2006-10 Vital Source Mag – October 2006
Shoot from the hip
By Jon Anne Willow You may have heard of Cedar Block, Milwaukee’s premiere presenter of offbeat creative events with an emphasis on group participation. You may have heard of Saul Leiter, the New York street photographer who blazed the trail for the use of color in art photography in the mid 20th century. And you may have heard of lomography… or not. But even if none of these are familiar to your ear, you will surely have heard of the Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) and of Milwaukee Street in Milwaukee. And whether you’ve heard of all these things or only the last two, you will soon see them brought together in what is perhaps one of the most interesting collaborations of local and national photography this year. In Living Color: The Photographs of Saul Leiter opened at the Art Museum on September 28. Unlike his ersatz contemporaries in Abstract Expressionism, Mark Rothko and Richard Pousette-Dart, Leiter’s work wasn’t embraced by the formal art community until recently. But like Fellini or Bergman among filmmakers, his influence has been felt among photographers for decades. And now Milwaukee will be first to acknowledge his contribution to the form with the first-ever major exhibit for the 82-year-old photographer. As early as the late 40s, Leiter worked primarily in color, shooting scenes of New York City that stunningly captured urban life in saturated frames and off-kilter focus. At that time, color photography was not only expensive to process, but viewed by many as a baser form of the medium. Leiter’s photos further insulted the “art world” by presenting technical “imperfections” rather as augmentation, an approach with which he was rewarded by resounding silence from curators around the world. To his vast credit, Leiter didn’t care: he continued to ply his trade his own way, presenting his work as slide shows with his photographs blown up to the scale of full-size paintings. The MAM exhibit will include a room devoted to a digital slide show in that vein, along with around 70 color prints, a selection of black and white photos and four of his watercolor/govache paintings. Enter Cedar Block, the brainchild of Brent Gohde, ostensibly a member of Milwaukee’s emerging DIY Art Movement. (Though the city has yet to be recognized nationally as a haven for such, we are confident it will, so we’ll just say it now). Gohde, like his peers, is firmly committed to the principle that there is a place for every artist who wants to work, even if their talents and opportunities don’t fall into traditionally accepted tracks. To that end, Cedar Block stages unusual events, from Weird Science Fairs to essay contests, and now an exhibit of lomography-inspired photographs by local artists in conjunction with the Leiter exhibit. “There’s never been a voice that shouldn’t be heard,” says Gohde. “These events provide a venue for the non-traditional artist to show their work, have it displayed in a world-class museum. My fondest hope is reaching further quarters of the Milwaukee community […]
Oct 1st, 2006 by Jon Anne Willow
Pegi Taylor
By Blaine Schultz + photos by Philip Krejcarek Pegi Taylor is a performance artist and writer. And she herself has been a piece of art for the past 25 years as hundreds of photographers, painters and sculptors have used her as both inspiration and subject. But according to her, “Artists and the Model: A Quarter Century with Pegi Taylor,” her upcoming Gallery Night show at the Elaine Erickson Gallery, “is really not about me. It is about the artists who have drawn me. The chapbook I’m writing for the show has short essays about how all of them have changed me.” 1.If you were headed for a desert island and could only take one work of art, what would you choose and why? “The Flaggellants” by Carl von Marr. Marr was born in Milwaukee and the painting hangs in the West Bend Art Museum. It would remind me of home. The only reason I’d be going to a desert island is if the world had descended into ruin, and the painting portrays followers of a medieval religious sect flogging themselves as an act of penance for the plagues. I’d want to be right there with them. There are hundreds of figures in the painting, so I would have lots of “company.” It is 13’ by 25’ so I could use it to shelter me, if necessary. 2) What goes through your mind during your modeling sessions? I’m thinking most about the next pose I will take. There is so much to consider. Should I stand, kneel, squat, recline or sit? Where should I face my body? Should my legs be apart, crossed, together? Maybe one leg should be higher than the other. Is the pose short enough that I can twist my back and not hurt at the end of it? What should I do with my arms? What about my hands and fingers? Maybe I want my palms up, or to make a fist or point. Where should I turn my head? Do I want it tilted up or down or to one side? What attitude do I want to express with the pose? 3) Your job is to inspire artists. How do artists inspire you? The attentive quiet in the studio calms me and slows me down and ideas flood into me. Making art, though clothed, they are so much more vulnerable than me. Their willingness to expose themselves demands that I be as fearless as possible. 4) What is the craziest comment you have heard about donating your skeleton to MIAD? I don’t get crazy comments. It makes people think about how our bodies have value. If anything, it leads to discussions about the nefarious body parts trade going on throughout the world. After the show, I want to return to my goal of establishing a national maceration site where people can legally donate their skeletons. 5) As an artist you value and appreciate your senses. If your child were to have only one sense, which would […]
Oct 1st, 2006 by Vital Archives
What kind are you?
By Jon Anne Willow Dear Readers, My boyfriend is my favorite kind of conservative. A drive past a “Give Peace a Chance” yard sign is enough to get him started. “I don’t want to hear from anyone about being unhappy with the way things are going unless they have a plan to change it,” is one common complaint. If I mention that he himself is unhappy with “the way things are going” he is quick to point out that he’s not complaining. (God forbid we ever end up at a red light behind a “Republicans for Voldemort” bumper sticker: The only thing that bothers him more than liberals without a plan is fantasy andscience fiction.) When afforded these impromptu opportunities to engage in political debate, the conversation plays out predictably. He lays out his argument with the usual tent stakes of the superior organizational power of the Republicans and his support of decisive action and a clear agenda over ideological drift and Tower-of-Babel pluralism. His resolve typically begins to falter, though, when questioned directly on whether the decisive actions to which he refers represent sound policy, and whether the clear social and moral agenda of his party truly adhere to the founding principles of Republicanism. Like many conservative individuals, he is a person of common sense, secretly disappointed in just how far his party has strayed from its core values. I’m pretty sure I’m also my boyfriend’s favorite kind of liberal. I pound the tent stakes of our nation’s fall from grace: of a once-compassionate government which no longer guards the interests of its most vulnerable, which thumbs its nose at the rest of the world’s economic and social interests, which aggressively seeks to erode such basic personal freedoms as privacy and reproductive choice. My resolve typically begins to falter, though, when he points out that despite the fact that many Americans on both sides of the political fence share my views, my party has done nothing to effect change except make the aforementioned charges. Yes, Democrats are working hard to win back Congressional seats in these midterm elections on a vague platform of curing these ills, but the party was beset on all sides for over a decade before it started to retaliate with any force. “The war has been such an effective distraction,” I attempt to argue. “People don’t want to buck the leadership when faced with such a crisis.” I even sometimes add lamely, “Besides, these things take time.” (God forbid we end up at a red light behind a “Democrats Have Moral Values, Too” bumper sticker. The only thing that bothers me more than liberals without a plan is whining statements of the obvious.) Not so secretly, I am also disappointed in how far my party has strayed from its core values. But what is the solution? The events of the last five years have shown in stark relief just how little difference there is between elected officials. Even if given a free pass on the […]
Oct 1st, 2006 by Jon Anne Willow
October Records Releases
By Erin Wolf OCTOBER 3 Beck The Information Interscope Jim Brickman Escape SLG/Savoy Lindsey Buckingham Under the Skin Reprise Cities Variations Yep Roc The Datsuns Smoke & Mirrors U.K. – V2 The Decemberists The Crane Wife Capitol Evanescence The Open Door Wind-up The Dears Gang of Losers V2 Jet Shine On Atlantic The Killers Sam’s Town Island The Kooks Inside In/Inside Out Astralwerks Amos Lee Supply and Demand Blue Note Sean Lennon Friendly Fire Capitol Pernice Brothers Live a Little Ashmont Rodrigo y Gabriela Self-titled ATO/RCA George Strait It Just Comes Natural MCA Nashville …and you will know us by the Trail of Dead So Divided Interscope Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3 Olé! Tarantula! Yep Roc The Hold Steady Boys and Girls in America Vagrant OCTOBER 10 The Be Good Tanyas Hello Love Nettwerk The Blood Brothers Young Machetes V2 Chin Up Chin Up This Harness Can’t Ride Anything Suicide Squeeze Califone Roots & Crowns Thrill Jockey Lloyd Cole Antidepressant One Little Indian Albert Hammond Jr. (Strokes guitarist) Yours to Keep U.K. – Rough Trade The Memory Band Apron Strings: Songs of False Love and True Bloodshot Oxford Collapse Remember the Night Parties Sub Pop Robert Pollard Normal Happiness Merge OCTOBER 17 Patti LaBelle The Gospel According to Patti LaBelle Universal The Slits Revenge of the Killer Slits SAF Clinic Visitations U.K. – Domino Diddy Press Play Bad Boy/Warner Jeremy Enigk World Waits Sony BMG Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Love Their Country Fat Wreck Chords Badly Drawn Boy Born in the U.K. XL/Astralwerks OCTOBER 24 The Blow Paper Television K Converge No Heroes Epitaph The Heart Attacks Hellbound & Heartless Hellcat/Epitaph John Legend Once Again Columbia The Walkmen Pussy Cats Starring the Walkmen Record Collection My Chemical Romance The Black Parade Reprise Brian Setzer 13 Surfdog Sparta Threes Hollywood OCTOBER 31 The Clipse Hell Hath No Fury J Copeland Eat, Sleep, Repeat The Militia Group Dead Poetic Vices Tooth & Nail Jim Jones Bright Lights Big City Koch Barry Manilow The Greatest Songs of the Sixties Arista Aimee Mann One More Drifter in the Snow Super Ego Meat Loaf Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose Virgin Willie Nelson & The Cardinals Songbird Lost Highway Paul Wall Get Money, Stay True Atlantic The Who Endless Wire Universal Republic
Oct 1st, 2006 by Vital Archives
Now you see it…
By Amy Elliott + photos by Kate Engeriser You’re seeing something you know, but you don’t know what you’re seeing – that’s how “Super Subconscious” hits the eyes. Painted in grayscale and composed of hundreds of layered advertising icons, it shifts with your gaze; some things come into relief, others fall concealed. The panels of the mural snap as they sway and sink in the wind. You can hear it for blocks on Vliet Street when the traffic is light. Two kids who’ve come to skate at the Vliet Street Commons hoist their skateboards to shield the sun from their eyes.They laugh at the cackling mug of Spongebob Squarepants, point at the logos they recognize and the brands they like. “Led Zeppelin,” says one to the other. “This is awesome.” Its sharp lines catch the glances of drivers-by; it looks like an emphatic banner for an epic party in the Commons or a stark charge of political will. But the piece is the attempt of artists Harvey Opgenorth and Nate Page – in their own words – to “graft a mural-sized ‘representation’ of the subconscious mind” and “to disrupt commercially implied cultural value systems.” Later this month, Opgenorth will install “Subliminal” in the window of an empty storefront across the street at 4920 Vliet, a neon piece that will blink its own questions about the nature of advertising. Both installations are part of a collaboration with the West End Vliet Street Business Association (WEVSBA) and IN:SITE (insitemilwaukee.org), an organization for the encouragement, management and promotion of temporary public art in Milwaukee. “Vliet street has a lot of missing teeth,” says Pat Mueller, President of WEVSBA. “From 43rd to 60th we have Washington Park, the old 3rd district police station, Wick Field – things that sort of eat into our retail and commercial space.” But that same stretch – 43rd to 60th – has no national chain stores, a fact that Mueller, and the artists working for IN:SITE, wanted to celebrate and explore. “The whole climate of the city has changed since these business districts were built,” says Mueller. “The little stores that met people’s everyday needs don’t exist anymore. You have to find a niche, and to that end we have really moved toward art.” The backbone of hope IN:SITE embraces temporary art for reasons that are practical as well as conceptual. Less upkeep and financial overhead means more artists have the chance to share their voices and more neighborhoods can afford to participate. Non-permanent art can change with neighborhoods that are as dynamic and diverse as the people that live in them, and the projects always stay fresh, surprising and adventurous. In the North Avenue Gateway District on the west side, on the corner of a handsome but empty building, Chris Silva and Michael Genovese hang weathered signs, hand-lettered with equally weathered aphorisms: “Every man is guilty of the good he did not do;” “It is a sign of strength, not […]
Oct 1st, 2006 by Amy Elliott
Of labor unions and fetish gear
By Matt Wild A man wearing an American flag headband tears past me on his bicycle, narrowly avoiding a collision forceful enough to rearrange our collective bone structures. He turns back to look at me, a strange grin on his face, a psychotic glint in his eyes. “Wake up, kid. Wake up!” It’s 11 a.m. and I’m stumbling east along Wisconsin Avenue, hung over and slowly following the annual Labor Fest parade to the Summerfest grounds. I’m here to find out why so many perfectly sane people have decided to get out of bed on this cold, wet morning and gleefully march through the streets of downtown Milwaukee. Hordes of union-types carry banners denoting their affiliations (Sheet Metal Workers, Bricklayers Union). Small children hold signs saying “Don’t Roll Back Workers’ Rights!” A WTMJ news chopper hovers overhead like a threat. I try to snap a few pictures, but a hay-bailer driven by a bunch of iron workers nearly plows me over, my second near-miss of the day. Collecting my wits, I decide to heed the biker’s advice: Wake up. Ask questions. “Immigration reform” are the words I hear most often when pressing people on their reasons for marching, as well as a laundry list of candidates to be supported: Doyle, Kohl, Falk, et al. Amidst the admittedly left-leaning crowd I manage to spot a small group of Mark Green supporters, huddled tight against the inclement weather. Quietly sidling up I politely try to strike up a conversation. Would they like to answer a few questions? Nothing. What are their reasons for being here today? No answer. What are Mark Green’s views on unions? On immigration? A few evil glares, some hushed mumblings (I distinctly hear “Don’t even look at him.” ), but still nothing. Have you guys seen any of Green’s TV commercials, and if so, how long can you make it before you start laughing? Sensing a potentially ugly scene, I decide to ditch the weasely bastards and head for the festival grounds. Inside, the mood is somewhat muted, the light drizzle from the morning having turned into a fairly steady downpour. While signs screaming “Safety on the Job!” and “Protect Immigrant Workers Now!” abound, the event itself is disturbingly similar to Summerfest: eight dollar cups of beer and cover bands playing “Love Shack.” Barbara Lawton is giving a speech on the Miller Oasis stage, her words echoing off a sea of wet, empty bleachers. A grizzled-looking man suddenly approaches, a despairing look on his face. “You see this crowd? This represents every progressive in the state. It’s no wonder we always lose.” Surely it’s just the weather, I remark. If it wasn’t such a miserable day, maybe then…but no, he’s already gone. An unidentified woman takes Lawton’s place on stage and begins making an impassioned speech in Spanish. I ask another woman nearby to translate for me, but she doesn’t speak any… “ENGLISH! DO. YOU. UNDERSTAND. ENGLISH!?! Take another picture of me and I’ll…” There’s a drunken lunatic […]
Oct 1st, 2006 by Matt Wild
Having THE Talk
By Lucky Tomaszek You just never know when it’s going to happen. You can be standing in line at the grocery store with your child, or walking into the exam room at your doctor’s office. Perhaps you’re lucky and you’re at home with no one around to watch you blush and fumble as you realize that it’s happening: your child is asking you about sex. Different kids ask about it at different ages and for different reasons. Sometimes a relative or close friend is expecting a baby, or sometimes they’ve heard a whisper or rumor at school. Occasionally, they’ve seen pets, wild animals, or even (gasp!) their parents actually having sex. Whatever the reason, they’re curious and they want to know everything. Making an important choice As parents, we have a choice. We can tell them the truth without making them feel embarrassed, or we can fumble, stutter and let our own discomfort show. If you choose the first, your children will feel like they can come back to you later when they have more questions. Choose the second and you risk them turning to their peers for more information. When I was in elementary school, it was very popular to give children a book when the questions started. During the 1970s and into the 80s, several feel-good, body-positive books were written to meet the demand. Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle is a good example of these. But I remember talking to friends who had received a book in response to their inquiries. All of them felt like the underlying message from their well-meaning parents was, “I don’t really want to talk about this.” The question then becomes, how do we have this conversation? Not just “How do we survive it?” (which is a valid concern), but how do we handle it smoothly, while leaving all of the parties with their dignity intact? How much is too much? In our house, the kids are exposed to the circle of life very early. As a midwife, I have pregnant women coming in for prenatal care all the time, so the kids have been curious since an early age. It started with, “Why is her belly so big?” That’s an easy one. “She has a baby in her belly” satisfied my inquisitor for a while. Later I was approached again. “Mama? How did the baby get in there?” Okay, Lucky. Deep breath. Fortunately, I quickly remembered a rule I had read in a mainstream parenting magazine years before. Answer these hard questions as briefly as possible. Children will ask for more information if they’re ready for it. “It grew there,” I responded. “Will it come out?” “Yes,” I nodded reassuringly. “When?” “Around Christmas,” I sighed with relief as I realized that this was the end of this round of questions. But I knew then that I was going to need to be ready with […]
Oct 1st, 2006 by Lucky Tomaszek
Stacia Van de Loo storms Vucciria
By Catherine McGarry Miller + photos by Kevin C. Groen Stacia Van de Loo came into the world in a Trans Am hurtling down Highway 57. “I was almost born in a bowling alley, but Mom pushed me back up and gave birth going 120, headed for a small clinic in Adell (pop. 517). I think it was for humans,” Van de Loo says in a questioning tone. “I was blue when the doctor whisked me away, leaving my mom in the car. Someone asked her, ‘Patsy, you OK?’ and she said, ‘Can I have a cigarette now?’” Vucciria’s right-hand person and creative innovator to manager Maria Megna has kept on her fast and independent streak through life. The thin, willowy Van de Loo looks like she often forgets to eat, which is probably true. To watch her at work is to witness a human tornado whose wake is littered with inspired creations, sometimes culinary deconstructions, but never disaster. She grew up in the small resort town of Elkhart Lake with her single mom. “My first remembrance of food is of standing below the table watching my mother cutting a cucumber on a wooden board. She cut the skin off and sprinkled it with salt. It made a pop and sang on my tongue. I realized that the addition of one small thing, like a spice, could change the taste dramatically.” Frequently left to her own devices, she experimented with whatever culinary opportunities presented themselves. Her first recipe was a peanut butter marshmallow sandwich with chocolate chips melted by the heat of the toast. Van de Loo made even the prosaic childhood staple of mac ‘n cheese her own by whisking butter into the dry cheese to make it creamier. On a visit to Milwaukee at the age of six, Van de Loo was awestruck by the elegance of a small corner restaurant. “The black and white polka-dotted napkins were folded into wine glasses and a counter was glowing in the background. I knew right then that it was what I wanted to have as a business some day. That was Mimma’s. It was a diamond in the rough when the rest of Brady Street was really raw and gritty and here was this beautiful, highly-designed place.” In the intervening years before Van de Loo would come to work at Mimma’s sister, Vucciria, she entered the restaurant world by way of dishwashing at the age of 12. By 13, she was waiting tables at a small eaterie and soon thereafter joined the kitchen staff. As a child, Van de Loo created intricate sculptures in cheese by folding, stacking and arranging the slices. Art and food became the critical intersection of her life. She continued working in various breweries and bistros through her college years at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design where she majored in sculpture and interior architecture. There she became a master of mixed media. “I use whatever the idea needs – everything […]
Oct 1st, 2006 by Cate Miller
