Poetry in the Gallery

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Madeline Grace Martin/courtesy Watrous Gallery

An artwork using cursive writing.

"Once Something is on a List it's Not So Easy to Lose" by Madeline Grace Martin.

The Wisconsin-centric Watrous Gallery weighs in with another winning pairing. Mercer’s Mary Burns is a textile artist. Her “Women of Water: Woven Portraits from Around the World” consists of almost photo-realist hand-woven jacquard portraits of women from 39 countries around the globe. Milwaukee’s Madeline Grace Martin is a multidisciplinary artist who uses media including watercolor, embroidery, pencil drawings, and hand-cut paper. Her “Of Words and Trees: A Collaboration with My Father” extends her father’s writings with various media, including natural objects and cut paper, to investigate the “inexact quality of memory.” Coming up: Martin, joined by Madison poet laureate Angela Trudell Vasquez, presents an afternoon of poetry and reflection at 3 p.m. on Jan. 20; register at wisconsinacademy.org.

media release: On View: November 24, 2023 to February 4, 2024. Artists' Reception: Saturday, December 2, 6:00-8:00 pm.

Poetry in the Gallery: A Reading with Madeline Grace Martin and Angela Trudell Vazquez, Saturday, January 20, 2023, 3:00-4:00 pm

The Wisconsin Academy is honored to welcome Madeline Grace Martin and Angela Trudell Vasquez, Madison’s Poet Laureate, for an afternoon of poetry and reflection at the James Watrous Gallery. Martin’s exhibition Of Words and Trees is a collaboration with her late father, writer and educator Peter Martin. Her recent artwork is infused with his poetry, often transforming selected lines into dramatic hand-cut paper forms. Martin will read a selection of poems written by her father, and share how she connects with his work through her art practice. Angela Trudell Vasquez often includes ekphrastic poetry – writing poems in response to visual art – in her teaching, and many of her poems explore social justice, family, and generational wisdom. “Art speaks across the ages,” she notes, and our loved ones live on in art in addition to our hearts.”

Please join us for this exploration of poetry as a visual art. Registration for this event is on a pay-what-you-wish basis, with a suggested contribution of $5-15 to help pay our artists and keep programs accessible to everyone.

From November 24 though February 4, the James Watrous Gallery will feature two solo exhibitions: Women of Water: Woven Portraits from Around the World by textile artist Mary Burns (Mercer) and Of Words and Trees: A Collaboration with My Father by multidisciplinary artist Madeline Grace Martin (Milwaukee). 

Mary Burns’ gorgeous jacquard weavings celebrate a host of remarkable women engaged in water rights, water quality, and water science, subjects that play an important part in the Wisconsin Academy’s history. Madeline Grace Martin, best known for her portraiture, has created a powerful body of sculptural objects, collage, and embroideries honoring her father Peter Martin – his life, his poetry, and his work with incarcerated individuals.

“I’m excited to share these fascinating exhibitions, the first to emerge from our recent open call for artists,” says Watrous Gallery Director, Jody Clowes. "Through woven portraiture and artfully rendered interpretations of poetry and natural materials, both Mary Burns and Madeline Grace Martin pay tribute to individuals who inspire them."

Mary Burns is an award-winning fiber artist and master weaver. She weaves custom-designed jacquard weavings and wall pieces in addition to felting, natural dyeing and eco-printing. Her work has been displayed in numerous exhibitions and shows across the state and the nation, including several art and science collaborations. She has received many awards including the Best of Show in Wausau’s Festival of Arts in 2012 and 2008 and at the Manito Art League in 2020. 

Madeline Grace Martin received her MFA at UW-Milwaukee in 2019 and is an artist-in-residence at Scout Studio and Gallery. She creates work using watercolor, embroidery, pencil drawings, and hand-cut paper to honor intergenerational and community stories. She was awarded the Racine Art Museum's Watercolor Wisconsin Award in 2012, 2013, and 2022 and has showed in exhibitions across Wisconsin and the Midwest. She currently lives in the Merrill Park neighborhood with her partner and three children and works as an artist and educator. 

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 exhibitions by contemporary Wisconsin artists and curated shows that reflect the Wisconsin Academy's interest in drawing connections between art and other disciplines. 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.

Other exhibition-related programming will be announced.  For more information, see wisconsinacademy.org/gallery

More on the exhibits:

Women of Water: Woven Portraits from Around the World 

Mary Burns’ weavings celebrate and honor water and the women who work with it, protect it, and advocate for it. She began this project in 2016, inspired by Indigenous water protectors and the awareness that water is often closely tied to women’s roles in traditional cultures – carrying it, cooking with it, and protecting it.  

Over time, Burns’ project expanded to embrace a wider group of women -- scientists, water-walkers, teachers, farmers, and healers -- all of whom hold deep connections with water. The women featured in her beautifully rendered weavings span the globe, from Wisconsin to the Arctic Circle, from Mozambique to Honduras, from Sri Lanka to Peru, and from the North American Great Lakes to the African Great Lakes.  

In developing these pieces, Burns worked with the women, their families, and their organizations to tell their stories. Her decision to represent them in weaving, a medium often stereotyped as “women’s work,” reflects the often-underestimated power and importance of women’s contributions to water advocacy and science.

Of Words and Trees: A Collaboration with My Father 

A portrait painter and multidisciplinary artist, Madeline Grace Martin's work honors the lives of community members and family. For this exhibition, Martin builds upon the work that her father began, creating visual art to accompany his writing. This new body of work reflects upon the roles he occupied, as a father, husband, boxer, writer, social worker, teacher, and planter of trees. 

Created in a rich variety of media, Martin’s artwork gives new life to her father’s words. Several pieces made by cutting the titles of his poems and stories out of black paper curve and spin delicately in space, suggesting the inexact quality of memory. Mandalas of pinecone scales collected from the trees he planted radiate in circles, the ripples and currents offering evidence of his once physical presence.  

 “This show is a visual representation of healing and mystery, of asking questions that may not have conclusive answers,” writes Martin. “How do we repay our elders? How do we honor our parents? How do we stay connected to those who have died? Can art-making heal loss?” 

About the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters  

The Wisconsin Academy creates opportunities for people to connect, learn, and collaborate to improve Wisconsin life through a variety of experiences and events in the sciences, arts, and letters. The Wisconsin Academy showcases contemporary Wisconsin art at the James Watrous Gallery, examines science and culture in Wisconsin People & Ideas magazine, and explores pathways to a sustainable future through its Climate and Energy Initiative. Academy Courses and public talks provide opportunities to learn and explore, while making connections with curious and creative people across Wisconsin. The Academy recognizes excellence through the annual Fiction & Poetry Awards and Fellows Awards for leadership in and across disciplines. We also support the Wisconsin Poet Laureate and many other endeavors that help the Academy create a better world by connecting Wisconsin people and ideas.   

The James Watrous Gallery receives ongoing support from the Great Performance Fund at the Madison Community Foundation and the membership of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters. Support for the gallery is also provided through grants from the Ruth Foundation for the Arts and the Wisconsin Arts Board, with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.