Derrick Cainion is brimming with ideas. Art Intersection MKE (3542 W. Vliet St.) is proof.
He started the sculpture garden on Milwaukee’s Near West Side in 2021, dreaming of creating a communal space after moving back home from Washington, D.C. “We have Lynden (Sculpture Garden), which is fantastic, and we have Sculpture Milwaukee, but there’s really nothing right in the middle of the city,” says Cainion, who works as an ASL interpreter. His first plans involved a mixed-use building with the garden serving as an in-between space, but when the building fell through, he focused on the garden.
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As he developed it, he asked himself: How can I make it environmentally sustainable? How can it have the most impact? To those ends, he built a bioswale – an open trench designed to absorb stormwater – with the help of a grant from the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, administered by Chicago’s Greenprint Partners. Surrounding it are murals and sculptures from artists such as Jaime Brown and Karim Jabbari, Keenan Lampe, and Andre Saint Louis.
In the northeast corner, a painting by local artist Brad Anthony Bernard depicts Frederick Law Olmsted – the architect of New York’s Central Park and Milwaukee’s Lake, Riverside and Washington parks – dreaming of performances, zoo animals and happy residents. Cainion says its sums up the mission of the park. “The themes of this gallery are all about community history, identity and environment or nature.”
Another mural to the west is titled “Mother Nature,” a portrait of Cainion’s mother surrounded by irises, which he says are her favorite flowers. A guitar, left of his mother and hidden in plain sight, represents his late father. It was Art Intersection MKE’s first mural, painted by British artist Daniel Wilson in 2023. “He finished the work right before Earth Day, and Earth Day happens to be my mom’s birthday as well,” Cainion says.
Cainion has raised over $1 million in grants to grow the park, support creatives and hold community events. He credits his success at corralling to an ability to bring people into his vision – and an infectious enthusiasm.
One event had MIAD students showing works they created for the park as a chance to build their professional skills. But its annual Art After Dark has grown into a flagship, bringing educators, artists and local performers like Pink Umbrella to the park around Halloween. “Last year we did a carnival,” Cainion says. “We had an aerialist, we had a bubble artist, we had a juggler, we had a flow artist that did hula hoops and fire. (There was) free food for community members. … We had over 200 people come through.”
All of that work is just Phase 1. Cainion hopes to keep augmenting the garden by adding a pavilion, a greenhouse, solar panels, Wi-Fi and more. This month, he’s installing 10 new 8-by-8-foot murals that will line the path along the bioswale. Cainion says he commissioned local and international artists to capture many perspectives. “I want the place to be a place where people can see themselves.”
And on June 13, poetry will be the next art form to grace the garden. Curated by WaterMarks’ Kavon Cortez-Jones, “Aquapoetics” will host 10 local poets, including Emmitt James and Milwaukee Poet Laureate Shelly Conley, presenting works about their relationship with water. The readings will be backed by the Garrett Waite band.
“The whole point of Art Intersection is the idea that art is intersected with everything we do, whether it’s communication, whether it’s science, finding patterns and observations,” Cainion says. “I find it’s a way to bring everyone together.”
