Madison Mentors: A Reunion of Influential Artists

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Daniel Swadener

Detail from an untitled painting by Mona Boulware Webb.

press release: The Promega Summer Art Showcase, ‘Madison Mentors, A Reunion of Influential Artists’ will feature four past and present mentors and educators from the 1960’s art scene in Madison. The summer art show will celebrate along with the Madison Reunion event.

Artists will tell the stories of their creative process and the inspiration behind their work during a symposium on Tuesday, June 12, 2018, from 3:30 - 4:30 pm, followed by a reception featuring music by Jim Schwall from 4:30 - 6:30 pm at the Promega BioPharmaceutical Technology Center, 5445 E Cheryl Parkway in Fitchburg. Both events are open to the public.

A note about parking: Due to construction projects going on in the area, please plan for extra time to find parking prior to the start of the event.

Exhibiting artists include:

• Throughout his seemingly disparate bodies of work, Bruce Breckenridge maintains a common theme where familiar objects, symbols, and shapes, organize themselves into expressive and geometric sculptures. Objects historically personal in size and use: tin cans, baby toys, and twigs, are sculpted and intertwined with traditionally ceramic utilitarian objects: tiles, platters, and cups. Breckenridge is a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor emeritus, 1968-2006.  

• Don Reitz (1929 – 2014) was a charismatic educator and world renowned ceramics artist. Reitz earned his MFA at Alfred University in 1962, where he began experimenting with salt-glazing, a technique largely neglected by the post-World War II ceramic studio movement. Reitz taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for more than 25 years before retiring as a professor emeritus in 1988. His extensive body of work is represented in over 50 distinguished public and private collections. Peter Held, curator of the Reitz Family Trust and former curator at the Arizona State University Ceramics Research Center, will speak about Reitz and his legacy at the symposium.

• Hailed as the “Queen of Willy Street”, Mona Boulware Webb (1914 – 1998) was a painter, sculptor and a major contributor and influencer to the Madison art scene in the 1960’s and 70’s. A Houston, Texas native, Webb moved to Mexico City early in her career, and was inspired by a rich tradition of visual art that included pre-Columbian ceramics, folk carvings and textiles and the revolutionary murals of Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco. In the early 1960s, Webb resettled in Madison, Wisconsin, and opened the Wayhouse of Light, named to suggest a shelter for pilgrims, at 1354 Williamson (“Willy”) Street. The building was more than a home and studio for Webb; it also served as a collaborative artists’ space and lively community cultural center for the next three decades. Mona’s paintings will be on loan from Edgewood College Gallery in conjunction with their show, ‘Mona Boulware Webb: The Queen of Willy Street’, an immersive environment of Webb’s paintings and sculptures, from August 20 through September 23, 2018.

• Bill Weege is a University of Wisconsin-Madison alumnus. He joined the faculty of the Art Department at the University in 1971. In 1987, he founded Tandem Press. He served on the faculty as a distinguished professor until his retirement in 1998, when he shifted focus to making art full-time. Several of Weege’s posters from the 1960’s and 70’s will be exhibited. The topics of the posters range from art openings and festivals, to lectures and politics. 

The Summer Art Showcase runs from Tuesday, June 12 through September 1, 2018. The exhibit is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 am – 4:00 pm and is made possible through support from Promega Corporation. ‘Madison Mentors, A Reunion of Influential Artists’ is curated and produced by Daniel Swadener.

For more information about the Spring Art Showcase visit www.promega-artshow.com. For future art show announcements, submit your name and email address to artshow@promega.com.

Promega Corporation has sponsored the Art Showcase since 1996 as part of the company's commitment to creativity and innovation in the arts, culture and sciences. The Biopharmaceutical Technology Center, located on 5445 East Cheryl Parkway two miles south of Highway 12/18 (Beltline) off Fish Hatchery Road, was developed in part to provide Promega employees and community members a place to pursue these objectives.