Opening on September 19, 2015. At the Suburban, 2901 North Fratney, Milwaukee, WI.
8 pm Gangway Performance, featuring Joshua Ballew, Margaret Noodin, and Laura Hunter. Fergus Feehily in the gallery.
Coinciding with Susan King's opening at Woodland Pattern.
The Terrain Biennial 2015. The Suburban opens at 2901 North Fratney in Riverwest, Milwaukee. September 19th. Fergus Feehily. Angelique Roy's Passage.
A selection of photos from the christening of Blue Dress Park on its fifteenth birthday. With thanks to the many people who helped along the way, we hope you enjoy this Milwaukee time capsule. Image selection: Laura Hunter, Elizabeth Rath, and Paul Druecke. Photo credits: Pete DiAntoni, except invite cover by Paul Druecke. More info below.
Blue Dress Park was christened on June 30, 2000. The project-as-naming-right left the space — an unused slab of concrete — transformed yet physically unchanged. Fifteen years later, the park remains a place of pure potential. Awkward, defiant potential. The conceptual transformation continues in a compellingly minor key and in that spirit, please join us at the park on August 29th. Details forthcoming.
In his 2015 book, The Contemporaries, Roger White writes about Blue Dress Park:
“So Druecke’s act of designation, however wan, was just the most recent in a very long chain. It stretched all the way back to the Algonquian and Siouan peoples who’d lived in the area before the waves of French Canadian traders, missionaries, and soldiers showed up, garbled a few of their place-names, and eventually ended up with the name Milwaukee. And in the context of present-day gentrification, naming something art has serious implications. I suspected that the slightness of Druecke’s intervention pointed to a certain scruple about this fact: a desire to tread the city with the lightest possible footprint.”
It was great to meet Patricia No and Antonia Pinter from Publication Studio during their residency at INOVA. Part of Sara Krajewski's must-see exhibition Placing the Golden Spike. PS is a far-reaching project and I'm happy to say that they're distributing a limited number of the current Friends' newsletter -- as part of the deluxe take-away package they include when you purchase a book.
Beautiful letterpress poster for an exhibition opening in Detroit this week. An excellent opportunity to present some new white board drawings. Thank you Nick Tobier and Signal-Return.
Part of Broadway Morey Boogie. Organized by Marlborough Chelsea and the Broadway Mall Association.
Great to have visiting artists Nick Tobier and Pedro Vélez over to chat, along with Monica Miller and Thea Kovac. Some pics found their way to Pedro's twitter feed.
The second newsletter for the Friends of Blue Dress Park will be out this spring. We're currently selling some high value but easy on the pocketbook ad space. Email us for more info. Volume 1 is available online.
Blue Dress Park gets some consideration by Roger White in the chapter, Milwaukee as Model, in his highly-praised, The Contemporaries.
