Jazz Gallery Center For the Arts Latchkey Artist Residency
Blake Van Egeren (November, 2015 - February, 2016)
My Name is Blake Van Egeren and I’m a self taught artist currently living in Milwaukee. Throughout my life I have always been creating and expressing myself through photography, videography, music, writing, and over the last year painting. I have always had a relentless creative energy but never fully understood what that meant to myself and how necessary it was to express it. Over the last year I have started a journey of understanding myself as an artist that has led me to where I am currently.
I earned a bachelor's degree in Urban Studies from the University of Milwaukee in the Fall of 2013. After my graduation, I was accepted into the Americorps apprenticeship program Public Allies for the 2014-2015 year. Public Allies is a 10-month leadership and personal development program centered around the values of collaboration, continuous learning, inclusion & diversity, integrity, and asset-based thinking. I believe my Urban Studies degree gave me many lenses in which to look through and explore what I see in the world and the Public Allies program gave me the knowledge, experience and understanding of my place and responsibility of being within that world.
While in the program for 10 months, one of my main goals was finding my passion and purpose in life. It was also during this time that I made a life change to become sober. As I became sober I understood the necessary components to create a new identity and to heal. I found myself both creating this new identity and healing myself through painting and the arts. It is through this journey that I’m currently aligning my path to be enrolled into a Masters program for Art therapy/Counseling by Fall 2016.
I believe we all should have the freedom to freely express who we are without judgment or fear. I further believe that creativity and art can connect pathways in individuals that allow them to see that they are the creators of their own lives. As an Artist, I strive within my own work to inspire others to see that they too can create and be artist themselves.
I see my time with the Jazz gallery as a commitment to self reflection and how that is connected to my creation of art. Starting Dec 6th I will be facilitating a 12-week course around discovering, recovering, or expanding upon your creative self. For those interested, please email me at [email protected] by Dec 1st.
-Blake Van Egeren
Artist Website: BlakeVanEgeren.com
Artist Store: www.etsy.com/shop/BlakeVanEgeren
Instagram: BVEGRAM
Facebook: facebook.com/BlakeVanEgeren
Artist Statement
Art, creating, self-expression, life and growth are all the same thing and mean everything to me.
In my art I explore the ideas of what it means to be human.
Who we are, what we are and what this is?
I appreciate and honor the very act of being in this world.
I explore birth and death and the current journey in which we are on.
In my journey, exploring these things has brought me peace and comfort with my life.
They have allowed me to find purpose and understanding of my place in this world.
In my process, I try to find the potential in all that I see and what is put in front of me.
I try to be out of my head and in this place of experience with the world around me.
The act of creating is a delicate balance and conversation between myself and the items with which I’m interacting. In a greater sense, I believe the act of life is a delicate balance and conversation between myself and the world in which I exist.
These experiences are all part of my journey...and that journey influences my expression as an artist. Over the years, my art has meant many different things to me at different times in my life.
Through this journey, I have learned that truth can never be certain if you need creative/innovative approaches to the problem which you are pursuing. Belief in the ultimate truth of the matter clouds your mind to connections that could utilize the path to solutions.
These ideas resonate very much in my approach to art. I throw myself into a piece--into chaos, into emotion, into an experience--and learn to reconnect the dots as I find the path to what is trying to be expressed and formulated.
There are always more paths and ideas to be explored and worked towards. I often can fall and land on another path, but I work towards making sense of where I landed and find the direction I need to find. Overall, I do not regret any path, as they are all part of the beautiful process and journey in which the overall piece exists.
- Blake Van Egeren
My Name is Blake Van Egeren and I’m a self taught artist currently living in Milwaukee. Throughout my life I have always been creating and expressing myself through photography, videography, music, writing, and over the last year painting. I have always had a relentless creative energy but never fully understood what that meant to myself and how necessary it was to express it. Over the last year I have started a journey of understanding myself as an artist that has led me to where I am currently.
I earned a bachelor's degree in Urban Studies from the University of Milwaukee in the Fall of 2013. After my graduation, I was accepted into the Americorps apprenticeship program Public Allies for the 2014-2015 year. Public Allies is a 10-month leadership and personal development program centered around the values of collaboration, continuous learning, inclusion & diversity, integrity, and asset-based thinking. I believe my Urban Studies degree gave me many lenses in which to look through and explore what I see in the world and the Public Allies program gave me the knowledge, experience and understanding of my place and responsibility of being within that world.
While in the program for 10 months, one of my main goals was finding my passion and purpose in life. It was also during this time that I made a life change to become sober. As I became sober I understood the necessary components to create a new identity and to heal. I found myself both creating this new identity and healing myself through painting and the arts. It is through this journey that I’m currently aligning my path to be enrolled into a Masters program for Art therapy/Counseling by Fall 2016.
I believe we all should have the freedom to freely express who we are without judgment or fear. I further believe that creativity and art can connect pathways in individuals that allow them to see that they are the creators of their own lives. As an Artist, I strive within my own work to inspire others to see that they too can create and be artist themselves.
I see my time with the Jazz gallery as a commitment to self reflection and how that is connected to my creation of art. Starting Dec 6th I will be facilitating a 12-week course around discovering, recovering, or expanding upon your creative self. For those interested, please email me at [email protected] by Dec 1st.
-Blake Van Egeren
Artist Website: BlakeVanEgeren.com
Artist Store: www.etsy.com/shop/BlakeVanEgeren
Instagram: BVEGRAM
Facebook: facebook.com/BlakeVanEgeren
Artist Statement
Art, creating, self-expression, life and growth are all the same thing and mean everything to me.
In my art I explore the ideas of what it means to be human.
Who we are, what we are and what this is?
I appreciate and honor the very act of being in this world.
I explore birth and death and the current journey in which we are on.
In my journey, exploring these things has brought me peace and comfort with my life.
They have allowed me to find purpose and understanding of my place in this world.
In my process, I try to find the potential in all that I see and what is put in front of me.
I try to be out of my head and in this place of experience with the world around me.
The act of creating is a delicate balance and conversation between myself and the items with which I’m interacting. In a greater sense, I believe the act of life is a delicate balance and conversation between myself and the world in which I exist.
These experiences are all part of my journey...and that journey influences my expression as an artist. Over the years, my art has meant many different things to me at different times in my life.
Through this journey, I have learned that truth can never be certain if you need creative/innovative approaches to the problem which you are pursuing. Belief in the ultimate truth of the matter clouds your mind to connections that could utilize the path to solutions.
These ideas resonate very much in my approach to art. I throw myself into a piece--into chaos, into emotion, into an experience--and learn to reconnect the dots as I find the path to what is trying to be expressed and formulated.
There are always more paths and ideas to be explored and worked towards. I often can fall and land on another path, but I work towards making sense of where I landed and find the direction I need to find. Overall, I do not regret any path, as they are all part of the beautiful process and journey in which the overall piece exists.
- Blake Van Egeren
Maikue Vang (August 15-November 15, 2015) is a Wisconsin based artist who received her BFA in Art Education and MFA degree in Fibers and Textiles at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Peck School of Arts. As a graduate student, she was a recipient of the Advanced Opportunities Program Award, Layton Fellowship, and Surface Design Association's Outstanding Student Award. She has participated in shows such as the ABK Weaving Center’s Annual Milwaukee Fibers Warped Exhibit, Sharon Lynne Wilson Art Center’s Emerging Artist Exhibition, Hmong American Women’s Association’s Honoring Our Sisters’ Stories: A Tribute to Survivors of Violence Exhibit, and the Wisconsin Quilt Museum's Second Biennale Fibers Art: Wisconsin State of Art show. Her body of work "Objects of Protection for the Human Psyche" will be published in Surface Design Association's September catalog Materialities, featuring contemporary fibers art and artists across the country. She has also presented her works and written pieces at the Milwaukee Area Hmong Writing Symposium, UWM Teacher's Institute, and the ArtXPress Teen Youth Program.
Vang works in fibers and textiles mediums to address issues regarding the female body and the difficult or taboo subjects such as sexual trauma. She attempts to work with the concept of trauma as a non-representational and non-repetitive encounter that permeates affects of loss, conflict, and healing. At the same time she explores methods of cultural subversion through retelling and recreating myths about the female body through re-mythification as a way to prevent re-traumatization of the viewer and the survivor.
Typical hours at the Jazz Gallery: Monday through Friday, Noon-5pm
To view more of her works check out her website: maikuevang.wix.com/hmongartist/
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: mmmaikue Website: http://www.maikuevang.wix.com/hmongartist/
Vang works in fibers and textiles mediums to address issues regarding the female body and the difficult or taboo subjects such as sexual trauma. She attempts to work with the concept of trauma as a non-representational and non-repetitive encounter that permeates affects of loss, conflict, and healing. At the same time she explores methods of cultural subversion through retelling and recreating myths about the female body through re-mythification as a way to prevent re-traumatization of the viewer and the survivor.
Typical hours at the Jazz Gallery: Monday through Friday, Noon-5pm
To view more of her works check out her website: maikuevang.wix.com/hmongartist/
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: mmmaikue Website: http://www.maikuevang.wix.com/hmongartist/
The Jazz Gallery welcomes John Kowalczyk
May15-August 15, 2015
John Kowalczyk describes his art as "shrine-like, shiny, symmetrical, and seductive figurations that become maps of my mind combining myth, math, and magic." His work is comprised of mixed media paintings and larger than life installations that incorporate vintage fabrics, thrift store treasures, gift wrap, shelf liner, string, ribbon, repurposed drawings, glitter and gold. The collaged elements of his paintings become more than the sum of their parts exhibiting a spiritual nature.
Born in Chicago in 1988, John Kowalczyk currently lives and works in Milwaukee, WI as an artist, curator, and educator. Kowalczyk received his BFA in painting from Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in 2010, and began a three year residency with RedLine Milwaukee soon after, where he curated gallery exhibitions and developed a passion for community art. He currently is the Artistic Director at Splash Studio. Kowalczyk’s work has been exhibited at the Sienna Art Institute in Italy, The Charles Allis Art Museum, The Harley Davidson Museum, The Cedarburg Cultural Center, and John Michael Kohler Art Center along with other galleries across the U.S. Kowalczyk has an upcoming show opening August 22nd at The Museum of Wisconsin Art.
May15-August 15, 2015
John Kowalczyk describes his art as "shrine-like, shiny, symmetrical, and seductive figurations that become maps of my mind combining myth, math, and magic." His work is comprised of mixed media paintings and larger than life installations that incorporate vintage fabrics, thrift store treasures, gift wrap, shelf liner, string, ribbon, repurposed drawings, glitter and gold. The collaged elements of his paintings become more than the sum of their parts exhibiting a spiritual nature.
Born in Chicago in 1988, John Kowalczyk currently lives and works in Milwaukee, WI as an artist, curator, and educator. Kowalczyk received his BFA in painting from Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in 2010, and began a three year residency with RedLine Milwaukee soon after, where he curated gallery exhibitions and developed a passion for community art. He currently is the Artistic Director at Splash Studio. Kowalczyk’s work has been exhibited at the Sienna Art Institute in Italy, The Charles Allis Art Museum, The Harley Davidson Museum, The Cedarburg Cultural Center, and John Michael Kohler Art Center along with other galleries across the U.S. Kowalczyk has an upcoming show opening August 22nd at The Museum of Wisconsin Art.
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Alice Waraxa
February 15-May 15, 2015
The Jazz Gallery warmly welcomes Alice Waraxa as our inaugural Artist in Residence beginning February 15th. Alice received her BFA in Fine Art Photography from Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design in May 2013 and has an Associate's Degree in the Applied Science of Photography from MATC-Milwaukee 2009.
During her years as an art maker she has learned that art and healing is tied into every culture and being open minded and forward thinking can surpass barriers that may otherwise exist. Her interests lie in Photography and all natural fibers, metal, wood. She employs various techniques in felting, sewing, collage making as well as book arts and sculpture. Alice M Waraxa is currently based in Milwaukee, WI.
Waraxa works from a personal place between the conscious and subconscious mind. She is inspired by dreams, wild thoughts, and experiences. Her art is concept based, but since she uses many different medias and each idea can manifest itself in different forms. The mediums Alice is most comfortable with are photography, collage, fiber, art, fabric, as well as written work. She finds herself continuously trying new techniques of art making. Her work is entangled with deep-rooted ideas of conservation, social awareness, personal identity and cultural exchange.
February 15-May 15, 2015
The Jazz Gallery warmly welcomes Alice Waraxa as our inaugural Artist in Residence beginning February 15th. Alice received her BFA in Fine Art Photography from Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design in May 2013 and has an Associate's Degree in the Applied Science of Photography from MATC-Milwaukee 2009.
During her years as an art maker she has learned that art and healing is tied into every culture and being open minded and forward thinking can surpass barriers that may otherwise exist. Her interests lie in Photography and all natural fibers, metal, wood. She employs various techniques in felting, sewing, collage making as well as book arts and sculpture. Alice M Waraxa is currently based in Milwaukee, WI.
Waraxa works from a personal place between the conscious and subconscious mind. She is inspired by dreams, wild thoughts, and experiences. Her art is concept based, but since she uses many different medias and each idea can manifest itself in different forms. The mediums Alice is most comfortable with are photography, collage, fiber, art, fabric, as well as written work. She finds herself continuously trying new techniques of art making. Her work is entangled with deep-rooted ideas of conservation, social awareness, personal identity and cultural exchange.
