The exhibition concept is a promising one, especially with a title like “Making a Scene: Wisconsin Art Organizations.” On view now at the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum, it presents work by members of the League of Milwaukee Artists, Wisconsin Visual Artists and the Cedarburg Artists Guild. However, corralling all of these together into a cohesive whole presents some challenges.
There are some surprising and powerful works interspersed in the galleries. Chuck Weber’s Chief is one standout. This oil painting is a portrait of a weathered old man with his arm around an acoustic guitar. Weber catches the details of a craggy, ruddy face and a long white beard that has been growing for years, and you can bet he’s got stories to tell.
Patrick M. Doughman’s Portrait of the Artist is a four-color linocut print with a similar veracity. Behind trifocal glasses, his face is detailed by wood grain-like lines in fiery tones of red and yellow. There is confidence in execution and a great ability to convey presence and personality.
Katheryn Corbin’s Lady with Chicken is delightfully strange and playful. It is a ceramic sculpture of a woman holding a chicken along her hip, styled with a 1920s or ’30s skullcap, thin painted brows and red bow lips. So why is this fashionable lady carrying a chicken? Perhaps there is an unsaid punch line to this riddle, and that is part of the fun in this rather surrealist juxtaposition.
There are other strong pieces in the show, but these qualities of skill and expressiveness are unevenly shared. Generally speaking, while a variety of media are represented, the subjects stick to traditional genres like landscape, still life, abstraction and others. Overall, very few risks are taken. A soft touch also seems part of the curatorial approach. Only a brief paragraph of text describes the purposes and goals of the contributing art organizations, which misses an opportunity to more fully introduce their significance. There is indeed a vibrant art community in this area, but the viewer needs to keep looking for the scene beyond this show.
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Through May 8 at Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum, 2220 N. Terrace Ave.
