"Make Milwaukee": Week 5 | The Terry McCormick Gallery

Listen: Last August, I had the remarkable fortune to speak with Evelyn Patricia Terry towards the end of her "Permission to Paint, Please" show at the Riverwest Artists Association's Jazz Gallery. The circumstances of that show were completely incredible, and you can hear the audio piece that resulted from our conversation on Mary Louise Schumacher's Art City blog. While it's not compulsory listening to understand what's presented below, this piece provides some context for Evelyn's amazing journey over the past year.

Evelyn's son Fonday and I with some of George's work

Since her partner George McCormick's passing and the Jazz Gallery exhibit, Evelyn's life has continued to twist and turn in barely believable ways. When this week's tour guide, Julia Taylor, suggested we catch up with her old friend Evelyn, I had no idea what Evelyn had in store for us. Listen as we hear the story of Evelyn's home turned gallery:

Our actual interview ranged far and wide, passing from the art hanging on the walls to how she approaches making art to some of her future plans for the gallery. Below, listen to a few of the precious out takes.

Shana, myself, and Evelyn

So who is Evelyn featuring in the Terry McCormick gallery? Currently, she's showing artists who she's worked with and deeply respects, such as artist Shana Goetsch. Listen as Shana describes what she has hanging and how she came to work with Evelyn: Shana was actually my contact at the Jazz Gallery for the above Art City piece and was both a gracious host and able interview-photographer.

Two paintings from Shana's Dear Heart, Deer Heart series

Evelyn is a person and artist with a constant flurry of ideas, far too many to ever find the time to complete. In this piece, Evelyn frames the problem in terms of art supplies:

Don't get her wrong -- her surplus of creativity translates into a huge amount of artistic output, including the pieces directly below.

Evelyn's mixed media jewelry

In this piece, Evelyn talks about the "will to create" and what that term means to her: "We all have in us the need to create something." I love that.

Art from Evelyn's "Race Card" series

Evelyn didn't come into the Terry McCormick gallery thinking she had it all figured out. In fact, she didn't even have a name at the outset. Clearly exemplifying how this has been a learning process, listen as Evelyn discusses the evolution of her gallery's open hours: I cannot wait for my next conversation with Evelyn and to hear the next step in her beautiful story. Someday, I'll need to put this all together in one long piece.

In order to see this wonderful gallery, you'll have to wait until the next Gallery Day/Night or make an appointment. To do so, and to learn more about Evelyn Patricia Terry, follow this link to her personal website.

P r o d uced by: Adam Carr

Music by: the indomitable Nomo