BYO: The familiar acronym stands for “bring your own,” and when Ken and Kerry Yandell opened BYO Studio Lounge last June, they invited the city to bring its own creativity. Specifically, this venue invites inquisitive, productive minds to use their artistic talents for celebrations, classes, events, exhibitions, meetings, performances or workshops at the Bay...

Truman Lowe’s artistic legacy branches out from northern Wisconsin—Black River Falls, to be specific. In this scenic town, sculptor Lowe grew up in the Ho-Chunk community and attended Black River Falls Mission Schools...

The work of Alan Bardin, a fast-rising Milwaukee artist, begs the following two questions: Where has he been, and what kind of hell results in this intense outpouring of artistic expression? To understand the latter, we must first meet the former, a class prankster at Shorewood High School. When running for class president, he promised to build a “Student Rec” on top of the school‘s copper dome. The city board never considered the proposal...

Are hardcover books and handwritten words cultural relics? Will future societies rely solely on plugged-in, downloaded communications and conversations that can appear or vanish within an instant? These questions are explored in the sights, sounds and symbols of contemporary language presented at three art exhibitions in the metropolitan area...

During the first weeks in March, Milwaukeeans start to anticipate the approaching spring and relief from the winter cold. Several Waukesha-area art events encourage the city to embrace the upcoming season...

The city promotes cross-cultural understanding and acknowledges the vast interconnections in today’s world as Latino Arts Inc. and the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD)...

When I first saw the terrazzo mosaics sweeping down Mitchell International Airport’s Concourse C, I stopped in...

Industrial subjects from the 1930s, including gas companies, locomotives and lumberyards, illustrate the sense of community between the common man and the uncommon artist during a difficult era in...

Much to their credit, Milwaukee-area museums provide opportunities to artists of all levels, from students just learning a craft to award-winning masters. Artists both established and new continue to find homes this month through intriguing shows at the Museum of Wisconsin Art (MWA), Charles Allis Art Museum and Milwaukee Art Museum...

The work of Milwaukee architect Phillip Katz inspired the symmetry, shadow, light and seating for a space in the Portrait Society Gallery that invites the public to pursue serenity. His experience directly influenced the spiritual vision in the gallery’s “A Winter Chapel,” a project that introduces...

Beginning Saturday, Feb. 13, Tory Folliard Gallery presents a retrospective honoring one of Wisconsin’s premier painters, John Wilde (1919-2006). The gallery’s “John Wilde Revisited” (through March 6) features...

Galleries throughout the city offer an eclectic array of artists this week. This surprising mixture of creativity begs to be seen at least once and will provide interesting topics of conversation to help warm a February night. Above the Historic Third Ward Starbucks on Water Street, Cedar Gallery provides an exhibition curated by former gallery owners Jessica Steeber and Cassandra Smith...

Through April 18 at the Haggerty Museum of Art, the main gallery hosts three distinct photography exhibitions. Presented separately, the three photographers’ series reveal that truth is subjective. While the camera, an extension of the artist’s eye, faithfully records what is immediately in front of it, each photographer mediates the reality...

Thomas Woodruff’s exhibition at Marquette University’s Haggerty Museum of Art (up through April 18) depicts one conundrum after another. Woodruff sets the stage for his raucous, colorful parade by telling all spectators, “This is not a display of organized power, collected wealth, or capitalism. This is about delicacy, not might,” as in Shelley’s poem...

When a curated exhibit occurs at Tory Folliard Gallery, the public takes notice. An intriguing new trio enjoys this recognition in the gallery’s current exhibition, “Introductions: Sofia Arnold, Nick Olson, Paula Swaydan Grebel.” Arnold, who graduated from UW-Madison in May 2009 with a bachelor’s in fine arts...

From a candy store of delectable aphorisms offered by Milwaukee photographer Tom Bamberger for this article, my favorite is: “Our brains want to know; if it were up to our brains, we would have no present.” This is a good introduction to his time-bending new artwork, which he calls “photos with time or movies...

Much like a touring carnival of yesteryear, Thomas Woodruff’s “Freak Parade” pulls into Marquette University’s Haggerty Museum of Art next week, where it will delight, challenge and satisfy the curious until it pulls up the tent-stakes on April 18. Railing against...

A small retrospective at the Charles Allis Art Museum reveals the dedication Wisconsin’s Emily Parker Groom gave to her artwork over the course of 80 years. Thirty-four images—in chalk, charcoal, graphite, pastel and watercolor...

A noteworthy exhibit at Marquette University’s Haggerty Art Museum is closing soon, on Jan. 17. “Persian Visions,” on two floors of the Haggerty, features a remarkable artist, MIAD instructor Fahimeh Vahdat. Her personal saga includes surviving the Islamic Revolution of 1979 in Tehran, when she witnessed her sister’s hanging and the brutal...

Winter Gallery Night and Day will be held Friday and Saturday, Jan. 15-16, with dozens of galleries in the East Town, Walker’s Point and Historic Third Ward neighborhoods showcasing new work. In conjunction with the night, and in what has quickly become a...

Dean Jensen Gallery, located near the theater district on Water Street, presents “Big Bangs, Small Bucks 2,” featuring more than 100 international artworks at value prices. This eclectic exhibit displays a variety of mediums from artists all around the world...

Downtown Waukesha continues to build a reputation as one of the area’s visual arts hot spots. The West End Artists Group, which supports and promotes the arts in Waukesha and surrounding communities, presents several “art crawls” throughout the year to showcase the city’s many galleries. Situated at the literal and figurative center of this suburban creative...

Rarely does a major art exhibition invite viewers to “please touch” the items on display. But accessibility plays a significant role in the recently opened exhibit titled “Green Furniture Design” at the Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM). This timely subject stresses upcycling, sustainability and efficiency while featuring ingenious...

The Ediciones Vigia, a small, independent press operating in Matanzas, Cuba, encourages and supports artists to produce...

David Heino, in what he hopes will be an annual affair, has organized a two-day event in the galleries of the Kunzelmann-Esser Lofts, 710 W. Historic Mitchell St....