MIAD’s MAKE! program helps artist Maysen realize new exhibit

For multidisciplinary artist Claudia Maysen, MIAD’s MAKE! For Educators program in June helped her “to explore and materialize ideas” for “Playthings” – a new solo exhibition on gun violence on view at Milwaukee’s 5 Points Art Gallery + Studios through October 27.

“During my time at MAKE,” says Maysen, “I was able to create the first pieces of a new body of work that was born as a response to my previous ‘Ammo Series,’ which investigates gun violence through a multidisciplinary practice.”

According to the gallery’s press release, “Claudia Maysen is a North Texas-based artist whose work uniquely blends abstraction with representation, exploring social issues within our communities from a vantage point of, both, a Latina who immigrated from Mexico as an adult and an American citizen.

“Maysen investigates the … systems that enable gun violence in America through a captivating display of installations, paintings, videos and sculptures, a body of work that she began two years ago after the mass-shooting at Robb Elementary School, in Texas.”

“Working in a setting different than my studio at home, surrounded by fellow creatives, getting great critique sessions from MIAD’s professor and artist Kate Schaffer, and experiencing the gorgeous weather and views of this location really helped me explore and materialize some of the ideas I had for the new series,” says Maysen.

“Production-wise, it was great counting with MIAD’s tools and facilities, such as the laser-cutting equipment I used for some parts of my ‘I Make My Own Game’ sculpture and the spray-painting booth where I worked on my ‘A Handful of Flowers Moving Forward’ painting.”

Participants in MIAD’s summer MAKE! program select either MAKE! Fine Art or MAKE! Design as the focus of their experience. Fine Art participants enjoy a week of independent making in the studio and engaging discussions, or observe demonstrations and learn processes that provide access to work in the labs equipped with state-of-the-art equipment. They have access to nearly 70 types of equipment, software and tools in MIAD’s Printmaking Lab, Textiles Lab and Lubar Emerging Technology Center. Learn more about MAKE! For Educators.

Maysen’s exhibit at 5 Points Art Gallery + Studios, 3514 N. Port Washington Ave., is free and open to the public Monday – Thursday by appointment; Friday – Saturday from 12 to 5 p.m.; and Sunday from 12 to 4 p.m. Learn more about the gallery, which is owned by mixed-media artist and development project manager Fatima Laster.

More information about Maysen is at www.claudiamaysen.com or on Instagram.