Art Gaze

Hey friends, it’s gallery night July 29. There’s so much going on all over town that if you walk out your door you will stumble upon something that looks or smells like art. There will be 57 venues presenting stuff.

Let’s begin with the least raucous of the offerings and work our way up. Walker’s Point Center for the Arts, 839 S. Fifth St., offers “Quiet,” an exhibition curated by UWM professor Josie Osborne. In an age of large, loud, fast and flickering, Osborne cultivates a welcome retreat. Artists include Melanie Pankau, Devin Giese and Tyler Meuninck. The show was funded in part by Cream City Foundation’s Joseph R. Pabst LGBT Infrastructure Fund.

The last edition of Artwatch whirled us through the frenzy of Gallery Night with some high-profile hot spots. Now let’s take a spin out to a couple of events with a decidedly Milwaukee-DIY approach.

Riverwest’s Foxglove Gallery, 826 E. Locust St., has a delightfully clever, newly opened exhibition called “The Art Show Formerly Known as Prints.” It continues through August. Eight featured artists show work ranging from vibrant photos tinged with mid-century style and nostalgia to stark woodblock images, abstract prints and a dose of collage. This installation complements Foxglove’s permanent roster of artists, who show a variety of pieces, including jewelry and fine craft items. Besides the visual pleasures on the walls, the television fish tank, courtesy of Glass Aquatics next door, is tranquilly captivating. This gallery is a small space with a lot to see.

Summer is the time for outdoor frolic, but when the rainy days hit, seek shelter in the art museums and galleries.

Generally, July and August are the quiet art months, but Milwaukee never sleeps. “Seeing in Sequence” just opened at the Haggerty Museum of Art on the Marquette campus, 13th Street and Clybourn.

The current exhibition at the UWM Department of Art History offers a unique opportunity to peruse Pablo Picasso close to home. Curated by master’s degree candidate Daniela Martinez, this selection of pieces is drawn primarily from the department’s holdings. Martinez opens some interesting ground in her catalog essay, interpreting the owl in Picasso’s work as symbolic of the postwar United States. But for the casual viewer, the greatest interest might lie in the elegance of Picasso’s lines, visible in the variety of etchings and other prints. Works span a good portion of his career, from an early and haunting “Les Pauvres” of 1905 to frolicsome nudes of the 1950s and ’60s. The exhibition at Mitchell Hall, Room 154, 3203 N. Downer Ave., is open to the public through June 24. But call ahead – 414-229-4330 – to make sure the doors are open.

Like a cool breeze off the lake, new exhibitions are freshening up the Milwaukee art scene this weekend.

Inova/Kenilworth, 2155 N. Prospect Ave., opens a pair of shows by complementary but distinctly different artists: Martha Glowacki’s “Private Science” and Greg Klassen’s “Air.” You might have come across Glowacki’s multi-room installation “Loca Miraculi” in the Milwaukee Art Museum’s lower level. Her combination of inventively displayed boxes and objects calls to mind a less reclusive Joseph Cornell. Glowacki is outgoing in her work, like a friendly carnival barker inviting you to peruse captivating oddities and ends.