Currently on View

OUT OF THE SUITCASE 2026: An Exhibition of Awardees from the Mary L. Nohl Suitcase Export Fund

September 21, 2026 - October 16, 2026

This is an offsite exhibition
Location: Brooks Stevens Gallery, 273 E. Erie St., Milwaukee, WI

This biennial exhibition brings together 2024-2025 recipients of the Mary L. Nohl Suitcase Export Fund, highlighting contemporary art practice within Milwaukee’s creative community.

Recent global events have reshaped how artists create, the stories and messages they share, and the ways we collectively navigate the world. Art is everywhere. Embedded in daily life and responsive to change.

This biennial exhibition brings together recipients of the Mary L. Nohl Suitcase Export Fund, celebrating the artists who continue to shape Milwaukee's vibrant creative community. Administered by the Lynden Sculpture Garden in collaboration with the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, the Mary L. Nohl Suitcase Export Fund helps visual artists offset the costs of exhibiting their work beyond the four-county region of Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, and Washington counties. By supporting opportunities to exhibit outside the region, the fund expands the visibility of Milwaukee artists, strengthens their professional careers, and shares the city's creative talent with audiences across the country and beyond.

Now in its twenty-third cycle, the Suitcase Export Fund demonstrates how modest investments can generate meaningful impact—amplifying artistic voices, advancing careers, and positioning Milwaukee as a vital center for contemporary art. The Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design is proud to present this exhibition, creating a space for dialogue among awardees while fostering connections across disciplines, practices, and perspectives.

Participating Artists

Ben Balcom, Siara Berry, Lois Bielefeld, Phoenix Brown, Samantha Drake, Max Hey, Asher Imtiaz, Nykoli Koslow, Okja Kwon, Tanner MacArthur, Angela Piehl, Shane Walsh, Steve Wetzel, Nia Wilson, Open Kitchen (Rudy Medina + Alyx Christensen)

Warren King: Homecoming

June 20, 2026 - December 23, 2026

Image Credit: Warren King, The Road Leads Home, 2024
Artist reception: Wednesday, June 24, 2026, 5-7 pm

Family histories, myth, and memories not only survive migration and cultural transplantation; they persist at the foundations of identity. Warren King’s sophisticated sculptures explore his family’s origins in Shaoxing, China, their journey to the suburbs of Wisconsin, and how he understands this displacement in light of his own Western upbringing. King’s sculptures often combine thematic and aesthetic elements from Chinese and Western traditions, masterfully working cardboard into near life-size figures and wall pieces that recall traditional lacquerware and woodcarving.

This exhibition originated at the James Watrous Gallery in Madison, Wisconsin, where it was co-curated by Jody Clowes and Warren King. The exhibition at Lynden is presented in collaboration with the Organization of Chinese Americans-Wisconsin. Dedicated to Wisconsin artists, the James Watrous Gallery is a program of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters.

About the Artist

Warren King (b. 1970) is an American artist based in New York City. He deploys figurative sculpture, relief art, and installation to strengthen connections to the diasporas and communities to which he belongs, particularly his personal relationship to the people, histories, and myths of his Chinese ancestry. Most of his works are made from corrugated cardboard, although he has recently begun using other sculptural media.

King was born in Madison and raised In Muskego and Brookfield. He has also lived in California and Sweden. He received engineering degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University, and he is a recent recipient of the Alex J. Ettl Grant from the National Sculpture Society, as well as the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship for Craft/Sculpture.

www.wrnking.com