John Fleissner is many things. He's a relief-cut printmaker, a high school art teacher at Milwaukee Public Schools and an organizer with the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association (MTEA) and Voces de la Frontera.
Recently, Fleissner was also named artist-in-residence at the Charles Allis Art Museum, on Milwaukee’s Lower East Side. His work will be featured in an exhibition there, opening June 25.
A demo in printmaking
Before we sit down for an interview, John Fleissner gives me a bit of a demo in printmaking from his basement workspace at the museum.
He rolls dark green ink across a woodcut of a Palestinian olive tree. Below the tree, he’s carved the words, “Let Gaza Live,” in block letters — but backwards, so the message is readable once the print is pulled.
“I'm inking up the different pieces of this large block with different colors," he says. "This is a dark green. I've got blue, I've got red.”
After all the raised sections are covered in ink, he carefully lowers a canvas across the giant stamp. He smooths out all the air pockets and bubbles with something called a baron, which looks a bit like an air hockey mallet.
“I'm just applying pressure here to the inked up block," he explains. "And all the little carving marks, which I call the 'chatter,' kind of gives it that carved out look.”
Once he’s flattened out the canvas, it’s time for the moment of truth, as he peels the print off the block.
“Alright, let's see how it looks," he says. "It might've skipped a little bit or it's imperfect. But I think it looks kind of cool."
When it comes to printmaking, imperfection is a feature, rather than a bug. The print comes out with a rugged, textured look. Blue teardrops fall onto flowers beneath the olive tree. Bits of “chatter” fill out the negative space between words in blood red.
Art as a tool for organizing
John Fleissner’s work often features pro-labor, pro-immigrant and anti-war themes. And if you’ve been to a Milwaukee protest in recent years, you’ve probably seen his prints mounted on picket signs — featuring slogans like “Stop the War Machine,” or “No Pasarán.”
For Fleissner, that's the power of printmaking. Images can be produced and easily reproduced, allowing them to spread out into the world.
"[Print] also communicates an idea in a split second," he says. "You don't have to read the whole essay or the whole article. You can understand what the organization or the movement is trying to communicate quickly, through an image.”
Fleissner’s art goes hand in hand with his organizing. He’s on the board of the Milwaukee Teacher’s Union, and he’s an advisor for the youth wing of Voces de la Frontera. And he’s helped lead “art builds” for both — especially before big protests, like this year’s May Day rally. He says they're a great way to get activists together for something other than a meeting.
“It gives people a way to connect and talk with each other and build relationships that isn't just point-by-point going through the agenda of what we’ve got to get done," he says.
Some of Fleissner's biggest influences are Käthe Kollwitz and Elizabeth Catlett, two artists who used woodcuts and lithography to comment on the political crises of their day. And their influence is not hard to see in Fleissner’s stark, black and white prints of factory workers and immigrants.
“There's a long tradition of art, and especially printmaking, being utilized as a tool for social movements to be able to communicate ideas," he says. "And even if it's straightforward — like a poster or a placard or a picket sign or a mural — it helps to communicate the values and aspirations of the social movement."
An exhibition commemorating the Allis-Chalmers strikes
But Fleissner’s upcoming gallery exhibition is more about storytelling than a specific call-to-action. He’s hoping to explore a little-known chapter of Milwaukee labor history: the Allis-Chalmers strikes of the 1940s. And what better place to tell that story than Milwaukee’s Charles Allis Art Museum?
“I'm really interested in bringing the workers' movement to this museum that was the former mansion of the owner of this huge manufacturer that became one of the largest manufacturers in the region," Fleissner says.
To make a long story short: Allis-Chalmers saw massive growth through the early 20th century — with the Milwaukee suburb of West Allis taking its name from the industrious Allis family. The company was known for building tractors, agricultural equipment and other heavy machinery.
But, during the Second World War, Allis-Chalmers placed civilian products on hold and produced military equipment instead: artillery tractors for the Army, steam engines for the Navy and even uranium enrichment components for the Manhattan Project, according to the Milwaukee War Memorial Center.
Business was booming. Members of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 248 at Allis-Chalmers demanded higher wages and assurance that the factory would remain a "closed" union shop. But management refused to bargain and accused union leaders of Communist ties. Contract disputes led to strikes in 1941 and 1946 . The strikes led to clashes between workers and police outside the West Allis factory at 70th and Greenfield Avenue.
“There were major battles and people picketing and kids throwing rocks," says Fleissner. "People would hold back the streetcars who were bringing scabs — replacement workers — and so there was a dramatic scene."
By the end of those tumultuous years, management’s strike-breaking efforts and smear campaigns worked. The strike of '46 to ‘47 ended in bitter defeat for Local 248. Allis-Chalmers workers returned to the job without a new contract, after an 11-month strike.
Membership cratered. Local 248's former president, Harold Christoffel, was indicted and later jailed for perjury by a panel of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and the House Education and Labor Committee (HELC). According to papers on Christoffel from UW-Madison Digital Collections, the panel included former Presidents Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy — both junior congressmen at the time.
"HELC, acting on the recommendation of Representative Kennedy, asked the Department of Justice to indict Christoffel for perjury, for stating that he was not a member of the Communist Party when questioned by the committee," the papers read.
Witness testimony during the hearings recalled Christoffel's presence at Party meetings, called into question his Communist affiliations. Christoffel served prison time from 1953 to 1956, becoming the first union leader jailed during the Cold War Red Scare.
“That was at the time of what they call the 'Second Red Scare,'" says Fleissner. "So, you know, it was really vilified — and I think that that's a big part of the reason why it's not more recognized.”
But, together with a recent Historical Marker Campaign by the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, Fleissner’s exhibit is an effort to remember the sacrifices of the workers at Allis-Chalmers.
"Not just me, but there are other people pushing for a recognition of this part of our people’s history that has been kind of glossed over or pushed aside," says Fleissner. "And so, I want to contribute to that in my own way by making a woodcut – because that’s what I know how to do."
The exhibit will also highlight what these workers did for fun – with scenes of smelt fishing parties on Lake Michigan and more.
“I want to include this smelt party as part of the show to not just make it about work, work, work — because workers don't always want to work all the time. I certainly don't," Fleissner says. "And part of the reason why we organize with labor is because we want to have the times to enjoy life, so I wanted to incorporate this funny, folksy Wisconsin tradition.”
For John Fleissner, art is not only a tool to support current struggles. It can also help us remember those that came before us. And after decades of deindustrialization and declining union membership, he says it’s especially important to keep that memory alive today.
“I want to show that in our city, our region, there's a lot of progressive history. And a lot of the people that came before us —working class people that were organizing — they had to fight hard and they had to stand up for themselves," Fleissner says. "I think of it as a folk history — that people stood up to this really powerful manufacturer to improve their own lives. And not a lot of people know about it.”
John Fleissner's exhibit, "Strike at Allis Chalmers and Other Wisconsin Stories," opens June 25th at Charles Allis Art Museum.
