Summer School

July 10–26, 2026

Opening Reception: Friday, July 10, 6 pm–8 pm

Summer School features the work of nine current students and recent graduates of the painting department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. All nine artists' work explores different techniques and ideas but is united by the bizarre and magical experience that is attending art school together. Sharing studios, sitting through critiques and participating in all the other rituals associated with a four year BFA program inevitably creates an idiosyncratic cohort of artists. This close proximity and shared ambition allows a type of community and environment to develop that most artists will not experience again for the remainder of their careers.

Despite the wide range of interests and subject matters present in a show as diverse as this, one can’t help but search for the connecting threads. The same moves and ideas that pop up across the show, the common concerns and interests that coalesce to form the micro zeitgeist of a painting department. Like lifting up a rock to see what's living underneath, Summer School presents an unfiltered honest look into the exciting and novel ideas of Milwaukee's newest painters.