European roots as well as potent symbols of religion and the cycle of life,” said Luke Beckerdite, curator of the exhibition. “For other potters and their patrons, decorated earthenware was a means of expressing and preserving their identity in the New World.” 

Other objects in the exhibition can be attributed to the Loy family, who were French Huguenot descendants who settled in Alamance County. They created pottery decorated with cruciform designs and fleur-de-lis, long considered classic French motifs.

“The North Carolina potters created vessels that were not only practical and beautiful, but also significant to their culture and religion, during this time,” said Beckerdite.

EXHIBITION SPONSORS
Art in Clay is co-sponsored by the Chipstone Foundation, Caxambas Foundation, and Old Salem Museums and Gardens, North Carolina.

The exhibition is curated by Luke Beckerdite, an authority on American decorative arts; Johanna Brown, curator of Moravian arts at Old Salem Museums and Gardens; and Rob Hunter, editor of Ceramics in America. It is organized at the Milwaukee Art Museum by Ethan Lasser and Claudia Mooney of the Chipstone Foundation.

HOURS AND ADMISSION
The Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Thursdays until 8 p.m. Admission is $12 for adults and $10 for students, seniors, and active military, and is free for Members and children 12 and under. 

ABOUT THE MUSEUM
The Milwaukee Art Museum’s far-reaching holdings include more than 20,000 works spanning antiquity to the present day. With a history dating back to 1888, the Museum houses a collection with strengths in 19th- and 20th-century American and European art, contemporary art, American decorative arts, and folk and self-taught art. The Museum includes the Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion, named by Time magazine as “Best Design of 2001.” For more information, please visit www.mam.org.

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PROGRAMMING FOR ART IN CLAY: MASTERWORKS OF NORTH CAROLINA EARTHENWARE

Gallery Talks
1:30 p.m.
Thurs, Sept 23 | with Luke Beckerdite
Tues, Sept 28 | with Claudia Mooney
Tues, Nov 2 | with Rob Hunter

Lecture: Art in Clay
Thurs, Nov. 4, 6:15 p.m.
Take a closer look at the pottery traditions in the exhibition with Luke Beckerdite, Art in Clay curator and editor of the Chipstone Foundation’s annual publication American Furniture.

Symposium: American Ceramics Circle
Fri–Sat, Nov 5–6, 2010
Attend presentations by top scholars at this symposium of the American Ceramics Circle (ACC), a national educational organization committed to the study and appreciation of ceramics. Visit the ACC website at www.amercercir.org to register. Contact Mel Buchanan (mel.buchanan@mam.org or 414-224-3281) with questions.

European Design Exhibition Coming To Milwaukee Art Museum

Press contacts:
Kristin Settle            
414/224-3246       
kristin.settle@mam.org       

Vicki Scharfberg
414/224-3243
vicki.scharfberg@mam.org 

EUROPEAN DESIGN EXHIBITION COMING TO MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM
Artful question of form vs. function to be pondered October 9, 2010–January 9, 2011

Milwaukee, Wis. – August 5, 2010 – The Milwaukee Art Museum’s newest feature exhibition, European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century, opens October 9, 2010. It is the first encompassing, critical assessment of contemporary Western European design from 1985 to 2005.

European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century will present more than 250 seminal works including furniture, ceramics, metalwork, glass and product design that reveal the extraordinary creativity of 118 European designers. The exhibition defines Europe’s central role in driving design’s proliferation during the 1980s and 1990s.

 “This exhibition reminds us that great art is present in our lives every day. European Design Since 1985 makes art accessible,” said Mel Buchanan, Mae E. Demmer Assistant Curator of 20th-century Design. “Whether it is a light fixture, a vase, a chair, a vacuum, or a knife and fork, it is not just an object. These are useful and beautiful artworks that express ideas and opinions and sometimes genius.”

European Design Since 1985 features multiple works by the most influential figures of the period’s “older generation,” such as Ron Arad and Philippe Starck, who have attained the status of design masters. The exhibition also presents a younger generation of designers for the first time, such as Tord Boontje, Maarten Baas, and Hella Jongerius.

The exhibition and catalogue divide designs into two major movements, those that continue a “Postmodern” attitude and those that renew a “Modern” tradition. The two camps exemplify an ongoing dispute: what is the leading design principle, artistic concept or function?

The first theme explores the continuation of early 1980s Postmodernism, when designers opened up the parameters of high design.  Eschewing reason, their objects can be purely conceptual, highly decorative, historicizing, or even kitschy. These designers embraced handcraft, conceptual art, and ornament.
On the other hand, the second theme explores a rational tendency that concurrently swept across Europe. To designers with a Modernist spirit, like the “form follows function” school of the 1920s Bauhaus, good design comes from the integration of use, materials, and process. Their designs are usually for mass-production, but can look spare and refined, or curving like natural forms.
 

“This exhibition is friendly, colorful, and whimsical,” said Buchanan. “European Design Since 1985 offers a fantastic variety of objects that blur the line between fine art, craft, and design. It might differ with what some define as fine art, but you can also argue that many of these chairs and lamps are as conceptual as a bronze sculpture or abstract painting.”

European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century is organized by the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the Denver Art Museum in conjunction with Kingston University, London. It is curated by R. Craig Miller of the Indianapolis Museum of Art and coordinated at the Milwaukee Art Museum by Mel Buchanan, assistant curator of 20th Century design.

EXHIBITION SPONSORS
European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century is sponsored by the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Friends of Art.

EXHIBITION CATALOGUE
European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century
By R. Craig Miller, Penny Sparke, and Catherine McDermott
This groundbreaking publication is the first critical examination of the dramatic developments in Western European design and explores the most important conceptual and aesthetic movements during the previous two decades. Sumptuously illustrated, European Design Since 1985 is essential reading for designers, architects, students and anyone interested in the relationship between design and contemporary culture.  Hardcover: 272 pages, with 300 color illustrations.
Hard cover ($65/58.50 for Members) and soft cover ($45/40.50 for Members) copies are available in the Museum Store, 414-224-3210 or www.mam.org/store.   

HOURS AND ADMISSION
The Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Thursdays until 8 p.m. Admission is $12 for adults and $10 for students, seniors and active military, and is free for members and children 12 and under.

The first Thursday of each month is Target Free First Thursday and admission is free for everyone.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM
The Milwaukee Art Museum’s far-reaching holdings include more than 20,000 works spanning antiquity to the present day. With a history dating back to 1888, the Museum houses a collection with strengths in 19th- and 20th-century American and European art, contemporary art, American decorative arts, and folk and self-taught art. The Museum includes the Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion, named by Time magazine as “Best Design of 2001.” For more information, please visit www.mam.org.

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ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING FOR EUROPEAN DESIGN SINCE 1985: SHAPING THE NEW CENTURY
Members Opening Reception
Thurs, Oct. 7, 5:30–8 p.m.
Lecture: 6:15 p.m., with R. Craig Miller
Lubar Auditorium
Appetizers and cash bar

Member Exhibition Lecture with R. Craig Miller
Fri, Oct. 8, 1:30 p.m.
Lubar Auditorium

Gallery Talks with the Curator
Tues, Oct. 12, 1:30 p.m.
Tues, Nov. 9, 1:30 p.m.
Tues, Nov. 30, 1:30 p.m.
Tues, Dec. 14, 1:30 p.m.

Express Talks
Thursdays, Oct. 14-Jan 6, Noon

Gallery Talks in FRENCH with Béatrice Armstrong, French Institute of Milwaukee
Sat, Oct. 30, 1:30 p.m.
Sat, Dec. 4, 1:30 p.m.

Guest Lecture with Alberto Alessi
Thurs, Nov. 18, 6:15 p.m.
Lubar Auditorium

Book Salon
Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things by Donald Norman
Saturday, Nov. 20, 10:30 a.m.
Bradley Rooms
RSVP to Amy Kirschke at 414-224-3826 or amy.kirschke@mam.org

MAM After Dark | Under the Table
Fri, Nov. 19, 5 p.m.–midnight
Explore your interactive side, Euro Design-style, with UWM Dance and Digital Media Departments, and local hip-hop duo Lab Experiments.
Details and advance admission at www.mam.org/afterdark.
 
Family Sunday | Holiday by Design
Sun, Dec. 12, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

For additional information, images, or interviews, please contact:
Kristin Settle
414/224-3246
kristin.settle@mam.org

Sam Francis Foundation gifts over 500 prints to Milwaukee Art Museum

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE      

Press contacts:
Kristin Settle             
414/224-3246       
kristin.settle@mam.org 

Vicki Scharfberg
414/224-3243
vicki.scharfberg@mam.org           

Sam Francis Foundation bestows gift on Milwaukee Art Museum
Over 500 prints represent almost complete body of graphic work

Milwaukee, Wis. – July 27, 2010 – The Sam Francis Foundation has donated over 500 prints to the Milwaukee Art Museum.  Sam Francis (1923–1994) was an American painter and printmaker who used a variety of colors and techniques to experiment with both surrealism and abstract expressionism.

“We are honored to accept this gift from the Foundation, representing nearly all of Sam Francis’ lithographs, etchings, and screenprints dating from the early 1960s to the 1990s,” said Mary Weaver Chapin, associate curator of prints and drawings for the Milwaukee Art Museum. “This aggregate collection representing the whole of his career is invaluable.”

Following an accident and illness requiring years of hospitalization, Francis began painting for distraction in 1945. He subsequently left his medical studies to pursue an arts career, which took him from his native California all over the world. Unlike many of his fellow Abstract Expressionists, who only occasionally made prints, Francis was a committed and innovative printmaker throughout his career.  He explored dreams and memories, Jungian archetypes, sensations of light, color, and sound, Eastern religion, and philosophy in his paintings, etchings, lithographs, screenprints, monotypes, drawings, and illustrated books.

Francis was instrumental in encouraging fellow artists to explore printmaking, and he invited artists to produce prints and artists’ books at his two presses, The Litho Shop (founded 1970) , and Lapis Press, which was begun in 1984. The gift from the Sam Francis Foundation also includes twenty-four works by other internationally known artists (Anish Kapoor, Niki de St. Phalle, and Christopher Wool, among others) that were published by Francis’s Lapis Press.

“The Museum is honored to be a repository for the work of Sam Francis,” said Dan Keegan, director of the Milwaukee Art Museum. “This generous gift has expanded our Herzfeld Foundation Print, Drawing, and Photography Study Center and the opportunities it presents the Museum to showcase works of art on paper.”

Debra Burchett-Lere, director of the Sam Francis Foundation in southern California, cites the Museum’s commitment to prints, its dedicated staff, and impressive collection of modern art as some of determining factors in awarding this gift.

“We are honored to partner with the Milwaukee Art Museum to bring Francis’s dynamic prints to the Midwest. This collection offers a unique opportunity to study Francis’s prints in one location, the only public museum facility currently with this distinction in the world. The mission of the foundation is to research, document, protect, and perpetuate the creative legacy of the artist Sam Francis so working with the Milwaukee Art Museum in this donation of art fulfills our goal to promote public awareness and knowledge about the art of Sam Francis,” said Burchett-Lere.

The gift entered the collection in 2009. An exhibition of highlights of the collection is planned for 2012.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM
The Milwaukee Art Museum’s far-reaching holdings include more than 20,000 works spanning antiquity to the present day. With a history dating back to 1888, the Museum houses a collection with strengths in 19th- and 20th-century American and European art, contemporary art, American decorative arts, and folk and self-taught art. The Museum includes the Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion, named by Time magazine as “Best Design of 2001.” For more information, please visit www.mam.org.

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Museum to host Auction, Trunk Show, Artist Marketplace on Saturday, July 24

Press contacts:
Kristin Settle          
414/224-3246       
kristin.settle@mam.org      

Vicki Scharfberg 
414/224-3243
vicki.scharfberg@mam.org

Museum hosts three major events for Gallery Day, July 24
Quilt Auction, Trunk Show, Artist Marketplace to fill Museum grounds

Milwaukee, Wis. – July 19, 2010 – The Milwaukee Art Museum is participating in Gallery Day on Saturday, July 24, with three major events: an Amish Quilt Auction, Artists Trunk Show: Quilts, and the 6th Annual Milwaukee Artist Marketplace.

In addition to the Museum’s featured exhibition, American Quilts: Selections from the Winterthur Collection, the Museum will also hold an Amish Quilt Auction from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m in Windhover Hall, with registration beginning at 8 a.m. The auction will be conducted by Mader & Mader Auction Services (Wis. Reg. License #892), and is free with Museum admission. Over 100 handmade Amish quilts and wall hangings will be up for bid.

The Museum will also host a Quilts-themed Artists Trunk Show featuring the work of Bruce Seeds and Dianne Gleixner, with local quilt expert Maggi Gordon on hand for a book signing. The show runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Baumgartner Galleria and is free with Museum admission.

The 6th Annual Milwaukee Artist Marketplace features the work of over 80 established and emerging local artists. One-of-a-kind paintings, drawings, jewelry, prints, sculpture, photography, ceramics, and wearable artwork will be available for purchase. This outdoor event is free and will be held rain or shine from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday, July 24 – Gallery Day at the Museum
Amish Quilt Auction
9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Registration at 8 a.m.

Artists Trunk Show: Quilts
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

6th Annual Milwaukee Artist Marketplace
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM
The Milwaukee Art Museum’s far-reaching holdings include more than 20,000 works spanning antiquity to the present day. With a history dating back to 1888, the Museum houses a collection with strengths in 19th- and 20th-century American and European art, contemporary art, American decorative arts, and folk and self-taught art. The Museum includes the Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion, named by Time magazine as “Best Design of 2001.” For more information, please visit www.mam.org.

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Milwaukee Art Museum to Participate in Target Arts & Wonder Free Family Event July 18

Contact:
Sandra Van Vloten
IMRE
410-821-8220
sandrav@imre.com

Target Communications
612-696-3400

Visit the Target Pressroom: Target.com/pressroom

Milwaukee Art Museum to Participate in Target Arts & Wonder Free Family Event July 18
Target Provides Families With Free Admission to More Than 80 Museums, Galleries and Art Institutions in 30 Cities

MILWAUKEE (July 6, 2010) – As part of its long-standing commitment to inspiring parents and caring adults to nurture a child’s love of learning, Target has partnered with more than 80 cultural and art institutions in 30 cities across the country to launch the Target Arts & Wonder Free Family Event. From July 16 to 18, 2010, museums, galleries and other institutions from coast to coast will offer friends and families the opportunity to explore and learn about art together in an engaging and playful atmosphere – for free.

On Sunday, July 18, 2010 from 10:00am to 4:00pm, Milwaukee Art Museum will participate in the weekend event, providing all visitors free access to the Museum to enjoy a Caribbean Festival, full of music, hands-on art, stories, and a greater appreciation of the Museum’s colorful and extensive Haitian Art collection. All participating institutions across the country, courtesy of Target, will also offer a wide range of fun hands-on activities, including a mosaic painting of Target’s very own Bullseye, dance classes, educational workshops and more.

“At Target, we believe that arts have the power to engage and enrich our children’s academic achievement, both inside and outside of the classroom setting,” said Laysha Ward, president, Community Relations, Target. “Together with our partners, Target Arts & Wonder Free Family Event will further promote the integral role of the arts in shaping our children’s academic success and everyday lives.”

Target supports the arts year-round by sponsoring 2,200 free events and reduced-price performances at more than 120 museums and cultural organizations across the country.  To see a complete listing of cities and institutions participating in Target Arts & Wonder Free Family Event, visit Target.com/arts.

About Target
Minneapolis-based Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) serves guests at 1,740 stores in 49 states nationwide and at Target.com. Target is committed to providing a fun and convenient shopping experience with access to unique and highly differentiated products at affordable prices. Since 1946, the corporation has given 5 percent of its income through community grants and programs like Take Charge of Education. Today, that giving equals more than $3 million a week.

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The Milwaukee Art Museum announces the 2010 Lakefront Festival of Arts

Contacts:
Jennifer Dirks
Public Relations Chair
Lakefront Festival of Arts
414/690-5578
jennifer.dirks@cliftoncpa.com

Kristin Settle
Public Relations Manager
Milwaukee Art Museum
414/224-3246
kristin.settle@mam.org

THE MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM ANNOUNCES THE 2010 LAKEFRONT FESTIVAL OF ARTS
Quad/Graphics and Milwaukee Magazine present annual arts showcase

Milwaukee, Wis. – June 7, 2010 – The Milwaukee Art Museum’s 2010 Lakefront Festival of Arts (LFOA) will be Friday, June 18, through Sunday, June 20, on the grounds of the Museum along Lake Michigan. The 48th annual LFOA is presented by Quad/Graphics and Milwaukee Magazine.

The family-friendly event is one of the top 25 art festivals in the country, featuring work by more than 180 artists from around the country, food selections by Café Calatrava, live music, a silent auction, a wine garden, a sculpture garden, and children’s activities in the PNC Children’s Experience.

“For nearly 50 years, the Lakefront Festival of Arts has raised funds for the Museum to bring numerous world-class exhibitions to Milwaukee, as well as offered artists the chance to showcase their work,” said Sandi Anderson, director of special events for the Milwaukee Art Museum. “This year’s festival has been expanded and will offer new experiences, as well as the familiar favorites, with something for everyone—from art buyers and Museum supporters to families looking to enjoy the activities on the lakefront.”

For the first time, LFOA artists will also be exhibiting inside the Museum, and the festival will be open until 9 p.m. on Friday. Also, one ticket for the entire event affords festival-goers full access to the Museum to see the exhibitions, including American Quilts: Selections from the Winterthur Collection; Warrington Colescott: Cabaret, Comedy & Satire; and The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.

This year’s festival poster artist is Shelby Keefe of Milwaukee. Keefe’s work will be featured on apparel and on merchandise, including a poster available in the festival boutique and online.

LFOA admission is $7 in advance, $12 at the gate, or $20 for a three-day pass. Tickets can be purchased online and at participating locations throughout Southeastern Wisconsin. Festival hours are:

• Friday, June 18 — 12 p.m. to 9 p.m.
• Saturday, June 19 — 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Sunday, June 20 — 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

About Lakefront Festival of Arts
The Lakefront Festival of Arts (LFOA) is one of the premier art festivals in the country, featuring artists from across the nation with art for sale in a variety of media, including paintings, sculptures, jewelry, photography, printmaking, wood, ceramics, fiber, and more. Since 1962, the Lakefront Festival of Arts has been a primary fundraiser for the Milwaukee Art Museum and organized with the help of Friends of Art volunteers. For more information on LFOA, please visit http://lfoa.mam.org/.

About the Milwaukee Art Museum
The Milwaukee Art Museum’s far-reaching holdings include more than 20,000 works spanning antiquity to the present day. With a history dating back to 1888, the Museum houses a collection with strengths in 19th- and 20th-century American and European art, contemporary art, American decorative arts, and folk and self-taught art. The Museum includes the Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion, named by Time magazine as “Best Design of 2001.” For more information, please visit www.mam.org.

About Friends of Art
The Friends of Art (FOA) is the primary volunteer support organization of the Milwaukee Art Museum. FOA raises funds in support of the Museum and develops activities to stimulate visual art appreciation and inspire volunteer leadership. Over 1,300 individuals volunteer annually to help organize and operate FOA’s fundraising events. Over $7 million has been generated through FOA events since it was founded in 1957. For more information on FOA, please visit www.mam.org/involved/details/foa.php.
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Small artworks speak volumes; Portrait miniatures on view July 8-October 31

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE      

Press contacts:
Kristin Settle
414/224-3246
kristin.settle@mam.org

Vicki Scharfberg
414/224-3243
vicki.scharfberg@mam.org        

SMALL ARTWORKS SPEAK VOLUMES
Portrait miniatures served as mementos, marriage announcements, political statements

Milwaukee, Wis – May 10, 2010 – The Milwaukee Art Museum has organized the exhibition Intimate Images of Love and Loss: Portrait Miniatures, which will be on view in its Koss Gallery from Thursday, July 8, through Sunday, October 31, 2010. This exhibition will mark the first time that the Museum’s extensive collection of portrait miniatures will be on display.

“Portrait miniatures are small-scale portraits, most less than three inches tall, usually painted on ivory and set into beautifully made cases of glass and metal,” says Catherine Sawinski, assistant curator of earlier European art. “Their small scale reflected their domestic and private role. Often the portraits would be worn as jewelry, although in the early nineteenth century, they also were hung on the wall of the home as a type of family album.”

Intimate Images of Love and Loss: Portrait Miniatures will feature selections both from the Museum’s Collection and from a number of Milwaukee collections. Examples from continental Europe, Britain, and America will be on display.

The portrait miniature was developed during the sixteenth century to mark political alliances between nobles, but the demand for portrait miniatures as mementos skyrocketed with the rise of the middle class and the tendency towards sentimentality in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Often miniatures were framed with arrangements of hair from the one portrayed to strengthen the personal connection or as a remembrance of a deceased loved one.

The exhibition will also consider the interaction between portrait miniatures and photography during the second half of the nineteenth century.

“The historical significance of the portrait miniature cannot be overstated,” says Sawinski. “Just like larger paintings, these were done to commemorate life and love, and they give us a window to the past.”

EXHIBITION SPONSORS
Intimate Images of Love and Loss: Portrait Miniatures is sponsored by the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Fine Arts Society, with additional support from Nancy and Arthur J. Laskin, Helen Peter Love, and Sharon and William Treul.

HOURS AND ADMISSION
The Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Thursdays until 8 p.m. Admission is $12 for adults and $10 for students, seniors and active military, and is free for Museum Members and children 12 and under.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM
The Milwaukee Art Museum’s far-reaching holdings include more than 20,000 works spanning antiquity to the present day. With a history dating back to 1888, the Museum houses a collection with strengths in 19th- and 20th-century American and European art, contemporary art, American decorative arts, and folk and self-taught art. The Museum includes the Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion, named by Time magazine as “Best Design of 2001.” For more information, please visit www.mam.org.

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ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING FOR INTIMATE IMAGES OF LOVE AND LOSS: PORTRAIT MINIATURES

Gallery Talk with the Curator
Tuesday, September 7 1:30 p.m. | Catherine Sawinski

Gallery Talk: Conservation and Technique
Tuesday, September 21, 1:30 p.m. | Terri White, associate conservator, and Catherine Sawinski

Gallery Talk: Costume in Miniature
Tuesday, October 5, 1:30 p.m. | Mary Nowakowski, costume connoisseur

For additional information, images, or interviews, please contact:
Kristin Settle
414/224-3246
kristin.settle@mam.org

Warrington Colescott exhibition on view June 10–September 26, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE      

Press contacts:
Kristin Settle            
414/224-3246       
kristin.settle@mam.org 

Vicki Scharfberg
414/224-3243
vicki.scharfberg@mam.org      

WARRINGTON COLESCOTT EXHIBITION ON VIEW JUNE 10–SEPTEMBER 26, 2010
Satirist, printmaker highlights the brazen, bold, and burlesque side of life

Milwaukee, Wis. – April 20, 2010 – The Milwaukee Art Museum celebrates the career of master satirist and brilliant printmaker Warrington Colescott in Warrington Colescott: Cabaret, Comedy & Satire. The exhibition runs from Thursday, June 10, through Sunday, September 26, 2010.

Warrington Colescott: Cabaret, Comedy & Satire chronicles Colescott’s raucous printmaking journey, during which he trained his piercing eye on the fashions and foibles of human behavior. The artist targets scientists, Greek gods, print collectors, tofu lunches, academics, the afterlife, presidents, joggers, famous printmakers, and showgirls, to name but a few, in prints riddled with complexities and contradictions, stinging satirical barbs and playful jokes, and exuberant color and subtle tonal variations. This retrospective exhibition honors the celebrated artist and features more than one hundred prints from his sixty-year career.

“We are thrilled to showcase the work of Mr. Colescott in this captivating and engaging exhibition,” said Mary Weaver Chapin, associate curator of prints and drawings, Milwaukee Art Museum. “This exhibition accentuates the bawdy, the bright, and the beguiling aspects of human behavior. His prints and etchings are fun and purposeful.”   
 
Channeling the tradition of William Hogarth, Francisco de Goya, Honoré Daumier, and George Grosz, Colescott employs his sharp wit and vivid imagination to interpret contemporary and historical events. In printmaking circles, he is noted for his exceptional command of complex techniques and for his innovative approach to intaglio printing.

“Colescott has played a major role in the print Renaissance in the United States,” said Chapin. “At the heart of Colescott’s enterprise is a deep love of satire, farce, and the burlesque. Viewed in retrospect, his artistic career has unfolded as a hectic, surprising cabaret, teeming with a cast of standard characters and unexpected visitors to the scene. His life, his perspective, and his personality are reflected in his art.”

Colescott’s work is inspired by events and impressions from his Creole Louisiana heritage, his childhood and formative years in California, his time abroad, and his life in Wisconsin. Colescott taught at the University of Wisconsin–Madison for nearly forty years and continues to produce new prints in his studio in Hollandale, Wisconsin, where he lives with his wife Francis Myers.

EXHIBITION SPONSORS
Warrington Colescott: Cabaret, Comedy & Satire is sponsored by the M&I Foundation, Inc.

EXHIBITION CATALOGUE
The Museum also prepared the catalogue raisonné of his printed oeuvre—The Prints of Warrington Colescott: A Catalogue Raisonné, 1948–2008—copublished by the University of Wisconsin Press. It is the first fully illustrated catalogue to document Colescott’s extensive and varied graphic career. Author and curator Mary Weaver Chapin has worked closely with Colescott, interviewed him at length, and had unique access to his private papers and archives. Hardcover copies ($85/$76.50 for Members) are available in the Museum Store, 414-224-3210 or www.mam.org/store.   

HOURS AND ADMISSION
The Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Thursdays until 8 p.m. Admission is $12 for adults and $10 for students, seniors and active military, and is free for members and children 12 and under. 

ABOUT THE MUSEUM
The Milwaukee Art Museum’s far-reaching holdings include more than 20,000 works spanning antiquity to the present day. With a history dating back to 1888, the Museum houses a collection with strengths in 19th- and 20th-century American and European art, contemporary art, American decorative arts, and folk and self-taught art. The Museum includes the Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion, named by Time magazine as “Best Design of 2001.” For more information, please visit www.mam.org.

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ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING FOR WARRINGTON COLESCOTT: CABARET, COMEDY & SATIRE
Opening Reception
Thurs, June 10, 5:30–8 p.m.
Lecture: 6:15 p.m., with the artist
Appetizers and cash bar
Optional dinner to follow in Café Calatrava, $50/person. Reservations required. Call Krista Renfrew at 414-3856.

Gallery Talks with the Curator
Tues, 1:30 p.m.
June 29 | 60 Years of Printmaking: Exhibition Overview
Aug 10 | Colescott the Historian
Sept 14 | Colescott’s Geography

Artist Lecture and Reception
Living Dangerously: The Art of Visual Satire
Thurs, July 8, 5:30–8 p.m. | Lecture: 6:15 p.m.
Includes book signing

Gallery Talk with the Artist
Tues, July 20, 1:30 p.m.

Also on view
June 8–October 3, 2010
See a selection of works by Warrington Colescott’s artistic influences, including Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Käthe Kollwitz, and George Grosz

Book Salon
Sat, July 10, 10:30 a.m. Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
RSVP to Amy Kirschke at 414-224-3826 or amy.kirschke@mam.org

MAM After Dark
Fri, Aug 27, 5 p.m.–midnight
Kick off the new season of the after-hours art happening with burlesque and other things bawdy in homage to vaudeville and Colescott’s unabashed wit.
Details and advance admission at www.mam.org/afterdark.
 
Back to School with Warrington Colescott: Artists Reflect on Influence
Fri, Sept 24, 6:15 p.m.
Join us for a lively discussion with artists Warrington Colescott; Tom Huck, an “outlaw printmaker” inspired by Colescott; and Sue Gosin, former Colescott student and founder of the esteemed Dieu Donné Press and Papermill. Curator Mary Weaver Chapin will moderate. Book signing to follow.

For additional information, images, or interviews, please contact:
Kristin Settle
414/224-3246
kristin.settle@mam.org