10 Years of Var

Proprietor Josh Hintz celebrated the 10th anniversary of his Var Gallery & Studios with an all-day open studio last Saturday. Between his two locations, one on 2nd Street and one on 5th in Walker’s Point, he provides space to over 50 artists, runs at least five galleries, hosts music and food events, and functions as a general traffic cop for individuals who are on the hunt for art and culture in Milwaukee. I’ve known of his value for years, but I came to understand it in a new way at the event, as I snaked through the dozens of spaces, losing myself in a maze of humans, conversation, drink, and, of course, diverse helpings of fine art.

It was only about 30 minutes into my adventure in the bowels of the 5th Street compound that I realized the extent to which this exceptional man has drywalled, painted, and literally carved out a community of artists and appreciates. Every time I go to an event at one of his spaces there’s a new venture that seems to have been reclaimed from earth and history by sheer will and skinned knuckles. This visit it was To Hell and Back an upscale vintage clothing store with everything from Red Wing boots to Suicidal Tendencies t-shirts. While exiting Emma Daisy’s studio upstairs, I imagined Hintz as a well-coiffed gentlemanly prairie dog, furiously digging-out a labyrinth of gallery spaces, bars, common areas, viewing corridors, and studios. Thinking about it now, he might be more beaver-like, with the pelt and the busy-ness. But either way his labyrinthine network represents a profound channeling of animal energy and human ambition.

Worth Checking Out

The open studios bore the expected range of amateur and professional production as well as several ongoing exhibitions worth checking out. Kyoung Ae Cho’s exhibition “From My Garden” at Hawthorn, running through Nov. 19, is materially seductive and retinally satisfying; however, the punctuating highlight of my spin through the burrows and tunnels at VAR was an exhibition of mostly burrows and tunnels. Deep Lake Future is a trippy, immersive environment of, crannies and caverns, covered wall-to-wall with images of invasive species that plague the Great Lakes. The installation was created by the Milwaukee-based multimedia studio, Fuzzpop Workshop, and lies in territory somewhere between Thomas Hirschhorn and Discovery World with a dash of ‘70s psychedelia sprinkled in. There’s even an infinity nook for those who aren’t claustrophobic and have good knees. Turns out being lost in a complex of tunnels while being lost in a complex of tunnels is a strangely redeeming meta-exercise. It’s a kind of desensitization therapy: if you can get just lost enough, you’ll eventually stop trying to get found and engage with your surroundings.

Speaking of meta, something else occurred to me as I was leaving my own mark on a wall of Zebra Mussel stickers in Deep Lake Future: in a complex of dozens of artist studios and thousands of works of original art, the most impressive maker in the lot might be the proprietor himself, who happens to be the only one in the building who doesn’t call himself an artist. Hintz has moved as much earth as Richard Long and painted nearly as many white surfaces as Robert Ryman. Conceptually, his notion of a constantly evolving network of exhibition spaces seems as much like high art as Meow Wolf, Bruce High Quality Foundation, or Tiger Strikes Asteroid. And the whole enterprise seems especially comfortable in a state known for its outsider environments and grottos.

Here's to 10 years of building and digging, and to all the brilliant things that may be uncovered in the next decade, Mr. Hintz. If you’ve never had the pleasure of getting lost in his bramble of creativity, give yourself that pleasure as soon as possible. But bring some breadcrumbs to drop as you go so you can find your way out. Then again being stuck in a bar surrounded by dozens of fine art studios might not be so bad.

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Event Listings

October 8– October 14, 2023

Milwaukee Art Museum

Drop-In Art Making: Kohl’s Art Studio

Sunday, October 8, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Milwaukee Artist and Resource Network (MARN) Art + Culture Hub

Meet and Greet: Marisa Tirado and Amanda Kuehne

Sunday, October 8, 12–2 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

Drop-In Tour: Architecture and Collection Highlights

Saturday, October 8, 2–3 p.m.

Art Works On The Avenue | Mural Painting Party (924 Milwaukee Ave.)

Sunday, October 8, 6:00 pm–9:00 p.m.

Milwaukee Artist and Resource Network (MARN) Art + Culture Hub

A Sense of Belonging: How Do You Say Your Last Name? A discussion about Asian-American identity with Vanessa Nguyen

Wednesday, October 11, 6–8 p.m.

Milwaukee Artist and Resource Network (MARN) Art + Culture Hub

Choreo Kitchen, Session 1

Thursday, October 12, 6–8 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

Lecture: A Sense of Place: Painting and Identity in the Dutch Republic

Thursday, October 12, 6:15–7:15 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

Play Date with Art: It’s Me! Self-Portraits

Friday, October 13, 10 a.m.–12 p.m.

Alverno College Art and Cultures Gallery

Featured Artist Workshop

Friday, October 13, 4–5:30 p.m.

Alverno College Art and Cultures Gallery

Opening Reception: “Connections: Alum Juried Art Show”

Friday, October 13, 5:30–7:30 p.m.

Warehouse Art Museum

Artist Talk Series with Elizabeth Bick

Friday, October 13, 4 p.m.

Daniel M. Soref Learning Commons at UWM Golda Meir Library

October Art Fair

Saturday, October 14, 9 a.m.–1 p.m.

Museum of Wisconsin Art (MOWA)

Second Saturdays

Saturday, October 14, 10 a.m.–2 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

Story Time in the Galleries

Saturday, October 14, 10:30–11 a.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

Taking a Ride: “Our Time Together” Bus Tour

Saturday, October 14, 11 a.m.–3 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

Drop-In Tour: Architecture and Collection Highlights

Saturday, October 14, 2–3 p.m.

MOWA-DTN

Opening Party: “Vaughan Larsen: Everything I Could Ever Want”

Saturday, October 13, 5–7 p.m.

Events: October 1– October 7, 2023

River Bend Nature Center, Racine

• Chainsaw Carving & Art Forest Festival
• Sunday, October 1, 9 a.m.–3 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Drop-In Art Making: Kohl’s Art Studio
• Sunday, October 1, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

MKE Studio Tour, Presented by Wisconsin Craft

• mkestudiotour.com
• Sunday, October 1, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

Charles Allis Art Museum

• “Talk Back: Chapter One: Estate”
• Sunday, October 1, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

The Waelderhaus (1100 Riverside Drive, Kohler, WI)

• Eulenspiegel Puppets
• Sunday, October 1, 2 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Drop-In Tour: Architecture and Collection Highlights
• Sunday, October 1, 2–3 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Gallery Talk: “Art, Life, Legacy”
• Thursday, October 5, 12–1 p.m.

Warehouse Art Museum

• Artist Talk Series with Carla Gannis
• Thursday, October 5, 4–6 p.m.

Marian Art Gallery, Mount Mary University

• Opening Reception: “Marking the Season,” Abrahm Guthrie-Potter
• Thursday, October 5, 6–7 p.m.

MIAD, Frederick Layton Gallery

• Opening Reception: “Predecessor: Works from the Layton School of Art”
• Thursday, October 5, 6–9 p.m.

UWM Union Art Gallery

• Opening Reception: “Crossing Over,” work by undergraduates at the Peck School of Art
• Thursday, October 5, 5–7 p.m.

2622 Gallery

• Opening Reception, “Structures of Imagination: A Visual Notebook,” Kathleen Leahy Pulz
• Friday, October 6, 6–9 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Drop-In Art Making: Kohl’s Art Studio
• Sunday, October 7, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Story Time in the Galleries
• Saturday, October 7, 10:30–11 a.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Slow Art Saturday
• Saturday, October 7, 10:30–11:30 a.m.

Museum of Wisconsin Art (MOWA)

• Ten Talk: Vaughan Larsen
• Saturday, October 7, 11 a.m.

Grohmann Museum

• 12th Annual Lost Arts Festival
• Saturday, October 7, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Wisconsin Museum of Quilt and Fiber Arts (WMQFA)

• Open House
• Saturday, October 7, 1:00 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Gallery Talk: “Knowledge Beings”
• Saturday, October 7, 1–2 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Drop-In Tour: Architecture and Collection Highlights
• Saturday, October 7, 2–3 p.m.

Hawthorn Contemporary

• Kyoung Ae Cho, Artist Talk
• Saturday, October 7, 5– p.m.

The Alice Wilds

• Opening Reception, “It's My Fault; It's Free,” Colin Matthes
• Satuday, October 6, 5–8 p.m.

Milwaukee Artist and Resource Network (MARN)

• CHICANISMO, Chopped + Screwed Panel
• Saturday, October 7, 6–8 p.m.

Var Gallery, 5th Street

• Opening Reception, Foster Owen Atkinson
• Saturday, October 7, 6–9 p.m.