SWAN Day MKE 2018: “Women and Nature: Nourishing Our Roots"
March - May 2018

Artists from all over Milwaukee celebrate the power and diversity of women’s creativity at SWAN Day MKE 2018 (Support Women Artists Now), an exhibition that is part of the International 11th Annual Support Women Artists Now Day!

This exhibit features over one-hundred women and woman-identified artists of ALL ages, ALL disciplines and ALL levels of artistic experience residing in Milwaukee and surrounding area that were invited to be part of an inclusive, informal, non-juried show.

The 2018 theme is “Women and Nature: Nourishing Our Roots.” For this unique show, artists were asked to think about the following prompts & make a piece that navigates one or all thoughts, practices places or concepts:

• Reflect on how and where the natural world plays a role in influencing your physical/emotional creative reserves, subject matter, concepts, visualizations,meditations or use of materials (ie eco-friendly/recycled/found object/organic matter/installation).

• What environments or elements provide a place of inspiration and/or perspiration so you are fueled physically, mentally and/or spiritually to make your best work?

• Does nourishment come from environmental activism and learning, or perhaps you find flow investigating the macro-level patterns in science?

• Do you connect with nature in the everyday/family traditions of cooking food, using healing herbal remedies and practicing your faith, or do you expand beyond this realm and wonder about the cosmos?

Laur Wiech Design
Predators Digital Collage

Kathleen Walter: Human <> Nature
June - August 2018

From the artist: My work is reflective of the synergistic connections I see between man and nature. I am interested in the ever-widening concentric circles of connectedness between all things on earth and beyond. My investigations have brought me to a realization of the commonality of many systems in nature and the manmade world and the similarity of mythologies and metaphors surrounding both realms. The maps that are part of much of my collage work have become the symbol for our human need to control and contain nature. (A theme that seems to have a louder voice in the present culture.) The messages that nature is sending into the universe are being silenced by ignorance and fear and threatening the existence of human life on earth. The intent of my work is to bring a moment of reflection to the fabric of nature of which humans are a part.

Water the Breath of Gaia

Changing Our World Through Art: The Work of Escuela Verde's Youth Artivists
September – November 2018

In Escuela Verde's Art Club, we use our artistic skills and voices to work for change in our community. The work in this show speaks out about issues ranging from climate change and environmental racism to immigration reform and gender inequality.

Escuela Verde's Art Club