Liz Bachhuber, Jill Sebastian

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Liz Bachhuber

"Ice Birds" by Liz Bachhuber.

"Ice Birds" by Liz Bachhuber.

media release: From August 1 through October 12, 2025, the James Watrous Gallery will feature a joint exhibition by artists Liz Bachhuber (Germany) and Jill Sebastian (Milwaukee) who are engaged in an active online communication that alternates with shared studio time. The exhibition, Eat My Words, will feature their individual investigations and actively demonstrate how they can merge in unexpected ways, inviting viewers to engage in conversation about sustainability and recycling.

Join Liz Bachhuber, Jill Sebastian, and Wisconsin Academy staff Sunday, August 17, 2025, 2:00 - 4:00 pm, to celebrate the opening of Eat My Words at the James Watrous Gallery. Remarks begin at 2:30pm. Free and open to the public. Light refreshments served

Having first met in art school at UW-Milwaukee, their artistic investigations have evolved in parallel. While Jill Sebastian collected and archived so-called weeds from a vacant lot in Milwaukee, Liz Bachhuber was on the city streets of Weimar, recovering and preserving remnants of the East German material culture. 

Jill grew snow peas on her rooftop and, after consuming the harvest, made paper from the leaves and stems. Liz designed a composter and fed it with kitchen scraps and shredded notations, texts and drawings from her studio practice, using the compost as a fertilizer for a rapidly-expanding banana palm grove. For these artists, recycling and composting are not just metaphors for artmaking but a way of living and making art responsibly in two of the most powerful consumer societies on earth. 

Admission is free and the public is welcome. The James Watrous Gallery is located on the third floor of Overture Center for the Arts in downtown Madison. 

Gallery Hours: Thursday - Sunday 12:00 - 5:00pm.

The James Watrous Gallery is dedicated to celebrating Wisconsin artists. A program of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters, the Watrous Gallery focuses on solo exhibits by contemporary Wisconsin artists and curated shows that draw connections between art, other disciplines, and critical issues.