Life after MIAD?

My pursuit of the MKE-LAX: Interrogation by Design began in late 2009 when I encountered artist Sara Daleiden at Green Gallery East on Farwell. I recalled her as the lady I interviewed in what now seems like the long-ago when she was involved with Rust Spot. I had a hunch she was going places when the interview was conducted among piles of crunchy leaves installed in a Third Ward building that now houses a small grocery store. She had dropped in at Green East during a visit to Milwaukee from Los Angeles where she’s lived since 2003. Prior to that, she was the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design’s (MIAD) Continuing Education coordinator.

MKE-LAX: Interrogation by Design, which opened Jan. 14 on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, is the work of curator Daleidan her colleagues and Woodbury Hollywood Exhibitions. It continues the DIY tradition; and, just like the Milwaukee Rust Spot, it enlivens a previously commercial building now housing both Woodbury University and the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design.

Let’s pretend we’ve landed on Hollywood Boulevard. Daleiden greets us outside of the building, which is located in the “infamous tourist district.” Inside are works by Nate Page and Harvey Opgenorth, though I didn’t have to fly to L.A. to see Opgenorth’s work. One of his lamps is a fiberglass Eames chair with the legs removed; it hangs upside down in my Milwaukee office. He received a 2009 Mary L. Nohl Fellowship for Established Artists, too. In fact, since the days of Milwaukee’s Rust Spot, all three talents — Daleidan, Opgenorth and Page — have received funding via residencies and grants.

Is there life after MIAD? Most certainly, if you have solid credentials and keep building on those credentials.

Daleiden’s credentials include a master’s degree in Public Art Studies from the University of Southern California. Opgenorth (a 1999 MIAD grad) and Page (a 2000 MIAD grad living in NYC) collaborated on a Vliet Street installation sponsored by InSite, which is trying to get a foothold as the go-to for decision-making in the public art arena. While I’m at it, let’s plug the Hollywood premiere screening of The Super Noble Brothers; it’s a film by Mark Escribano, another Milwaukee-to-Los Angeles transplant.

Following graduation, Page moved to L.A., where, in 2008, he earned an MFA from the progressive art school, CalArts. Daleiden’s been working toward developing experimental temporary projects, which engage public space, explore interdisciplinary collaboration and expand definitions of the gallery market and studio practice. At the most basic level, she and collaborators Page and Opgenorth, are carrying forth the Rust Spot tradition.

For these three artists, it’s all about survival. I asked Daleiden about the question of “survival.” It’s important, she says, “particularly in Milwaukee, where cultural support for artists is weak, leaving many artists without the resources to develop their practices meaningfully. This is part of why a fellowship like the Nohl one, which Harvey recently received, is crucial. I would be fascinated to witness the art production that could emerge from Milwaukee if there were more cyclical bodies of support like that fellowship.”

One of the bodies that supported Daleiden is the California Community Foundation’s Fellowship for Visual Artists. Another was the collective, the Los Angeles Urban Rangers. She says she’s “missed the visceral installation work that I enjoyed with Rust Spot in Milwaukee and thought L.A. might benefit from our practice, given the city’s dominant proclivities for object-based gallery work.” So far, she finds the city receptive to her projects.

Three artists. Three stories of survival. For them, life after MIAD may not be awash in riches, but from a professional standpoint, it’s certainly successful.

MKE – LAX: Interrogation by Design
A collaboration exhibition involving Sara Daleiden, Harvey Opgenorth, Nate Page
January 14 – February 14

Woodbury Hollywood Exhibitions
6518 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles
323-461-6486