http://www.portalwisconsin.org/graphics/portal_rss.jpg http://www.portalwisconsin.org http://www.portalwisconsin.org Culture, arts, humanities and history in Wisconsin Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:23:04 CST Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:23:04 CST http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=41673 The Nutcracker story unfolds in the Paine "castle" with the historic rooms elaborately decorated as the fantastic scenes of the beloved ballet. Special actor-guided tours with live music and youth ballet performances further bring the fantasy to life. -- Paine Art Center and Gardens , Oshkosh http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=41779 Discover amazing facts about Wisconsin prehistory. Archaeological specimens from the Museum's collection will be displayed, including some from Aztalan, one of Wisconsin's most significant archaeological sites. This permanent exhibit also highlights the variety of projectile points that can be found in the state, and allows visitors to identify the style and period of projectile points in their own collection. -- Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=43165 This powerful exhibit from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., explores the first steps the Nazis took to suppress freedom of expression and the response in the United States both immediately and in the years thereafter. -- Neville Public Museum of Brown County, Green Bay http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=43167 This annual, juried exhibition highlights the artworks of contemporary artists living throughout the counties of Northeastern Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Each year, a variety of media and subjects are included. -- Neville Public Museum of Brown County, Green Bay http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=44691 RAM has commissioned internationally acclaimed jewelry artist Arline Fisch to create the new exhibition for its Windows on Fifth Gallery. "Creatures from the Deep" is a shimmering street-side aquarium of jellyfish sculptures. Fisch has rarely created anything but jewelry. Bringing her work to a grand scale, RAM's Windows showcases Arline's use of knitting and crocheting techniques to create these larger-than-life sea creatures made of wire. -- Racine Art Museum, Racine http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=44706 Across the Great Lakes basin, there has been increasing awareness of the vital role this freshwater resource plays in maintaining the social and economic health of North America. Mysteries of the Great Lakes explores this world treasure, which contains some of the most spectacular wilderness scenery on earth and a fifth of all the planet's fresh water. Soar with the bald eagle, follow enormous cargo ships as they navigate the Lakes, and dive with a 300-pound lake sturgeon as Mysteries of the Great Lakes takes you through the greatest freshwater system in the world. -- Milwaukee Public Museum - Humphrey IMAX Dome Theater, Milwaukee http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=44825 Academy Award winning director and master storyteller James Cameron journeys back to the site of his greatest inspiration--the legendary wreck of the Titanic. With the most advanced IMAX photography, you’ll explore the entire ship with Cameron and his crew, deck-by-deck, room-by-room, encountering mysteries that have remained hidden for almost a century. -- Milwaukee Public Museum - Humphrey IMAX Dome Theater, Milwaukee http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=44826 The sinking of the Titanic in 1912 was part human error and part natural disaster. Weather, ice, sun, moon and stars all played a part in the tragedy. Stand on the deck of the doomed ocean liner the night she sank and discover how a complex series of natural, but unlikely, events sank the “unsinkable” ship. -- Milwaukee Public Museum - Daniel M. Soref Planetarium, Milwaukee http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=44833 Artists Gary John Gresl, Mark Klassen and Dan Ollman (Established) and Annie Killelea, Faythe Levine, Colin Matthes and Kevin Miyazaki report in a year after being selected as 2007 Nohl Fellows as part of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Mary L. Nohl Fellowships for Individual Artists program. -- Inova/Kenilworth Square East, Milwaukee http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=45138 "Private Soldiers: A Year in Iraq with a Wisconsin National Guard Unit" is a traveling exhibit from the Wisconsin Historical Society that honors Wisconsin's participants in the Iraq War and helps viewers understand the conflict's human side. -- Chippewa Valley Museum, Eau Claire http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=45320 <i>Odd Wisconsin</i>, an exhibit featuring an exclusive collection of curious and authentic Wisconsin artifacts, will open to the public at the Wisconsin Historical Museum on Madison's Capitol Square. <i>Odd Wisconsin</i> shares the stories of the people, places and things that make our state uniquely Wisconsin. -- Wisconsin Historical Museum, Madison http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=45397 Ninety-six years ago, on an otherwise calm April morning in 1912, the world's largest ship, the RMS Titanic, sank during her maiden voyage after a colliding with an iceberg in the North Atlantic. On board were 2,228 passengers, including titans of commerce and industry, artists, senior members of governments, immigrant families dreaming of a new life and more than 890 members of her crew. More than 1,500 people died. No one believed it could happen. Today, this epic story is revived through Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition. See it at the Milwaukee Public Museum. -- Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=45494 The African water deity Mami Wata (pidgin English for “Mother Water”) is often portrayed as a mermaid or a snake charmer. This exhibition explores five hundred years of visual culture and history of Mami Wata. On view are masks, altars, sculpture, paintings and more from west and central Africa, the Caribbean, Brazil and the U.S. -- Chazen Museum of Art, Madison http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=45532 This student exhibit is the culmination of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee/MPM Museum Studies Class, a cooperative graduate program between UW-Milwaukee and the Museum. Treasure Chest looks at different definitions of <i>treasure</i>, and opens us up to the idea that value can be found in unexpected places and objects. Visitors will see a variety of artifacts, including a vest made of soda can pull tabs, a nineteenth-century German lithopane, Egyptian funerary figurines and gemstones like amethyst and garnet. -- Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=45533 Much more than just minted or printed money, the field of numismatics includes the study and collection of coins, currency, tokens and medals--and the MPM exhibit showcases nearly 200 rare, prized specimens. Most items date from the 1800s, although a few “curious” currency items reach as far back as 2500 years, and many belong to organizations, regimes, colonies or even countries that no longer exist. -- Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=45534 Discover a “curators’ choice” of 43 historic firearms from the Museum’s 3,500 piece Nunnemacher Arms Collection. Located at the entrance to the European Village, this exhibit offers a glimpse at the backgrounds and significance of distinctive pieces from the 17th to 20th centuries--an interesting blend of culture, engineering and artistry. -- Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=45536 The Planetarium has become a gateway to a far-out dimension with the addition of this revolutionary light show. Space scenes and bright organic patterns evoke the trippy heydey of the laser light show, while the auditorium resounds with the power chords of The Who’s <i>Who Are You?</i>, the frenzy of the Beatles hit <i>Back in the USSR</i> or the silliness of Monty Python’s <i>The Galaxy Song</i>. Tune in and kick back as rock n' roll comes to life in the full-dome, high-resolution digitally animated show Rock Stars 2, a thrill ride for music lovers of all ages. -- Milwaukee Public Museum - Daniel M. Soref Planetarium, Milwaukee http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46023 The Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission presents an exhibition featuring all ten desktop art calendars spanning a decade, 2000-2009. Honoring local artists, celebrating arts and culture in Dane County and introducing the Commission’s 2009 Art Calendar: Luscious Landscapes. In the Playhouse Lobby on the lower lever. -- Overture Center for the Arts, Madison http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46065 Richard Haas is best known for his trompe l’oeil style, painting realistic imagery that creates an optical illusion. His work includes murals, prints and paintings of interesting and important buildings. His architectural prints are rendered with exquisite detail and an eye for the unique urban setting of his subject. -- Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum, Milwaukee http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46074 Richard Thompson was an American artist, heavily influenced by French Impressionism. During the Depression, he found success as a commercial artist. Later, he transitioned to easel painting and moved to the Wisconsin wilderness to take in the scenery. His evokes the spirit of the natural world. -- Charles Allis Art Museum, Milwaukee http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46208 A handwritten letter is a welcome surprise in this hurried electronic age. Even more remarkable is an illustrated letter. In sixty examples of epistolary art, More Than Words offers an unprecedented window into the passions, heartbreaks, business affairs and travels of revered nineteenth- and twentieth-century artists. -- Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46223 Fifty-five works by Maryland trompe l’oeil painter Eric Conklin reveal the wonders of illusion that he creates in the traditional style of seventeenth-century Dutch artists. Using a perspective box, conical mirrors, anamorphic cylinders, and the mathematical rhythm of the Golden Mean, Conklin crafts paintings that fool the eyes. -- Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46260 Hearthstone Historic House Museum, built in 1882, will be decorated in a Victorian style for the holiday season. -- Hearthstone Historic House Museum, Appleton http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46285 Clare Malloy's paintings have a mysterious simplicity. Sparse backgrounds offset her saturated colors lifting inanimate objects to a state of timeless glory. Rich and poignant, these intimate objects are slightly surreal but satiated with beauty. Clare Malloy's landscape paintings are crafted with rich pastels over washes of watercolor on imported rice papers. -- Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46286 Russ Vogt's sculptures are large-as-life ceramic beads thread onto steel rods. They have a colossal presence and a whimsical aura as they protrude from the ground. Indoors they compliment the artist’s colorful paintings. Outdoors they add color to the landscape year-round. -- Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46287 Without any formal art training, each of these artists are driven by personal vision that is simple in approach but worldly in scope. Kendal Polster shapes and welds found metal pieces forming primitive figures and animals. Barry Leibman makes poetic verse out of the simplest scraps of wood, cut-up wallpaper and blackened pigment. Jeremy Pinc strives to embrace the whole history of painting within a changing and diverse culture. -- Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46314 The exhibit, sponsored by Material Matters and Ye Olde School House, is a stunning collection of contemporary and traditional quilts. -- Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts, Cedarburg http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46354 On view in the State Street Gallery of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, this exhibition is comprised of groupings of two to six large-format photographs from the Exposures series, which the artist began in 2000 and continues to expand. By showing a single action in photographs taken simultaneously from different points of view, Probst illustrates the myriad ways in which a moment can be depicted, and by extension, experienced. -- Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA), Madison http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46426 This exhibition will explore the continuum of glass working techniques and their applications in contemporary forms that honor the scale and technical mastery of glass paperweights, and continue the techniques in other glass sculptural forms. -- Bergstrom-Mahler Museum, Neenah http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46443 The Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University will host an exhibition of prints by revolutionary postwar American artist Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008) in tribute to his life and legacy as a printmaker. -- Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46478 Milwaukee artist Ariana Huggett uses shaped supports of wood or canvas to create shapes that echo familiar objects or motifs from historic architecture. Her sources are as diverse as braided rugs, hair coils, medieval tiled floors or the work of the Italian Baroque architect Francesco Borromini, whose work is described as creating a "fusion of feverish baroque excesses with a rational geometry.” (Note: this is a side-by-side solo exhibit with Sally Hutchison.) -- James Watrous Gallery of the Wisconsin Academy, Madison http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46479 Sally Hutchison is a member of Westwing Studios, an artist collective in Verona, Wis. Her paintings and drawings explore the formal dynamics of color, texture, and shape relationships; they also allude to space, time, and cultural history. Hutchison has done scholarly research in the history of geometric visual style from the Paleolithic to the present, searching out the various ways geometry has been used to illuminate human consciousness. (Note: this is a side-by-side solo exhibit with Ariana Huggett.) -- James Watrous Gallery of the Wisconsin Academy, Madison http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46487 Photographer Phyllis Galembo has been intrigued by masquerade since childhood and for 20 years traveled to Africa and the Caribbean to photograph the clothing worn by traditional priests and priestesses, carnival participants, dancers and Haitian vodou practitioners. The seventeen portraits were taken in Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Benin over the past three years. -- Chazen Museum of Art, Madison http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46617 Over The River and Through the Woods by Darcy Love is a fiber art show featuring painting on silk. A nature walk in fiber reflects the artist's vast array of habitats surrounding her rural Dane County home. Each piece will feature an animal indigenous to the lower Wisconsin River Valley and reveal the plants that also inhabit that ecosystem. -- River Arts Center, Prairie du Sac http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46686 This first-of-its-kind exhibition presents installation artwork dependent upon and subject to the intuitive and nontechnical physical actions of the visitor. Among the works featured are talking tables, virtual snowstorms and glowing pools of organic patterns by artists Janet Cardiff, Brian Knep, Liz Phillips, Daniel Rozin, Scott Snibbe, and Camille Utterback. -- Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46688 Sensory Overload tracks the development of Kinetic and Op art, whose optical stimulation and interactivity introduced new dimensions to art. Stanley Landsman's Walk-In Infinity Chamber (1968), which has not been on view for nearly fifteen years, together with Erwin Redl's dramatic Matrix XV (2007), a 25 x 50 foot LED installation, punctuate this extraordinary immersive experience. -- Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46703 The artwork of Kalpana Prakash and Susan White expresses archaic touches and carries traces of lost memories and human imprint. Whether it is a rusty machine part, old family linen or a lock of hair, these devalued materials recall a long ago presence of body, action and culture. -- Porter Butts Gallery, UW-Madison Union, Madison http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46704 Pritika Chowdhry's work features a mobile monument that acknowledges and memorializes the violence of the Partition Riots in India in the late 1940s. This site-specific installation is comprised of 101 larger-than-life-scale ceramic feet glazed black inside and out to serve as a surrogate for the defiled female body. The exhibit is part of an ongoing series of installations commemorating the Partition. -- UW-Madison - Wisconsin Union Galleries, Madison http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46705 This exhibition focuses on different interpretations of violence and tension across time in various artistic styles and expression. Despite these differences, intensity resonates throughout all of the pieces. The show was provided by Wisconsin Union Directorate Art Committee members Becky Benshoof and John Rehbeck. In the Wisconsin Union's Theatre Gallery. -- UW-Madison - Wisconsin Union Galleries, Madison http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46706 Hongdi Liu is a microbiology scientist by profession, but a visual artist by inspiration. Growing up in Beijing, China during tumultuous times, Liu endured many hardships. In addition to his childhood memories, Liu’s paintings are influenced by various factors ranging from his experiences in the laboratory to his observations of natural oppositions. See the exhibit in the Lakefront on Langdon Gallery. -- UW-Madison - Wisconsin Union Galleries, Madison http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46840 Museum objects can have multiple uses and meanings. The different approaches to understanding museum objects is the focus of this exhibit which features items from the Logan’s recently acquired Gaples Collection of tribal art. -- Logan Museum of Anthropology , Beloit http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46925 Life-like detailed prints from the Carthage College Palumbo Collection. This exhibit presents a rare, complete set of prints depicting thirty-six prominent battles of the American Civil War. The exhibit in the John M. Antaramian Gallery in the Kenosha Civil War Museum has been extended through March 29, 2009. -- Civil War Museum, Kenosha http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46990 Portage Center for the Arts presents the art of Emily Gilbertson on exhibit in the Drury Gallery during the month of January. Ms. Gilbertsons’ current concepts center on finding old household objects and discovering new ways of using them. She transforms naturally aged items and brings them back to life by recycling them in a way that enhances their overall form and character. -- Portage Center for the Arts, Portage http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=46994 Featuring new works by Sierra "Corky" Jon, Aina Kinens and Sasha Kinens. Three incredibly gifted artisans develop a visual language of the female spirit. A ceramist, sculptor and painter approach their medium in very different ways, but by focusing on a singular subject matter the exhibit combines the complexities of the female mind, body and spirit. -- Cedarburg Cultural Center , Cedarburg http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=47055 Interested in reminiscence writing? Join Sarah White, author and personal historian, for a one-hour free preview of her free six-week class on reminiscence writing. If you decide this is the class for you, you can then sign up for her Tuesday evening classes (5:45-7:45 p.m.) that begin on January 20th. -- Madison Public Library - South Madison Branch, Madison http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=47074 The wit and playful style of the legendary Cole Porter comes to life in this musical tribute. Starring Gary Briggle as Cole Porter, this delightful production will feature timeless songs such as "I Get A Kick Out of You," "In The Still of the Night," "Night and Day," and of course, "Let's Misbehave." -- The Skylight, Milwaukee http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=47078 Fireside Dinner Theatre is offering a sequel to its most popular musical revue of all time as we present Those Fabulous Fifties, Part 2! From the creators of the Fireside’s spectacular Live Band Revues comes this fast-paced, tuneful, hilarious, rocking tribute to that delicious decade that brought us TV dinners, hula hoops and rock and roll. Taking up where the first show left off Those Fabulous Fifties, Part 2 is filled with music, laughs and memories from such immortal greats as Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Bobby Darin, Rosemary Clooney, Dave Brubeck, The Platters, Little Richard, Sid Caesar, Patsy Cline, Nat King Cole, Elvis Presley and much, much more. It’s a fun-filled look back at America’s happiest days. -- Fireside Dinner Theatre, Fort Atkinson http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=47229 A collection of fine painting and contemporary craft from some of our favorite artists in a variety of media. -- Katie Gingrass Gallery, Milwaukee http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=47289 Original artwork and adventure areas bring the pages of Jan Brett’s stories to life. Check out a replica dog sled, play inside an igloo, say hello to our hedgehogs Prickles and Petunia. And when you finally get exhausted and need a break, kick back in a bean bag chair and spend some time reading your favorite Jan Brett book. -- Oshkosh Public Museum, Oshkosh http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=47350 Charlie Parr plays original and traditional folk and Piedmont-style blues, accompanying himself on National resonator guitars, 12-string guitar and sometimes a banjo. -- Café Montmartre, Madison http://www.portalwisconsin.org/calendar.cfm?rid=47352 A series of paintings by Stevens Point artist and biologist Ann Singsaas uses a very traditional medium, oil paint, on a less conventional surface, hand brushed aluminum, steel or copper sheets. The effect is seeing natural objects, rendered in a highly realistic style, pop off the surface on which they are applied. -- UW-Madison Arboretum Visitor Center & Steinhauer Trust Gallery, Madison