Above the Historic ThirdWard Starbucks on Water Street,Cedar Gallery provides an exhibitioncurated by former gallery owners Jessica Steeber and Cassandra Smith in “Armoury@ The Cedar Gallery.” An intriguing sextet represents the new artistic guard,with these individuals studying at or recently graduating from Wisconsin colleges.
Karin Haas (MIAD, 2008)and James LaLonde create more than 500 miniature zebras that cascade over agallery wall onto the floor“a simple, satisfying installation that combinesart and happiness.” Ginger Lukas (UW-Madison, future MFA) brings herprestigious résumé to the oversized mixed-media installation Pursuit of Happiness. This circle ofcolored porch swings ornamented with bold, shiny decorations reinforces theidea that “all that’s gold doesn’t glitter.”
Kevin Giese(UW-Milwaukee, MFA, 2007) hollows out 20 feet of ash wood and then fills thesinuous horizontal column with river quartz crystals in his wall sculpture Original River.Katie Kraft (MIAD, 2008) paints smallacrylics representing chance and skill in her series showcasing billiards. Onanother wall, Sophia Flood’s (UW-Madison, future MFA) Viewfinder Series mounts small collages fashioned from the grids ofactual graph paper to present fleeting moments in life.
The entire collection atCedar Gallery offers a glimpse of the future in these exceptional artists.
Elaine Erickson Gallery hosts “Residua,” a dual exhibitionwith Erica Spitzer Rasmussen and Allison B. Cooke featuring three- andtwo-dimensional art.
Rasmussen constructsmythological garments in various sizes and paper books that pay homage towomen, often relating to issues in fertility and motherhood. Cooke referencesclassical notes and the ancient wall frescos discovered in Pompeiiwith several series, one of which includes the oil on canvas Pompeii Garden.Her other images use an encausticprocess where pigment may be mixed with melted wax to form a textural paintingthat belies age and captures the imagination.
Further west, Marian ArtGallery on the campus of Mount Mary College offers “2Cameras: Photographic Exhibition by Byron Becker and Suzanne Garr.” Becker andGarr’s prints depict familiar secluded landscapes and colorful foreignportraits.
Becker’s silver gelatinphotographs pay tribute to nature in the UpperMichigan Peninsula,Canadian Boundary Waters and Saskatchewan.Garr’s camera uncovers the otherworldly and creates wonder in scenes of Bhutan, Nepal,and Thailand.In her Umbrella Series,prints captured from a Bor Sangumbrella factory in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Garrperceives the power released from the hands that make these exotic umbrellas.
