ART: Maritime Mosaics
Avast, ye mateys! In the height of summer, the lakes and rivers of Wisconsin teem with all manner of seacraft. But anyone can sip a beer on a friend’s cabin cruiser or take a paddleboat around the Veterans Park lagoon. For aspiring Noahs (or Thor Heyerdahls), there’s the John Michael Kohler Arts Center “Art Armada,” a fossil-fuel-free flotilla of flotsam that will warm the heart of the most fervent environmentalist. Boats must be human powered, and constructed from a very narrow list of materials (cardboard, milk jugs, swimming noodles, etc.). Once launched at Sheboygan’s Rotary Riverview Park, they will be judged in a number of categories. The truly adventurous can try the “Castaway Division,” in which you get 90 minutes to craft your craft from “Castaway Debris.” Davy Jones awaits. (Paul Kosidowski)
➞ Art Armada (July 4). Rotary Riverview Park. 539 Riverfront Dr., Sheboygan, 920-458-6144, jmkac.org.
MUSIC: Reverberating Leather
ART: A Dynamic Mural
For the past year, Sonja Thomsen, a photographer, and Adam Carr, a former radio producer, have been “Listening to Mitchell” Street. The result is a public-art project that occupies seven blocks of this South Side neighborhood. Once primarily Polish and now Latino, this hub of bridal shops, taquerias and churches has been siphoned for its stories and visual artifacts. Murals, photographs, a storefront sound installation and call-in access (414-921-2622) to stories from local residents hope to generate a buzz that will bring curiosity to this economically sleepy area. By creating a more experiential portrait, it tries to absorb rather than document the street. (Debra Brehmer)
DANCE: Last Dance
ART: Scene Unseen
Katie Gingrass Gallery distinguishes itself through its eager engagement with materials and craft. Any show at this Third Ward establishment, graciously run by a master of Milwaukee’s art world, might sprinkle glass, ceramics, jewelry, fibers and, yes, painting, into a dazzling display of objects. “Gesture” remains true to this formula. It’s a group show of gallery artists who all utilize gesture to energize their work. Kerry Vesper of Arizona is a woodworker who makes well-crafted wavy curlicues and organic zigzag wall pieces. Suzanne Donazetti alters and colors the surfaces of metals, and then weaves the strips into prismatic shimmery patterns. Natalie Blake carves elegant plant patterns into porcelain. You get the idea: motion, pattern, movement, the allure of the handmade. (Debra Brehmer)
