MILWAUKEE, Mitchell Street Arts (MiSA) announces their very first cohort of TWIG Artists in Residents. Artists Mikal Floyd-Pruitt, Nohemí Chávez and Jovanny Hernandez Caballero, Bill Walker, and Fanana Banana are Milwaukee based and will begin their residencies on August 25th.
The Mitchell Street Arts’ TWIG and NEST Residencies provides artists from around Milwaukee and around the world with dedicated time, space, and resources to create new works, experiment, and conduct research. The programs promote the sharing of ideas and relationship building between local and non-local artists. The residency is open to visual, sound, and interdisciplinary artists.
“The TWIG is a competitive, juried residency program designed to support Milwaukee artists and help them thrive in this city,” said Rew Gordon, MiSA’s Executive Director. “Our aim is to provide an inclusive support structure for socially engaged artists that encompasses physical space, mentorship, and networking opportunities. While open to all visual artists, the program has a soft focus on increasing public art in the city”.
“I’m thrilled for our new space to open to the public and I’m even more excited that the TWIG residencies will provide more opportunities for artists to flourish in their individual practices right in the heart of one of Milwaukee’s most historic neighborhoods.” said Nicole Acosta, MiSA’s Creative Events Director. “The artists in this cohort bring a unique collective voice to the space and I can’t wait to see what they create,” said Acosta.
TWIG residencies are supported by the Herzfeld Foundation, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, and Bader Philanthropies.
The TWIG residencies are iterative and run for 6 months, located inside Mitchell Street Arts. To set up a private tour call 414-306-1396, or visit the space in person during normal business hours at 710 W Historic Mitchell St, Milwaukee, WI 53204. More information about Mitchell Street Arts can be found at mitchellstreet.org.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Mikal Floyd-Pruitt is an artist whose practice is an interdisciplinary intersection of visual art, performance, media, and community engagement. He aims to produce artwork and experiences that have significant cultural impact. By designing artistic frameworks in which community members, including non-artists of all ages, can gather and contribute to making, Floyd-Pruitt envelops participants in positive, synergistic, creative energy. Music production is also interwoven into Floyd-Pruitt’s practice. He uses writing and performance to interrogate language, dismantling destructive narratives to make room for the vocabulary of self-definition and self-determination. In 2007, after graduating from Harvard University, cum laude, with a B.A. in Visual and Environmental Studies (filmmaking focus), Floyd-Pruitt returned home to Milwaukee to ceaselessly produce throughout the city while also exhibiting/performing nationally. Notable exhibitions include Art Basel at Croma Gallery, 30 Americans/Wisconsin 30 at Milwaukee Art Museum, and the screening of El Color de la Libertad at the Milwaukee Film Festival. Creative placemaking positions include Co-Director of HEREcni and Lead Artist of Spot 4MKE. In addition, Floyd-Pruitt ran workshops for faculty and students during his performance residency at USC. Awards include the 2023 Mary L. Nohl Fellowship, Joy Engine Community Challenge Grant, Milwaukee Arts Board New Work Fund, Arte Para Todos, and ARTery Season 1. Floyd-Pruitt is a co-director of HomeWorks: Bronzeville, a development initiative based in Milwaukee that focuses on local creative entrepreneurial talent by way of property ownership and is the creator of I Am Milwaukee, a lifestyle brand promoting unity, creativity, and belonging. Nohemí Chávez and Jovanny Hernandez Caballero challenge the idea of fine art and fashion by making the most from the least, using discarded and recycled materials, taking fragments to create a new aesthetic, and showcasing the attributes that have been ingrained into our cultures for generations. For their residency they will continue a community project where Nohemí is remixing Chicano/Latine fashion by upcycling clothing creating one of a kind pieces. Jovanny will then photograph individuals in the clothing in unique locations that are the heart of the South Side such as the local panaderia (bakery), dulceria (candy store), people’s home, etc. The images will then be projected around the neighborhood using the community landscape as agallery. They will also continue to experiment and conduct research since their art stems from experiences growing up in the South Side of Milwaukee. Nohemí will experiment with using different fabrics found around shops in the neighborhood such as from the Mitchell Street Mall.
Bill Walker uses the concept of body horror in film and literature to explore where our environment ends and our human bodies and identities begin. He uses horror, satire, and Queer theory to conceptualize his pieces, and works with cartoonish color palettes and organic forms to produce them. Much of their references come from dollar store canned food labels, gay porn screenshots, conversations from text exchanges, Queer archives, and vintage fetish magazines. This collection of visual, conversational, and cultural elements allows them to highlight the presence of Trans people in our world and yet the lack of representation of them in recorded histories, media, and modern spaces. By merging erotically-coded abstract figure painting with sumptuous still life studies of mundane objects, their work addresses the historical trend of posing Trans people as rare novelties while simultaneously censoring all proof that Trans individuals and communities exist joyfully, creatively, and even defiantly in the face of oppression. Bill’s time at TWIG will include continuing their work with local Trans archivists and historians. They will be gathering statements, personal histories, and historical Queer liberation artwork and creating paintings, quilts, and sculptures from them.
Fanana Banana began with the first Muslim Milwaukee art show in 2019 with a mission to create a safe space for local Muslim and MENA artists through art shows. Exhibiting a wide variety of art including abstract, realism, sculpture, collage, fine art, photography, and more. Fanana Banana has since expanded into offering vendor events, intimate networking workshops and art sessions for nonprofits and businesses. As a collective: Fanana intends to use this residency to continue working on collaborative projects, create new event experiences. As well as engage with the local neighborhood, and conduct research in hopes to create the “Colors of Historic Mitchell” art piece.
