Return to UWM News Page

Issued by: Beth Stafford 414-229-4800 bstaff@uwm.edu Date: Feb. 22, 2002

UWM and Alverno College Students Collaborate With Exhibition at Gallery Paradiso

MILWAUKEE - "Hey You!" a collaboration by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Department of Visual Art and Alverno College, opens with a reception 6-9 p.m. March 8 at Gallery Paradiso, 816 W. National Ave. in Walker's Point. The exhibition runs through April 4. Hours are by appointment by phoning 672-9478.

Students from UWM Associate Lecturer Raoul Deal's "Multicultural Installation Art" class are working with Alverno College Professor Dara Larson's "Understanding Contemporary Art" students to produce a collaborative installation piece that reflects the predicaments of cultural co-existence in contemporary American society.

Themes and subthemes have been "negotiated" among participants who will combine a variety of installation elements including painting, sculpture, "wearable" art, performance, writings, and audiovisual materials. The title makes reference to the difficult but ongoing process of naming (and renaming) cultural groups to accommodate changing social needs.

Deal and Larson conceived of the project after observing several local art events where cultural issues were central points of discussion. Students are communicating via an electronic discussion board, and coming to consensus on all aspects of the exhibit. Many will meet face-to-face for the first time during the installation of the work.

Participating Students:

Raoul Deal is currently a full-time instructor in the Department of Visual Art at UWM's Peck School of the Arts. As an outreach specialist he has worked to foster links between UWM and Milwaukee communities. Students working on this project are art majors enrolled in a course entitled Multicultural Installation Art. The course is intended to provide practical experiences with this unique art form in community settings. This activity also receives support from the university's Cultures and Communities Program Office. Deal says, "I am concerned with using art to bridge gaps, and to find common ground in people with cultural differences."

Dara Larson is an associate professor of art at Alverno College in Milwaukee. Her Alverno students collaborating in "Hey You!" are taking a course entitled Understanding Contemporary Art, normally taught predominantly as a theory course covering Postmodern trends in art. Larsen points out that many of her students are not art majors, and that this unique collaborative project has advanced the course from its theoretical base to one of actually practicing art theories in the public realm. Larson says, "Working with UWM has opened up the topics of conceptual art, distance learning, installation, performance, and collaboration with multiple educational cultures."

###