Celebrating the 10th annual Wisconsin Visual Art Lifetime Achievement Awards
By Lauren Ayala
The visual arts have long been a rich tradition at the Wisconsin Union. Beginning with the first Union president and famed art-lover Porter Butts, the Union’s unwavering devotion to the arts continues today. By receiving honors at this year’s Wisconsin Visual Art Lifetime Achievement Awards (WVALAA) this past weekend, the galleries of both Memorial Union and Union South have proven to be significant contributors to the artistic achievements of the campus, community and state.
On the second floor of Memorial Union is the Porter Butts Gallery, named after the first director of the Wisconsin Union and founder of the college union idea.
Photo courtesy of the Wisconsin Union
The annual WVALAA, which take place at Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend, aim to honor individuals and organizations that have contributed to the visual arts in the region. This year, the organization doled out several awards to individuals and groups throughout Wisconsin and featured a speech by Director Emeritus of the Museum of Wisconsin Art, Tom Lidtke. Among the honorees this year was the Wisconsin Union – but it was not the first time that the Union was involved in the WVALAA; Porter Butts was honored at the first ceremony in 2004.
Porter Butts encouraged art to be a part of everyday life at the Union and worked hard to establish the first university art gallery after he graduated in 1924. Today, both Unions boast four galleries, one even named after Porter Butts himself. Not only did Porter encourage the opportunity to view art – but to make it – by being involved in opening the first Craftshop in any college union in the country.
Robin Schmoldt, Union South program director has observed Porter’s ideal firsthand in the Union.
“Artwork is not relegated to just one gallery space but is displayed in hallways, meeting rooms and offices in our buildings. We have had countless staff through the years that have fostered the arts in the Craftshop, with the Art Collection, in our gallery spaces and in working with the WUD Art Committee,” she said. “An amazing number of students have come through our doors and nurtured the visual arts through programming in the Wisconsin Union Galleries.”
Carrying the torch of Porter Butts’s artistic legacy today, Robin will mark her 16th anniversary with the Wisconsin Union as a staff member this June. As the Union South program director and art collection manager, she works behind the scenes to manage the Union’s permanent art collection and advises the Wisconsin Union Directorate Art Committee. She also assists students in organizing the Annual Student Art Show, which features the year’s most promising student artists in the Union’s gallery spaces.
The Class of 1925 Gallery, located in Memorial Union, is one of the many spaces where artwork is housed.
Photo courtesy of the Wisconsin Union
“This has been a tradition as long as we’ve been an organization; it’s as old as the Oscars are! Besides offering student artists one of their first professional-level exhibition experiences, endowed purchase funds also allow us to add selected works from the show to our permanent art collection each year,” said Robin.
Robin has many memorable experiences working with art in the Union, both as a student and a staff member. One of her most cherished experiences was from 2008 when she participated in a research colloquium with Alan Shestack, the deputy director and chief curator of the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.
“The visual arts program at the Union is very hands-on and encourages students to never lose sight of this. Being able to offer students opportunities like reframing an original Diego Rivera print is truly a highlight for me,” said Robin.
“I find artwork to be one of those commonalities of all cultures. It is almost a language unto itself, in the same way music, food, dance and so many other things can unite us,” said Robin. “These commonalities bring us together – you can create community around a work of art or around the creation of art. Art can give identity, it can humanize complex or challenging concepts, it can spark dialogue, it can challenge assumptions, it can add beauty, it can add joy and it can create connections.”
