Towering cephalopods. Glowing, twisting tubes. And now, giant amorphous lifeforms. Since ArtBlaze, the series of beach parties on Milwaukee’s lakefront, began in 2024, the star has been the inflatable installations made by FuzzPop Workshop.
It began when the nonprofit organizers Joy Engine gave the immersive art studio free rein to create something to wow the city. The result was three colorful “Cosmopods.”
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“You could easily see them when you’re driving down along the lakefront,” says Joy Engine executive director Steph Salvia. “A lot of people were just stopping to come and see what the heck we were doing.”
Since then, FuzzPop has teamed up with UW-Milwaukee’s School of Architecture & Urban Planning to have students pitch concepts and, starting this year, prototype the selected idea. Different groups work on lighting, materials and more. They test questions: How can it retain as much air as possible? How can it withstand the weather and body-slamming from rowdy kids?
This year’s installations are inspired by archaea – single-celled organisms. Part of the plan includes stuffing smaller inflatables inside 25-foot-tall ones. Transparent materials encourage people to look closer.
They’ll be scattered in groups on the beach. Other parties in the city have eye-popping displays, but Salvia says ArtBlaze emphasizes creativity made in Milwaukee. “It’s just fun to be hyper-focused locally on what kind of talent we have here.”
ArtBlaze returns to McKinley Beach on July 30 and Aug. 20, and South Shore Beach on Aug. 6.
