From Farm to City

The Concordia Art Gallery will open its 2018-19 season with an exhibit that displays paintings by Milwaukee native Michael Fredrickson.


The gallery exhibit, which is titled “From the Farm to the City,” will run from Aug. 27 to Oct. 6. An opening reception is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 30 from 6-8 p.m. in the CUW Art Gallery, 12800 N. Lake Shore Drive. The gallery is free and open to the public, with regular exhibit hours Monday through Thursday from 4-8 p.m. and on Fridays and Sundays from from 12-4 p.m.

Fredrickson is a musician as well, having formed his own band in the 1990s.  The 60-year-old Milwaukee native plays guitar, bass, drum and organ, and regularly appeared with famed Milwaukee bandleader, songwriter, and guitarist Paul Cebar.

“Mike has been in the Milwaukee art scene for over 20 years, but this will mark his first one-man show,” said Dr. Theresa Kenney, professor of art and art gallery director.

Being raised on a farm heavily influenced Fredrickson’s paintings. “The farm was a magical place as a kid,” he noted. “The quality of light at sunset was a good place to start some of my works.” Fredrickson recently finished a new CD, according to Kenney, and will be signing copies of it at the opening.

In tandem with the Fredrickson exhibit, Concordia will run a second exhibit in a brand new gallery space on campus designated for students’ works. “Command in Color: The Photography of McKenzie Carter” will christen the Student Gallery, located adjacent to the art gallery.

Carter, a CUW sophomore photography and graphic design double major, is the inaugural featured artist. “My goal within my photography has always been to stand out,” said Carter, from Kenosha, Wisconsin. “Every idea I have is bigger than the last.”

The next show in the Art Gallery, “Aggregate,” is slated for Oct. 15-Nov. 30, while the annual Interior Architecture & Design Exhibit will be held in the Student Gallery next January.

Other shows in the Art Gallery this season are: Earth: A Vessel, January 28-March 30, 2019, and the annual Senior Art Exhibition, April 9-May 19, 2019.

Later this semester a third gallery – 14 Frames Gallery – will open, allowing artists a maximum of 14 frames to tell their story.

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