Prof. Jill Sebastian honored as Woman of Influence Print
Jill SebastianSculpture professor and public art expert Jill Sebastian received a 2010 Woman of Influence Award from the Business Journal of Greater Milwaukee. The newspaper believes she is the first artist to receive the highly selective award.

Sebastian was honored in the Innovation category as a leading state expert on integrated public art, educational innovator and multi-media artist whose “collaborative, selfless yet bold vision is seen throughout the city's and state's landscapes, buildings, classrooms, museums and performance venues.”

In addition to receiving the commission for the Midwest, now Frontier, Airlines Center, site of the June awards luncheon, Sebastian’s current works include a curricular project with MIAD students for the Milwaukee Housing Authority to benefit four public residences, and the New South Union Campus at UW-Madison, the largest public art project currently in the U.S.

Colin Dickson '08 works full-time as Sebastian’s assistant on the New Union South project in Madison.
Colin Dickson '08 works full-time as Sebastian’s assistant on the New Union South project in Madison.

Marsha Sehler, director of business development at Uihlein Wilson Architects and arts advocate, said, “Anything that’s happened in the city in the realm of public art, Jill's been involved in.”

Integrated public art is a process through which the artist both facilitates input from key stakeholders in a project and innovatively integrates multidisciplinary media to express the physical, social and cultural context of the project.

The 43 portals at the Frontier (Midwest) Airlines Center incorporate writing by 50 Wisconsin writers.
The 43 portals at the Frontier (Midwest) Airlines Center incorporate writing by 50 Wisconsin writers.