Inside, outside and around

This week’s Art Date has plenty to see if you’re interested in performances, special events, and art outdoors.

The plight of textile workers laboring to produce cheap goods for overseas markets has been in the news lately, and makes the subject of Terese Agnew’s Portrait of a Textile Worker all the more poignant. Agnew’s tapestry is make from about 30,000 clothing labels and will be the subject of the artist’s talk, giving insight on the two-year process of its creation and resonance with current issues.

Nicholas Grider will present The Masculinity Cycle, Part 1, Houdini at Inova.

Nicholas Grider: The Masculinity Cycle, Part 1, Houdini
Inova
2155 N. Prospect Avenue
7 p.m.

Illusionist and escape artist Harry Houdini was famed for daring tricks involving ropes, chains and all manners of restraints. There was little that could hold Houdini, and not much he could not endure. Nicholas Grider investigates these qualities through the dialogue of gender roles and expectations that underlie Inova’s current Martha Wilson exhibition. Grider’s performance borrows from one of Houdini’s rope stunts, an exercise in physical toughness and determination.

Grider will perform Part 2 of The Masculinity Cycle on Saturday, July 27 with a performance based on work by Chris Burden.

Never Forever
The Green Gallery
1500 N. Farwell Avenue
8 p.m.

The Green Gallery screens the Milwaukee premiere of Never Forever, featuring Prince Rama, directed by Lily X. Wahrman, and described evocatively: “If Alejandro Jodorowsky was reborn in 2127 and crashed his motorcycle into the decayed set of Thriller, it still wouldn’t come close to the terror that is Never Forever.”

FRIDAY, JULY 12 

2012/13 MARNmentors Exhibition    
Vanguard Sculpture Services
3374 W. Hopkins Street
Opening reception 6-9 p.m.
Exhibition continues through July 30

The annual MARNmentors program, established in 2005, partners established artists with emerging fellows. It is quite a testament to the strong sense of community in the Milwaukee art scene. This year’s exhibition includes six pairs of visual artists, as well as others involved in music and “platforming.” The opening reception introduces new work in a variety of mediums, and evening events including a session on platforming and mind-mapping with Ashley Janke and Sara Daleiden from 7 to 8:30pm.

SATURDAY, JULY 13

Nora Chipaumire: Miriam 
Lynden Sculpture Garden

Nora Chipaumire will present Miriam at the Lynden Sculpture Garden.

2145 W. Brown Deer Road
7:00 p.m.

Dancer-choreographer Nora Chipaumire restages her 2012 piece, Miriam, especially for the grounds at the Lynden Sculpture Garden. The work is named for Miriam Makeba, a South African anti-apartheid activist and musician, and delves into issues inspired by the negotiations of place and identity.

The evening is part of Alverno Presents, and tickets are on sale for $30 (Lynden members may purchase for $25). The grounds will be available for evening picnics at 6 p.m., with the performance area revealed and seated at 7 p.m. According to the Lynden, late entries will not be permitted.

The Personal is Political: Martha Wilson and MKE
Portrait Society Gallery
207 E. Buffalo Street, 5th Floor
12 to 5 p.m.

It is the closing weekend for this exhibition at Portrait Society, presented as a pairing with the current Martha Wilson show at Inova. This exhibition explores the resonances of Wilson’s work in relation to self-identity, and how these matters are approached in various ways by artists in the Milwaukee and regional community. Rafael Salas, Amy O’Neill, and Niki Johnson provide strong highlights alongside Wilson’s work.

John Riepenhoff: Plein Air, Plain Air opens Sunday at the Lynden Sculpture Garden.

SUNDAY, JULY 14

John Riepenhoff: Plein Air, Plain Air   
Lynden Sculpture Garden
2145 W. Brown Deer Road
Opening reception 3-5 p.m. (free admission)
Exhibition continues through August 4

Ashley Janke’s nAbr gallery is currently situated on the grounds of the Lynden, and John Riepenhoff will show his recent plein air paintings in enclosed but open-roofed space. The works may be completed pieces but the staging and atmosphere recalls the conditions of making, of working directly in the air and light of the unsheltered outdoors.