Telling the story of Milwaukee’s transformation
The artist behind the work of art that hangs in Baird Center titled Transformation is known as kathryn e. martin in the art world. But friends call her katie. Spend just a few minutes with her and it becomes apparent she thinks of most people she meets as friends. Far from the brooding artist trope, her outgoing personality and quick smile puts everyone around her instantly at ease. We had the pleasure to sit down with her a couple of times while she was creating and installing the piece to learn more about the artist and what inspired the work.
“I was asked to think of three words that described Milwaukee,” she explained. “And the three words I came up with were transformation, home and hope. I decided to stick with transformation because the story of Milwaukee is definitely one of transformation and growth.”
While not originally from Milwaukee, martin moved to the area in the 90’s to study art at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD) and has called it home ever since. She explained how her intimacy with the city and her attachment to it served as a double-edged sword when asked to tell its story.
“I care about it so much,” martin told us. “So, it’s more meaningful, but it’s also a challenge. I know so much about it that there were so many different ways I could go with it. I also didn’t want to assume that what I knew was actually fact.”
To make sure she was telling a factual story, she dove into Milwaukee’s history, leaning heavily on the writings of local historian John Gurda and information found in the American Geographical Society Library housed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s (UWM) Golda Meir Library.
As the concept started to round into form, she let her idea dictate the materials she would use, a practice she takes with all her projects. For Transformation she chose a variation on traditional moving blankets adorned with hand-sewn beads and resin panels with the ten names the area had before it was known as Milwaukee cut into them. With so many different layers, she hopes visitors will take some time to explore the piece and use the QR code to dig deeper.
“I think they can understand very quickly the text on the pieces and the movement to the name Milwaukee,” she stated. “But, there’s a lot more information behind it. There’s a reason why beads were sewn onto the blankets. There’s a reason behind the quilting and the tonal shift. And there’s a reason behind the green resin. Hopefully what they learn through my piece can spread to the viewing of other art pieces to help them understand we are making very conscious decisions with our ideas. That they don’t just come out of nowhere.”
It is this conscious approach to art, the fact she teaches about it to her students at UWM’s Peck School of the Arts and their embrace of it that makes her bullish about the Milwaukee art scene.
“What we do as artists is not easy,” martin shared. “You have to be passionate and you have to believe in what you’re doing. To have the kids show up with that type of attitude is so rewarding. And I think that’s the excitement and the promise I see in the future.”
Transformation is part of the We Energies Foundation Art Collection located at Baird Center. kathryn e. martin is one of the thirty-three artists, most from Milwaukee, Wisconsin or with special ties to the area who have works featured in the collection. You can discover more about the artists and their works at https://bairdcenter.com/art-collection/.