http://www.expressmilwaukee.com/blogs-1-1-1-21.html Why do you feel you were chosen for this project? One of the reasons I think [Discovery World] was interested in our work was because our firm is interested in research and work which has its root in the geomorphology of lands—the shaping and geographic considerations of land formation—and with questions like: Why does a hill look like a hill? Why does land settle that way? How does water move? These are things that have been de]]>   Is it a mistake for an artist to talk about his work - to allow the viewer to pierce the sumptuous veil of illusion and gaze into the mundanities of his workaday existence? Can it really do any harm to hear him groping for high-minded phrases, trawl through years of idealism chased by disillusion in search of that ever-elusive element named artistic inspiration?    Fred Stonehouse doesn’t seem to think so, perhaps bec]]> On Thursday evening UWM’s Inova-Kenilworth gallery hosted a panel discussion entitled “A Conversation on Public Art” in conjunction with its soon-to-end exhibition of five sculptures created by then-Milwaukee artist Gene Galazan in 1981. Curator Nicholas Frank moderated the panel, which included Whitney Gould, former architecture critic for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; public art scholar Jennifer Geigel Mikulay; artist and ]]> Cities are like organized religion: richly layered, often paradoxical and uniquely qualified to bring out the best and worst in humankind. A new book edited by Ricky Burdett and Deyan Sudjic and titled The Endless City (Phaidon) conveys the oft-contradictory nature of cities, including their innate ability to both quell and incite social and political conflict.At least, that's the salutary subtext of the book. It's more arrant objective is to len]]> Two artists whose work is currently on display at the Armoury Gallery north of downtown tackle the traditional medium of the landscape painting in was that areboth very cotemporary yet at the same time rooted in ancient means of depicting the landscape. The beautiful, richly colored layers of paper and paint that make up Philadelphia artist Dan Schank's work evoke both a the tradition of patchwork quilting and classical Persian miniatures in wh]]> "Are you angry or are you boring?" asks one of the pieces in the new “Gilbert & George” exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM). The idea that nothing worthwhile exists outside these two states might explain why the work of the artistic duo has become progressively larger and louder over time, often resorting to such malodorous mediums as feces, sperm and spit. Is this preponderance of bodily fluids meant as an avowal of the art]]> Some of you may be aware of plans to improve the 5th Ward/ Walker’s Point area that were outlined in a recent article in the Milwaukee Journal’s Cue section. I went along to 5th Ward Development Association on Tuesday night at the new Café Luna on Seeboth to find out more. There are plans to make improvements to 1st Street between the river and Pittsburg Ave. which include calming the traffic that passes through the area, enhance th]]> On Monday evening I had my first glimpse of the Harley Davidson Museum – albeit one restricted to its exterior (thanks to the tenacious resistance of its staff to all of my passionate entreaties to take a peek at its interior). My first impression was one of surprise. For one thing I didn’t know where the actual entry-point was into the museum; for another it was far from the brassy, glassy, sexed up mean machine I expected it to be. ]]> Milwaukee interior architect George Mann Niedecken visited Europe during a time when the curlicues of art nouveau were being succeeded by purer geometric forms of Viennese Secession in an atmosphere increasing opposed to 19th century historicism. According to John Eastberg, senior historian at the Pabst Mansion, the visit made a deep and lasting impression on the young designer. He talks to us about Niedecken’s achievements in the context o]]> In some respects Santiago Cucullu’s onsite installation at the Milwaukee Art Museum encapsulates the post-modern spirit. Rather than being a single cohesive piece it’s an agglomeration of micro-narratives. Titled MF Ziggurat, an allusion to the centrality and untouchable sacredness of these imposing Mesopotamian and Central American structures, the piece seeks to transgress the inviolable quality of our modern day ziggurats &ndash]]> Edward Hopper's paintings of ordinary people and incidental gatherings have a strong suggestive power that seems to imply a heftier purpose crouching in the shadows - unspoken words electifying the spaces between speech and silence much like a Raymond Carver short story. One imagines his entire oevre would contain the same intensity as his Nighthawks paintings or Night Watch engraving. A retrospective of his work at the Chicago Institute through ]]>   Ever heard of the terms “Thin Urbanism” or “Thick Urbanism”? They were used by Sarah Dunn, one half of the husband and wife UrbanLab architecture team based in Chicago, when she came to deliver a lecture to students at UW-Milwaukee’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning on Friday afternoon. She began her lecture by introducing the idea of thin and thick urbanism in terms that, apart from being vague, w]]> It’s difficult for any exploration of the Oriental-inspired 19th-century Victorian interiors to remain entirely uncolored by the strident assertions of Edward Said on the subject. Even the mild-toned lecture which John Eastberg, the Pabst Mansion’s senior historian delivered on Tuesday began by framing the Victorian’s obsession with the East through the jaded lens of imperialism – offering up overstuffed, exotic parlors as]]>   This past week marked two momentous events in the world of architecture, one of local and the other of international significance. The Old Coast Guard Station, which had silently suffered an increasingly abject existence since it’d been abandoned in 1980, was finally torn down; and French architect Jean Nouvel was announced the winner of the much-coveted Pritzker Architecture Prize. The two events may appear unrelated, but by ]]>   Almost more than any other discipline, students of architecture are overworked (and eventually underpaid), overstretched and, it has to be said, overindulged. So when architect Matthew Frederick recently published his survival guide for architecture students he might have extended the courtesy to the instructors who cause their students’ egos to fluctuate so unhealthily from the miniscule to the gargantuan. That said, his 101 Thi]]> Though its still uncertain whether March will go out like a lamb there's still a lionshare of artwork to be seen in Milwaukee before the month ends. Here are a few things to catch while you can: - VJAA Case Study at UWM's School of Architecture and Urban Planning: You only have until March 28 to see plans, sections and models of Telluride House designed by award-winning architecture firm Vincent James Associate Architects, famed for their elega]]> If there's one thing Puerto Rican artist Annelisse Molini has learnt from her architecture training it's the power of the sectional drawing. She uses it to great effect in her paintings, though in a much looser and agitated manner than most architects might. Her canvases, thickly caked in acrylic paint that's scraped and scuffed, slice through the earth and reveal it's immensity and depth in contrast to the tiny human figures that toil within a]]> I was in the Park East neighborhood today to check out a couple of new developments: The almost complete Flatiron building on the corner of N. Jefferson and Water, and Convent Hill, also on N. Jefferson. The former is a rather snazzy structure which contains condos, retail space and offices too I believe. It's a little early to tell but the retail end of the bargain might have gotten the short end of the stick. The areas given over to retail]]> No wonder so many architecture students fail to go the distance, or if they do manage to drag themselves through the minimum 7 years it takes to qualify with a few shreds of their ego still intact, eventually decide to surrender themselves to a less painful profession. It's a tough world out there - especially for an architect. Even more so if you're an architect with a conscience. Sure, if you're amongst that despicable species that can throw go]]> What in Mies' name can explain our obsession with glass? Ever since the God of Detail himself began wrapping his buldings with the stuff it seems to have retained a vice-grip on the designer's imagination. At best its proliferation in new buildings exhibits a most unhealthy sort of exhibitionism; at worst it represents the self-imposted exile of the imagination. Take that new Amtrak Building. It's one of countless examples of how transparency is ]]>