Hidden art galleries surprise around campus

You don’t have to wait until the Chazen Museum of Art’s addition opens in October to catch some of the art on campus.

Here’s a guide to some of the off-the-beaten path, informal art galleries and exhibits around campus, many of which feature work by regional artists or those with ties to UW–Madison.

• Agricultural Hall: During a recent remodeling project in the stately old brick building on Linden Drive, Molly Jahn, then-dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, looked to redraw a link between science and the visual arts.

Harkening back CALS’ role in hiring painter John Steuart Curry as the university’s first artist-in-residence during the Great Depression, Jahn replaced formal works in Ag Hall’s rotunda with art from the Wisconsin Regional Arts Program, founded by Curry to foster the creativity of rural Wisconsinites.

The first exhibit went up in the fall of 2009, and again last year, students, faculty and staff in CALS voted to choose art from the Wisconsin Regional Arts Program to display for the academic year.

The work of the seven selected Wisconsin artists will be on display until September; CALS expects another exhibit to take its place in the fall.

How to find it: Enter Ag Hall from the main steps on Linden Drive. When you enter the building, walk up the stairs on either side of the foyer, then turn back toward Linden to see the art on display.

• Office of the Secretary of the Academic Staff: For those who are sick of the dull grays and browns of late spring in Wisconsin, the Office of the Secretary of the Academic Staff has the cure.

The walls pop with the warm sherberts of the Bahamas, as well as scenes from Italy and other spots around the world, as captured in the vibrant photographs by this semester’s featured artist, Paula White, FLARE project manager at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research. White says she aims to capture images from landscapes and events found in travel, dance and music to inspire intrigue and amusement.

Her photos are inviting: A purple rocking chair calls out for a user to enjoy a languid afternoon on a bright porch, a bowl of colorful vegetables sits next to a sunny, rippling pool, where a swimmer ducks below the surface.

White is the third member of the academic staff to have work displayed in the office since a remodeling project left bare white walls made for an art gallery. That prompted Secretary of the Academic Staff Donna Silver to solicit artwork from academic staff members to display in semester-long exhibits.

How to find it: The office, 270 Bascom Hall, is open during business hours.

• Education Building: The Art Department now has a high-profile venue for displaying its work in the revamped Education Building on Bascom Hill.

Permanent displays for artwork anchor the building’s entrance and central court, giving art a place amid study tables and couches in the building’s remodeled interior. To showcase the art department and its graduates, the Art Board of Visitors sponsored Art on Bascom, a collection of donated works from alumni and friends of the art department.

The works on display, most of which are for sale, portray a range of artists and media, from animation cels and drawings from J.J. Sedelmaier to Barbara Sorensen’s “Pandora,” a stubbly stoneware box with a rough-cut handle opening to a gold interior.

Art on Bascom is on display until fall; the Art Board of Visitors is expected to sponsor future visits. Visit http://news.education.wisc.edu/ArtOnBascom/Art_On_Bascom.aspx to view and purchase the artwork for sale; a gallery reception is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 27.

How to find it: Enter the Education Building from Bascom Hill. There are two pedestal cases on each side of the main doors, and two cases on the walls to the left and right. A gallery with more artwork is in the commons area, just beyond the front lobby of the building.

• Art Department elevator and 7th Floor Gallery: The Art Department’s 7th Floor Gallery features new exhibits from student artists about once a week.

And it’s no surprise that an elevator leading to student art studios would be a place for doodling, but now it’s a place for real art. The Art Department has crafted the Hi/Lo Gallery, a creative place the department calls “an innovative installation space for students.”

Students from one of the Art Department’s Foundations classes have done a series of “stencil graffiti” in the elevator over the paint job that was part of the first installation last semester by Kelly Johannsen. The students’ work offers commentary on current events in Wisconsin politics.

Art Department chair Tom Loeser says the elevator gallery is in need of an artist willing to do its next installation.

How to find it: The Hi/Lo gallery elevator is at the east entrance of the Mosse Humanities Building, which faces the Chazen Museum of Art, and travels to the building’s seventh floor, where the gallery can be found.