The Milwaukee art scene is an interesting one. On one hand you have great new groups like Art Milwaukee, Newaukee and the like putting on greatly attended art-related parties and events...on the other, you've got the Milwaukee Art Museum and some high profile galleries displaying world-class collections...and in the middle you've got thousands upon thousands of young artists working hard to sell their wares...so how do we improve such a diverse, though rather unconnected, art community and really establish something young artists can look to with excitement, optimism and pride?
Here are a few really simple changes you can try to enact throughout the coming months...I know I will be.
#1 The Shows:
If you own a gallery, a studio, a space...anything...and put on shows, put some time and effort into them. I can't tell you how much more interesting a show of unknown work is if there is SOME kind of concept or connecting theme to latch onto. Seeing work in general is great, but giving the viewer some kind of storyline helps to generate interest, both leading up to the event and while they are viewing it.
Hanging all of your recent work can be great, to a point, but it makes it harder to figure out the work...to draw connections....to dissect a purpose...
Get together with other artists...create work together...discuss current events...infuse your work with purpose and the purpose will reveal itself to the viewer.
You shouldn't make something up just for the sake of it, but it's far more comfortable and thought-provoking, as a viewer, to walk into a room having some title, concept or idea rolling around your head than just thinking "Hey...art" and hoping some piece connects.
#2 The Media:
We constantly hear how the art community in Milwaukee isn't the greatest. There isn't a crazy amount of collectors rushing to see the newest local artwork...there aren't that many high-profile artists that prop up the newcomers...there simply aren't that many great venues for young artists to get a large amount of foot traffic...and I think one thing that could really help is a local-focused media member.
It's not any one person's fault, but we really don't have a local critic that makes it their goal to reveal the newest and most exciting artists working in the community. We have some great critics and writers for great reviews of the established galleries...great coverage of the art museum, and even editorial of creative-related historical stories... but none of those directly lead to the emerging art community. There isn't anyone searching for that new artist, that new piece, that "diamond-in-the-rough" show that everyone needs to see. I definitely think part of it has to do with the shows being put on, as noted in #1 (and I'm involved in that criticism with many ideas hopefully coming to fruition this year) but I also think there is simply a severe lack of writing about unknown and local artists, their work, and where you can see it...
Perhaps it's because it's not easy...you can't wikipedia a name of an unknown to see if your theory is correct...but it also is a great opportunity for any motivated writer to become entrenched in a deep local community and help establish a new avenue into work of some great young artists.
#3 The Viewer:
One of the main problems within our art community is the education of art interested people....and that's not a knock on the artistic intelligence of Milwaukee. If we are trying to build a community of buyers, we need to educate them as to how to read paintings, how to trust their judgement, and how inform themselves about what they are viewing. You can put up a statement or explain it to them when possible, but you'd never summarize a book and expect someone to really know it or love it...they need that personal experience to really know the book and I think the same can be said for most artwork...a more personal reaction will happen when a more personal understanding can be reached.
We need to push the individual effort of the viewer to really delve into the work and not just expect an immediate statement. We need to infuse confidence in the viewer to know what they like, trust what they think, and act on those feelings. The art viewer in our community is already interested in art, but they aren't confident in themselves. We need viewers to trust their thoughts and judgement and its up to the artists to get them started...which leads us to the biggest and most fundamental problem...
#4 The Artist:
Whenever someone tells me we don't have any good artists in the city, I usually stare in disbelief...but at the same time, the sentiment needs to be treated as a real issue. If people that like art think the artists in the city suck, then we have a fundamental problem. Sure, good art will help, but I think it's even more basic than that...it's the artists' attitudes...
As artists, we need to stop acting like we deserve praise. Creating, in some of its forms, has been done since the dawn of man, and the fact that you have the ability to make something creative doesn't inherently make you better than anyone else. We need to stop putting art and artists onto a pedestal and welcome the general public into the discussion. We need to stop looking at viewers as the possible money they will directly hand us, and realize that a strong art community starts with those that don't have the money to buy your next biggest piece. We need to stop thinking of the art community as a path to fame, and think of it in terms of community; creating relationships, educating those around us, and working together to create a lasting foundation to begin art careers.
Artists need to realize that they, the art community, and the general community are intertwined, and until artists come back and accept themselves as part of the general public as well as artists, the public will treat us and art in general as an outlier and we will never realize the inclusive community we imagine.
The Summary:
This isn't so much a list of "how to succeed as an artist" or "things Milwaukee needs to do" it's just a few things that i think individual artists, gallerists, writers, and art-interested people should start thinking about. If you think there's something wrong with the art community, don't write a letter to the editor or make a facebook post (as I post this on facebook), go out and see what you can physically do...Enact change, however small it may be.
There's not really an easy fix...and much of what I think will help requires a lot of individual effort with little-to-no immediate reward...but I suppose if ease, brevity and immediate return is what I wanted, I wouldn't have become an artist...
The Future:
So what will happen? We could petition the government for a new community center, expand the arts by the lakeside, build a high-speed train to Chicago, get millions in donations, build a big-ass sculpture...but none of that ensures a strong art community.
The biggest thing I'd say to those looking to improve the community is to stop asking the question as if you're just too small to do anything. Stop posing it to the museums, high-end galleries, and people already in places of power as if the only way to move forward it to get a decree from g-d as we wallow in worry. If the big-names are the ones that change things, why haven't they?
Figure out what you can do yourself, not what someone above you can do for you. Stop looking to those around you, waiting for some rich person to grace you with their donation and just do something different...make someone notice...The community will only be as strong as its artists, its shows, and its viewers and that starts at the ground level, with us.
The Blog:
I have some big plans for the blog this year including opening up a studio/gallery space as well as producing a few shows of my own. I hope to feature an art critic, music writer and other creative-related writing on the blog and I also hope to feature more artists from the local scene. Keep checking in for opportunities, calls for artists, and other possibilities opening up with the new year.
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