Museum of Wisconsin Art

A beautiful new museum in West Bend opened this past weekend. The Museum of Wisconsin Art was established by the Pick family more than 40 years ago as a way to collect and exhibit the work of their ancestor and Milwaukee-born artist, Carl von Marr. Today the Museum shows many contemporary Wisconsin artists as well as maintains a vast archive and collection of historic Wisconsin art. Its new home is stunning.

The building sits on a parcel where an outlet mall was located in years past.
The design fits the slice of land perfectly. Landscaping on the long
street side of the Museum includes native Wisconsin grasses planted in long
narrow patches that mimic the walls of the permanent galleries on the second floor.

My favorite exhibit was "Antifragile: Contemporary Glass" that will be up until July 28. Many beautiful examples of studio glass were part of the exhibit. This art form is relatively new. Harvey Littleton, an art professor at UW-Madison, is credited with starting the movement. He began the first academic glass program in the country in 1962. 

This cast bronze and blown glass piece is "Husk-a-Ruckus"
from Michael Meilahn of Pickett.

The staircase at the pointed end of the Museum houses a beautiful glass sculpture.

We learned that the artists brought along a few extra pieces for their creation in case anything
was broken during the installation. The trickiest part was taking down the scaffolding that was built
to install these hanging multi-colored glass balls. Apparently the workers were very careful because
nothing was broken.

A close-up shot underneath the sculpture.

The Museum of Wisconsin Art does not have any art glass sculptures of Dale Chihuly, one of Littleton's most famous students. However, other glass artists from around Wisconsin are showing works from their independent studios, many of which are located in rural areas.  

Truman Lowe, another art professor from UW-Madison, has a sculpture from his collection at the Museum.

This piece sculpted from willow is called "Thunder."

Rick liked this chest of drawers, a piece from the Museum's permanent collection.

Sculpture, painting, mixed media - a lot of variety was evident at the Museum.

"Tunnel Vision" displayed on the gently curving outside
wall of the Museum was one of my favorites.

I'm thinking about becoming a member of the Museum. It's a great deal at only $12/year. Besides unlimited FREE entry, a member can participate in classes. "Baby Loves Art" (for kids 1-3) looks like a lot of fun and I'd love to "borrow" one of Rick's grandsons for a day at the Museum.