Gallery opening

Milwaukee public library central branch

Saturday, january 21, 2017

12:00 pm - 3:00 pm

12:00 pm

/ / Opening Speakers / /

Joan johnson / deputy library director, milwaukee public library

Ms. Johnson will welcome all to the gallery opening and speak about the partnership between the Milwaukee Public Library and ZIP MKE.

Dominic Inouye / Founder & Director, ZIP MKE

In his over two decades as an English teacher, Dominic always integrated the visual arts into his classroom activities.  Because he values voice and expression, especially in young people, his classroom walls were an ever-changing gallery of student creations.  While ZIP MKE's photography gallery is the largest show that he has helped curate, he has also exhibited extensive displays of student work outside the classroom and online, including sculpture, mixed media, and board games; photography and performance art; research, poetry, and film.  ZIP MKE, however, is by far his farthest reaching attempt to blend art and social consciousness in the community at large.  A native of Seattle, Washington, Dominic moved to Milwaukee 22 years ago.

ANDREW LEVINSON / Executive Producer, CBS 58 NEWS

At CBS 58 News in Milwaukee, Andrew T. Levinson is the showrunner and managing editor of CBS 58 Sunday Morning.

Andrew is a converted Milwaukeean.  After growing up in Philadelphia and attending school at Temple University, he moved to the Cream City in 2010.  There, Andrew fell in love with Milwaukee.  He met his wife Kelley on the city’s east side and settled on the city’s west side with his nearly 2-year-old son, Eliot.

Now, for his weekly show, Andrew seeks to tell the stories of people making life in Wisconsin special.

VENICE R. WILLIAMS /Director, Alice's Garden

Venice self-identifies as a cultural and spiritual midwife, guiding people into "birthing" the goodness and talents that lie within.  A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with African and Choctaw roots, she has been working in Milwaukee for 26 years, first arriving in the city as the director of Youth Ministry for a coalition of Lutheran churches.

She has been the visionary behind many Milwaukee organizations, programs, and projects, and currently serves as the Executive Director of both Alice's Garden Urban Farm and The Body and Soul Healing Arts Center, and the coordinator of Minister for the Table, a first-century-style community in the twenty-first century.  

Venice strongly believes that everything we need to know about life may be learned from observing the natural world.  She has created and teaches rites of passage education for women, has an herbal apprentice program, and leads workshops and classes that center on nurturing the whole person, mind, body, and soul.

12:30 pm - 3:00 pm

/ / exhibition / /

FEATURED EXHIBITORS:

BARBARA MINER

Barbara J. Miner is Milwaukee-based writer and photographer whose work has appeared in media ranging from the New York Times to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and The Nation.  Last spring, her article in Milwaukee Magazine on the 53206 ZIP code was named by the Milwaukee Press Club as the Best Long Feature Story in Wisconsin in 2015.

Miner received a Mary L. Nohl Fellowship in 2008, considered the most prestigious art fellowship in Wisconsin.  The fellowship led to a 60-page photo essay on North Avenue, Anatomy of an Avenue.  Her photos have appeared at a range of galleries, including the Portrait Society and Walker’s Point Center for the Arts.

Her contributions to this feature exhibit are from various Milwaukee zip codes, but particularly the near North Side and near South Side.  They include both photos of everyday life, and also of specific movements such as urban gardening, defense of immigrant rights, and Black Lives Matter.

Miner says her photographic philosophy is best summarized by the British critic and artist John Berger:  “The way we see things is affected by what we know and what we believe. The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled.”

See Barbara's work at www.barbarajminer.com.

LARRY CHATMAN

I am a Social Documentary photographer.  My photographs have always addressed the relationship between people and the society of which they are a part.  Throughout my photographic life, I have attempted to understand why people behave in the ways they do and what forces are responsible for these outcomes.  I am an observer and critic of human behavior.

I hold an MFA from Ohio University and I was a Professor of Photography at both Milwaukee Area Technical College and the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design.  I have exhibited my work nationally and internationally, and my work is in the permanent collections of many institutions, including the Milwaukee Art Museum, Bauhaus University in Germany, The Art Institute of Chicago, and others.

See Larry's work at www.larrychatman.net.

PAUL MATZNER

My passion is to make images of people just being themselves, relating to each other or their environment.  A writer once called Henri Cartier-Bresson’s work “the poetry of human encounters on the street.”  That’s a beautiful description that serves as my inspiration.  Life is full of discovery and I try to make that happen with my camera.

Father, husband, dog owner, photographer, and music lover, I grew up and have lived in the greater Milwaukee area all my life.  Travels have taken me to New Zealand, Fiji, Ecuador, most of western Europe, the Dominican Republic, and 48 states of the USA.  Music and photography have been lifelong passions ever since taking classical piano lessons from 2nd-7th grade, and getting a Kodak Brownie camera as a present when I was about 6.

My stock images have been licensed by such publications as Time-Life Books, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Huffington Post, Travel & Leisure, American Way, The Guardian, NY Daily News, and AOL online.

See Paul's work at www.paulmatzner.com.

PAT A. ROBINSON

My love for photography began in junior high school, starting with a plastic Kodak film camera, as a means to meet people and start new friendships.  I dreamed that the art of photography would be my life’s work.

At first self-taught, my skills advanced further by taking photography, writing, and journalism-related courses and workshops.  Course work led to an internship at the Associated Press under the direction of Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Roberto Borea.  My experiences strengthened over time as I gained opportunities to learn my own style, composition, and how light affected a photograph.  I enjoy looking at the images in photo books by photographers like Gordon Parks, Mary Ellen Mark, W. Eugene Smith, Roy DeCarava, and Henri Cartier Bresson, whose black and white images hooked me and gave me a course to follow.  Film directors like Gordon Parks, Orson Welles, Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, Francis Ford Coppola, Spike Lee, and Brian DePalma also inspired me visually.

My photography experiences include Black Star Picture Agency, Associated Press photo intern, chief photographer both at Marquette University’s Tribune and the Milwaukee Public Museum, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Shepherd Express, and national publications like Downbeat, Ebony, The Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, and Life magazine.  I was also a US Navy photographer.

See Pat’s work at www.patarobinsonphotos.com and www.facebook.com/patarobinsonphotos.

ENTERTAINMENT PROVIDED BY:

MARK DAVIS

Pianist Mark Davis, a mainstay of the Milwaukee jazz scene for nearly twenty-five years, has performed with jazz luminaries Eric Alexander, Peter Bernstein, Benny Golson, Slide Hampton, Jimmy Heath, Brian Lynch, Charles McPherson, Frank Morgan, and Phil Woods, among others.  His performances display a strong sense of tradition, incorporating the innovations of the bebop masters while still keeping an ear to more modern sensibilities.

In addition to a busy performance schedule, he is an active jazz educator, serving as Chair of the Jazz Institute at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and as an instructor at Wisconsin Lutheran College and Alverno College.  Mark is the author of the Hal Leonard Jazz Piano Method which was released in September 2015.

For more information, please visit www.markdavismusic.com.

JAY ANDERSON

Jay Anderson isn’t your typical musician. And at the young age of 24, Anderson is moreof a 21st century renaissance man. He studied music and biological studies, which led him to learn to become a farmer.  He currently cultivates various chiles for local hot sauce company.  Anderson is also an accomplished cook, but it is his passion for music, where he brings the spice and heat to the city of Milwaukee.

Anderson has become one of Milwaukee’s most prolific and hardest working musicians. He currently leads three Milwaukee bands, is the resident saxophonist for the Milwaukee Art Museum, and has also held a year-long residency at the Jazz Estate.  Not only is he one of the city’s best saxophone players, he is a champion and student of jazz.  Anderson is in the forefront of a jazz resurgence in Milwaukee.

Just as new artists like Kamasi Washington is bringing jazz to a new generation of fans throughout the country and the world, Anderson is doing that on a local level in Milwaukee.

FOOD PROVIDED BY:

THE TANDEM

1848 W. Fond Du Lac Ave. / MKE 53205

THE JUICE KITCHEN

1617 W. North Ave. / MKE 53205

GLORIA'S cake shop & Cafe

2531 W. National Ave. / MKE 53204

COFFEE MAKES YOU BLACK

2803 N. Teutonia Ave. / MKE 53206

CONVERSATION PROVIDED BY:

THE PEOPLE OF MILWAUKEE

Yes, that's you!  Name tags and conversation starters will be provided to help you mingle with your neighbors in fun ways!

EVENT PHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDED BY:

Tammy elias / image dynamix

Tammy is a Milwaukee native who grew up in the 53215 and 53221 zip codes.  Both her father and grandfather were policemen for the city of Milwaukee back then, in a community less divided.  She has fond memories of taking the city bus to Gimbels at Southgate with her mom, bowling night at Pinky's Bowl with her Grandpa followed by ice cream at Leon's.   Her childhood home was on the corner of 26th and Grant.  From there her family moved to the 53221 zip code, where she graduated from Martin Luther High School.  She loved movies at the Outdoor 41 Twin with her family, countless hours at Skate University with friends, bowling leagues at Red Carpet Lanes, and playing outside with the neighbor kids until the street lights came on.  So much has changed since then, and many of those places are gone, making room for new businesses and new memories.  Tammy would love to see the barriers and division of our community broken down once again and restored to a better time in history.

Tammy has had an interest in photography for a number of years and posses a passion for the arts and creativity.  Her photography business has steadily grown over the past nine years into a full-time career, bringing her joy as she captures memories in time.

Mario Sinclair / Sinclair Photography

Mario Sinclair is a 25-year-old Milwaukee native. He spent most of life in the 53233 zip code, although he has lived in many different areas of Milwaukee throughout his life. His greatest passion is education and he strives to make a difference in the lives of underserved youth in his city.  Mario has extended his service to his city in many different ways, including founding the blog Humans of Milwaukee--an effort to reshape the story of Milwaukee through the stories of strangers.  A founding member of ZIP MKE, Mario is excited to return as one of the event photographers.  He looks forward to helping others see the city through a new lens.

/ / sponsored by / /