ERICK LEDESMA
Erick Ledesma is an interdisciplinary visual artist from San Juan, Puerto Rico who explores themes of identity by incorporating and integrating influences from his personal culture. Ledesma creates work primarily using acrylic and spray paint to develop vibrant color palettes. His other works include performance-based pieces, mask-making and community engagement arts. Exhibitions in which Ledesma's work has been featured are 31 Emerge (WPCA) CultureJam MKE #6 "True Lies" (Redline) 30x30x30 (Var Gallery). Most recently he served as the Cesar Chavez Drive 2017 Artist in Residence where he started an initiative called Cosecha Creative Space (CCS). Ledesma named his endeavor "Cosecha", Spanish for "harvest", which fittingly described the gathering and growth of the art created by that community outreach program. Following the residency, Ledesma brought CCS to his native land of Puerto Rico where it continued to grow into a platform for community engagement and activism through arts and culture. Currently Ledesma is the Artist in Residence for the Milwaukee Public Library, Mitchell Street Branch.
SAMPLE ARTWORK
PHOTOGRAPHIC INSPIRATION: Dominic Inouye | 53205
KATIE LOUGHMILLER
Katie Loughmiller is an interdisciplinary social practice artist exploring storytelling through performance, writing and video. Loughmiller is particularly interested in storytelling centered around cultural complexity and female identity. Loughmiller received her undergraduate degree at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University and completed her Master of Fine Arts degree in the Public Practice program at Otis College of Art & Design. Loughmiller has been an artist-in-residence at Atlantic Center for the Arts, Vermont Studio Center, Wildacres Residency Program and MKE<->LAX. Loughmiller is the co-founder of LUNA (Latinas Unidas eN las Artes), a Latina artist collective based in Milwaukee, WI. She is also the founding member of Heard Space, a women of color led and focused performance arts collective. In addition to her art practice, Loughmiller has a strong commitment to education and has taught in various educational settings in South Africa, New York City, Los Angeles, Boston and currently teaches with Milwaukee Repertory Theater and Arts @ Large in Milwaukee. She serves as the Arts Project Coordinator for the Milwaukee Public Library overseeing the NEA Our Town grant at the Mitchell Street Branch. You can also listen to her on We Heard We're Funny, a comedy radio show, every first and third Wednesday of the month at 9pm CST on Riverwest Radio.
SAMPLE ARTWORK
PHOTOGRAPHIC INSPIRATION #1: Austin Anderson | 53211
RENEE MARTINEZ
Renee Martinez is an artist who utilizes non-traditional printmaking techniques, such as wheat pasting, to produce collages that revive her connection to her Mexican American heritage. Often exploring the oppositions of the individual vs. community, Martinez uses pattern to depict domesticity and the figure to depict cases of social harmony or divide. Martinez received her BFA at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, majoring in printmaking. Participating in Public Art spaces such as Black Cat Alley only furthered her interest in the impact of community in her work. Post-graduation, Martinez has completed London Print Studio, an artist’s residency located in London, England and currently maintains a studio practice in her hometown of Houston, Texas.
SAMPLE ARTWORK
PHOTOGRAPHIC INSPIRATION: Kelly Wallschlaeger | 53204
DEB MORTL
Deb Mortl grew up spending weekends painting with her grandfather at his house on the Milwaukee River. That appreciation for art helped her pursue a BFA from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. After graduating from MIAD, she started working as a medical photographer and illustrator. Leaving that line of work enabled her to explore the opposite end of the spectrum, a richly textured painting process. Where the illustrations had to be accurate and precise, her landscape and portrait paintings are expressive and colorful. More of her work can be seen at Fine Line Designs Gallery in Ephraim, WI, Gallery of WI Art in West Bend, WI, The Pink Llama Gallery in Cedarburg, WI, and online at www.debmortl.com.
SAMPLE ARTWORK
PHOTOGRAPHIC INSPIRATION: Scottie Lee Meyers | 53210
NABRA NELSON
Nabra Nelson is a theatre creator and community organizer and is the Community Engagement Associate at Milwaukee Repertory Theater. She is a member of the Milwaukee-based women-of-color group Heard Space Arts Collective, and has worked as a director, playwright, and dramaturg at local theatres including Renaissance Theaterworks, UW-Milwaukee, The Battery Factory, APT, and Ten Chimneys. She is also a proud resident of the 53202 Zip Code.
SAMPLE ARTWORK
PHOTOGRAPHIC INSPIRATION: Dominic Inouye | 53215
JEANNE NIKOLAI OLIVIERI
Jeanne Nikolai Olivieri, a Milwaukee visual artist, works in watercolor, acrylics and mixed media. A third generation artist, Nikolai Olivieri studied Art and Spanish at Carroll University, and has a Masters in Teaching from Cardinal Stritch University.
Per the artist, “Looking at the many lines and structures that shape, connect and divide our space, I find rhythm, chaos, beauty, and conflict. Cityscapes, power lines, transmission towers, and freeways are some of my favorite subjects. These dividers and connectors represent not just my physical space, but personal stories. They also reflect political and social feelings at a time of upheaval. A shattered window can be a splendid kaleidoscope or can represent a need for change. Upward angles of a transmission tower speak to me of struggles to reach up and empower myself. I seek to create meaning and expression via everyday structures. I paint nature several times per year to strengthen my connection to the earth, because it give me peace.” Jeanne exhibits at a variety of galleries and locations throughout Wisconsin and beyond. Her work can be seen in both private and corporate collections.
SAMPLE ARTWORK
PHOTOGRAPHIC INSPIRATION: Angela Van Dyke | 53211
LYBRA RAY
Lybra Ray grew up in Milwaukee, WI, living through her imagination where she delved into self-expression through art. It wasn't until February 2013 when she was exploring the Montmartre neighbourhood around her hostel in Paris that she began to believe that her dream of becoming a traveling artist could become a reality. This serendipitous event would spark the much needed reassurance from the universe that she could do this too. In 2014, upon returning from a four month journey in Brazil she had a fresh new perspective on life. Inspired to begin her own artistic journey, she returned home to Haven, WI. Lybra Ray's colourful life is conveyed in her art.
SAMPLE ARTWORK
PHOTOGRAPHIC INSPIRATION: Dominic Inouye | 53202
ROSY PETRI
Rosy Petri is a mother, fiber artist, and print maker from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Utilizing scrap remnants from her African fabric collection, Petri’s exploration of texture, color, and traditional technique are reflected in a current body of work comprised of fabric and free motion embroidery. To see more of her work, please visit www.thisisparadisehome.com.
SAMPLE ARTWORK
PHOTOGRAPHIC INSPIRATION: Dominic Inouye | 53212
DANIEL PODGORSKI
Daniel Podgorski is an author, essayist, and artist. For the past three years, he has done nearly all of the writing, research, and graphic design for The Gemsbok (https://thegemsbok.com)—which is an online collection of analytical essays on literature, games, films, and philosophy. He lives and works near Brady Street in downtown Milwaukee. Podgorski’s formal training is in literary theory and philosophy, and themes from those fields inform all of his artwork. Originally from southern California, he has been a close collaborator with M.R.P., the San Diego-based caricaturist.
SAMPLE ARTWORK
PHOTOGRAPHIC INSPIRATION: Scott Margelofsky | 53207
CARMEN QUINLIVAN
The lens through which I view the world is a multifaceted one. Rather than following a single narrative my point of view explores and intermingles with a variety of others. I believe this to be true about all life; there is always more than one way and there is usually more than one truth. Generally, my work is about expression of love. This love also contains multiple narratives; love of self, love of others, love of another, love for the earth, love for the universe, love as a radical act and love as a daily revolution. I aim to capture fundamental elements of human life. I choose to display moments of the splendor in the mundane ie: the times which give us a reason to stop, appreciate and engage with ourselves and the world around us. These moments exist in states of being which I deem “elemental” because they address the core of who we are, what we need and how we thrive. The characters I create are vulnerable and empowered to be so. Their explicit tenderness coupled with the density of their physical bodies is my way of acknowledging the ongoing paradoxes through which we all navigate love. In our contemporary society the personal and the political are inextricable and they mirror one another more and more every day. Our political sphere in the United States is wrought with pain, harm and trauma both inflicted and received. It follows that our personal lives are often also bare such weight. Thus, to be tender, to take care, to access connection with other living people and things is a primary way to combat the white supremacist capitalist patriarchy we all live within. We all deserve peace in our personal lives. Through creating images of candid and heartfelt human interaction I aim to encourage. I aim to instill hope, to promote nurturing and to be explicit about our need to belong.
SAMPLE ARTWORK
PHOTOGRAPHIC INSPIRATION: Teens Grow Greens, Inc. | 53206
SARA RISLEY
Born and raised in Elgin, Illinois, Sara Risley is a working artist living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She studied photography at Southern Methodist
University in Dallas, Texas followed by a 27-year career as a portrait photographer in Chicago, St. Louis, and Milwaukee. Since retiring, she works full-time at her art. She is greatly influenced by the Abstract Expressionists as is evident in both her abstract photography and her paintings. She has shown in juried shows and galleries in Wisconsin,
Minnesota, Illinois, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Florida, Rhode Island, Louisiana, Kansas, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Indiana, and Missouri and her work is in private collections throughout the US. She is an avid volunteer at Literacy Services of Wisconsin where she tutors adults working toward their GEDs and is a huge fan of Milwaukee Repertory Theater.
SAMPLE ARTWORK
PHOTOGRAPHIC INSPIRATION #1: Wayne Rokicki | 53204
PHOTOGRAPHIC INSPIRATION #2: Larry Hutton | 53202