In the second half of its thirteenth cycle, the Fund made 11 awards, providing assistance with shipping and travel to nine individual artists, one duo, and one collective. These artists--two of them Nohl Fellows—work in a range of media and their exhibitions took them to Denver, Colorado; New Brighton, Minnesota; Millerton and New York, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Austin, Texas. Destinations abroad include Austria; Nikko and Tokyo, Japan; and Romania.
After School Special is heading to Philadelphia with two cars full of artists and work. Each of the nine members of the collective (including 2015 Nohl Fellow Zach Hill) is making something for an exhibition at Little Berlin curated by Brett Suemnicht.
Sara Caron is transplanting her nomadic bar, the Bermuda Triangle, to Misako & Rosen in Tokyo. There, the project will be reshaped by new ingredients, new practices, new experiences, and a new audience. The Bermuda Triangle is an experiment in just what is needed to make a space, and to create, build, and contribute to a community around that space.
Sheila Held (Nohl Fellow 2013) shipped several tapestries to the Center for Art, Faith and Culture at the United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities in New Brighton, Minnesota, for a solo exhibition. The gallery noted that Held's work was "a constant topic of conversation" among the students, and that public events were well-attended.
Alexander Herzog exhibited a new body of work--eight paintings, some of them large--in a solo show at Geary Contemporary in New York. Because of the Suitcase support for shipping, the gallery was able to print a catalogue, and they also decided to represent Herzog.
Kyle Jablonski participated in a two-person exhibition, Jabroni, Jabroni, Jabroni, at the Shipman Gallery in Brooklyn. He spent four days in New York installing, meeting artists and seeing lots of work, and attending the opening. Back in Milwaukee, the exhibition "freed me up to install another show" at a local restaurant. Jablonski has discovered that "putting challenging art in familiar places" enables people to unpack its meaning far from the restrictions of the gallery space.
Kayle Karbowski used her month-long residency at MASS Gallery in Austin to "get back into a rhythm with her work and ideas" and to give her personal practice her undivided attention--for the first time since completing her BFA--as she prepared for her solo exhibition. She also spent time with other artist-organizers who share her interest in finding a balance between studio and community, and who are also navigating smaller “art cities" that operate outside the national spotlight. Upon her return, Karbowski was able to show her new work in Chicago.
Greg Klassen created a site-specific "Nature Table"--a self-generating sculpture of plants growing in studio debris--on site at the Re Institute gallery in Millerton, New York. Located in upstate New York, the Re Institute is a working farm that hosts small group shows in its hayloft; their goal is to allow artists to observe their work in a new context.
Matthew Warren Lee had a painting selected for the First Street Gallery's 2016 National Juried Exhibition. It was his first opportunity to exhibit outside the Midwest, and he met curators, gallery directors, and other artists at the opening in New York. While in the city, he visited museums and learned more about the gallery ecosystem in Manhattan.
Longtime collaborators Lindsay Lochman and Barbara Ciurej mounted a solo exhibition of work that addresses sustainable food policy at the Colorado Photographic Arts Center in Denver. While in Colorado they met fellow photographers, worked with high school students, participated in a panel discussion with other artists and members of the Denver Sustainable Food Policy Network, undertook museum research, scouted sites for future projects, and met with the director of a gallery in Fort Collins who promptly offered them a show. They also made connections in Colorado Springs, and agreed to host the Mobile Garden of a local Denver food justice organization when it travels to the Midwest in 2017.
When Madeline Power screened Across the Line at the Astra Film Festival in Romania in October, she was the first virtual reality filmmaker to show VR work in Eastern Europe. As the resident expert, she was much in demand for panels and received invitations to speak at future events.
John Riepenhoff (Nohl Fellow 2009, 2014) will spend a month at the Troedsson Villa residency in the UNESCO World Heritage site of Nikko, Japan, making plein air paintings and working with local potters to develop a set of usable ceramic ware. At the end of the month, Tokyo's XYZ Collective will host a public event featuring the paintings and a shared meal served on the new ceramic ware. Riepenhoff looks forward to bringing his production experience back to Milwaukee, where he is designing a collaborative ceramics studio.
