Artist: Black Paint Studios Location: Var Gallery, 643 S. 2nd Street Mural start date: September 9, 2017 Anticipated mural completion: October 1, 2017 Concept: This concept asks hard questions. How do we ignore differences? Why shouldn’t we? How do we honor them? Why should we? Differences can be used to divide and cause harm. Differences can also be beautiful and make us stronger. Differences exist. And talking about them — and really listening to others talk about them — versus pretending they’re not there is what they see as a necessary part of the path to healing divisions, breaking down barriers and bringing people together.There’s a lot of hope in the theme too. It assumes healing is possible. It suggests a constructive path to something better. The antithesis of ignoring is listening. Listening is one of the most powerful ways to honor another person. It hopes we are all capable of listening to and honoring each other or it wouldn’t bother asking. It hopes that we’re brave enough to do this hard work together.
Get to know the artists behind the new mural below:
Freedom. How can you really teach a concept as large, vague, and personal as freedom?
For one teacher at Alexander Mitchell, a bilingual MPS school on Milwaukee’s south side, the idea of exploring freedom came to her after last year’s election. Disheartened by the divisiveness of the election, 6th grade teacher Nora Justin found herself feeling pretty uninspired. But that didn’t last for long.
When Ms. Nora heard the song “Letter to the Free (feat. Bilal)” by Common as she was getting dressed for work, she knew she could use music as a way to start a conversation about freedom with her class. She says that “as a teacher, you want to be able to successfully address social issues in a way that fuels dialogue.” She wanted her students to, all politics aside, just have a space to discuss what freedom means to them.
Meet Stacey Williams-Ng, the artist behind one of the two Milwaukee-area murals commissioned by 88Nine. A lifelong artist, learn how she transitioned from traditional studio art to the performance of chalk and mural work. Williams-Ng helped produce the Black Cat Alley project, which opened the door to many more recent mural works you can see popping up around the city now.
Artist:Stacey Williams-Ng Location:Penfield Children’s Center, 833 N. 26th Street Mural start date: July 31 Anticipated mural completion: September 10 Concept: Stacey’s concept plays on themes of rhythm, community and cohesion. It recognizes that music brings us all together and that differences disappear when we bind together as a community.
Read below to learn more about Stacey Williams-Ng and her vision for creating and stewarding mural art in Milwaukee:
600
447
