Public art usually lives in museums or stays static on a wall. But at ArtBlaze, you’re encouraged to interact with it.
Hosted by Joy Engine, this free event transforms Milwaukee’s lakefront beaches into a space where art is meant to be explored, communal and accessible. With two more events on Aug. 6 at South Shore Park and Aug. 20 at McKinley Beach, each ArtBlaze also features performances from local musicians, hands-on art, local vendors, bonfires and more.
"Art is just important for the whole city and everybody in general, because it brings everybody together and it crosses so many different boundaries," says Steph Salvia, the executive director of Joy Engine. "And we’re so segregated right now in so many different ways that this is just one space where we can all come together and have some joy."
Now in it's third year, ArtBlaze also highlights a unique partnership between the FuzzPop Workshop and UW-Milwaukee architecture students. Together, they’ve spent months designing and building the large-scale inflatable installations called the Archaea that invite visitors to touch, play and experience art in a new way.
"Archaea [in] ancient Greek means 'the ancient ones,' and archaea are these microscopic organisms," explains FuzzPop Workshop founder and artistic director Daniel Murray. "Eons and eons ago all there was on earth were bacteria and archaea until there was this evolutionary moment where an archaea took a bacteria into its walls into itself and from that all complex life on earth was born... So we thought that was an amazing story about change and transformation and partnership, which I think we need a lot of in this world today. And I think really is what this event is all about too which is it's a great opportunity to bring all those together."
Quinn Fister is a FuzzPop intern and architecture student at UW-Milwaukee. She's been involved with the project since her class pitched a design concept to FuzzPop. Together, they worked to fabricate the first prototypes for the archaea using a 3D modeling software, then scaled them up to create eight foot pieces made of hand-painted ripstop nylon.
"I think there's so many fun aspects of working in this project, especially the fact that it's more organic, but also that it is taking place in a community event," says Fister. "Oftentimes we're just creating drawings and designs that never actually come to life. So seeing something that I had a part in designing and being a creator of is super cool to see it in person."
For Salvia of Joy Engine, "seeing the smiles on people's faces" is her favorite part of hosting ArtBlaze. Murray agrees, and loves seeing children run up to the inflatable art wanting to hug or even tackle the art, "which is not totally discouraged," he jokes.
"I think often art is this kind of stodgy, high-concept thing and we want to create art that's really accessible, that's free and open to the public, but it's something people can get and relate to and understand and have fun and play with as well," Murray adds.
