Work accepted was based on its ability to be displayed outside in the Some Fools’ backyard. For example, Ellie Garry’s yarn piece Loom woven textile vines was draped comfortably on one of the backyard trees, flowing naturally with the organic shape as if it had been there all along. Similarly, Malachi Baer’s paper piece Stringing Together interacts with the shrubs, branches and fence. Previously a piece that has been draped around his body, he understands it as a living organism. It feels fitting that these pieces should be included in the backyard exhibition as they take on more natural and organic forms, playing with the environment.
Other pieces are more antagonistic or obstructive to the scenery as sculptural design pieces, like Seth Ter Haar’s Gothic Kneeler, a wooden sculpture intended for prayer, perpendicular to the ground and begging for interaction. Reese Rousseau’s sculpture Type 01 Folding Chair also takes on this effect, as materials typically used in construction make this piece shine as unique- and even in opposition to- its natural environment.
Whether pieces selected worked to coincide or confront the landscape of the backyard, Some Fools’ Backyard Bash was certainly a highlight for anyone’s summer.
Some Fools Backyard Bash was equal parts outside gallery and summer celebration, with performances by Cyrus Chrome, Dahlia, and Rainbow Cobra, vending from local artist Rylee Krumrei as well as a food and clothing pop-up from Too Much.
1.
Sarah Huber (they/them)
something about an apple and a tree, i forget how the saying goes,
Oil on canvas
40” x 30”
Sarah Huber is an artist from Milwaukee, WI that is currently based in Chicago, IL. With symbolism influenced by their catholic upbringing, study of archeology/anthropology/the occult, and background as a dancer, their work takes a playful approach to connecting their own history, identity, and traumas to the long existing thread of the human experience. This piece explores the transmission of generational trauma down a bloodline, often unintentionally, and its consequences.
2.
Ellie Garry (she/they)
A welded flower holding memories of time in the world that calmed me. 2022
Echo flower, steel, and canvas paper
25" x 24"
The natural world serves as a source of inspiration plus catharsis, inspiring both myself and my art. Textile making allows me to highlight the fragility and gentleness of my femininity. By utilizing exaggerated elements of color and form, an environment is created that not only offers a new perspective on the natural world but also helps us better understand our connection to it.
3.
Ellie Garry (she/they)
Loom woven textile vines. 2021
Weaved interaction, and yarn
4" x 24"
4.
Sarah Gerbasi (she/her)
be gentle with me, 2022
Oil on TV screen
30” x 19”
15.
Sarah Gerbasi (she/her)
Scared of Stop Lights (spend a lot of time in cars), 2022
Plaster, oil, acrylic, spray paint, and found photo on found object
24” x 6” x 6”
I aim to evoke a sense of animism; as if each piece has a soul. Personal precedent, past trauma, and self-guilt are reframed through imagery and subtitle poetry. I tread a web of time through careful reflection. I am an artist who utilizes paint and sculpture. I create absurdity through mishandling objects and harmonize comfort and discomfort. I was born, raised, and work in Milwaukee WI, but hope to leave one day. I don’t believe in coincidences.
5.
Margeaux (she/her)
The Devil’s Question, 2023
Watercolor and gouache on paper
Based on an old Jean Ritchie song of the same name. The birds act as a window for divinity. The figure is not alone.
6.
Odin Onan (he/they)
Spanky downtown, 2022
Oil on canvas
14” x 18”
Meet Spanky! He lives in the Third Ward with me, he’s a medically recognized emotional support animal which means he got to live in the MIAD dorms our first two years. Spanky is one of the many lights of my life and I wholeheartedly believe he makes downtown feel warmer and even more beautiful.
7.
Gwendolyn Woerishofer (any pronouns)
Witch cake. All the ingredients you could ever possibly need in a piece to bake up a cake. A piece I made with "leftovers" in my studio. 2023
Acrylic and jute twine
11” x 14”
GYROCARPUS Cake. All those little twigs and bits of nature you played with while sitting on the sidewalk outside. 2023
Gouache and jute twine
8” x 10”
Gwen is a mixed media and illustration artist from rural Wisconsin studying art in Berlin Germany. In their work they like to explore mythical figures of the mind, representations of nature, and playing with materials and found objects.
8.
Malachi Baer (he/ him)
Stringing Together, 2-22
Paper and hot glue
~ 8’ x 8"‘
The meaning of this work has shifted over time for me. Initially, this work focused on the connection between the self and the universe through physically building it around parts of myself. After I displayed the piece on my body, the piece now reminds me of how it felt, draped over my shoulders and arms. They are my veins, crisscrossing through my body and forming its own living organism.
9.
Reese Rousseau (he/him)
Type 01 Folding Chair, 2023
Angle iron, plywood, and 3M vinyl
36” x 18” x 18”
Inspired by construction sites and scenery, this chair is fabricated from salvaged and low-grade materials. By working in a medium valued only for its function, I can highlight the material’s ignored beauty.
10.
Nyanna Krajewski (they/she)
Baby Outside, 2023
Textiles and finger weaving
12"x 24"
I use cheap decorative materials, media, and colors that are aimed at young girls by those who produce them as an act of indulgence. Much of my work includes materials that have been collected from people of my past, and I use the many creative skills that have been gifted to me by the creative women and queer people in my life to pay homage to them and as a practice of embodying people who came before me. Conceptually my work has two main avenues: critique of the contrived ideas of womanhood asserted by capitalist America, and celebration of the depth of queer emotion and expression. Combining these things with paint, my work celebrates things that are bold, rough around the edges, and that take up space (in all forms) just as I aim to celebrate those things within myself and others.
11.
Seth Ter Haar (he/him)
Gothic Kneeler, 2022
Kiln dried walnut and white oak
32” x 24” x 20”
This kneeler, a redesigned piece of Christian furniture, represents the human need to believe in something greater than themselves. It asks the viewer, why do we kneel, and what for? Is it to serve yourself, God, or somebody else, like a sexual partner?
12.
Rylee Krumrei (they/them)
How To Build a Nest // As a Sheep Sheds its Wool, 2023
Sheep’s wool, willow twigs, dead leaves from my plant, found objects, trash, and hot glue
2.5’ x 2’
For this piece, I was inspired by heavy vs. light and the imagery of storks carrying babies adorned in cloth to their new homes. Storks are associated with the birth of new life, as well as birds’ nests. By needle felting, I manipulated raw sheep's wool into the formation of a webbed bird's nest carrier. From there, I created an egg of found objects, mainly comprised of items people had set out on the curb. Together, this embodies gently holding the weight of change throughout life as we grow out and into ourselves, acting as a reminder to be kind to yourself.
13.
Brandom Terres-Sanchez (he/they)
Created Home, 2022
Oil on canvas
18” x 26”
The innate feeling of comfort is what draws us in, but the uncanny replication of home is what keeps us out. The work derives from the longing of home, the objects created become an echo of the real thing and are treated like real objects to rekindle what was lost. The objects I make are never going to fill what was lost but they are created in an attempt to fill said void. The texture of bricks reminds me of home and the space I grew up in, and painting them onto a canvas that mimics the shape of a house reinforces that connection. I believe that something as simple as a brick can bring back memories of walking home on a summer day, or a barbecue in the backyard or playing hide and seek. My work is attempting to revitalize that home we once knew.
14.
Nat Alicia (they/them/she/her)
Shrine, 2023
Glass beads, real stone, and misc. textures
Various sizes
Lighting means a lot to me. Stained glass, beach glass and suncatchers inspired everything. The light catches the different items on the pieces and the details come to light.
16.
Christian Franczyk (he/him)
Squiggle Lamp! 2023
Glue laminated veneer, birch plywood, frosted acrylic, and LED lights
6’ x 10” x 10”
My submissions represent an ongoing series known as "Lamp of the Month". What started as a design series with the focus of simply expanding my body of work has evolved into an exploration of the interaction between a user and an object. In this relationship I am the object maker, each piece in the series presents an opportunity for an audience to interact with an object in an unorthodox way.
17.
Johanna Nevin & Sunseekers
Untitled 2023
Interactive installation and tabling
We used our trans brains, creativity and sibling-hood to explore what it means to create and sustain safe communities for trans people here in milwaukee. We decided on wheat pasting because it has a beautiful historical context of being used in protest. People need to know that trans people are not going anywhere and we are more than capable of creating our own systems and burning down others.
18.
Chloe Wilkerson (they/she/he)
Seeing Stars Shirt, 2023
Custom shirt made for Cyrus Chrome’s performance