Jazz Gallery Responds to Anxiety with ‘Art on the Edge’

A group of local artists whose exhibits were cancelled or cut short will be on display through November 23.

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Last summer’s “POW-litical Comics: From Ripon to the RNC” exhibition at MOWA/DTN closed earlier than planned. Scheduled to run through July 21, it ended abruptly on June 23 with explanations that the effected artists found vague. At least one participant didn’t realize the show was taken down until after it closed. Suspicion was that the closure was triggered by fear of violence at the Republican National Convention, down the street from the gallery in St. Kate—The Arts Hotel.  

And this might not have been the only political decision by the organizers of this political art show. Susan Simensky Bietela’s denunciation of Moms for Liberty, Big Sister is Watching You, was hung upfront at the opening reception but swiftly removed to the back of the gallery. During that spring and summer of discontent, a Mitchell Street Arts exhibit by Palestinian American artists Amal Azzam and Nayfa Naji was cancelled. Finally, woodcutter Seth Ter Haar sanded-off subtle phallic imagery on an artwork, worried about a local gallery’s reaction. 

Bietela, Azzam, Naji, Haar and Barbara Reinhart, a “POW-litical” artist cut short by that exhibit’s closure, are represented in a new exhibition, “Art on the Edge: Fear and Censorship in an Era of Political Turmoil,” at Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts. The exhibit is curated by the Jazz Gallery’s Barbara Miner and Josey Osborne.  

“I do think Milwaukee has always been conservative when it comes to visual arts, but there is a new level of anxiety and recrimination in the air,” Miner says. "There now seems to be a heightened fear to display art “that does not fit within gallery-museum ethos,” he continues. “The art world is ruled by people who have money. Art is very influenced by who will buy the art.” 

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The Jazz Gallery had long been a stage for jazz and other non-mainstream music. In its present incarnation, the Riverwest venue is “community based, serving not just the art or music community,” Miner says. “We often show young artists to help them get a foothold, and we offer a program called ‘Older, Wiser, Local’—a weekly gathering of older people who discuss art and make art.”  

What are the Jazz Gallery’s boundaries for exhibits such as “Art on the Edge” in a time of political and social tension? “Nothing racist or homophobic or contributing to a hostile environment. You don’t have to be blatantly offensive,” Miner says. “I tend to err on the side of free speech.” 

“Art on the Edge: Fear and Censorship in an Era of Political Turmoil” opens with a reception, 4-6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18. It runs through Nov. 23.