MAM goes extra-American

This week, hear from the collectors behind the 30 Americans exhibition, have a rockabilly blast at MAM after Dark, check out new exhibitions of prominent local artists at MIAD and Alfons Gallery, and catch the closing exhibition of industrial-themed art at the Grohmann Museum.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 15 

Kehinde Wiley, Equestrian Portrait of the Court-Duke Olivares, 2005. Courtesy Rubell Family Collection, Miami.

The Rubells: 30 Americans 
Milwaukee Art Museum
700 N. Art Museum Drive
Lubar Auditorium
6:15 p.m., free with museum admission

Don and Mera Rubell established the Rubell Family Collection in 1964. Since then, they have basically built a museum of international contemporary art in Miami. The 30 Americans exhibition is drawn exclusively from their holdings, and this evening will feature the Rubells talking about the art and artists who have become especially important to them. Juan Roselione-Valadez, the collection director, will also speak as part of the program. For more on 30 Americans, see the TCD review.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16 

MAM After Dark: American Summer
Milwaukee Art Museum
700 N. Art Museum Drive
5 p.m.-midnight
See event website for admission details.

MAM takes an inked-up, rockabilly turn, inspired by the exhibition Tattoo: Flash Art of Amund Dieztel. Exhibition designer and curator David Russick will talk about the show at 8 p.m., and throughout the evening beer, snacks and music by Crazy Rocket Fuel and DJ Billy Boy Brad will fire up the art party.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 17 

Blanche Brown is one of the artists featured in Out of the Suitcase at MIAD. Courtesy Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design.

Out of the Suitcase
Frederick Layton Gallery
Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design
273 E. Erie Street
Exhibition continues through October 5

This exhibition features the work of artists who have been recipients of grants from the Mary L. Nohl Fund of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation. The Suitcase Export Fund provides travel grants to defray costs of transporting work for exhibition, or to enable the artist to attend to their work nationally and internationally.

Nearly two dozen artists who have received this award in recent years will be featured, including: Katherine A. Balsley, Jordan Brethauer, Blanche Brown, Paul Druecke, Tony Ferraro, Nicholas Grider, Ashley Janke, Yevgeniya Kaganovich, Gregory Klassen, Kay Knight, C. Matthew Luther, Marsha McDonald, Jessica Meuninck-Ganger, Mark Mulhern, Zina Mussmann, Kristopher Pollard, Special Entertainment (Bobby Ciraldo and Andrew Swant), Nathaniel Stern, Victoria Tasch, Richard Taylor, Eddie Villanueva and Sarah Zamecnik.

An exhibition reception will be held on Thursday, Sept. 12.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 18 

Global Explorations: Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala, India, Japan, Mexico, Paraguay, United States (Multimedia Work by Dara Larson) 
Alfons Gallery
St. Joseph Center
1501 S. Layton Boulevard
Opening reception 1-4 p.m., artist talk at 3 p.m.
Exhibition continues through November 17

This exhibition comes after more than two decades of Dara Larson’s travels, visiting countries across the globe for personal and professional work. She experienced the creative lives of many artists in many other places, which inspired her drawings, prints, ceramic sculptures and more.

Born of Fire: Scenes of Industry from the Westmoreland Museum of American Art 
Grohmann Museum
1000 N. Broadway
9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Exhibition closes August 18

The Grohmann Museum is a unique art venue as it focuses on images related to industry and engineering. Today is the last chance to catch this exhibition of 20 loaned works from the Westmoreland Museum, which presents imagery of agrarian and industrial life with a regionalist flavor.