March on Milwaukee: 50th Anniversary Exhibition with Arts@Large

Recognition & Re-Ignition: A 50-year look at Milwaukee Youth, Leadership, and the Spirit of Protest

MOM50 (Marches on Milwaukee: 50th Anniversary Exhibit) with Arts@Large

Throughout the 2017-18 school year I had the opportunity to work through Arts@Large on co-curating the Recognition & Re-Ignition exhibition, as part of the 50th anniversary of the fair housing marches in Milwaukee. Spanning eight months, I worked with over 100 students to investigate the rich history of Milwaukee’s fight for fair housing. I worked with students from Escuela Verde, Bay View High School, Bradley Tech High School, Doerfler Elementary, and my co-curators - a group of 10 students who met weekly after school at Arts@Large. I worked with classroom teachers to develop arts-integrated curriculum, field trips, a vibrant exhibition for Milwaukee’s Gallery Night, and programming that carried into the summer of 2018. This challenge gave me experience in the classroom, the gallery, and in-partnership with a variety of community organizations. It has been one of the great opportunities of my life to learn along with this inspiring group of artists, activists, students, and educators. Fortunately, there appears to be a growing interest in Milwaukee’s complex social history.

I worked with many of the students to design the exhibition Logo. We created the design out of student imagery from our work together (Photo courtesy of Adam Carr).

Doerfler Elementary students converse with Mayor Tom Barrett. Milwaukee-area realtors and city leaders gathered to recognize the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act and Milwaukee’s open housing marches.

Exhibition Opening (Photo courtesy of Adam Carr)

Doerfler Elementary students stand with Fair Housing Marches and NAACP Youth Council Members. Milwaukee-area realtors and city leaders gathered to recognize the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act and Milwaukee’s open housing marches.

With Doerfler Elementary students, continuing to process their experiences through drawing themselves as they participate in the creation of history.

Installing the exhibition with Escuela Verde "Youth Activists"

Doerfler Elementary students collaborated on all of the work for the gallery. This student drawing combined Reggie Jackson's phrase "Hearts & Minds" over the Milwaukee map. The boys in the foreground projected digital mock-up designs onto the whiteboard, for the girls in the background to trace.

Exhibition Opening - Doerfler student self portraits

Bradley Tech students rehearse their poetry performance with their teacher, Ed Wingard, at the Arts@Large gallery

I organized an afternoon where Escuela Verde students met with NAACP Commando, Fred Reed, and Dr. Robert S. Smith (Marquette University) at the Haggerty Museum of Art on Marquette's campus, to discuss the Milwaukee Fair Housing marches, through a photography exhibit on these very marches.

Doerfler Elementary students experimenting with vocabulary and typography

Exhibition Opening (Photo courtesy of Adam Carr), featuring the embroidery of Bay View High School students

Exhibition Opening (Photo courtesy of Adam Carr), with youth council t-shirt(right), and my painting of Vel Phillips (left)

Exhibition Opening (Photo courtesy of Adam Carr). Escuela Verde students look on as Bradley Tech student performs poetry.

An example of my work for this project is organizing an afternoon where Escuela Verde students met with NAACP Commando, Fred Reed, and Dr. Robert S. Smith (Marquette University) at the Haggerty Museum of Art on Marquette's campus to discuss the Milwaukee Fair Housing marches, through a photography exhibit on these very marches.

Visual Analysis workshop with Escuela Verde "Youth Activists"

With my collaborator, Escuela Verde teacher/leader, Zaynab Baalbaki during opening night

Exhibition Opening (Photo courtesy of Adam Carr). Doerfler Elementary Students perform "We Shall Not Be Moved"