Content referencing Janet Zweig
Milwaukee’s Grand Avenue
For much of the twentieth century, Wisconsin Avenue was the entertainment and retail center of the city.
Sep 18th, 2015 by Carl BaehrDigital Billboard Art Month Brings Ten-Day Art Exhibit to All of Milwaukee
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has issued a proclamation recognizing October 1-10 as “Digital Billboard Art Month”(DBAM).
Sep 11th, 2013 by Pegi Christiansen
IN:SITE Announces Digital Billboard Art Month
Milwaukee billboards will get a little bit more pleasing in October.
Aug 12th, 2013 by Press Release
Chicago and Milwaukee – Large Public Art and Placemaking
The latest iteration of Chicago's fascination with large public art is located across the street from the iconic Harold Washington Library in Pritzker Park just northwest of the intersection State Street and Van Buren Street. What is it? A three-story tall eye balll, dubbed the EYE.
Aug 19th, 2010 by Jeramey Jannene
Zweig Project Would Add a Twist to Milwaukee
The debate swirling around the Janet Zweig art project got me thinking about the value of public art to our city and how other cities embrace opportunities to enhance their public places.
Apr 13th, 2009 by Dave Reid
Would Neon Colored Ashtrays Have Been Acceptable?
In case you missed it, at yesterday's Public Works Committee meeting a previously contracted public art project was halted, because some of our Alderman didn't find the art to their liking.
Apr 2nd, 2009 by Dave Reid
Zweig Project Held by City Committee
This committee meeting had numerous items of significance relating to the built environment that were up for debate. A couple highlights (or lowlights) included the holding of a file over budget concerns, a heated discussion over Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (“CMAQ”) grants, and a most intriguing debate on public art. The approval of the schematic designs of public artwork which is to be incorporated into streetscape improvements within the first block of East Wisconsin Avenue was up for approval. The project put out a RFQ to which nearly fifty artists responded. Artist Janet Zweig was selected to design the artwork and at a recent Streetscape Public Art Advisory Committee meeting the committee approved the schematic design. The design would include five kiosks attached to five light poles. Each kiosk would essentially be a historical reference to a type of flip board system that existed in train stations. Each kiosk would display flip movies of Milwaukee, and would be custom built to hold 80 flaps. This project was funded under the federal CMAQ program to promote walking as an alternative method of transportation by making improvements to the pedestrian experience. Additionally, of the total project only a little over 1% of funds has been allocated to public art. Initially, Alderman Robert Bauman was concerned that there might be a cost to moving this project forward so he questioned, “tell us why this is even in front of us?” After much discussion it became clear that this file was just the approval of the schematic design and that as he said “rejecting this concept saves no money.” At this point Alderman Bob Donovan began railing against the design saying “Thomas Edison had that 100 years ago,” and that “I refuse to have my name associated to something as ridiculous as that.” Alderman Willie Wade took a more measured approach in his response to the work stating “I’m not impressed with this at all” and that “this is too old school for me.” Attempting to bring the discussion back to the overall idea of improving public space through the addition of public art Alderman Bauman explained that “art is in the eye of the beholder.” Debra Usinger, who appeared previously in regards to a Riverwalk project, explained that “public art is great” and that despite the sentiment in the room, this art works because “all of a sudden we’ve created discussion in here.” She added that “I think this is really innovative.” This file was held to all for public input. A file that would have funded a variety of nonassessable public improvements was held because of future budgetary concerns. Alderman Joe Dudzik questioned the wisdom of this spending while planning on significant layoffs, which sparked the discussion regarding holding the file. Wondering if there was a cost to delay action on the file, Alderman Dudzik questioned “is there any urgency in getting this file passed today?” Apparently if delayed projects might see a increase of 10% to the cost so the […]
Apr 1st, 2009 by Dave Reid
Bronze the Fonz
Henry Winkler Originally uploaded by chelsea tobe Urban Milwaukee and Fresh Coast Ventures, LLC would like to throw their support behind the “Bronze the Fonz” campaign. The urban, pedestrian-friendly location of the statue on the riverwalk will only give Milwaukee visitors one more reason to stay downtown, walk downtown, and spend their money downtown. A couple grumpy art gallery owners in Milwaukee apparently are not seeing how the statue will encourage visitors to “stay downtown, walk downtown, and spend their money downtown”. This would inevitably help their business by increasing foot traffic in the area, but that doesn’t seem to matter to them. Most important to these art gallery owners is the fact that the statue is an icon of mediocre public art. Milwaukee Art Museum Director David Gordon also appears to be upset that the bronze Fonz might interrupt the development of a fancy new public art development coming to Wisconsin Avenue in a few years (of which I can’t seem to actually find any details other than the artist is Janet Zweig,). Fonz-implementers have claimed that the statue will be out of the Wisconsin Avenue sight lines of the Milwaukee Art Museum and new Wisconsin Avenue public art project by being placed on the riverwalk. Good, problem solved. Let’s build this statue. No one is going to make fun of Milwaukee for having this statue and every first time visitor is going to want to see it and get their picture taken with it, just like that “bean” that our neighbor to the south has. Build the statue. It’s only going to help people have one more thing to do in downtown Milwaukee. Игровые Автоматы Онлайн
Nov 30th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
