APRIL 21, 23 - OCTOBER 23

Sculpture Milwaukee presents, Dear Nature, an exhibition curated by Whitney Moon and Jennifer Johung, featuring works from Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, Milwaukee School of Engineering, UW-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts, and UW-Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning. Students and faculty developed artwork in response to Sculpture Milwaukee's 2022/23 exhibition Nature Doesn’t Know About Us, guest curated by Ugo Rondinone, that explores multiple dimensions of our human intersections with nature.


Dear Nature will be on view from April 21st, 2023 through October 2023 at The Avenue, 275 W Wisconsin Ave Milwaukee, WI 53203


Dear Nature,


We told our stories, we brought the bright lights and the loud voices, we sat by the fountain hand in hand. We’re thinking back to the good old times, or are we forgetting something? Our lines of communication have been crisscrossed, and we think we have time to spare. Carving riverbanks and measuring tides, shielding ourselves from the sun, we are hidden in bedrock, under green canopies and forest floors muddied by storms. We lay our bones down alone and lose track of where we have been. Traces of the past linger in these halls, whispers echoing familiarity in our ears: “What now, what next?” Enveloping our limbs, the uncertainty of tomorrow casts an electric glow. Beckoning us to slow down, the future leans in, rendering us visible, if only for a moment. Nature, ever present, you are all around us. We’ve been taught to waste not and want not, to make water from air and cities portioned out of dirt. Do you know about us? We are listening for signs and catching signals, reaching towards each other across the vast expanses of human form and planetary time. Tell us: what can we do now? What should we do next?


Sincerely,

Life on Earth


Artists and Artworks

Dear Nature Process

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    MIAD students, presenting Flower Power to curators Whitney Moon and Jennifer Johung

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    In process work of MIAD student's Rooted in Connection, presented to Sculpture Milwaukee 

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    MSOE students working with Erin-Garber Pearson on the fabrication of their sculpture "Recipro[city]"

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    MIAD students assembling "Curbed Estate" during Jason S. Yi's class

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    MIAD students' in-process work for "reflect, ephemerality" 

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    Kira Straub's mockup for their sculpture "Passageways", student from UW-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts

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    Addie Wade from UW-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts, showing us their in process work of "Unseen Borders"

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Sculpture Milwaukee’s newest initiative, "Dear Nature" reflects the implementation of its mission beyond its signature exhibition of monumental public sculpture along Wisconsin Avenue by impacting how the community engages with the broader built environment, both today and in the future.


“Through this experience, students learned crucial facets of professional practice that require careful planning, effective communication, and the logistics of showing art in a public setting,” said Jason S. Yi, Professor of Art at MIAD and a featured artist in Sculpture Milwaukee’s Legacy Collection. “Most important, they experienced the inner workings of professional collaboration and built a meaningful community outside the confines of MIAD.”


Dear Nature offers Milwaukee’s future artists, architects, and engineers a platform to take the training within their respective fields to be applied to a professional art-making process. Here, they consider the value of integrating other disciplines in the project and the future careers that will shape our urban environment.


VISIT DEAR NATURE

Dear Nature will be on view from April 21st, 2023 through October 2023 at The Avenue, 275 W Wisconsin Ave Milwaukee, WI 53203


The exhibition is free and open to the public during the normal operating hours of The Avenue.

Directions inside the Avenue:

The exhibition is installed on the second floor of The Avenue, adjacent to 3rd St. Market Hall.


Parking Garage accessible from N. Plankinton and N. 2nd Street.

Dear Nature, initially inspired by Sculpture Milwaukee's 2022 exhibition Nature Doesn't Know About Us guest curated by Ugo Rondindone is currently on view with more works to be installed in Spring 2023. See below to visit the works and other sculptures currently on view with Sculpture Milwaukee!


Click here to learn more about the works featured in Nature Doesn't Know About Us

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