Artist Talk: Karyn Olivier

Join internationally renowned artist Karyn Olivier for a special Artist Talk about her work in honor of Vel R. Phillips at the newly created Vel R. Phillips Plaza in downtown Milwaukee. Olivier will discuss the installation, titled I Didn’t Do It Alone, her research-based practice, and how public art can shape our understanding of history, memory, and community.

The Artist Talk series welcomes emerging, mid-career, and established artists to share what it means to live creatively. Discussing motivation, medium, and technique, artists reveal how and why their work expresses their ideas and perspectives. This talk is presented in partnership with the City of Milwaukee’s Department of City Development, the Bronzeville Center for the Arts, and Lynden Sculpture Garden.

This drop-in experience is included with Museum admission. On Thursday nights from 4 to 8 p.m., admission is pay-what-you-wish at the door. Tickets purchased online in advance are full price.

About Vel Phillips

Velvalea Hortense Rodgers “Vel” Phillips (1924–2018) was a Milwaukee civil rights leader, attorney, judge, and public servant. Raised in the Bronzeville neighborhood, she became the first Black woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin Law School, the first Black person and first woman elected to the Milwaukee Common Council, and Wisconsin’s first Black judge. Throughout her career, Phillips advocated for civil rights and equal opportunity, leaving a lasting impact on Milwaukee and communities across the state.

About Karyn Olivier

Karyn Olivier (b. 1968, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago) lives and works in Philadelphia. Through sculpture, installation, and public art, Olivier explores history, memory, and the ways people relate to shared spaces and objects. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit; the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania; Project Row Houses, Houston; Le Murate Progetti Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy; Marso Galería, Mexico City; the Whitney Biennial 2024 at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Documenta 15, Kassel, Germany; Arte in Memoria Biennale, Rome; Gwangju Biennale, South Korea; and Busan Biennale, South Korea.