Gallery Night & Day

Friday, April 20 and Saturday, April 21 are days to circle in the lime green brochure published by the Historic Third Ward Association. Just so you know, here comes another Gallery Night & Day.

And just so you also know, the listings in the brochure range from art exhibited in pilates places, art in burger bars, and art in dental clinics. It’s doubtful, though, that you’ll get a free cleaning if you buy art from First Place Dentistry which is showing photographs — hopefully not of dentures. I’ve always hated anything connected with dental stuff, but this could be a breakthrough for my biases. Going to see photographs by Anna Spangler at Stack’D Burger Bar means I can have my burger and more.

I noticed an old art friend of mine, M.J.Vieux, is exhibiting at FeatherStone Fine Art Gallery (231 E. Buffalo St., Suite 305) located in the offices of psychotherapist Sue Sittler Nelson. Vieux lays exclusive claim to FeatherStone. It’s her gallery set in the cozy confines of Nelson’s Mind and Body Psychotherapy. It’s a great fit because Vieux’s work is all about “mind and body,” though she refers to it as impressions of “spirit and body.” In July, she also plans on having an online gallery up and running.

We sit and chat in a pair of cushy leather loungers the color of dark chocolate. Nearby is a Cibachrome print I distinctly recall from thirty years ago. Titled “Cones on the Beach: Yin Yang,” it depicts a series of orange cones arranged on a beach and suggests the ongoing cycle of life. It looks as fresh and relevant as the first day I saw it. In those Way Back days, she was also noted for wrapping trees with colorful strips of textiles, and many of the works in her gallery, for example, those constructed with reed, echo her earlier 3-D pieces. Her concepts remain intact via her use of grasses, bamboo, shells and reeds, gathered into exquisite “bundles,” as if the materials of the earth are joined together forever.

“They are portals,” she remarks. “They provide a sense of space that allows humans to receive whatever they’re in need of.” There are no dates on her pieces, because, she says “time is a figment of the imagination.”

She’s a lady of the plains, having grown up in the treeless area of Dodge City, Kansas, where her eyes became trained to see everything in fine detail. And though her work doesn’t lack for imagination or detail, she claims that she never “pre-imagines” how a piece will eventually come to be.

She goes with the flow (her exhibition is titled “Timeless”) while paying strict attention to bits and pieces of what life has laid at her feet. It’s fair to say that her work is about community, or at the very least, a strong sense of the communal, and I think it is also fair to note that while her work suggests the culture of Native Americans of the past, it also contains elements of Africa and Asia. “It’s the culture of our earth,” she says.

On Saturday, Vieux, who is also an accomplished Silversmith, will exhibit works of jewelry fashioned from items earthy.

Did I mention that she believes in reincarnation? Perhaps in another life she was a spirit as light as a feather, or a stone as elemental as the earth? Let’s just say she’s a bit of both.

FeatherStone is open to the public on Saturdays from noon-4pm, and Sundays by appointment. (featherstonefineart@gmail.com/ 414-477-2478.)

There’s more:

Plaid Tuba (part of Mandel Creative Studios), will exhibit paintings by persons living with Alzheimers, paired with the imaginings of Milwaukee artists. It’s a benefit for Memories in the Making, so purchases represent money spent wisely.

If you dig the truly bizarre, head for Gallery 326, Flux Design/Swig on Broadway. Uterus (cosmic!), bone, metal, artifacts, oil and wood combine with sweat, inspiration, and a little blood, or you could just say it’s a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears.

Several decades ago, in the good ole summertime, I used to see Sister Edna Lonergan walking around Bay View in short shorts. On page 12 of the aforementioned brochure is a listing for The Falk Group/Art Shine, 241 N. Broadway, Suite 304. Sister Edna has whipped up some jewelry featuring semi-precious stones and hand-woven metal. 100% of the sales go to support the St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care.