“Art is everywhere,” exclaimed my eight-year-old as she skipped down Wisconsin Avenue.
Since we had made a day trip to Milwaukee to spot outdoor art, I considered her statement a sign of success. But, truly, in Milwaukee, art is everywhere!
We started our day by visiting Black Cat Alley, a showcase of more than twenty murals on the city’s northeast side. As we explored the colorful and creative works, it was fun for our kids to see how vibrantly art can exist on the giant walls of buildings in addition to on canvases and within frames — and also to watch muralists creating a new work right in front of us.
Next, we drove down to the Milwaukee Art Museum perched on the shore of Lake Michigan. While the museum has reopened its galleries to limited numbers of visitors, we stuck to admiring the sleek Santiago Calatrava-designed exterior, the dynamic fountains and Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE sculpture outside.
More artwork met us as we walked along Wisconsin Avenue, pausing to check out the pieces in Sculpture Milwaukee outdoor showcase of art. Each year, the organization places roughly twenty sculptures across the downtown area. Some, like Carlos Rolón’s Gild the Lily explosion of colorful flowers on the exterior of the Chase Bank building, have been invited to remain past their exhibition year, and others are now a permanent part of the cityscape.
A highlight for kids this year is undoubtedly Blob Monster, a fiberglass creature that drips with color. While artist Tony Tasset intended the monster to reference the dark forces within all of us, young art aficionados may find it menacing or hilarious.
Our stroll down Wisconsin Avenue took us to our next destination: the RiverSculpture, another outdoor art gallery, this one set on the Riverwalk path that follows the Milwaukee River. While the Bronze Fonz — a statue commemorating Fonzie from Happy Days, the sitcom set in 1950s Milwaukee — is the most famous piece in the collection, there are plenty of other works to explore, and the walkway itself is a beautiful way to see the city.
We took the path east of the river as we worked our way north, crossing the bridge at State Street and walking back on the west-side path. It was there that we began noticing lifesize duck sculptures. The Riverwalk actually contains six sculptures, inspired by “Gertie the Duck” and her ducklings who made national news back in 1945, and our kids had a blast spotting them.
After months of exploring Wisconsin’s trails and state parks, walking through downtown Milwaukee gave us the chance to switch things up while still staying safe during the pandemic — and, bonus, we got to see a lot of fantastic art along the way!
– Katie Vaughn
Katie Vaughn is the editor and co-founder of Northerly. She is a University of Wisconsin-Madison and Stanford University-trained journalist with experience as a writer, reporter, editor, blogger and author. She lives in Madison with her husband, daughter and son, and is always up for an adventure.