There are elements of texture that play together well. The soft sculptures in this show reference childhood nostalgia, sense of safety and security as well as the playful irony of the stuffed animal turned art object. Catherine Martin’s Vestido de mi Niñez lumbers over the viewer as a memory personified by plushies Frankenstein-ed onto a large wooden beam, while Dylan Olive Dornfeld’s Daughter, a plush handmade silvery unicorn in the corner of the room, sits quietly in a chair, familiar enough, but nonetheless a stranger from elsewhere.
The two longer prints, on opposite walls in the gallery, mirror each other well. Cole Lehto’s Spell for Trans Survival, decorated by carved woodblocks chained together, offers space for those who dream not only of survival, but thriving alongside him. Dora Peregrine’s No Sleep for Baby depicts a scene of restlessness, again the all too familiar feeling of falling asleep and reluctantly stepping into a dream.
These and many other works exhibited at In the Dreamhouse represent some of Milwaukee’s amazing emerging talent. This show will run from April 5th and have select visiting hours for a few weeks following opening night.
In the Dreamhouse is a selection of work from seventeen Milwaukee artists and curated by Some Fools Gallery. Artists were asked to submit work that best represented an imagined space of their own making. More than home, the Dreamhouse is a place that exists in reality as much as within the artist. The Dreamhouse is deeply personal to the individual, and following Some Fools last juried show, Dear Diary, pieces exhibited here take on the same confessional quality.
When passing through the gallery, there are a few interesting coincidences between the work displayed. Kelis Ferguson’s Cosmic Spore imagines the material of the dream world, serving as a window or a key into imagined spaces. Glimmering, it compares to Ian Michael Izard’s Electric Dreams i & iv, two tablets which capture the space between falling asleep and dreaming, where reality merges with fantasy.
1.
Kelis Ferguson (she/her)
Cosmic Spore, 2024
Mixed media
22” x 2.5” x 26”
Cosmic Spore is about the object that floats around in our dreams. That mystical substance that takes us between the realms of reality and fantasy. My curiosity in material abstraction and transformation has led to the creation of this otherworldly anomaly. I was heavily inspired by magical objects in children’s movies that serve as a type of “key” for opening up a bridge from one world to another. I aim for this sculpture to be a special window into its own dimension.
2.
Izzie K (any pronouns)
I am a House, 2023
Thats my House, 2023
Pen and paper
6” x 6” each
My dream is to have a home. One of my biggest hobbies is nesting, but how do you serve the land you nest on ? Protect it instead of own it? I'd like a place to rest.
3.
Ian Michael Izard (they/he)
electric dream i and iv, 2023-2024
Charcoal, pastel, solar fast dye, canvas, sheet steel, chipboard, foam board, acrylic, drywall, magnets
39” x 11” and 35” x 11”
Even as the earth splits open to spit back my desires,
Even as the storm batters my flesh,
The ocean rocks me in my sleep,
Deep below the surface.
It forces another tear from me, another desire
And from that holy pearl,
A prayer whispered,
“Are you still watching?”
When did I first realize I’m on the wrong side of the glass?
When did I lose my footing,
and sink into the abyss,
while holy palmers’ dance above the light?
My chest aches for air too,
but I’m far below the surface.
Another irritation engulfed in the datastorm.
4.
Catherine Martin (she/her)
Vestido de mi Niñez, 2024
Dress figure and fibers
5’ x 1.5’
Vestido de mi Nińez is a soft sculpture exploring ideas of childhood and nostalgia. It is made out of childhood stuffed animals made to represent the silhouette of a dress. Evoking the feeling of growth through womanhood and exploring the use of found objects in form.
5.
Jada Towns (she/they)
Soule Successor, 2022
Photoshop collage
19” x 13”
It's held up to a rose tinted light of a manufactured aesthetic that's romanticized beyond belief.
They look like a dream in this piece created of hell. It holds no reflection of the process. But it's one of few pieces that still has a place of love in my home.
They're a manifestation of love for creating art in community that I long to have again.
6.
Noelle Schumacher (they/them)
A place you can come back to, 2022
Pen, acrylic & marker
10” x 12”
I made this piece about two years ago when I was planning to leave the country for a couple of months. It was a tumultuous time for a lot of reasons and working with the familiar mediums of pen and paper, acrylic, watercolor, and marker was comforting. While I was travelling I visited a church that had a fountain for baptisms raised up on steps, through an archway. It felt dreamlike and sweet to be in a space so similar to one I had imagined.
7.
Cole Lehto (he/him)
spell for trans survival, 2023
Woodcut relief print, muslin, chain & ink
3’ x 5’
I designed this print block using photo collage of a plaster tile I made about strength and struggle. I carved the image of the photos onto the 2’ x 4’ block and printed it with a steamroller. I then chopped the block up and hung the pieces on a chain to end its life as a printing block and transform it into a sculpture. I was feeling pressure from the legislative attacks on the trans community and channeled that pressure into a piece about enduring and hopefully thriving.
8.
Muta'aliah (they/them)
Tranquil Nightmare, 2024
Acrylic and paint markers on canvas
18” x 24”
Tranquil Nightmare is about being in safe spaces to explore, accept, and sit with one’s inner turmoil and peace no matter how contradictory, confusing, or off-putting that experience may be. What that space looks like varies; it can be a dream that brings the vastness of one’s subconscious to life, a physical place where one can contemplate their inner world, or a person that is a safe place to confide in. The yellow outline in this piece is representative of all of those things.
9.
Natalie Alicia (they/she)
Love All God's Creations, 2024
Acrylic paint, plastic beads, glitter & stickers
24” x 24”
I used an array of heavy body acrylics + a gel medium to achieve the thick textures in this painting. In all honesty, the artistry of Lisa Frank influences me daily. Her dreamy portrayal of animals and dedication to softness inspired me to create this piece. (TLDR; Girls Just Wanna Have Fun)
10.
Dylan Olive Dornfeld (they/them/she/he)
Daughter, 2024
Satin and floral fabric, lace, & citrasolv print
25” x 6” x 10”
I am the High Priestess. I birth my creatures out of adoration. I will prick my fingers on the sewing needle countless times and cry over the satin fabric of your flesh; leaving miniscule tears and bloodstains on your body as reminders of my dedication. Adoration turned into remorse, yet still, after the hours of pain and labor, I cherish you. You are mine and I made you with my bare hands. You were brought into the world, made in the spitting image of my dreams; a beautiful, mysterious and powerful daughter. My fabulous and misshapen animal, I am sorry I could not have done you better. Maybe now it will be different, and you may get the recognition we both /think/ you deserve…
11.
Sea Green (they/them)
Nazi Punks, Fuck Off, 2024
Mixed media sculpture
12” x 10”
Using found objects discarded by others in the community, a new life and home is created. To express safety in gathering together to share tea in a magic space, people whose ideals are rooted in hate, are unwelcome here. Creating a discussion around how to create community spaces that are safe and feel like home. I make art to show the beauty that is possible in an otherwise ugly world.
12.
Jessica Leaf Lensmire (she/they)
return address has changed, 2024
Oil on canvas
35" x 35"
Influenced by the paradox of intense stillness and complex motions of the human condition, I have found a quiet violence. return address has changed sits in the aftermath of loss. There is a promised Wednesday that will never come, and I’m sorry for making a mess.
13.
Aaliyah Hill (they/he/she)
THE FUTURE 6 YEAR OLD ME IMAGINED (DESERVED), 2024
Airbrushed paint, crayon & textiles
35” x 20.5”
The fantasy world my developing mind invented nowadays feels like a blurry mess of unrealistic expectations. To 6 year old me, home was a place unattainable, always just out of reach. My escapism inspired an image far from actuality that was never going to exist—yet this dreamscape felt like my only chance to aspire something greater.
14.
Robin Lean Ermitanio (he/they)
Tinikling, 2024
Aluminum tube
72” x 2” each
Two bamboos made out of aluminum is a deception in perception. An Aluminum that I altered to look like bamboo. It represents the illusion of our reality, how our perspective changes as our surroundings change, how we change in the course of our time, and how our identities evolve as individuals by interaction. This nature provokes the validity of how we see the world. The idea of impermanence that everything is a constant change, from birth to death, moving from one place to another, what we did in the past to what we’re currently doing and to what we will do in the future, is the essence of living.
15.
Dora Peregrine (all pronouns)
No Sleep for Baby, 2023
Woodcut print on muslin with embroidery and acrylic
3’ x 5’
No Sleep for Baby is a silly and despairing moment of mundane existentialism. It is an expression of the liminal time between laying in bed and falling asleep, the lonely moment when no one but you knows that you are still awake. In these moments, the line between consciousness and unconsciousness can feel confusingly blurred.
16.
Jesse Patience (she/xe/her)
Sisterhood Simulation 2004, 2024
Video installation, runtime 2:53
Sisterhood Simulator 2004 etc... etc... is an exploration in fabricating memories in the internet age. The video is not from 2006, the player is not real person, and Sisterhood Simulator 2004 does not exist. These memories of girlhood are not real yet I accept them as my history anyway. And that's epic and sooo cool :)
17.
Camille Matusiak (she/they)
Rainbow Connection: Response to Happy Apocalypse, 2024
Plaster and candles
24” x 12”
Rooted in personal reflections, my art practice expresses the escape from real experience and into a safe space where I can breathe new life. By creating whimsical landscapes reminiscent of a fantastical era, reality is more fun, vibrant rainbow hues communicate a colorful new cosmos. I seek to transport myself and others to moments of retrospect to simpler moments in our lives. Create a mingling of the past and present moments and the prospect of a more joyful future.
