THREE ARTISTS SELECTED AS FINALISTS FOR CONTINUUM PROJECT

Jurors met on March 15, 2006 to select three finalists for the Continuum Project, a competition sponsored by the Institute of Visual Arts (Inova) in the UWM Peck School of the Arts. Inova is commissioning a work of public art to be installed in the lobby of the Mainstage Theatre on the UWM campus. The three artists selected were Liz Bachhuber, Carol Emmons and Richard Taylor.

A public presentation by the finalists will take place on Tuesday, April 4 at 5:30 pm in Inova Gallery One, 3253 North Downer Avenue. The jury will reconvene on April 5 to award the $25,000 commission.

Funded by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Mary L. Nohl and Mary Tingley Funds, the competition was open to alumni from all UWM Department of Visual Art programs. In addition to the public art commission, the Continuum Project includes a residency in the Peck School, with opportunities to serve the school’s students, the campus community, and the general public through activities including lectures, skill-based intensives, and hands-on workshops.

The Continuum Project is part of a campaign to build a visual art alumni/student community in the Peck School of the Arts. Leslie Vansen, chair of the Department of Visual Art, sees the project as another opportunity “to celebrate past achievement and current successes and to foster interactions between today’s students and their alumni predecessors.” Another facet of this effort is the series of annual alumni exhibitions the department launched four years ago. Continuum 4: Waterproof Wallet Art, curated by Inova’s interim director, Bruce Knackert, features small art works by alumni, faculty and students and remains on view in the Mary L. Nohl Galleries in the Helene Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts, 2419 East Kenwood Boulevard, through April 2. (Gallery hours: Wednesday-Sunday, noon-5 pm and during selected concerts.)

The panel of jurors for the first round of the Continuum Project competition included multi-disciplinary artist Ray Chi; Kim Cridler, who teaches metalsmithing and jewelry arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Joy H. Dohr, Ph.D., professor emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in environment, textiles, and design; and Graeme Reid, assistant director of the West Bend Art Museum.

The Mainstage Theater lobby is in a public building in the heart of the UWM campus. It serves students, the campus community, and the general public alike; it is a gateway to music, dance, and theatre performances, as well as classrooms and public events. The public is invited to participate in the discussion about the use of the theatre lobby on the Continuum Project discussion board. Click here to enter the discussion.

About the Finalists
Liz Bachhuber was born in Milwaukee and received her BFA and MA from UWM. She continued her studies at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf on a Fulbright fellowship. In 1993, she became a founding faculty member at the Bauhaus-University of Weimar teaching installation, sculpture, and public art.

Carol Emmons received her BFA and MFA from UWM. She specializes in large-scale, site-specific installation incorporating light, found objects, and constructed elements. She is professor of communications and the arts at UW-Green Bay. She has received grants from the Wisconsin Arts Board and Wisconsin Humanities Council.

Richard Taylor earned a BA in art history and MFA in painting and drawing at UWM. In the past year alone, his sculpture has been exhibited in Tokyo, Chicago, Tucson, Milwaukee, and Sheboygan. He has received public art commissions from a wide range of municipalities, universities, and community organizations.

Continuum Project Jurors Announced

Norman Barrientos
Norman Barrientos, AIA is president and owner of Barrientos Design & Consulting, Inc., an architectural and engineering firm focused on housing, community, health, and public buildings. He has a BA in architecture from the University of Minnesota and a graduate certificate in business administration from Harvard University. He has 20 years of experience as a project manager and design architect. Norman serves on the Milwaukee Arts Board, Milwaukee County Public Art Committee, Boys & Girls Clubs Building Committee, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Wisconsin, and Centro Hispano of Dane County.

Ray Chi
Ray Chi is a multi-disciplinary artist. He holds a Master’s degree in Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles. He is also active as a professional cellist, performing solo and collaboratively with local artists. His background in architecture and music guides his creative output, which includes furniture design, sculpture, film and video, graphic design, and installation art. Ray is a recipient of grants from the Wisconsin Arts Board, the Gunk Foundation for Public Art (Gardiner, NY), and Brady Area Foundation for Art and Education. Ray was recently named an “Artist of the Year” by the Milwaukee Arts Board.

Kim Cridler
Kim Cridler teaches metalsmithing and jewelry arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She earned an MFA at SUNY New Paltz and a BFA at the University of Michigan. Kim has been awarded residencies and fellowships such as the John Michael Kohler Art Center’s Arts/Industry program, Skowhegan School of Art, Wisconsin Arts Board Visual Arts Fellowship, and the Arizona Commission on the Arts. Her work is featured in collections of the Arizona State University Art Museum, Arkansas Art Center Decorative Museum of Art, California State University Long Beach Art Museum, Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture, Scottsdale Contemporary Museum of Art, and Samuel Dorsky Museum at SUNY New Paltz.

Joy H. Dohr
Joy H. Dohr, Ph.D. is professor emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in environment, textiles, and design. The focus of her teaching, scholarship, and consulting is the creative design process and memorable design. She has written and presented on civility and design; relational, holistic design; environmental color; and design development. She consults with institutions and organizations concerning art in the public spaces of their buildings as well as other design issues. Joy is the recipient of many awards from the International Interior Design Association, Interior Design Educators Council, and Council for Interior Design Accreditation, among others, in recognition of her leadership in the field.

Graeme Reid
Graeme Reid graduated from the University of Glasgow and Indiana State University with Master’s degrees in 1990 and 1993 respectively. With thirteen years experience in arts management/curatorial work, he is currently Assistant Director at the West Bend Art Museum. He previously worked at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette and the Swope Art Museum. An experienced judge on a local, regional, and national level and award-winning writer on the arts, he has taught art history and the humanities at ISU and Purdue University. His concern for public art is that it be site sensitive, location relative and of high quality.