Open Portfolio in Milwaukee

We just got back from SGCI conference in Milwaukee. Sunday was mostly driving. We left Wednesday about 9 and arrived at 3. Miriam and Zac drove with us and Josh, Nuno, Mary and Tyler were in another van. We checked into the hotel, which was not too scuzzy, but certainly not too fancy. We headed over to the opening at MIAD where the international exhibit was. There were great works by Polish, Chinese and many other artists. Many were large format. Then we headed over to the Kenilworth building, where the grad studios were and also the INOVA gallery, where works from Mexican, Chinese, Alison Saar, Leslie Dill and Frances Myers hung. We talked to Warrington Colescott a bit. Miriam, Jojo and I went to dinner at Water Buffalo and enjoyed ourselves. Jojo and I went over to the opening party at Alterra and then over to a bar to meet the rest of the group. Thursday, we got up for the keynote by Alison Saar. Her prints are the same as her sculptures. Jojo and I got some coffee at a nice Alterra shop down by the lake and then saw the wings opening on the Milwaukee Art Museum. We went back to UWM for a panel by Chris Style and other Wisconsin printmakers/profs. We went to more demos and a group of us got lunch over from the Alterra again, and came back for more things going on. Open portfolio was that night and that was my favorite part. It was 3 floors of the Kenilworth building and there were so many great prints. I also got a great reception of the work I had out. There was a party at the Polish Falcons that night which was fun. Friday was another keynote by Leslie Dill at MIAD. I hung out with Miriam for that and another panel after. I then waited for Jojo so we could meet Chris Style for lunch at Bella and spent a couple hours talking. We then went to see some more artwork at MIAD for a bit but then took the shuttle back to the hotel so that we could walk to the Pelz gallery, where Warrington Colescott had curated a show with work of his colleagues such as Sessler, Meeker and Weege. It was in a old Victorian house and we talked to the gallery host. We then did the gallery crawl with Jojo, Miriam, me, Megan and met up with Mary and Tyler. We saw many galleries with some good work. We went out to eat at Benelux, a great Belgian restaurant. There was some great Belgian beer there, some that were made exclusively for Benelux, such as the High Speed Witte. We spent a while there, all six of us, in a large deep wood booth. The beef stew in a pretzel bread bowl was delicious. The company was very nice. We even played the picture telephone game. We joked about the vagina exhibit we were about to go see. We walked there, into a warehouse area south of the river and got into a very old freight elevator with a wood grill. One had to hold the button down to go up. We spent some time there with the cheap sangria. There were good prints on the wall. Then we walked over to the Safe House to meet up with the others. Then we walked home to the hotel. Saturday we went out for breakfast at Honey Pie in the south again. We had to wait awhile to get a seat, but it was worth it. Again, it was amazing food and company. Chris Hagen and his friend, Tim, came along. It was great to hang out with such great people. I had a farmers breakfast and a bloody mary. We walked over to the Sky High gallery where the Little Friends of Printmaking had a show and saw that. Then we drove to the Milwaukee Art Museum and saw much of the artwork there. My favorite part was the folk art gallery, especially the Possum Trot dolls by Calvin and Ruby Black. We spent a few hours in the museum and then drove back to the hotel so Jojo could go for a run and I tried to go on a brewery tour with the rest of the group, but they were all sold out. So we just went to a pub for a beer and then went back to the hotel to wait for dinner. We waited in the hotel bar, Aura, and played cards. We all took a shuttle to Cafe Hollander, which is a sister to Benelux. I had amazing meatloaf and some really good Belgian beers. James arrived to see Megan. We all had some good conversation. After the shuttle back, we hung out at the hotel bar again but I went to bed around midnight. Sunday we drove back.