MIAD Galleries

Mission: The mission of MIAD Galleries is to support learning, cultivate conversation with the community, and demonstrate the cultural value of art and design. Through excellence and diversity in our changing exhibitions and educational programming,  MIAD Galleries reflect contemporary and historical trends in fine art and design. With a focus on diverse, innovative and interdisciplinary practices across art and design, we present a dynamic exhibition program featuring work by regional, national and international professional practitioners. Our exhibits are complemented by public and educational events.

Impact Statement: We make an impact through:

• The support of learning and pedagogy through programming reflecting contemporary and historical trends in fine art and design.
• Emphasizing diversity and engaging the college and community in issues of cultural construction and meaning.
• Expanding school curriculum and teaching by supporting new work and the curation of subjects and creative endeavors less commonly found in school or the larger community.
• Fostering connections with creative professionals and institutions in the region for mutual support of programming and audience cultivation.

MIAD’s Director of Galleries prepares professional shows in both the fine arts and design galleries, and also assists groups of students in organizing shows throughout the campus.

MIAD welcomes proposals for exhibitions on an ongoing basis. Please contact  MIAD’s Director of Galleries Mark Lawson at 414‑847‑3350 or marklawson@miad.edu.

MIAD operates two main galleries: the Brooks Stevens Gallery and the Frederick Layton Gallery. MIAD’s galleries are open to the public Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission to the galleries is free. Both galleries are located on the college’s lower level, the River Level.

FREDERICK LAYTON GALLERY

This gallery is named after Frederick Layton, the founder of the first art gallery in the city of Milwaukee. This early art venue was also the site where MIAD’s predecessor institution, the Layton School of Art was founded. Four to five exhibits are on view in this space each year, based on the college’s academic calendar. It has no exterior windows, about 320 linear feet of wall space and has about 3,600 square feet of open space. It is accessible to by a freight elevator, and can exhibit very large or heavy artifacts. Download Frederick Layton Gallery floor plan PDF.

BROOKS STEVENS GALLERY

This gallery is named after Brooks Stevens, the famed Milwaukee-based industrial designer who was instrumental in developing the college’s Industrial Design program. During his long career, his design firm worked for hundreds of clients creating many influential, well-known products. This gallery focuses primarily on design exhibits, presenting two to three exhibits per year. The gallery features exterior windows to view Milwaukee’s River Walk. This space has about 4,000 square feet of open space with 220 feet of linear wall space, depending on the temporary wall partitions being used. Download Brooks Stevens Gallery floor plan PDF.

Dates: April 21 – May 6, 2023
Location: MIAD, 273 E. Erie St., Milwaukee, W​I

MIAD’s annual Senior Exhibition returns in 2023 featuring the innovative work of emerging creative professionals who passionately contribute to the world and meet universal challenges in new ways. The exhibit features student artists and designers representing all of MIAD’s Bachelor of Fine Arts majors and minors. Learn more at www.miad.edu/seniorexhibition.

New Studio Practice: Fine Art Group Shows

Group Show 01: March 27 – 31, 2023
Closing reception Friday, March 31, 2023 6 – 8 p.m. in MIAD’s Community Hub & Gallery (room 160).

Group Show 02: April 3 – 7, 2023
Closing reception Friday, April 7, 2023 6 – 8 p.m. in MIAD’s Community Hub & Gallery (room 160).

Group Show 03: April 10 – 14, 2023
Closing reception Friday, April 14, 2023 6 – 8 p.m. in MIAD’s Community Hub & Gallery (room 160).

Dates: April 21 – May 6, 2023
Location: MIAD, 273 E. Erie St., Milwaukee, W​I

MIAD’s annual Senior Exhibition returns in 2023 featuring the innovative work of emerging creative professionals who passionately contribute to the world and meet universal challenges in new ways. The exhibit features student artists and designers representing all of MIAD’s Bachelor of Fine Arts majors and minors. Learn more at www.miad.edu/seniorexhibition.

New Studio Practice: Fine Art Group Shows

Group Show 01: March 27 – 31, 2023
Closing reception Friday, March 31, 2023 6 – 8 p.m. in MIAD’s Community Hub & Gallery (room 160).

Group Show 02: April 3 – 7, 2023
Closing reception Friday, April 7, 2023 6 – 8 p.m. in MIAD’s Community Hub & Gallery (room 160).

Group Show 03: April 10 – 14, 2023
Closing reception Friday, April 14, 2023 6 – 8 p.m. in MIAD’s Community Hub & Gallery (room 160).

Dates: January 16 – March 11, 2023
Location: Frederick Layton Gallery, 273 E. Erie St., Milwaukee, WI
Reception: MIAD Layton Gallery, January 19, 6-8 p.m.

Art Against The Odds: Wisconsin Prison Art features more than 60 artists who turned to creative production to mitigate the dehumanizing conditions of incarceration. The exhibition was initiated two years ago by Portrait Society Gallery of Contemporary Art (PSG) in Milwaukee to give voice and visibility to individuals currently held in the state’s carceral system as well as to illustrate the potentially profound healing properties of an art practice. With limited instructional art programs offered in the prison system, these individuals teach themselves through various means, often working with a minimal range of materials.

Events

Film Screening
Master of Light
Tuesday, January 31 | 6 p.m.
Oriental Theater, 2230 N. Farwell Avenue, Milwaukee WI | Free Admission
Presented in conjunction with The Community, Represent Justice, and Milwaukee Film. Master of Light (2022) is a new documentary about George Anthony Morton, who spent 10 years in prison, and since his release, “is doing everything he can to defy society’s unlevel playing field and tackle the white-dominant art world.”

Panel Discussion
Correcting the Narrative: Realities and Reform In Our Prison System
Thursday, February 2 | 7 p.m.
MIAD Community Hub – Room 160, 273 E. Erie St., Milwaukee, WI
Introductions: Peter Goldberg
Moderator: Shannon Ross, The Community
Participants:
Bill Lipscomb, assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
Claude Motley, attorney, victim, and the focus of the documentary “When Claude Got Shot”
Cecelia Klingele, University of Wisconsin Law School
MIllie Lee, an aspiring public speaker connected to Jobs Work MKE, who was released recently from prison in Illinois after a lengthy sentence.

Panel Discussion
Narratives of Privilege: Dialogue about the Multi-Faceted Concept of Privilege
Wednesday, February 8 | 6 – 7:30 p.m.
MIAD Community Hub – Room 160, 273 E. Erie St., Milwaukee, WI
Professor Zoe Darling with Research, Process & Connection FYE students
A thought-provoking dialogue about the multi-faceted concept of privilege in conjunction with Art Against the Odds.
Participants:
Kristin Belkofer, MS/LPC, Founder & Clinical Director, CLARA Healing Institute
Debra Brehmer, Director, Portrait Society Gallery of Contemporary Art
Takahiro Suzuki, Interdisciplinary Artist, Co-Founder of aCinema, Photography + Digital Media Lab Technician

Panel Discussion
Carceral Aesthetics: Making Art in Prison
Thursday, February 9 | 7 p.m.
MIAD Community Hub – Room 160, 273 E. Erie St., Milwaukee, WI
Moderator: Sarah Demerath in discussion with John Tyson, Joshua Gresl, Joshua Rowe, Curtis Wilks and Scott Evans.

John Tyson, 2022.

M. Winston, Untitled (Landscape House), 2022.

Dates: January 16 – March 4, 2023
Location: Frederick Layton Gallery, 273 E. Erie St., Milwaukee, WI
Reception: January 19, 6-8 p.m.

Art Against The Odds: Wisconsin Prison Art features more than 60 artists who turned to creative production to mitigate the dehumanizing conditions of incarceration. The exhibition was initiated two years ago by Portrait Society Gallery of Contemporary Art (PSG) in Milwaukee to give voice and visibility to individuals currently held in the state’s carceral system as well as to illustrate the potentially profound healing properties of an art practice. With limited instructional art programs offered in the prison system, these individuals teach themselves through various means, often working with a minimal range of materials.

Events

Film Screening
Master of Light
Tuesday, January 31 | 6 p.m.
Oriental Theater, 2230 N. Farwell Avenue, Milwaukee WI | Free Admission
Presented in conjunction with The Community, Represent Justice, and Milwaukee Film. Master of Light (2022) is a new documentary about George Anthony Morton, who spent 10 years in prison, and since his release, “is doing everything he can to defy society’s unlevel playing field and tackle the white-dominant art world.”

Panel Discussion
Correcting the Narrative: Realities and Reform In Our Prison System
Thursday, February 2 | 7 p.m.
MIAD Room 160, 273 E. Erie St., Milwaukee, WI
Introductions: Peter Goldberg/Moderator: Shannon Ross, The Community
Bill Lipscomb, assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
Claude Motley, attorney, victim, and the focus of the documentary “When Claude Got Shot”
Cecelia Klingele, University of Wisconsin Law School
MIllie Lee, an aspiring public speaker connected to Jobs Work MKE, who was released recently from prison in Illinois after a lengthy sentence.

Panel Discussion
Narratives of Privilege: Dialogue about the Multi-Faceted Concept of Privilege
Wednesday, February 8 | 6 – 7:30 p.m.
MIAD Community Hub – Room 160, 273 E. Erie St., Milwaukee, WI
Professor Zoe Darling with Research, Process & Connection FYE students
A thought-provoking dialogue about the multi-faceted concept of privilege in conjunction with Art Against the Odds.
Participants:
Kristin Belkofer, MS/LPC, Founder & Clinical Director, CLARA Healing Institute
Debra Brehmer, Director, Portrait Society Gallery of Contemporary Art
Takahiro Suzuki, Interdisciplinary Artist, Co-Founder of aCinema, Photography + Digital Media Lab Technician

Panel Discussion
Carceral Aesthetics: Making Art in Prison
Thursday, February 9 | 7 p.m.
MIAD Community Hub – Room 160, 273 E. Erie St., Milwaukee, WI
Moderator: Sarah Demerath in discussion with John Tyson, Joshua Gresl, Joshua Rowe, Curtis Wilks and Scott Evans.

John Tyson, 2022.

M. Winston, Untitled (Landscape House), 2022.

Dates: January 16 – March 11, 2023
Location: Brooks Stevens Gallery, 273 E. Erie St., Milwaukee, WI
Reception: January 26, 6-8 p.m. with public Artist Talk at 5 p.m.

Wig Heavier than a Boot: Work by David Johnson and Philip Matthews brings together photography and video by David Johnson – an internationally exhibited lens-based artist, educator and curator – and poetry by Philip Matthews. Revealing Petal – a persona as whom Philip manifests to write, whom David photographs – the project crosses art-making rituals with isolated performances in domestic spaces and pastoral landscapes.

Events

Wig Heavier Than A Boot: A Poetry Reading and Talk Back with Philip Matthews
Thursday, March 2, 2023 | 6 – 7 p.m.
Hybrid; In-Person: 160 Community Hub Auditorium (encouraged for local audiences) | Google Meets (link)

Please join us for a poetry reading and discussion with poet Philip Matthews in conjunction with Wig Heavier Than A Boot, an exhibition of photographs by David Johnson and poetry from Matthews on view in Brooks Stevens Gallery from January 16th – March 11th. Matthews will read poems from Wig Heavier Than A Boot integrated with questions and conversation from the audience throughout the event. Matthews will attend virtually while the reading is broadcasted in-person on campus in the 160 Community Hub Auditorium. Questions from the audience will be moderated both through the online and in-person venues. Local audiences are encouraged to attend in person and view the exhibition of Wig Heavier Than A Boot while we extend our virtual space to remote audiences.

6:00-6:20 – Intro and first reading
6:20-6:30 – Questions + conversation
6:30-6:45 – Second reading
6:45-6:55 – Questions + conversation
6:55-7:00 – A last word

Philip Matthews is a poet from eastern North Carolina currently residing in rural Wisconsin where he directs programs at a nonprofit art and ecology center. Anchored by site-specific meditation and performance, his practice of the past decade has investigated spiritual queer power, questions of home and ecological shift.

Works featured in Philip’s reading can be purchased at the following links:

• Witch
• Wig Heavier Than a Boot
• Return to the Field

Wig Heavier Than a Boot: Work by David Johnson and Philip Matthews

Wig Heavier Than a Boot: Work by David Johnson and Philip Matthews

This engagement is supported by the Arts Midwest GIG Fund, a program of Arts Midwest that is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Dates: January 16 – March 11, 2023
Location: Brooks Stevens Gallery, 273 E. Erie St., Milwaukee, WI
Reception: January 26, 6-8 p.m. with public Artist Talk at 5 p.m.

Wig Heavier than a Boot: Work by David Johnson and Philip Matthews brings together photography and video by David Johnson – an internationally exhibited lens-based artist, educator and curator – and poetry by Philip Matthews. Revealing Petal – a persona as whom Philip manifests to write, whom David photographs – the project crosses art-making rituals with isolated performances in domestic spaces and pastoral landscapes.

Events

Wig Heavier Than A Boot: A Poetry Reading and Talk Back with Philip Matthews
Thursday, March 2, 2023 | 6 – 7 p.m.
Hybrid; In-Person: 160 Community Hub Auditorium (encouraged for local audiences) | Google Meets (link)

Please join us for a poetry reading and discussion with poet Philip Matthews in conjunction with Wig Heavier Than A Boot, an exhibition of photographs by David Johnson and poetry from Matthews on view in Brooks Stevens Gallery from January 16th – March 11th. Matthews will read poems from Wig Heavier Than A Boot integrated with questions and conversation from the audience throughout the event. Matthews will attend virtually while the reading is broadcasted in-person on campus in the 160 Community Hub Auditorium. Questions from the audience will be moderated both through the online and in-person venues. Local audiences are encouraged to attend in person and view the exhibition of Wig Heavier Than A Boot while we extend our virtual space to remote audiences.

6:00-6:20 – Intro and first reading
6:20-6:30 – Questions + conversation
6:30-6:45 – Second reading
6:45-6:55 – Questions + conversation
6:55-7:00 – A last word

Philip Matthews is a poet from eastern North Carolina currently residing in rural Wisconsin where he directs programs at a nonprofit art and ecology center. Anchored by site-specific meditation and performance, his practice of the past decade has investigated spiritual queer power, questions of home and ecological shift.

Works featured in Philip’s reading can be purchased at the following links:

• Witch
• Wig Heavier Than a Boot
• Return to the Field

Wig Heavier Than a Boot: Work by David Johnson and Philip Matthews

Wig Heavier Than a Boot: Work by David Johnson and Philip Matthews

This engagement is supported by the Arts Midwest GIG Fund, a program of Arts Midwest that is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Dates: October 10 – December 3, 2022
Location: Frederick Layton Gallery, 273 E. Erie St., Milwaukee, WI
Reception: October 14, 5-8 p.m.

A visual history of Milwaukee’s Woodland Pattern Book Center featuring more than 100 artists who have exhibited there, Then as Now traces four decades of gallery curation that has consistently emphasized interdisciplinary practices, the permeable and ubiquitous nature of language, and the fluidity between poetry and other forms of art. Thematically diverse, the exhibition pursues intergenerational and interregional lineages and affinities, with domestic, ecological, and social justice issues often predominating.

Upcoming Events at MIAD

Thurs., Oct. 27, 8:30 – 11 a.m.: In Over One’s Head, a hybrid-genre workshop with Diane Glancy

Thurs., Oct. 27, 6 p.m.: Reading and Q&A with Diane Glancy

Thurs., Nov. 3, 6 p.m., MIAD Community Hub & Gallery, Room 160: Performance and artist talk with Douglas Ewart

Thurs., Nov. 10, 6 p.m., MIAD Community Hub & Gallery, Room 160: MIAD Creativity Series presents vanessa german, citizen artist. Free admission. Tickets are required due to limited seating. Register at miad.edu/creativityseries.

Sat., Nov. 12, 1 – 3 p.m., MIAD Frederick Layton Gallery: The Unthinking Mind – Writing from Art, a workshop with Marjorie Robertson

Tues., Nov. 15, 7 p.m., MIAD Community Hub & Gallery, Room 160: aCinema presents Kim Kielhofner, film screening and artist talk

Thurs., Nov. 17, 6 p.m., MIAD Community Hub & Gallery, Room 160: Tour of The New Art of Making Books with Max Yela

Related Events at Woodland Pattern Book Center
720 E. Locust St. Milwaukee, WI 53212

Sun., Oct. 23, 2 p.m.: Alternating Currents Live presents Jaap Blonk and Damon Smith in concert

Sun., Nov. 6, 7 p.m.: Alternating Currents Live presents Temple of Enthusiasm: The Bridge #2.3, featuring Marvin Tate, Erwan Keravec, Gerrit Hatcher, Lia Kohl and Gaspar Claus in concert

Dates: October 3 – November 19, 2022
Location: Brooks Stevens Gallery, 273 E. Erie St., Milwaukee, WI
Reception: October 6, 6-8 p.m.
Steamroller printing: October 14-15, 12-4 p.m.

Since 2010 the Veteran Print Project has fostered dialogue between artists and veterans that inspired the creation of fine art prints. The project continues to evolve from conversation catalyst to seeking new ways to commemorate and memorialize shared human experiences. This exhibit, Relative Perception, displays the latest approaches to this vision and includes three years of collaborative efforts with MIAD students, local veterans, and veteran organizations.

Relative Perception, a Veteran Print Project is supported in part by a grant from the Milwaukee Arts Board and the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin.

Dates: August 20 – October 1, 2022
Location: River Level Gallery, 273 E. Erie St., Milwaukee, WI
Reception: August 25, 6-8 p.m.

MIAD’s Summer 2022 study abroad program in Florence, Italy allowed students to study the contemporary Italian aesthetic in-depth by tracing its development over history through art and design from both the art history and studio perspective. Students across all of MIAD’s majors participated in the program, and their work in response to this experience is on view in MIAD’s River Level Gallery.

Dates: August 8 – September 24, 2022
Location: Frederick Layton Gallery, 273 E. Erie St., Milwaukee, WI
Public Reception: August 25, 6-8 p.m.

Public Lecture: September 14, 7 p.m.
Join us for a public lecture by Dr. Hilary Snow, UWM Faculty: “Soaring Mountains, Flowing Streams: A Brief History of Korean Painting.”
MIAD Community Hub, Room 160

This exhibition brings together recent landscape paintings of a specific connected line of contemporary
South Korean brush painters, visually illustrating the transmission of ideas and methods of the ancient,
East Asian tradition of ink painting through the lifelong master/pupil model.

At the head of this selected lineage is the work of Bang, Ui-Geol, an internationally recognized
contemporary painter. Known by his artist name, Mokjung, he himself inherited the tradition of
landscape ink painting from a long line of artists. He is represented in this exhibition by a large-scale,
multi-paneled vast landscape painting. Lim, Sub Soo, known by her artist name Mokwon, studied under
Mokjung and is well-represented in this exhibition with numerous landscape paintings. Some of her
paintings were created specifically for this show and reflect her interpretation of the midwestern
landscape; her new home since moving to Milwaukee from South Korea several years ago. Mokwon has
also become an internationally recognized master painter and teacher.

The exhibition concludes with work created by a select group of Mokwon’s students in South
Korea, Chicago, and Milwaukee, many of whom have also become celebrated professional painters and teachers in
their own right. Each artist continuing and interpreting the ancient traditions in unique, contemporary
works.

Exhibiting these paintings at MIAD, a Western learning and teaching institution, gives the viewer
an opportunity to contemplate other systems of learning and a rare opportunity to view work by Korean
master painters.

Dates: August 8 – September 17, 2022
Location: Brooks Stevens Gallery, 273 E. Erie St., Milwaukee, WI
Reception: September 8, 6-8 p.m. with Artist Talk at 5 p.m.

Thresholds is a two-person exhibition that addresses memory, identity, labor,
and death. Elizabeth M. Claffey and Tomiko Jones aim to hold public space
for experiences and emotions that are often expected to remain private. Both
artists emphasize their own labor and ritual as an activism that shapes identity
and strengthens their bond to place and family.