Look Here! Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum: Part II

To conclude my series of posts related to my artwork in the Look Here! exhibition at Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum, we continue our tour of the show.  We enter the master bedroom space where Rajasthan Reimagined, my series created for this exhibition currently on view.

It has been two years since I began work on this pilot collaboration project with UWM Libraries Digital Humanities Lab and Special Collections.

The eight artworks in Rajasthan Reimagined are based on my interaction with historical Indian architectural renderings compiled in the Jeypore Portfolio of Architectural Details (1894). Three volumes of the rare twelve volume portfolio are housed in the UWM Library’s Special Collections. 

Some of the illustrations I referenced are shown in a display case so that visitors can have a better understanding of my research process. 

The highly accurate and detailed original drawings were reproduced in England as large scale photo-lithograph plates with hopes they would be used chiefly as working drawings for the artisan. They are truly exquisite and worth a look!

Additional color plates I utilized are displayed in the Villa's beautiful wooden paneled library.

Color plates from the Jeypore Portfolio of Architectural Detail 
are on the top shelf

In recent blog posts, I have featured six of the eight finished pieces in the series and explained my process.

Two works I haven't yet highlighted are Inner Garden I & II which were inspired by a rendering of a low relief wall carving depicting vases of flowers. (below)

Much of my work over recent years have been trompe-l'oei paintings of ancient Asian low relief carvings, so the wall panels depicted in this rendering fascinated me.

In Inner Garden I & II the representational elements from the portfolio are progressively deconstructed. Other elements pulse in and out of focus.

Inner Garden II

36" x  50"

Acrylic on Kalamkari fabric

Inner Garden II
36" x  50"
Acrylic on Kalamkari fabric

Having been assigned the master bedroom space in the Villa Terrace, I was able to plan pieces specifically for this site. 

The character of the patterns painted on the ceiling of the mater bedroom, wall sizes, fireplace, and other features of the room were taken into consideration.

Hand-painted ceiling panels in the master bedroom

Jeypore Dreams Remembered, for example, echos the mantle's size and form.

The artist with Jeypore Dreams Remembered

I felt that architectural elements depicted in the Jeypore Portfolio were visually similar to the Cyril Colnik ironwork collection permanently displayed at the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum. 

I meant the arches in Mystic Garden to match the character of Colnik's iron garden gates.

Leaving the master bedroom to explore other parts of the museum, we look down on the terrace where people are enjoy the summer evening, formal gardens and lake view.

The ladies dressing room is paneled in feminine paintings of ribbon tied floral garlands, baskets, and birds.

I visited the Villa Terrace frequently as a child. The Rococo style paneling always intrigued the budding artist in me.

Permanent collections of porcelain and paintings are displayed in the dining room and throughout the museum. A few favorites can be seen below.

Pre-Raphialite Painted Glass Window
Originally installed in the Pabst Brewing family home

There is still time to visit the Look Here! exhibition at Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum through September 16, 2018.

Some paintings in the Rajasthan Reimagined series traveled to India with me for my January 2018 solo exhibition Eternal Visions in Kolkata at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Golpark (an exhibition made possible in part by a grant from The Greater Milwaukee Foundation's Mary L. Nohl Fund Suitcase Export Fund for Visual Art).

My next blog post will be about that exhibition in India.

Don't forget to check out my artwork available at my Etsy store, Facebook page, as well as my Instagram feed.

Look Here! Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum: Part I

It has been a wonderful experience creating art for Look Here!, working with organizers from the UWM Libraries, and staff of the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum over the past 18 months. 

The Look Here! project is a collaboration between the UWM Libraries and artists from RedLine Milwaukee and the UWM Peck School of the Arts. The project asks artists to create works that reimagine, transform, and engage with the Libraries' unique archival, special, and digital collection in ways that bring new light and creative perspectives to these rare and unique materials. 

In this post I visit the opening reception at Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum on a warm summer evening to take a look at artwork by many of the participating artists.

Villa Terrace is a historic Milwaukee mansion on the bluff 
overlooking Lake Michigan which is worthy of a visit on its own. 

Upon entering the museum gate, we are greeted by a large statue of Mercury in the courtyard.

The Mercury Courtyard is a charming cloister surrounded by a 

vaulted loggia with Tuscan columns and grilled Italian windows.

The statue's torso dates to the second century A.D

The Great Hall, terrace patio and a large formal garden make the Villa Terrace a popular venue for local weddings, lectures, and other events. 

The Great Hall was the Smiths' family room and entertaining space.

During the opening reception. artists and friends are gathering and celebrating on the terrace overlooking Lake Michigan.

View of the formal gardens and lakefront seen from the terrace.

Let's look at some of the many gallery spaces in the museum where the work by 15 artists is on view:

Participating artists: Stephanie Copolous-Selle, Clayton Haggarty, Cynthia Hayes, Jake Hill, Rebecca Holderness, Dara Larson, Madeline Martin, Andrew Miller, Nirmal Raja, Jill Sebastian, Anja Sieger, Marc Tasman, Laj Waghray, Melissa Wagner-Lawler,
 and Max Yela.

A series of interviews with the participating artist can be accessed by clicking this link:

Look Here! Artist Interviews

Images incorporated on the handmade paper chandelier by Dara Larson and Max Yela hint at the visual references used by many of the artists in the show.

Dara Larson and Max Yela
Chandelier
Handmade cotton and abaca paper with pulp printingand watermarks, 
inclusions from the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum's garden
2018

On the first floor, Madeline Martin sensitive paintings portray a mother and children in watercolor with mixed media in her series on display.

Madeline Martin

The Land From Which They Have Flown I, II, and III

Watercolor, gold leaf, paper, pencil, and embroidery floss

2018

Artwork by Stephanie Copolous-Selle

Jill Sebastion's installations in the Zuber Gallery consist of woodblock prints of bird wings printed on handmade paper address the way we romanticize nature. The artwork is perfectly situated and in conversation with the room covered in exuberant French botanical wallpaper from the Zuber and Cie company.

Jill Sebastian
Invasion
Woodblock print on recycled cardboard handmade paper, steel
2018

An installation by Nirmal Raja was created for the sleeping porch. Laser cut window clings are arranged to resemble a beautiful screen. 

A closer look reveals written accounts of violent hate crimes agains Asian Americans:

The upstairs hallway contains prints and handmade book by Melissa Wagner-Lawler, photographs by Jake Hill, and an installation by Clayton Haggarty and Marc Tasman.

Melissa Wagner-Lawler

The Proposition of Landscape

Letterpress prints, hand bound artist book

2018

Jake Hill

Chalkboard, Fan & Vacuums

Digital photography

2017




Clayton Haggarty and Marc Tasman
Ice Skaters
Wheat-pasted imagery on plywood
2018

Anja Sieger, an improvisational artist, exhibits a video in the Drake Gallery. The American Oak paneled room is a reproduction of a 17th century manor house in England. 

Filmmaker Laj Waghray presents a video on the theme of hands in another gallery.

Anja Sieger
Hat Tarot Divined from the Digital Archive
Looped video slide show
2018

Rajasthan Reimagined, my series of eight pieces created for the Look Here! project, is displayed in the master bedroom.

Organizers Ann Hanlon, Marc Tasman, and Max Yela speak to a large crowd about the Look Here! project.

Max Yela, Special Collections Librarian at UWM Libraries

Ann Hanlon, Head of Digital Collections and Initiatives  

Marc Tasman

Shana McCaw, Senior Curator

For my next post, I'll show more of the Look Here! show including a closer look at my own Rajasthan Reimagined series exhibited in the master bedroom. I'll also explore a bit more of the beautiful Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum.

Don't forget to check out my artwork available at my Etsy store, Facebook page, as well as my Instagram feed.