Art Gaze

The fall art season is upon us and a number of venues are gearing up for Halloween-style offerings that honor the dead.

Walker’s Point Center for the Arts, 839 S. Fifth St., opens its annual Dia de Los Muertos exhibition on Fri., Oct. 29, from 5 to 8 p.m. There will also be a parade beginning at 5 p.m. This exhibition, curated by Jose Chavez, brings together the best of both worlds, meaning the local community and the spirit community. Individuals of all ilks create small altars in the Mexican tradition to summon memories of those who have passed. It’s colorful, celebratory and solemn all at once.

Things that go bump in the night. That would be sculpture and that’s what I am thinking about this week. The Alexander Calder and Contemporary Art show at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago left me with a revelation: We have moved far away from the natty categorical divisions of painting, sculpture, photography, craft, etc., and the ensuing mix-and-match mélange of current art practice allows for surprising and sometimes gloriously fresh juxtapositions.

However, the Calder show was a sculpture show harkening back to those old-fashioned categories. And indeed, I found homey comfort in the focus. (As I say this, I realize it could be argued that the essence of Calder’s work was the blurring of two and three-dimensional distinctions. But that’s for a longer discussion).

Shopping can be a spectator sport. Admiring objects, exploring surprises in design, contemplating the merger of form and function that elevates ordinary things from being merely utilitarian, has its rewards.

For a concentrated dose of high-end design that goes beyond any mere mall experience, there are two shows to catch.

The fall edition of Gallery Night is coming up quick on Friday, October 15 and Saturday, October 16.  But, if you want a head-start on the hoards of art lovers descending on the downtown and Third Ward, there is plenty to see this weekend.

Katie Gingrass Gallery (241 N. Broadway) is hosting their fall exhibition, “Urbane: Portrait of a City.”   As the title suggests, there is a great deal of polish in these paintings and drawings, and the pleasure of viewing is their intended outcome.  Jody dePew McLeane’s pastels have a rich weight like oil paintings and an undeniably graceful nostalgia.  Her images of people in bars and restaurants seem poised between memory and the present.  Mixed media compositions by Stephanie Barenz take a multilayered approach to city views, with a precisionist angle that recalls something of a soft-touch Charles Sheeler in the overlays of color and images.

When you head to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, you might want to make a full day of it. This week, I discovered an amazing restaurant that has been in the downtown area for five years but somehow eluded my culinary radar. Margaux, 821 N. Eighth Street, is owned by chef  Rob Hurrie, who previously served as executive chef at Blackwolf Run in Kohler.

Margaux offers a contemporary, relaxed environment (clean, open, airy) with outstanding food and wine. Often, these kind of ambitious restaurants in smallish cities try way too hard and end up serving overly fussy foods that are meant to impress, but lack artisanal soul. This place seems to have both heart and good food politics embedded in its offerings. Hurrie is committed to locally grown ingredients (they partner with an organic farm) as well as a seasonal menu.

There is plenty of art to gaze at as Milwaukee’s fall cultural season revs into high gear. Walker’s Point Center for the Arts, 839 S. Fifth St., opens its annual member’s show on Fri., Sept. 10, from 5 - 8 p.m. The exhibition content varies year to year, but always promises to be a great big grab bag of form and style.

The Marshall Building in the Third Ward, 207 E. Buffalo St., will hold an open house from 6 - 9 p.m. on Fri., Sept. 10. This creative epicenter boasts about 20 art-related businesses, including galleries, artists’ studios and design showcases. A highlight of this event will be the reopening of Luckystar Studio, which has gone through numerous incarnations in the past decade.