The best paper hat artists at Milwaukee's best outdoor music series!

At Skyline Music last night, we were stylin' to the music of the Alex Wilson Band. Next week it's bubble wands and the music of De la Buena. What could be better?

RAA returns to Skyline Music!

The Riverwest Artists Association is once again offering free art activities for families attending the COA Youth & Family Centers' Skyline Music concerts. Missed us and King Solomon Tuesday night? No worries, man! Skyline Music concerts are happening for the next five Tuesday evenings, through August 10th. Visit the COA website to see their lineup of great music, http://www.coa-yfc.org/events.htm. See you there!

Artists Call - the fo' sho' Faux Show!

Drop off artwork at the Jazz Gallery
Saturday, July 10th & 17th, 12-5 pm
or Thursday, July 15th, 5-8 pm

• Entry is free to members. Membership forms can be picked up when submitting work. $10.00 jury fee for non-members of RAA.
• All works must explore the theme.
• This exhibition is open to anyone.
• Works in all media are encouraged. 2D, 3D and time based works can be submitted. Artists must supply their own equipment for showing time-based works.
• Works must be gallery ready, i.e. able to be hung or otherwise displayed by our volunteer staff.
•Contact us at info@riverwestart.org for more information

Stumulus Show bidding now underway!

Bidding for art in the Stimulus Show opened tonight. Get in on the action! Below are just a few examples of the works of art available. Stop by the Jazz Gallery, 926 E. Center St, on Thursdays from 5-8 pm or Saturdays from 12-5 pm throughout the month of June.by Maureen Kane

"Dreidl Drawing 4" by Thomas Gaudynski

"Unravel" by Susan Buss

"Be Purposeful" by Raoul Deal

"Boy 6" by Aries Tjhin

"Freak Show II" by Kari Couture

"California Condor" by Darlene Hagopian

"Imbue" by Shana Goetsch

"Byz-ro-main" by Mark Lawson

"Solitude" by Sue Pezanoski Browne

Call for ART! "The Stimulus"

A benefit art auction for the Riverwest Artists Association

At the Jazz Gallery, 926 E Center St. Milwaukee, WI 53212

Please consider donating a piece of art to this fundraising effort of the Riverwest Artists Association.

Important dates:

Drop off days: Thursday June 3rd, 5 – 8 PM or Saturday June 5th, 12 – 5 PM.

Auction Preview Thursday, June 10, 5- 8 PM

Saturday June 12, gallery open from 12:00 to 5:00 PM, benefit begins at 7:00 PM

In the spring of 2008, the Riverwest Artists Association purchased the historic Jazz Gallery building to create a community art center for the Riverwest neighborhood. The building had been poorly maintained for many years and is requiring considerable renovation and repair. Much progress has been made over the last two years (we have new furnaces/air!) but there is still more work to be done. We need your help to finish this monumental task. Please consider supporting this project by donating a piece of your artwork.

RAA is an all-volunteer, non-profit, art organization aimed to further stimulate you, and our outstanding Milwaukee community.

The Magnificent Pierce Student Art Show

May 15– June 5
Opening reception,
Thursday May 20th, 5 – 7 PM
At the Jazz Gallery/Riverwest Community Art Center
926 E Center St. Milwaukee WI 53212
"in the heart of Riverwest"


The show is a celebration of the students and art instructor at Franklin Pierce elementary school in Riverwest. On display will be a wide variety of student works including a site specific mural. In the face of MPS cuts to its art programming, these wonderful young artists continue to create works from their
hearts and vivid imaginations.

Shining more light on our subject of Illumination...

...with artwork from the talented students in UWM's Visual Arts Living and Learning Community...

More photos of 'Illuminate'...

...can be found in this Flickr set. Click the link below for lightlightLIGHT!


http://www.flickr.com/photos/riverwestartistsassoc/sets/72157623779598677/

Illuminating views from tonight's opening at the Jazz Gallery

One young Jazz Gallery visitor seeing things differently.

Stop motion light animation by Jon T. Brown


Secret Forest by Cristian Muñoz

In the Absence of Light by Carol Knitter and Sue Pezanoski Browne

Pantoum by Ximena Soza

Electric/Luminescent Studies by Tom Galbraith

Just a Reminder

RAA's Illuminate exhibition is premiering THIS Saturday at 5:00 PM. Don't miss it, as the installations will be filled with light and creativity and wonder. Come on down to The Jazz Gallery at 926 East Center Street in Riverwest! We'll be expecting you...




...and if you can't make it this Saturday, why not think about dropping in the next weekend, for Gallery Night and Day? The gallery is open both days!

Patrons, How We Love Thee

I was browsing and found this piece written about art patronage. I found it an interesting read, it explains the necessity of art, that it is a sound investment. And it mentions the RAA...

http://www.fortunespawn.com/2009/04/26/patronizing-behavior

We are pleased that the author of this website, Fortune's Pawn chose last years' RAA Furnace Show to peruse for a portion of those investments. (Thank you, we finally got our new furnace!)

"Illuminate" Will Light You Up

Make sure to see this amazing installation exhibition when it opens, Saturday, April 10. If you miss the opening, then be sure and check it out this Gallery Night and Day, April 16-17.

Artist Spotlight

The last of our artist bios for Illuminate is posted below. Carol Knitter will be working on her installation in conjunction with Sue Pezanoski Browne.


Carol Knitter is a freelance graphic artist and illustrator. She also conducts hands-on workshops for kids and adults on everything from silkscreening to making sushi. Carol holds a BFA in Painting & Drawing and Visual Communications, as well as a degree in Occupational Therapy, from UW Milwaukee. She has worked as a photographer and ad agency art director. Carol has recently added carpentry and stereographic photography to her ever-expanding list of interests and know-how.

Artist Spotlight

One more artist bio for the upcoming RAA exhibition, Illuminate...

Jon Brown is a traditional and Flash animator. He graduated from Vancouver Film School in 2006 and found gainful employment in television production doing layout, prop design, animation, storyboards, and digital clean-up for Studio B Productions in Vancouver, BC. He has done freelance animation for a variety of independent production companies as well as television commercials, web animation, logo design, caricatures, and advertising campaigns.

He is now a Resident Artist at Redline Gallery in Milwaukee where he is working on a new animated short and teaching stop-motion and 2D animation to kids.

Pen Light, Jon T. Brown

More of Jon's work can be found at: jontbrown.blogspot.com

Illuminate - Paticipating Artists' Bios

Artist Bios for RAA's upcoming exhibition, Illuminate...


Tom Galbraith

An accomplished glass artist who works with neon and other luminous gases, Tom will exhibit several of his innovative signature works in the “Illuminate” exhibition. Having studied scientific glass blowing and the kinetic and luminous properties of various gases, Tom’s work is quite different than what is generally expected of neon art work. Existing somewhere along the boundaries between art and science, these pieces have an energetic sense of experiment, motion and drama.

Tom Galbraith

Ximena Soza

Ximena Soza was born in Chile in 1975, a country that was deeply troubled by the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet at the time. The experience has marked her as a person; she is now a teacher, writer and artist, whose work is always committed to social justice. Ximena has participated in several collective exhibits, showing her work in different medias, such as stone carving, metal work and weaving. In Milwaukee she has installed many Ofrendas for Day of the Dead at WPCA, UWM and Latino Arts. She also participated in the show Emergent Latinos in Milwaukee and In Borders, an exhibit about immigration into the United States, held at UW Oshkosh. Ximena has worked as a performing artist with different theater companies, and has also been awarded with
several international literary prizes for her fiction and poetry. She is currently a teacher in MPS and a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.


Sue Pezanoski Browne

Sue Pezanoski Browne is a local artist, and an art educator. She currently works as an art specialist at La Escuela Fratney, a part of the Milwaukee Public School system. Her art often involves community-based collaborations with other artists and students, in the creation of culturally responsive mixed media pieces. Sue has an extensive background in museum education, and holds undergraduate degrees in both Art History and Philosophy, as well as a Certification in Art Education. She is currently completing her MS in Art Education at UW Milwaukee.


Robert E. Koch

Robert has been a Riverwest area resident and businessman for many years. He has operated a sheet metal business and currently runs a property rental business in the neighborhood. His long time interests in art and science have brought him to the project on display in the exhibition, an installation that combines image and word in an exploration of the properties and influences of light.


Cristian Muñoz

Cristian Muñoz' artistic career started when he was still a teenager. During the years of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in his native country Chile, Cristian supported the student movement and the political struggle of that time. His political murals are now a part of several compilations on mural art. As a student Cristian used his art for making videos and documentaries, and has participated successfully in several short film festivals. One of his films is in the collection of The Historical National Museum in Chile. During his years in Santiago, Cristian was a teaching assistant at Universidad Arcis in several subjects, and participated in many collective exhibits. Since his arrival in Milwaukee in 2007, Cristian has been part of the show Emergent Latinos in Milwaukee at WPCA and many installations for Day of the Dead at UWM, WPCA, Latino Arts and The Milwaukee Art Museum.




(Carol Knitter, Jon T Brown, still to come.)

enLIGHTened

This upcoming exhibition revolves around the theme of 'light'. Selected artists will receive installation and production assistance from UWM's Visual Arts Living and Learning Community, under the direction of Raoul Deal and RAA's Gallery Committee.

The artists chosen for their installation work to be featured in RAA's Illuminate exhibition are:

Jon T. Brown
Robert E. Koch
Tom Galbraith
Ximena Soza
Cristian Muñoz
and
Sue Pezanoski Browne and Carol Knitter


More information on our artists, and this interactive exhibition will be coming very soon! Please check back for updates.

We're Making It!

Recently, Producer Adam Carr of 88Nine Radio Milwaukee started a series about art in Milwaukee. What do you know, our dear friend, RAA member, curator, and artist made the list! Evelyn Patricia Terry was interviewed in her new gallery, The Terry McCormick Gallery: Contemporary Fine and Folk Art. You can hear the entire interview here, and as a bonus, RAA member Shana Goetsch happens to be exhibiting in Evelyn's gallery also. She had a few good words to say about her own art, working with Evelyn, and the RAA. (This is the second interview snip) A good showing for our active members, congrats on 'Making Milwaukee' a creative place!

(p.s. I know the irony of posting this myself, but you do what you have to, if no one else is around to make the post. -sg)

Call for Artists Proposals (one week!)

The deadline is fast approaching for proposals for our upcoming Light-themed exhibition. Installation artists welcome! Please consider applying or encouraging artists/art students that you know to do so. As stated on the form, completed proposals can be sent to the Jazz Gallery address, or sent electronically to riverwestart@gmail.com.

A Year In Review

Recently, the RAA held its Annual Members Meeting. This is a chance to elect board members, check out the climate of art in Riverwest, and get together to talk with fellow artists. The juried exhibition, The Thin Line was up for viewing in the gallery as well.

I won't bore you with some of the details of the meeting (being that said 'details' were mostly about the building itself, and I always tune out when that happens, sorry). But I will say that every committee gave a brief report on their status. Grants have been applied for, so that we can possibly hire a part-time staff member next year.

The gallery committee has been working hard to bring quality and diversity to our Riverwest neighborhood. Last year, the RAA hosted 10 exhibitions in its space, The Jazz Gallery. The shows were changing just about every month, sometimes with only a week in-between, to get a new exhibit ready for the public. For an all-volunteer, non-profit organization, that boils down to a pretty serious amount of art that we handled. And, to attain much of this art, we put out free calls for local artists/art, for several of our shows last year. Additionally, we have some really great shows coming up, and an intriguing new partnership with UWM students and Raoul Deal...

The programming committee will most likely still partner with other local organizations to continue bringing free art activities to children and families. Last summer, The RAA partnered with COA, and Skyline Music Festival, as well as RW24. We also made art with the many children attending The Summer of Peace Festival. We would like to continue in the direction of partnership, and possibly add new venues to our summer, community programming list.

Of course, the bottom line, as with all meetings, is that the RAA needs more support. We need more funding, and we always need volunteers...to be on committees, work with children or community programming, to gallery-sit, and a variety of other activities, such as building repairs. So if you are handy with tools (your hands or your brains), we could use you, and would be so glad to get the help.

Please consider donating just one afternoon of your time to the Riverwest Artists Association. Or, if you seek a deeper involvement in the arts in your local community, please consider joining the Board of Directors, the gallery committee, the programming committee, or the building committee...all could use your help.

Other than that, we talked, and laughed and looked at some really excellent art at the Jazz Gallery...we're the RAA, and this is where we live!

The Jazz Gallery, RAA Community Art Center is located at 926 East Center Street, in the heart of Riverwest, Milwaukee.

The Thin Line (between love and hate) Opening

Artist Gary Niebuhr and Board Member Darlene Hagopian

The magic happens once again.  Thanks to the many talented artists for putting themselves on the line (so to speak) by contributing to the depth and breath of this show.  The many visitors to the Jazz Gallery for the Thin Line opening on February 13th (including some V-day dates, I suspect) were not disappointed.  Thanks also go out to the dedicated RAA volunteers for collectively curating another excellent show!  Love is in the air.

Cut paper work by Aries Tjhin in foreground

A few more examples of art in the exhibit:

Shana R. Goetsch

Deer Hart (Dear Heart) - Warm

Watercolor, transfer, found object, collage

Kari Couture

Just Between You and I

Mixed media on plywood