Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Thanks!
Thanks for all the support and well wishes! We're going to miss you guys too. Here are some great, thoughtful articles written about our closing.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Closing Letter
Dear friends of the Armoury,
As reluctant as we are to join the list of closing galleries and businesses around Milwaukee, it has unfortunately come time to announce that the Armoury officially closed with the end of our last show on May 2nd. Due to a variety of reasons, not least of them being financial, we will no longer be continuing to run our space in the Fortress Building.
While we will be closing the doors on the physical gallery space, we are looking forward to new projects and new ways to connect with artists both locally and nationally. It has been a wonderfully enriching experience both of us, and we have worked hard over the last 18 months, garnering numerous benefits personally and professionally. We hope to continue working, collaborating and connecting with people, expanding our horizons and channeling our energy into new projects in the near future.
Of course we want to thank all of the artists who showed with us this past year, along with anyone in the press who took the time to write about and promote our venture. We would also like to thank everyone who has visited the Armoury for an opening or during gallery hours, shared kind words of encouragement and thanks, or recommended us to others. A special thank you to our ardent supporters and advisors: Jason Yi, Sonja Thomsen, Mike Brenner, Jill Sebastian, Josie Osborne, Pegi Taylor, Mary Louise Schumacher, and finally our parents, without whom we would not have enjoyed the fantastic food and drink at every opening.
Thanks again and take care!
Cassandra and Jessica
Monday, April 13, 2009
Night Work: Gallery Online
Our Gallery Online is now complete for Night Work! Below are a few photos from the show, but please visit our website to see the entire exhibition. You can click around on each piece in the gallery and view it close-up. Enjoy!
Also, we'll be open this Friday, April 17th for Gallery Night from 5:00 - 9:00 pm. It's a great time to come by and see the show if you haven't already.
Night Work runs until May 2nd with gallery hours on Saturday from noon - 5:00 pm.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Night Work: Reception photos
Here are some photos from the opening reception on March 27th. You can view the rest of the photos HERE on our Flickr page.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Susceptible to Image review
We got a short review of our current show on the Susceptible to Images blog by Kat Murrell. The original text is below, but it's part of a much larger post you should go check out HERE.
Night Work opening at the Armoury Gallery
Openings at the Armoury Gallery are always interesting; they tend to have a good mix of people, the gallery itself is a unique space, but more than anything else, gallery proprietors Jessica Steeber and Cassandra Smith consistently put together intriguing shows. This time around, the exhibition is “Night Work,” pieces created by working art instructors. It may be night work, done after the obligations of the day (or so one could imagine), but these pieces are definitely not an afterthoughts or the remnants of creative energy.
Six artists are featured in the show, and it’s impossible to get a really good look at everything during an opening. But, I have to say I’m impressed by Nathaniel Stern and Jessica Meuninch-Ganger, whose multimedia works blend elegant forms of drawing, collage, and art history tradition integrated with digital surprises. It’s a fascinating blend of old and new art technologies.
In the Armoury Gallery, there is an additional room, a small and humble space but becoming one of my favorite gallery spots. Because it’s a closed area and set off from the general hubbub outside, it has an immediate feeling of separation, as though you’ve entered into a place where, even more so than in the main gallery area, anything can happen. This time, the room holds two works by Shana McCaw and Brent Budsberg, both simple but captivating. Unravel links the three-dimensional reality with the two-dimensional possibilities of drawing, and the charming and surreal Draft simply opens up all sorts of imaginative wonderment. Elegant, simple, and inventive.
Night Work opening at the Armoury Gallery
Openings at the Armoury Gallery are always interesting; they tend to have a good mix of people, the gallery itself is a unique space, but more than anything else, gallery proprietors Jessica Steeber and Cassandra Smith consistently put together intriguing shows. This time around, the exhibition is “Night Work,” pieces created by working art instructors. It may be night work, done after the obligations of the day (or so one could imagine), but these pieces are definitely not an afterthoughts or the remnants of creative energy.
Six artists are featured in the show, and it’s impossible to get a really good look at everything during an opening. But, I have to say I’m impressed by Nathaniel Stern and Jessica Meuninch-Ganger, whose multimedia works blend elegant forms of drawing, collage, and art history tradition integrated with digital surprises. It’s a fascinating blend of old and new art technologies.
In the Armoury Gallery, there is an additional room, a small and humble space but becoming one of my favorite gallery spots. Because it’s a closed area and set off from the general hubbub outside, it has an immediate feeling of separation, as though you’ve entered into a place where, even more so than in the main gallery area, anything can happen. This time, the room holds two works by Shana McCaw and Brent Budsberg, both simple but captivating. Unravel links the three-dimensional reality with the two-dimensional possibilities of drawing, and the charming and surreal Draft simply opens up all sorts of imaginative wonderment. Elegant, simple, and inventive.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Night Work @ the Armoury Gallery
Opening reception:
Friday March 27, 6:00 - 10:00 pm
Show runs: March 27 - May 2
Featuring:
Nathaniel Stern
Jessica Meuninck Ganger
Nicolas Lampert
Shana McCaw & Brent Budsberg
Sonja Thomsen
The Armoury Gallery is pleased to announce its 8th exhibition: Night Work. Focusing specifically on professional artists working as art professors and instructors in Milwaukee, Night Work is an exciting cross section of some of Milwaukee's most talented and recognized artists; three of whom are featured in the Current Tendencies exhibition at the Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University. Night work includes two collaborative teams, Nathaniel Stern & Jessica Meuninck-Ganger and ShanaMcCaw & Brent Budsberg, as well as new 2D work by Nicolas Lampert and recent photographs by Sonja Thomsen.
Along with teaching at UW-Milwaukee, Nicolas Lampert is a curator, a co-editor of a book on anti-war illustrations and an artist who works in a variety of media and has exhibited his work extensively across the country and abroad. Lampert co-curated a traveling political art show that toured 33 cities in Canada and the US during a five year run. He has work in the permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art in NewYork and Milwaukee's own Art Museum. Lampert is also part of the Justseeds Radical Artist's Cooperative that is currently exhibiting an installation at UWM's Union Art Gallery.
Taking over the installation room will be a collaboration by Shana McCaw and Brent Budsberg. In seven years of collaboration, McCaw andBudsberg's work has evolved from playful performances about human interaction and rites of passage toward miniature architectural installations investigating transition, space and the passage of time. For Night Work, McCaw and Budsberg will exhibit two new companion sculptures. Incorporating a mysterious wind and subdued atmospheric effects, both pieces create a perception of space beyond the gallery wall, while also suggesting an indirect narrative. McCaw teaches at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and Cardinal Stritch and Budsberg is a MIAD 3-d lab supervisor. As a collaborative team, they won a 2008Mary Nohl Fellowship in the Established Artist category.
First time collaborative duo Jessica Meuninck-Ganger and Nathaniel Stern will present a new series of works. Playfully called "Distill Life," this series incorporates technologies and aesthetics from traditional printmaking – including Japanese woodblock and engraving circa the1800s, present-day etching, stone lithography, photogravure etc –with the technologies and aesthetics of contemporary digital, video and networked art, in order to create new forms. Hailing from South Africa, and currently studying for his PhD throughTrinity College in Dublin, Ireland, Nathaniel Stern joined the Milwaukee arts community in 2008 for his position with the Peck School of the Arts at UW Milwaukee. His work has been exhibited internationally, and he has a host of awards, residencies and fellowships to his credit. Jessica Meuninck-Ganger earned her MFA at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and currently teaches at the Peck School of the Arts, also having a host of honors, residencies and exhibitions to her credit.
Earning her MFA at the San Francisco Art Institute in 2004, SonjaThomsen will present a series of new works from her time spent in 2008 at the Hermitage Artist Retreat in Englewood, Florida. Most recently featured in the aforementioned Current Tendencies exhibition at Marquette's Haggerty Museum of Art, Sonja has exhibited her work nationally and her photographs are included in the permanent collection at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Thomsen currently teaches photography classes at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and was a founding member of the Coalition of Photographic Arts (CoPA), serving as president until June of 2008.
Friday March 27, 6:00 - 10:00 pm
Show runs: March 27 - May 2
Featuring:
Nathaniel Stern
Jessica Meuninck Ganger
Nicolas Lampert
Shana McCaw & Brent Budsberg
Sonja Thomsen
The Armoury Gallery is pleased to announce its 8th exhibition: Night Work. Focusing specifically on professional artists working as art professors and instructors in Milwaukee, Night Work is an exciting cross section of some of Milwaukee's most talented and recognized artists; three of whom are featured in the Current Tendencies exhibition at the Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University. Night work includes two collaborative teams, Nathaniel Stern & Jessica Meuninck-Ganger and ShanaMcCaw & Brent Budsberg, as well as new 2D work by Nicolas Lampert and recent photographs by Sonja Thomsen.
Along with teaching at UW-Milwaukee, Nicolas Lampert is a curator, a co-editor of a book on anti-war illustrations and an artist who works in a variety of media and has exhibited his work extensively across the country and abroad. Lampert co-curated a traveling political art show that toured 33 cities in Canada and the US during a five year run. He has work in the permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art in NewYork and Milwaukee's own Art Museum. Lampert is also part of the Justseeds Radical Artist's Cooperative that is currently exhibiting an installation at UWM's Union Art Gallery.
Taking over the installation room will be a collaboration by Shana McCaw and Brent Budsberg. In seven years of collaboration, McCaw andBudsberg's work has evolved from playful performances about human interaction and rites of passage toward miniature architectural installations investigating transition, space and the passage of time. For Night Work, McCaw and Budsberg will exhibit two new companion sculptures. Incorporating a mysterious wind and subdued atmospheric effects, both pieces create a perception of space beyond the gallery wall, while also suggesting an indirect narrative. McCaw teaches at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and Cardinal Stritch and Budsberg is a MIAD 3-d lab supervisor. As a collaborative team, they won a 2008Mary Nohl Fellowship in the Established Artist category.
First time collaborative duo Jessica Meuninck-Ganger and Nathaniel Stern will present a new series of works. Playfully called "Distill Life," this series incorporates technologies and aesthetics from traditional printmaking – including Japanese woodblock and engraving circa the1800s, present-day etching, stone lithography, photogravure etc –with the technologies and aesthetics of contemporary digital, video and networked art, in order to create new forms. Hailing from South Africa, and currently studying for his PhD throughTrinity College in Dublin, Ireland, Nathaniel Stern joined the Milwaukee arts community in 2008 for his position with the Peck School of the Arts at UW Milwaukee. His work has been exhibited internationally, and he has a host of awards, residencies and fellowships to his credit. Jessica Meuninck-Ganger earned her MFA at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and currently teaches at the Peck School of the Arts, also having a host of honors, residencies and exhibitions to her credit.
Earning her MFA at the San Francisco Art Institute in 2004, SonjaThomsen will present a series of new works from her time spent in 2008 at the Hermitage Artist Retreat in Englewood, Florida. Most recently featured in the aforementioned Current Tendencies exhibition at Marquette's Haggerty Museum of Art, Sonja has exhibited her work nationally and her photographs are included in the permanent collection at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Thomsen currently teaches photography classes at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and was a founding member of the Coalition of Photographic Arts (CoPA), serving as president until June of 2008.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Night Work: Postcards
Our next opening:
NIGHT WORK
Friday, March 27 from 6:00 - 10:00 pm
Show runs March 27 - May 2
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
We're Anonym.us Press Release
Lost in a Volcanic Maze: Dispatches from We're Anonym.us
A one-night-only event showcasing over a year’s worth of work: the completion of the "We're Anonym.us” project by local filmmaker, Brian Perkins
Friday, March 13th 2009
6:00 – 10:00pm
screening at 7:30 pm
(Please note this event has been postponed from its original date of March 6th)
The Armoury Gallery is pleased to announce its first ‘one-night-only’ event, featuring the videos, slideshows and text that comprise the “We’re Anonym.us” project. Accompanying paintings will be exhibited, created by the filmmaker Brian Perkins specifically for this event. The artwork will be on display until 10:00 pm and it will be accompanied by a related photographic slideshow.
A video screening will take place at 7:30 and run about 40 minutes, featuring a newly edited assembly of all webisodes and slideshows created for the website, with new entr'acte video segments.
A statement from the filmmaker, Brian Perkins:
“We're Anonym.us" is a multimedia, dream-like fable created in a format that is unlike anything we are aware of. Serialized in thirteen parts on the internet and told in videos, slideshows and text, it relates the story of the writing, delivery and reception of anonymous letters. Like a cross between "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Trial", "We're Anonym.us" is a mixture of fantasy, sly humor, and menace.
For more information, please visit the “We’re Anonym.us” website: http://www.wereanonym.us/
A one-night-only event showcasing over a year’s worth of work: the completion of the "We're Anonym.us” project by local filmmaker, Brian Perkins
Friday, March 13th 2009
6:00 – 10:00pm
screening at 7:30 pm
(Please note this event has been postponed from its original date of March 6th)
The Armoury Gallery is pleased to announce its first ‘one-night-only’ event, featuring the videos, slideshows and text that comprise the “We’re Anonym.us” project. Accompanying paintings will be exhibited, created by the filmmaker Brian Perkins specifically for this event. The artwork will be on display until 10:00 pm and it will be accompanied by a related photographic slideshow.
A video screening will take place at 7:30 and run about 40 minutes, featuring a newly edited assembly of all webisodes and slideshows created for the website, with new entr'acte video segments.
A statement from the filmmaker, Brian Perkins:
“We're Anonym.us" is a multimedia, dream-like fable created in a format that is unlike anything we are aware of. Serialized in thirteen parts on the internet and told in videos, slideshows and text, it relates the story of the writing, delivery and reception of anonymous letters. Like a cross between "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Trial", "We're Anonym.us" is a mixture of fantasy, sly humor, and menace.
For more information, please visit the “We’re Anonym.us” website: http://www.wereanonym.us/
Friday, February 27, 2009
We're Anonym.us Postcards
This is the next event that we're having at the gallery. It is a one night event showcasing the work of local filmmaker Brian Perkins.
Friday, February 20, 2009
CoPA Show
Tomorrow evening we are hosting the Coalitions of Photographic Art's 4th birthday party. Every year CoPA's celebrates their anniversary by throwing a party/fundraiser for their Photographic Educational Grant. This year we will be hosting the event which will be a silent auction of prints donated by CoPA members.
The show will be from 6:00 - 9:00 pm on Saturday, February 21st.
The show will be from 6:00 - 9:00 pm on Saturday, February 21st.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Midwest Airlines Magazine Article
The gallery was recently mentioned in an article that ran in the Midwest Airlines in-flight magazine. The article focused on artists and galleries in Eastern Wisconsin. HERE is a link to the article. It is quite long, so below is just an excerpt of the section where we get mentioned:
A Sense of Place
Eastern Wisconsin’s artists have visions for the future that look to the area’s heritage and landscape for inspiration
by Sam Polcer
“It was less than a month after we got back that we were looking for studio space to make our own art,” says Jessica Steeber, who, along with her friend and recent MIAD graduate Cassandra Smith, founded the Armoury Gallery (thearmourygallery.com) upon returning to Milwaukee after a six-month around-the-world journey. They found a spot just north of Downtown that was too nice to use as studio space and decided to fulfill their ambitions of opening a gallery. While only on its sixth exhibition, Armoury has built a solid name for itself and continues to attract attention. For example, kathryn e. martin, an artist garnering acclaim from the Wisconsin art cognoscenti, recently presented her work at the gallery (a large-scale installation of Martin’s, titled flotant, can be seen at the Kohler Arts Center through Jan. 11). Martin is impressed by entrepreneurs like Steeber and Smith, and with the spirit of comraderie that exists among the younger set of art lovers.
“With these galleries popping up, the owners seem to always be there to help each other out, and the artists support each other—as opposed to stepping on each other to get where they need to be,” she says.
A Sense of Place
Eastern Wisconsin’s artists have visions for the future that look to the area’s heritage and landscape for inspiration
by Sam Polcer
“It was less than a month after we got back that we were looking for studio space to make our own art,” says Jessica Steeber, who, along with her friend and recent MIAD graduate Cassandra Smith, founded the Armoury Gallery (thearmourygallery.com) upon returning to Milwaukee after a six-month around-the-world journey. They found a spot just north of Downtown that was too nice to use as studio space and decided to fulfill their ambitions of opening a gallery. While only on its sixth exhibition, Armoury has built a solid name for itself and continues to attract attention. For example, kathryn e. martin, an artist garnering acclaim from the Wisconsin art cognoscenti, recently presented her work at the gallery (a large-scale installation of Martin’s, titled flotant, can be seen at the Kohler Arts Center through Jan. 11). Martin is impressed by entrepreneurs like Steeber and Smith, and with the spirit of comraderie that exists among the younger set of art lovers.
“With these galleries popping up, the owners seem to always be there to help each other out, and the artists support each other—as opposed to stepping on each other to get where they need to be,” she says.
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