Alexis Auvert
“Connections to Milwaukee” was more than the title of an exhibition at the student-run Erie Street Gallery at 276 E. Erie St.
“Connections” is also the philosophy that infuses co-director Alexis Auvert’s approach to the exhibitions of student work to follow, and to her relationships at MIAD.
“Our mission,” Auvert ’14 said of her peers on Student Government, “is to create a dialogue in which all majors in the college participate.”
“This first exhibition showed primarily how Communication Design majors connect to Milwaukee, interpret how the city makes them feel and address some of the issues they see confronting the city’s future through works that are not strictly limited to a design execution,” said Student Government President and CD major Andrew Coyle ’12.
Future exhibitions will foster connections across the college. Key to that is working with Student Government members from different classes and majors, said Auvert, an Integrated Studio Arts major. Her co-director, Grant Gill, is a Photography and Printmaking major, and the communications director, Alisha Denomme, is majoring in Communication Design.
“Deviation” opens at Erie Street on Gallery Night.The exhibition showcases the collaborative efforts of Georgia Lloyd and Andrea Payne, a pair of 2011 MIAD graduates who majored in Photography.According to Auvert, the combination of their interests morphed into somber works focused on the juxtaposition of the human and natural along with the tranquil and tense. The exhibit runs through November 11. The gallery will host a reception on Friday, October 21 from 6 – 9 p.m. and an artist talk on Saturday, October 22 at 2:30 p.m.
Auvert, drawn to MIAD from Virginia Beach, Va., because “of the quality of work coming out of MIAD and a generous scholarship,” said she knew before beginning her studies that her role in a community of contemporary artists and designers would be to create a platform for others to show their work rather than showing her own.
“I was knowledgeable and passionate about gallery work before I came to MIAD and knew I wanted to work on the college’s gallery crew,” she said. “I gained even more installation experience during my Foundations year through my professors, being around highly motivated students and MIAD’s curricular partnership with the Milwaukee Art Museum’s MAM after Dark exhibition.”
“So I was delighted when Student Government approached me to help direct the Erie Street Gallery. I just completed an internship at Milwaukee’s Portrait Society gallery, which I began in January, and I will continue to work on MIAD’s gallery crew.
“My work for the Erie Street Gallery complements all my MIAD experiences. My goal is to develop a foundation to allow the space to become recognized as a concrete gallery space. Students have to send in proposals, ensure their work is done and, once the show is completed, prep the walls back to gallery condition.”
The Erie Street Gallery is open Monday – Friday from 7 a.m. – 2 p.m., or by appointment on Sundays by e-mailing Auvert at alexisauvert@miad.edu.
Untitled, Chris Walker and Paul Altott ’11
