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2224 S. Kinnickinnic ave
milwaukee, wi 53207
Featuring the work of over 95 independent designers from around the United States. Carrying everything from handmade dresses, printed tees for men and women, ties, jewelry, soaps and body products, handbags, accessories, gifts, and so much more.
Statements, Bios, and Photos of upcoming Art installations and our Artists
Jenny Jo Kristan’s lifetime love for fairy tales, animals, and magic influence her paintings and illustrations, which she creates in her home studio in Milwaukee, WI. She spent many years studying poetry and magic under the great Beat matriarch Diane di Prima in San Francisco. Jenny Jo is happily married to a sailor, and has three babies, a dog and a cat.
Katie Gamb is an illustrator based in the Bay View neighborhood of Milwaukee. She began her fascination with art as a young child (as one does) through the world of picture books. Raised in Kiel, Wisconsin on a steady diet of fairy tales and natural history books, she followed that interest to Milwaukee, where she studied at the Institute of Art & Design.
Katie's inspirations include the books she loved as a child, nature, dreams, tiny creepy things, and the little discomforts of everyday life. Working primarily in acrylic and graphite, she tries to capture the subtle, bittersweet and sleepy moments of the internal world. Katie now freelances, working on a variety of projects including design, graphic novels, and commissioned pieces. In addition to freelancing, she also shows her work at galleries and creates miniature art jewelry and other miscellaneous goods to sell at craft fairs around the city. Soon she hopes to begin the daunting task of writing and illustrating her own picture book.
BRAD “SLAG” SLUDER-
Brian was born is San Diego California in 1971. From a young age he was influenced not only by his father and brother, both amazing artists, but also from the west coast culture he was raised in. "I am always trying to evolve as a person and in my art, and part of that evolution brought my wife and I to Milwaukee WI on our “Midwest Adventure”. I would love to bring a little Southern California flavor to the Midwest art scene."
He has always identified and been inspired by music, and film. Many of those icons tend to be his subjects of choice. He lovest to experiment with different mediums and styles and enjoys doing custom pieces for people. He is open to all forms of expression and looks forward to seeing how his art changes and grows as he experiences this new chapter of life.
"I hope you enjoy what I have created thus far."
the Spring 2014 Bay View Gallery Night is approaching on June 6th! We will also be celebrating our 5th anniversary with food, drinks, photobooth and more! As well as 4 featured artists work.
First up: Lauren Zens. A Milwaukee based painter of abstract and colorful works both large and small!
Carlos Adames is a Milwaukee based musician and painter. He paints as a form of broad self expression, portraying anything that crosses his mind and emotions.
Carlos started paintingwith his grand mother's inspiration. Even though hevhad art classes in school and college, he learned the real meaning of painting thanks to her.
"I drive my self through experimentation and my own creativity. I work mainly with acrylic as i feel more comfortable with it."
He started art lessons when as an 8 year old at the Sunday school for youth in Mexico ( Escuela Municipal de Artes Plasticas ), he first tried sculpture but didn't feel as attracted to the art as painting. He then continued through the " Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes Mexico, where he studied Music and continued taking art lessons as an optional choice".
The pieces shown here are acrylic on canvas and represent the time and experiences he's had in Milwaukee WI.
One of our artist's set to hang work late in February is M.E Post. A long time consignor at Sparrow of handmade paper goods, journals, and handbags recently she has begun a process of creating paper flowers. In an effort to reduce the amount waste leftover from other projects, she began experimenting and the idea blossomed from there. Each piece is made entirely of the scraps and remnants of Marli's other projects, arranged and framed into a beautiful new piece.
Leah Borkenhagen creates lovely bold colored paintings and detailed drawings. Come see Leah's work along with a few other artists during our December 13th holiday party
On September 27th for Bay View Gallery night we will be also featuring the beautiful wood work of Jason Blenkinsop. Come by and check it out!
Bio
Jason Blenkinsop is a 34 year old artist currently raising a family in
Milwaukee's Riverwest community, with his wife Amber. He specializes in
custom carvings and finish woodwork with an emphasis on
functionality. Jason is a interactive craftsman who works
on commissioned pieces, turning ideas into reality. Beauty with a
purpose. It was with this in mind that he designed his workshop:
Functional Art Furnishings.
Artist Statement
Everyone has furniture in their house that they must look at every day,
I want to look at something beautiful. It's nice to have every piece of
furniture in your house be a work of art. Woodworking is a wonderful way
for me to create something useful in a beautiful way.
A lot of the inspiration for my art comes from Victorian era
architecture. Whenever I'm designing a piece I like to make sure it has
as much detail as possible without being overly ornate. I focus on the
details of my art because the details are what draw my eye to a piece.
My artwork brings beauty into every aspect of my life. Furniture is
mostly utilitarian but that doesn't mean it has to be drab and boring.
When I turn on a lamp or when I look at my clock to see what time it is,
I'm staring at art.
When I learn about a different technique for creating wood pieces I
immediately imagine what I might be able to create with that technique.
I've learned how to use a lathe, I've learned how to bend wood and I've
learned how to create inlay all through my desire to create something
functional and beautiful.
Stop by September 27th for Bay View Gallery night to check out the paintings of Helen Poser, one of our featured artists.
Helen G. Poser, the wanderer, paints with the graceful strokes of an old soul grandmother telling an evolved and embellished story, skilled at filling in the spaces between with color and depth, a wisdom. Whereas, her subjects often pry out from a locked away child, ready to find beauty in simple things, yet discovering imperfections, cruelties, weathering in this world for the first time. It is the juxtaposition of the knowing and the searching that make her paintings so inviting, intriguing, and beautiful.
blog http://helengposer.blogspot.com
Join us for September's BayView Gallery Night! We will be featuring great Artists and live music from the Calamity Janes! 5pm - 10pm
Artists:
Regina Kalyanaraman: Paintings
Steph Davies : Paintings
Jason Blenkinsop : Wood Working
Helen Poser: Paintings
Music: 6pm - 7pm
Calamity Janes: https://www.facebook.com/janesofcalamity
July 26, 2026
5pm-10pm @ Sparrow Collective
BrotherDonkey
Weird
Mike Weird is an outspoken, viciously handsome, modest fellow with a passion for religious alters, organic smoothies, squirrels, antique board game boxes, music not suitable for most ears, dumpster diving, and smoking lots of cigarettes. He is a self-taught painter with a degree in graphic design. Weird will make you laugh uncontrollably, probably choose a style of foot wear you’ll be moved to compliment him on, and usually leave you honestly pondering the existence of life on other planets and life itself.
Originally from Flagstaff, Arizona, Mike always had a recognized talent for illustration growing up. His art started with invented super heroes as a child, progressed into advanced art classes in school, and then expanded to painting and sculpture. Today, many of his early pieces are still displayed in the schools he attended as a whippersnapper.
Later, Mr. Weird joined the U.S. Army and served oversees. This allowed him to frolic around Europe towards the end of his enlistment, gobbling up inspiration anywhere from gyro stands to the Louvre. Afterwards, he moved to Seattle and worked tirelessly on progressive social issues. This led him to Milwaukee.
Over the last decade of being in Brew City, our incredible creative community has inspired him to DIY himself to death: knitting, sewing, vintage bike restoration, wood burning, you name it. He is zealous about repurposing, recycling, and improving the garbage he finds in alleyways. Which is the concept of his ongoing work. His tools and mediums are all either found or donated.
He envisions returning to school studying history…or some other major he probably won’t use to get a real job.
Here's some examples of Weird's work:
Make Sparrow Collective a priority stop for this years Bay View Gallery Night! Not only is it BVGN, but it's also Sparrow Collective's 4th Birthday!! This year's show is pretty amazing! Continuing our dedication to Milwaukee artists, designers and craft-folk, we are featuring fantastic local artists! Their work reflects the many different facets of Milwaukee existence, creativity, and heart. The exposition includes a collection of paintings/mixed media by Sebastian Pechstein, mixed-media by Cody Frei and a collection of prints by Anja Notanja. Anja will also be doing performance art, channeling LIVE RADIOWAVES from space! Eric Oleyniczak (from Head On Electric) will be playing his acoustic deviation Head Off Electric and Sparrow will provide a Photo Booth so you can always remember the amazing time you had at BVGN 2013! Stop in and Love Your Milwaukee Artists!
Local Artist and Storyteller, Anja Notanja will be channeling LIVE RADIOWAVES from space at the "x" from with an antennae made of her own hair. Come and receive a little bit of what the universe is trying to tell you; Anja Notanja will type up the incoming radiowave on her typewriter and hand it to you directly. Good reception from Ursa Minor and Beyond! She is not a psychic, but she does channel radiowaves from space.
What Are Radio Waves From Space?!
"RADIOWAVES FROM SPACE are birthed to Earth through the
clouds. RADIOWAVES FROM SPACE run through trees like hot pea soup. RADIOWAVES FROM SPACE cleave wormholes we can fit through. RADIOWAVES FROM SPACE will happily transfer you to the 17th dimension. RADIOWAVES FROM SPACE are precious and evil queens will always want them."
http://anjanotanja.com/section/269095_Radio_Waves_From_Space.html
Antenea Vision by Anja Notanja Sieger
Sebastian Pechstein attended Pius XI Hgh School, graduating in 2008, During his time there he was the president of Pius's Art Club. He continued to pursue art at the Kansas City Art Institute in Missouri. Midway through his second semester he decided college wasn't the right place for him,
"I found out a four year art education wasn't for me. I decided to obtain my education from the world around me and the people I encounter in my everyday life. Living in the moment is what I strive to achieve at this point in my life."
Sebastian experimented and excelled in many mediums including painting, drawing, printmaking, sewing, fibers, and textiles.
Sebastian Pechstein passed away earlier this year. Sparrow Collective is honored to celebrate this young artist's incredible life and work during this year's BVGN.
Go Home Now,by Sebastian Pechstein
Culture cultivation, there are two primary dimensions that I function under, artist and art/social organizer. For the past three years I have worked with two curatorial practices (62 Dimension and CENTER) constructing and showcasing a vivid variety of contemporary exhibition, novice art, fairs, satellite radio shows, group meditation classes and educational youth art programs.
The position of being both creator and organizer has situated me in a position of having a privileged perspective, allowing for a pivot back and forth between the two with little resistance. Personally speaking, the pivot holds a conceptual and physical grace, a fluid gesture, mentally surviving the landscape while physically and viscerally responding to the transition as seamlessly as possible.
For this exhibition I’m interested in articulating my appreciation of fashion as culture and art, while not becoming overly invested in creating an art piece, but a fashion piece that could be considered art. The work sincerely engages the two different mediums of art and fashion as conceptual and cultural products to illuminate a slightly different plane.
Eric Oleyniczak, from Head On Electric, playing his acoustic deviation Head Off Electric!!
January Artist - Nicholas Nadja
Nicholas Nadja portrays his elaborate imagination through a surreal but self tangible point of view for the world to see. At age 17 he started a year of training under Professional painter Ryan Shultz in Chicago. In 2009 he traveled to Europe for an art touring group all over Italy, and returned to Italy and France in 2012 for organic farming, creating, and developing more understanding of the world. He hopes to return again, but in a lengthier stay with citizenship to pursue the artist options Europe has to offer, and continue the ongoing process of art and fueling inspiration.
Now, at 19 years old, Nicholas stuns artists and art enthusiasts around the world, showing his minds beauty throug undeniably talented paintings. Working towards a BFA at Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, he hopes to pursue a career in Europe and America developing a wide breadth of contacts and varied education.
Each painting, or work of art from Nicholas Nadja, is created from a space purely imaginative, yet paired with a traditional sense of the oil medium. The creation is genuinely true to the symbolism of the artist. The beauty of the bizarre and temptation of other realities centers his work. The poetry is visual, and the interaction between the medium and the artist is vividly shown. Delicately casted, the inner imagination is closely painted using the reality of modern times to structure the concentration of themes used.
Stop by Sparrow Collective Friday January 25th from 6-9 to meet Nicholas and view the work!
Mallory originally intended to be a high-school English teacher, but during her sophomore year of college she picked up an introductory painting class and had changed her major after three weeks into it. Her focus was split between painting and photography, but she decided to concentrate on painting after teaching elementary school art for a year and a half.
Painting fell to the wayside a bit while trying out a few different jobs, but returned as the main focus while pregnant with her daughter. Since then, She has worked primarily on commissions for friends and family, from animals for a nursery to a simple study of light to completely abstract studies of colors. She draws her inspiration from anything… new media, her husband’s love of biking, or colors her daughter likes.
Mallory plans on continuing to paint on wood panels, like many of the pieces in this show, but claims “I can’t even begin to know where painting will take me.”
Her art will be displayed from November 16- December 14. Come by Sparrow Collective to check it out.
Script a show by Kari Borchert
Born and raised in Milwaukee, Kari atteneded UWM for painting and drawing where most of her work centered on Collage and layered messy paintings. For Sparrow Collective she has put together a showing of her works created from found items. Script - is a series of portraits on yellowed old book pages. In each portrait one full line of the original book page is left uncolored -adding to the narrative of the portrait.
With a newly found talent for Needle work, She will also be introducing a series of Croostitch samples that are truly one of a kind. Kari is finding that the cross stiching has been a great way to occupy her time and keep her out of trouble!!
Kari has been a full time nanny for five children for the past three years. She finds it to be a fun, unpredictable and every changing job that has helped support her artist endeavors.
Dating an Industrial Designer for the past three years; she finds it's amazing having someone with whom you can freely and openly talk about what you're working on and what you're trying to accomplish. He is the 'fresh set of eyes;' and Kari can always count on him to constructively advise her on her work. She happily lives in Riverwest; and says it's the most eclectic and diverse neighborhood she's lived in, and never felt as 'at home'.
"These sketches have been somewhat therapeutic, in the sense that I'm able to find a line in a book page that I identify with, then draw an anonymous portrait to suit this phrase. I love being able to pawn these sentiments I'm feeling off onto images of strangers."
Kari plans on continuing the series, hopefully on a grander scale. Intending to create larger, multi-layerd portrait based oil paintings.
"As for my cross stitch, I plan to keep on stitching away. It's been a lovely way to spend my quiet time, and I love having a neat, funny, one of a kind finished piece."
Please come welcome Kari to Sparrow Collective!!
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During September Sparrow Collective features the work of local Milwaukeean, Michael Nagal and his neo-surrealist paintings. Michael's work varies from large scale photo realistic pieces of nature, exquisitely detailed surrealist works of the mind, to a small humorous "bud" collection.
Michael is also a phenomenal comic illustrator and author and hosts a show on the Riverwest Radio.
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