What to do in Madison this week: Maia Sharp, Quan Barry and more Isthmus Picks

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Conjure: Art and the Black Supernatural, Monday, Sept. 25, Chazen Museum of Art, 5 p.m.: University of California, Irvine professor Bridget Cooks is a scholar of African American visual art and an acclaimed museum curator (for an example of her work, view the 2021 exhibit “The Black Index,” which won the Association of Art Museum Curators 2022 Award for Excellence). As part of the UW Center for Research on Gender & Women’s colloquium series, Cooks will speak on the topic of “Conjure: Art and the Black Supernatural,” which examines the place of expressions of faith and magic in African American culture. The Sept. 25 event begins with a reception, followed by the lecture at 6 p.m. Cooks will also participate in a panel discussion, “Lifting the Veil: a Conversation on Race and the Museum Now,” on Sept. 26 at the Chazen; register at eventbrite.com.

TetraPAKMAN, through Sept. 29, Dark Star Art Bar: The work of Madison-based artist TetraPAKMAN has long considered concepts around conservation, and often created using repurposed/recycled materials. In recent years a focal point has been climate change and the role of the fossil fuel industry. That continues with “The Monster Across The Street,” a collection of work visualizing the environmental harm caused by burning methane (aka natural gas).

Quan Barry, Wednesday, Sept. 27, Central Library, 7 p.m.: Auction is the fifth collection of poetry by Quan Barry, the Lorraine Hansberry Professor of English at UW-Madison and currently writer in residence for Forward Theater Company. The publisher says the collection examines “the inner landscapes of both the human and animal realms, revealing them to be points along the same spectrum.” Sounds intriguing. Barry will discuss Auction at this Wisconsin Book Festival event.

Artina McCain, Wednesday, Sept. 27, UW Hamel Music Center-Collins Recital Hall, 7:30 p.m.: As a performing pianist and educator, Artina McCain often focuses on bringing the works of historically underrepresented composers to the concert stage and classroom. This Mead Witter School of Music Guest Artist Series concert will feature works by Cuban-American Pulitzer Prize winner Tania León, Belize-born and Britain-based Errollyn Wallen, and African Americans Joseph Joubert and H. Leslie Adams, alongside works by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Claude Debussy and others. McCain’s Madison appearance is rescheduled from the spring DEIB Festival. Tickets at artsticketing.wisc.edu.

On Various Subjects: 250 Years of Phillis Wheatley, through Dec. 22, UW Memorial Library-Room 976; reception Sept. 28, 4-6 p.m.: Two special elements combine in this event: The Special Collections gallery space and the colonial American poet Phillis Wheatley. Special Collections is devoting its fall exhibit to Wheatley, the first African American writer to publish a book of poetry, and only one of three colonial American women, period, to publish a book. Wheatley was taken from West Africa when she was about 7 years old and enslaved; her last name Wheatley was the name of the family in Boston that kept her as a domestic servant yet taught her to read and encouraged her writing. She wrote her poetry in the formal, classical tradition, often in rhyming couplets. The exhibit includes a copy of the 1773 first edition of Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral as well as other ephemera and artifacts concerning Wheatley in popular culture and the complex legacy of her story. The exhibit runs through Dec. 22; the gallery is open from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, but note an ID is required to access Memorial Library.

Photographing My Homeland in the Full-Scale War, Thursday, Sept. 28, UW Ingraham Hall-Room 206, 4 p.m.: Iva Sidash began taking photographs as a hobby in her home of Lviv, Ukraine. After the Russian invasion in 2022, Sidash began documenting the war’s effects, starting with displaced people coming through Lviv by train and eventually traveling in eastern Ukraine. “I wanted to be useful to my country and close to the situation,” Sidash says. (Read Audrey Thibert’s story here.) Sidash will talk about her work as part of the UW Center for Russia, East Europe and Central Asia weekly lecture series; for information about an exhibit of Sidash’s photography at UW-Whitewater, visit uww.edu.

Blades of Steel MetalFest 3, Sept. 28-30, Crucible: Your ears probably have stopped ringing from last month’s two-day Mad With Power Fest VI metal extravaganza at The Sylvee. But now here comes three days of even heavier metal. Blades of Steel’s razor-sharp lineup includes big names like Riot V, Jag Panzer and Exciter, plus a deep slate of other bands hailing from the Madison area and around the globe, making Crucible the center of the Midwest’s head-banging universe. Note, the fest has had some lineup changes at the last minute (including new Thursday night band Midnight and cancellations by Flotsam and Jetsam, Blind Illusion and Artillery), but the show will go on, starting at 5 p.m. on Sept. 28, 4 p.m. on Sept. 29 and 1 p.m. on Sept. 30 (note updated times). This 18-and-over show has five ticket options; find info at rk-metal-promotions.ticketleap.com.

Jon Melrod, Thursday, Sept. 28, A Room of One’s Own, 6 p.m.: ‌Political activist and human rights lawyer Jon Melrod will discuss his new book, Fighting Times: Organizing on the Front Lines of the Class War. Melrod writes about his involvement in the student movement of the 1960s (at UW-Madison), the labor movement (at American Motors in Kenosha), and more. With it, he hopes to inspire the next generation of organizers fighting for fair working conditions. Melrod will discuss the book with Bill Franks, a former AFT-Wisconsin union steward and retired senior equal opportunity specialist for the Department of Workforce Development.

Joyce Carol Oates, Thursday, Sept. 28, Central Library, 7 p.m.: One of America’s most honored living writers has also proven over the years to be one of our most prolific creators, in a dazzling array of forms and genres. Which, to the uninitiated, can seem daunting: where to start in Joyce Carol Oates bibliography? Why not with Oates' latest, Zero-Sum, a collection of short stories covering a range of disturbing-sounding modern-day issues. judging by the publisher’s description. Oates will discuss the book with Chloe Benjamin (The Immortalists) at this Wisconsin Book Festival event; all attendees will receive a free copy of Zero-Sum.

Samantha Bee, Thursday, Sept. 28, Barrymore, 7:30 p.m.: Samantha Bee moved from being a correspondent on The Daily Show to her own TBS satirical news show, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, where her comic takes on the Trump administration, the deterioration of women’s rights in the U.S., and the absurdities of the COVID-19 pandemic grew ever darker and more penetrating during its seven seasons on the air. A welcome feminist voice on the national stage, she’s stopping at the Barrymore as part of her “Your Favorite Woman: The Joy of Sex Education” tour, which sold out at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., earlier this year. Tickets at barrymorelive.com.

Maia Sharp, Thursday, Sept. 28, Bur Oak, 8 p.m.: Songwriter Maia Sharp moved to Nashville from her native California a few years back, and judging by the songs on Reckless Thoughts (released in August) she is right at home in Music City. Sharp’s finely tuned storytelling is paired with music seamlessly melding rock, country and pop, laid back but still with an edge to it. With Minneapolis folk-rock outfit Maygen & the Birdwatcher. Tickets at seetickets.us.

Digging, Sept. 28-30, UW Lathrop Hall-H’Doubler Performance Space: The UW Dance Department begins its season with a program in collaboration with Jin-Wen Yu Dance (led by the longtime Dance Department professor). “Digging” shares its name with a new work by Jin-Wen Yu exploring our post-pandemic reality; the second half of the program will revisit works by the choreographer spanning the years 1995-2013. Performances at 8 p.m. on Sept. 28-29 and 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 30; find advance tickets at artsticketing.wisc.edu.

Find the individual Picks collected here, and as part of the full calendar of events.

Editor's note: This post has been edited to include updated info for Blades of Steel.