Galaudet Gallery
In the News***Making News
Galaudet Gallery Partners with The Chicago Architecture Biennial
Radically Reimaging Communities thru the Art of Architecture
September 17–December 18, 2021
Chicago August, 2021— Chicago art gallery Galaudet Gallery (GG) is excited to partner with the Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) in their work radically reimaging communities thru the art of architecture. CAB’s 2021 theme is “The Available City” and GG will be mounting an art exhibit called “PowerShare22” and a land acknowledgement installation called “Beyond Wood” to encourage community dialogue about reimagining cities to make them available for every citizen.
PowerShare22
Galaudet Gallery will feature artist Vicki Milewski’s “PowerShare22” inspired by courageous people who stand up for themselves, others and for communities. Reinventing Chicago architect Louis Sullivan’s philosophical drawings for 22 “powers we all share equally” Milewski creates conversational spaces where communities may talk about their shared powers and how to use them to create cities where each person is valued.
More Information can be found on the CAB site
https://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/engage/power_share_22
More information can be found on the artist’s site
https://vickimilewski.wixsite.com/vmartist/powershare
Beyond Wood
During two fall weekends, Galaudet Gallery and nonprofit the Memorial Nature Fund will activate “Beyond Wood:” barn media assemblages dismantling predation hierarchy by encouraging new ethos in evolutionizing equality for all life. These curated assemblages expose new archetypes from demolished barns deconstructing centuries of progress which dictated hierarchies instead equality. “Beyond Wood:” revolutionizes an architectural aesthetic into an experience in parity. Come experience trees speak!
More Information can be found on the CAB site
More information can be found on the GG site
https://www.galaudetgallery.com/beyondwood
Galaudet Gallery’s partnership with CAB extends back to the CAB’s first year, their continuing collaboration of bringing architectural experiences to individuals has been rewarding and this year it will be inspirational! Come join us online or in-person we need your voice, ideas and dreams! Let’s share our powers and go beyond seeing trees as wood!
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We can create a sane and beautiful world—Louis Sullivan, Chicago Architect (1856—1924)
Shown is
The Power of Vision is the Opportunity to See Clearly by Vicki Milewski inspired by Louis Sullivan
Galaudet Gallery Releases Seeing Public Art
An Idea Book About Public Art’s Place in Any Community
“We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are.” An Order of Seeds saying
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Eau Claire, November, 2022— Fine art gallery Galaudet Gallery (GG) is excited to announce their release of Seeing Public Art. As a response to the CoVid-19 pandemic, sibling gallerists Michael and Vicki Milewski have been engaging workshop audiences with this short Idea Book about public art. “We wanted art to still be seen and experienced even if we weren’t able to go to a museum. Now that we are able to return to inside art, we thought it a gift to release our workshop book as a pdf.” Michael explains.
After a nationwide workshop tour, as they were following several of their exhibits, the sibling gallerists had fun talking about public art and the different manifestations it can take. “As artists, Michael and I have installed many different public art pieces which were always different from each other but with the same ecological mindset. We’ve done land art, built structures for weather watching, created 21st century lighting works from 19th century plows so we understand how public art doesn’t just mean sculptures. Some of our land artworks have been decades in the making and actually assist the land in staying balanced and productive for whatever ecosystem it supports.” Vicki enthusiastically shares, “Our ecological mindset is to bring balance in our use of natural resources--utilizing or conserving these resources in order to bring balance.”
Seeing Public Art is a short read with many illustrations showing the different types of Public Art, the business side of Public Art and the aesthetics, Michael offers, “We enjoy Aldous Huxley’s idea about the “door in the wall” as an expression of how art can create a doorway to take us to other ways of thinking, living, experiencing.”
Aldous Huxley wrote in his book The Doors of Perception (1954) “The man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out.”, Aldous Huxley.
--from Seeing Public Art
In 2021, Seeing Public Art was released as a limited-edition small book run and mailed out to people the Milewski’s thought might enjoy or be able to use the concepts. “We had an overwhelming response to the Seeing Public Art little book mailing!” Vicki enthuses, “We started as a short run of 50 books and then did a slightly different run of 100 books. Earlier in 2022, one of the first little books was auctioned for $1000.00 so we knew we should share the pdf so others could enjoy and start thinking about public art differently.”
You can find Seeing Public Art as a pdf on Galaudet Gallery’s website, galaudetgallery.com. When asked if they will be releasing any more Seeing Public Art little books Michael answers, “No. We send out at least one little book or piece of Galaudet Gallery ephemera each year in a limited-edition state. We’ve already sent out the Galaudet Gallery ephemera for 2022 and are having fun planning the one for 2023--there’s no going back only forward!”
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Galaudet Gallery Partners with The Chicago Architecture Biennial
One Sacred Moment
Nov 1, 2023–Feb 11, 2024
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I choose the red rock or it chooses me;
together we fix the dam again;
knowing patience is waiting in motion
--Vicki Milewski
Chicago September, 2023— Chicago art gallery Galaudet Gallery (GG) is excited to partner with the Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) in their work bringing the purpose of architecture to a wider audience. CAB’s 2023 theme is “This is a Rehearsal” and GG will be mounting art installations called “One Sacred Moment” which includes a land acknowledgement, community participation, impromptu readings and a sound installation with ambient music by Vicki Milewski. These installations encourage community dialogue about how we can transform our built environments and create more equitable spaces.
One Sacred Moment
Galaudet Gallery will feature artist Vicki Milewski’s “One Sacred Moment with You” which is an installation of poem slips tied to tree branches throughout Chicago, these poem slips hold the 24-part poem One Sacred Moment...with You to honor our relationship with each other, with trees and to envision a new way to formulate space to provide support for every person. Galaudet Gallery Chicago partners with The Memorial Nature Fund to bring this installation to life.
Galaudet Gallery’s partnership with CAB extends back to the CAB’s first year, their continuing collaboration of bringing architectural experiences to individuals has been rewarding. Read the Press Release below from the Chicago Architecture Biennial to learn more about this year's biennial:
Come join us online or in-person we need your voice, ideas and dreams! Let’s share our moments with each other and build a new way of experiencing our environment.
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Image List
Installation View of Ukraine One Sacred Moment
Image Courtesy Galaudet Gallery
One Sacred Moment Poem Slip Installation at The Farm
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"It's time to remember the trees and the sacrifice they have given for us to live these 21st Century lives." Artist Vicki Milewski
A piece of the barn wood that will be used for the Installation Beyond Wood. The wood is from the now extinct giant white pines which use to grow as large as Redwoods and where part of what was known as the Northwoods in Wisconsin
Beyond Wood: a land acknowledgement is invited to be installed in major cities
Partners in Beyond Wood Project Excited!
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Chicago April 2021—Galaudet Gallery has entered into a partnership with The Memorial Nature Fund and the Milewski Farm to create Beyond Wood—a land acknowledgement.
Beyond Wood is a land acknowledgement outdoor installation seeking to dismantle the hierarchy which values trees more dead than alive. Assemblages made from extinct giant white pine wood from a barn the wind pulled down on the Milewski Farm provides another life for this wood to speak of the extinction of hierarchies and the future of equality.
The main artists Michael Milewski and Vicki Milewski seek to enlarge land acknowledgements to include the flora and fauna that were also removed from areas in order for other purposes to be set. “If we only include past people who lived on sections of land and called it home then we are missing the reason why we are in a climate crisis.” Vicki explains, “In order to find real solutions to the climate instability we are living today, we need to acknowledge the vast amounts of plants, animals and water that have been removed, killed or destroyed. I do not live in a make believe world that we can bring back the forests and waterways which assisted in balancing our climate and providing resources for life; instead, we hope to pull down the hierarchies which have made such destruction inevitable and find better ways to live on this world.”
Galaudet Gallery has partnered with both The Memorial Nature Fund, a Wisconsin not-for-profit, and the Milewski Farm which is their family’s ancestral farm. “We saw the demolition of the barn because of wind speeds that are now part of the everyday climate instability as a chance to work with this next stage of land acknowledgments. To demolish is to “overthrow, overturn, bring to an end” which certainly needs to happen in society today.”
The Memorial Nature Fund’s mission is to find a balance between commercial use, recreational use and conservation of our natural resources. Past projects have included supporting an art exhibit about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, distinguishing a 1000 trees that are already growing and in need of protection and working on a 21st Century Learning Center which will be predominately outdoors.
The Milewski Farm is a centurial farm having been in the Milewski Farm for generations. The farm is divided into sections which support dairy farming through agricultural fields and pastures and also includes sections which Michael and Vicki’s father, Lenard Milewski, said he wanted to “Give back to nature”. These sections have a naturally planted forest of soft and hard woods, a lake which supports migratory birds and animals, a pollinator support system for over 40 different kinds of pollinators and plans to introduce more conservation-oriented management.
Beyond Wood—a land acknowledgement has been invited to be installed in four major cities as well as on the Milewski Farm and near Galaudet Gallery’s two locations, “We want to share this new way of looking at land acknowledgement with as many people as possible.”
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"My ancestors went into and out of this barn for generations doing the work that has made my life possible and so I now work for my ancestors that they might be known and loved." artist Vicki Milewski
Sibling gallerists Vicki Milewski and Michael Milewski stand in front of selections from The Barn Collection one of the three collections the Chicago Public Library has asked the gallery owners to make a video about
Chicago Public Library Features Artist Vicki Milewski
“This is for my ancestors”
Chicago, IL November 2020—Artist Vicki Milewski was asked by the Chicago Public Library to make videos exploring her artworks which are significant to her paternal Polish-American ancestry. In response, Vicki produced four short videos highlighting a artworks from four different collections she has created. Vicki worked worked with Galaudet Gallery, which she co-owns, to assist in various aspects of this project.
“I was honored to be asked to do these videos offering glimpses into my multifaceted practice.” Vicki explains.
Anthony Ledwon, Chicago Public Library Librarian and a member of the art committee, “Thank you so much for sharing your story and works with the patrons of the Chicago Public Library!!”
Patrice Johnson, Chicago Public Library Manager of Assistive Resources Center “Your work is wonderful, and we are truly grateful.”
Vicki Milewski is an abstract experientialist artist who is also co-owner of Galaudet Gallery Fine Art located in Chicago and Eau Claire. Abstract Experientialism is an art genre Vicki coined to explain how experiences are abstracted to produce each artwork placing no boundaries between the arts of oil painting, drawing, fiber, photography, film, music, writing and fashion. Vicki’s art is internationally exhibited and collected her music is performed by choirs, soloists, pianists, orchestras and DJ’s. Vicki is also a published writer, an award winning educator and sought after lecturer. The artist has studios in Chicago and on her family’s ancestral farm in central Wisconsin. In addition to her work in the arts Vicki is Executive Director of the conservation not for profit the Memorial Nature Fund and Co-Founder and Director of Hubbard Street School.
Main Chicago Public Library Landing Page for Polish American Heritage Month:
https://www.chipublib.org/news/celebrate-polish-american-history-with-cpl/
Individual Videos with links:
Video One: 15 min. & 28sec. Polish Poppy Art Collection by Vicki Milewski shows 6 artworks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AlaEQhKj2Y&feature=youtu.be
Video Two: 9 min. & 36 sec. Lady Alice Apple Tree Art Collection by Vicki Milewski shows 3 artworks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVyZcL6eU6M&feature=youtu.be
Video Three: 12 min. & 28 sec. Where Our Food Comes From Art Collection by Vicki Milewski shows 6 artworks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeoVNXwi6h0&feature=youtu.be
Video Four: 10 min. & 46 sec. The Barn Art Collection by Vicki Milewski shows 6 artworks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgxb05FpUYk&feature=youtu.be
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Notes
Video One: 15 minutes and 28 seconds Polish Poppy Art Collection by Vicki Milewski
Artist Vicki Milewski shows and talks about her Polish Poppy Art Collection including six artworks from this collection which has 67 artworks. Vicki explains the techniques and media used to create each piece. Vicki also talks about the importance of the poppy, which is Poland’s national flower, and how the poppies she was studying changed in color from red to orange which inspired her to think about how her identity had to also change to incorporate her Polish heritage. Vicki also talks about the art genre she coined as Abstract Experientialism and how the experiences she had in coming to the decision to stop teaching high school and be an artist full time are a part of each poppy in this collection.
The six artworks shown are:
On Strathmore 400 Series Oil Painting Paper:
Poppy After Rain 14” X 18” Oil Paint, Watercolor, Pencil
Poppy at Dusk 14” X 18” Oil Paint and watercolor
Poppies at Night (Three Witnesses) 14” X 18” Oil Paint, watercolor, pencil
Poppy at Dawn 17” X 11” Oil Paint, watercolor, pencil
On Arches Oil Paint Paper: Reign: Poppies 72” X 36 ”
On Belgium Linen Canvas with Gamblin Oil Paint Watercolor: Poppy Abstracted 16” X 20”
Video Two: 9 minutes and 36 seconds Lady Alice Apple Tree Art Collection by Vicki Milewski
Artist Vicki Milewski shows and talks about her Lady Alice Apple Tree Art Collection including three artworks from this collection which has 40 artworks. Vicki explains the techniques and media used to create each piece. Vicki also talks about the importance of the Lady Alice apple tree which her Polish father planted on their farm over 40 years ago. Vicki remembers picking apples with her Polish grandmother and making apple pie and applesauce with her from those apples. Vicki also talks about the art genre she coined as Abstract Experientialism and how her memories and experiences of smelling the apple blossoms and eating the apples are a part of each artwork.
The three artworks shown are:
On Strathmore 400 Series Oil Painting Paper:
In the Wind 11” X 14” Oil Paint, Watercolor, Pencil
Apple Blossom 11” X 14” Oil Paint, Watercolor, Pencil
On Belgium Linen Canvas with Gamblin Oil Paint: Abstracted Apple Blossom 16” X 20”
Video Three: 12 minutes and 28 seconds American Icons Art Collection by Vicki Milewski
Artist Vicki Milewski shows and talks about her American Icons Art Collection including four to six artworks from this collection which has 175 artworks. Vicki explains the techniques and media used to create each piece. Vicki also talks about the importance of the receiving jar as part of the way dairy farming is able to bring milk to the market. Vicki talks about dairy farming and her family’s farm which use to be the dairy farm where her Polish grandparents raised her father. The artworks Vicki talks about are part of her Receiving Jar Collection which is part of a much larger collection called Where Our Food Comes from. The artworks discussed are emergent corn plants that were growing on Vicki’s family farm. Vicki’s experiences with the yellow pollen stripe on these small corn plants inspired the artworks and show how Vicki takes her experiences and then abstracts as part of her work in Abstract Experientialism
The four (to six) artworks shown on Belgium Linen Canvas with Gamblin Oil Paint and Casein (milk-based) painted backgrounds
Full Moon Corn two canvases that are 24” X 36” each
Half Moon Corn two canvases that are 24” X 36” each
Glenn’s Corn: Singing and Dancing 16” X 20”
Glenn’s Corn: Dawn 16” X 20”
Video Four: 10 minutes and 46 seconds The Barn Art Collection by Vicki Milewski
Artist Vicki Milewski shows and talks about The Barn Art Collection including six artworks from this collection which currently has 21 artworks. Vicki explains the techniques and media used to create each piece. Vicki also talks about the importance of the barn that was on her family farm. The barn is made from extinct great white pine. The barn was the central hub of activity on the farm where Vicki’s Polish grandparents worked in the barn as dairy farmers. Vicki talks about how to plan an art collection. Vicki also talks about the art genre she coined as Abstract Experientialism and how her memories and experiences of the barn’s foundation stones and blue roof created many themes in this art collection which she abstracts so that others may enjoy these experiences and possibly have their own experiences.
The six artworks shown on Cotton Duck Canvas with Oil Paint and Watercolor:
The Barn 11” X 14”
The Barn’s Shadow 1 11” X 14”
White Path, Glowing Barn 11” X 14”
The Barn’s Shadow 2 11” X 14”
The Night the Barn Roof Lifted Into the Sky 11” X 14”
The Night the Barn Roof Lifted Into the Sky Abstracted 11” X 14”
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Michael Milewski stands in front of the Eau Claire location of Galaudet Gallery which is in a turn of the last century Victorian mansion
"Writing the grant showed us all the lives we touch with our curatorial work mounting exhibits, our critical work writing art criticism and creating art exhibit catalogs, our consulting with buyers and sellers on artworks, our art conservation work in tandem with conservation centers." Michael Milewski, co-owner of Galaudet Gallery
Galaudet Gallery Receives We're All In Small Business Grant
Merging Obstacles and Inspiration to Vision a Way Forward
Eau Claire, WI—Galaudet Gallery has been selected to receive a Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s (WEDC) We’re All In Small Business Grant which encourages “adoption of best practices to keep employees, customers and communities safe.”
Co-owner Mike Milewski was happy to hear about the award "Surprisingly writing the grant was as exciting as receiving the We’re All in Grant because of the overwhelming community support Galaudet Gallery received when we asked around for “letters of acknowledgement” needed for the application. It was energizing to read the many letters from community art collectors and businesses like Royal Credit Union. These letters showed us all the lives we touch with our curatorial work mounting exhibits, our critical work writing art criticism and creating art exhibit catalogs, our consulting with buyers and sellers on artworks, our art conservation work in tandem with conservation centers. It was eye opening seeing all these activities in one place as we collected these letters. We figured out then why we are so busy! Eau Claire has become Galaudet Gallery’s hub for all this activity and more out of the box ideas are planned like our work with Banksy’s There’s Always Hope.
Developing a protocol and best practices for keeping our community safe has currently been a primary focus as we discuss how to safely be open and the We’re All In Grant will assist us in making these plans a reality. We see safely being open as two parts. First, we will explore a more personalized online experience that is the epitome of safe shopping. Second, we will implement best practices for having the gallery open in a safe and pleasant manner by making hand sanitizer and masks available, and repurposing this fantastic large space with social distancing in mind. We see this moment as an opportunity to create new ways for people to enjoy viewing, talking about and purchasing art that could not only enliven a wall in their home or office, but their lives too. WEDC’s grant shows Wisconsin’s support of small businesses is not just words but action."
The COVID-19 pandemic upended Galaudet Gallery’s 2020 exhibition work encompassing three important shows. In the Eau Claire gallery space The Temple of Flora and Sense of Place: EVERYWHERE are now being rescheduled. The gallery is also managing an international tour of Vicki Milewski’s Suffragettes Dancing with the Dawn which is still quarantined in pieces across the globe.
Co-owner Vicki Milewski has been visioning the online component of this new world, “Creating an equal experience in-person and online creates philosophical and physical work. Equalizing these experiences keeps them balanced in terms of value—both in person and online have equal value—this does not mean these experiences are the same. The success of our Temple of Flora online viewing rooms showed us this. We learned about these rooms working with Hong Kong Basel which had to go fully online because of COVID-19. My Suffragettes Dancing with the Dawn Collection began its 2020 tour in Hong Kong and was supposed to be widely exhibited honoring the 100th anniversary of women voting in the U.S., but the pandemic changed all that. This change reconfigured how I view the entire collection—it’s not just about past Suffragettes it’s also about the present Protesters continuing the Suffragettes’ work toward valuing people equally. This does not mean we are all the same; instead, this means we need to learn how to value each person equally. Constructing equal experiences online and in person has informed my thinking on this art collection and my work as an artist. It’s good when you can take an obstacle like COVID and an inspiration like the current protests across the country and merge them to create new ways of experiencing and thinking. Now with the assistance of the We’re All In Grant, Galaudet Gallery can design safe experiences for selling art that promotes conversation and inspiration equally online and in person while also allowing this crisis to push us in our work creating a world where each person is valued equally and their way of expressing and communicating is given a space.”
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Look for Galaudet Gallery’s next exhibit in mid-September. Please visit our website for more information: galaudetgallery.com
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Notes
For more information about Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s We’re All In Small Business Grant visit their website https://wedc.org/programs-and-resources/wai-small-business-grant/
The Temple of Flora art exhibit is the end of a four-year art series exploring botanical artists who primarily work with flowers. First held at Galaudet Gallery’s Chicago location in early 2020 Temple of Flora, the show received rave reviews and was set to arrive in Eau Claire in mid-April but was postponed due to the pandemic Beginning with the master floral botanical artist Pierre J. Redoute, Galaudet Gallery curators Mike Milewski and Vicki Milewski worked with epochs, nations and styles to reach the series’ goal of exploring how beauty, history and 21st Century meaning is found in botanical art. The first show focused on roses, the second show focused on bouquets and traditional and non-traditional still life with an ancillary focus on fashion. The third show focused on the work artists are doing with X rays and flowers. The final show Temple of Flora was an exhibition of the works from the Temple of Flora books. The curatorial progression was the following:
Spring 2020 Temple of Flora
Spring 2019 Naked Flowers: Poetry Revealed
Spring 2018 Choix Roses: les Deux: Beauty and Bouquets and Bread and Roses: Fashion Illustration
Spring 2017 Roses la Debut: Redoute’s Roses
Since many Eau Clairians have requested the Temple of Flora show to be installed once the pandemic is over Galaudet Gallery is working on their exhibition schedule to make that happen.
Sense of Place: EVERYWHERE is also part of a four-year art series this time exploring the meaning of place. The curatorial progression for this series is as follows:
2021 (maybe 2022) Sense of Place: NOWHERE : News from Now Here
2020 (maybe 2021) Sense of Place: EVERYWHERE: Freedom
2019 Sense of Place: THERE: Song of Myself
2018 Sense of Place: HERE: We Are Here
Because the Sense of Place Art Series is an internationally juried show there are extensive exhibition catalogs which may be found at https://issuu.com/galaudetgalleryllc
Vicki Milewski’s art collection Suffragettes Dancing with the Dawn is a homage to all the suffragette’s past and present in hope that the future will hold a new environment for women. Inspired by learning more about her mother, Elizabeth Galaudet Milewski’s work for ERA, Vicki embarked on this collection which has been ten years in the making. Also, a part of the collection is the astronomical studies Vicki does particularly with Mercury and Venus. Now that the original iteration of this collection has been stalled, Vicki sees how the dancers are more about the work still needed to create equality not only for women but for all people, in all places. Learn more at https://vickimilewski.wixsite.com/vmartist/suffragettes
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