Currents 39: LaToya M. Hobbs, Carving Out Time

Exhibitions

Overview

  • September 6, 2024–January 5, 2025

  • Bradley Family Gallery

  • Free for Members

  • Included with admission

Unparalleled in its monumental scale and ambitious technique, LaToya M. Hobbs’s Carving Out Time shows the Baltimore-based artist, wife, mother, and educator balancing her many priorities. Its five 8-by-12-foot scenes depict moments in a typical day for Hobbs, her husband Ariston Jacks, and their two children, ending with a self-portrait of Hobbs in her studio when she finally has time to create new work. Through this awe-inspiring glimpse into Hobbs’s routine, the series addresses universal themes of legacy, parenthood, and representation.

Hobbs originally created Carving Out Time as a set of carved wooden panels. Then, she printed the panels to produce a version of the series in woodcut. Currents 39 celebrates the Museum’s recent acquisition of the prints. It also marks the first occasion when the panels and prints will be exhibited together, offering the opportunity to marvel at Hobbs’s artistry in two forms.

Initiated in 1982, the Museum’s Currents exhibition series highlights new trends in contemporary art. Currents 39: LaToya M. Hobbs, Carving Out Time was curated by Nikki Otten, Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Selected artworks

LaToya M. Hobbs (American, b. 1983), printed by BIG INK (founded 2012), Scene 1: Morning, from the series Carving Out Time, 2020–2021.

Purchase, with funds from the Lucia K. Stern Trust, Kevin Fahey and Ray Grzebielski Fund, Cory and Michelle Nettles, the African American Art Alliance, Brewers Community Foundation, Angela and Virgis Colbert, Print Forum, and Gregory and Lisa Wesley, M2023.282.1a-c. Image courtesy of LaToya M. Hobbs, artist, and Ariston Jacks, photographer.

LaToya M. Hobbs (American, b. 1983), printed by BIG INK (founded 2012), Scene 4: Bedtime for the Boys, from the series Carving Out Time, 2020–2021

Purchase, with funds from the Lucia K. Stern Trust, Kevin Fahey and Ray Grzebielski Fund, Cory and Michelle Nettles, the African American Art Alliance, Brewers Community Foundation, Angela and Virgis Colbert, Print Forum, and Gregory and Lisa Wesley, M2023.282.4a-c. Image courtesy of LaToya M. Hobbs, artist, and Ariston Jacks, photographer

LaToya M. Hobbs (American, b. 1983), printed by BIG INK (founded 2012), Scene 2: Homeschool and Housework, from the series Carving Out Time, 2020–2021

Purchase, with funds from the Lucia K. Stern Trust, Kevin Fahey and Ray Grzebielski Fund, Cory and Michelle Nettles, the African American Art Alliance, Brewers Community Foundation, Angela and Virgis Colbert, Print Forum, and Gregory and Lisa Wesley, M2023.282.2a-c. Image courtesy of LaToya M. Hobbs, artist, and Ariston Jacks, photographer

LaToya M. Hobbs (American, b. 1983), printed by BIG INK (founded 2012), Scene 5: The Studio, from the series Carving Out Time, 2020–2021.

Purchase, with funds from the Lucia K. Stern Trust, Kevin Fahey and Ray Grzebielski Fund, Cory and Michelle Nettles, the African American Art Alliance, Brewers Community Foundation, Angela and Virgis Colbert, Print Forum, and Gregory and Lisa Wesley, M2023.282.5a-c. Image courtesy of LaToya M. Hobbs, artist, and Ariston Jacks, photographer

LaToya M. Hobbs (American, b. 1983), printed by BIG INK (founded 2012), Scene 3: Dinner Time, from the series Carving Out Time, 2020–2021.

Purchase, with funds from the Lucia K. Stern Trust, Kevin Fahey and Ray Grzebielski Fund, Cory and Michelle Nettles, the African American Art Alliance, Brewers Community Foundation, Angela and Virgis Colbert, Print Forum, and Gregory and Lisa Wesley, M2023.282.3a-c. Image courtesy of LaToya M. Hobbs, artist, and Ariston Jacks, photographer

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Support

Leadership sponsor

  • Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Logo

Supporting sponsors

  • Ellen and James Flesch

  • Katharine and Sandy Mallin

  • Milwaukee Art Museum’s African American Art Alliance

  • Milwaukee Art Museum’s Contemporary Art Society

  • Milwaukee Art Museum’s Print Forum

The Milwaukee Art Museum extends its sincere thanks to the Visionaries.

  • Mark and Debbie Attanasio

  • Donna and Donald Baumgartner

  • Murph Burke

  • Joel and Caran Quadracci

  • Sue and Bud Selig

  • Jeff and Gail Yabuki and the Yabuki Family Foundation