Photo by Tyler Nelson
Jason Scroggin standing next to one of the bears in his latest art installation, Massimals MKE, in Cathedral Square Park.
Five bears will inhabit the park for the next few months in Downtown Milwaukee’s latest art installation, Massimals MKE from Kentucky artist, Jason Scroggin. In partnership with the UW-Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Scroggin and a team of students assembled and installed the bears earlier this week. The installation will also include a unique lighting element by Majic Productions.
While Scroggin loves museums and is honored when he’s commissioned to do pieces for them, but he always wanted his work to be something the public can touch and interact with. Some of his previous installations can be seen on his website here, including an impressive bear made from over 20,000 zip-ties. He loves getting commissioned work when he can, but he has worked for some big architecture firms in the past and his day-job now is teaching. He especially enjoys teaching beginning classes in architecture and design, where he can try and amplify the initial sparks of interest or help fuel the fire of passion young students have.
Scroggin is an associate professor of architecture at the University of Kentucky College of Design and has taught at Princeton University and the University of Texas at Austin. He received his master’s degree in advanced architectural design from Columbia University and his bachelor’s in architecture from the University of Kentucky. He also runs a design research practice of his own, Scroggin Studio.
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Photo by Tyler Nelson
When asked why he chose bears and not Packers, Scroggin laughed. “At the installation in Chicago, there was a large one that was painted green and gold, with a smaller one in front of it that was blue and orange. I caught a little guff from people for that.”
While the bears are white for now, they may be painted at some point over the course of the installation. To see what they could look like, check out some of his colored bears in the wild at the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Va.
