A trio of Truman Lowe's sculptures are visible through the windows of Downtown's Bradley Symphony Center.
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Photo by Michael Lagerman
Truman Lowe's Canoe Man, Plains Image and Untitled at Bradley Symphony Center
Truman Lowe's Canoe Man, Plains Image and Untitled at Bradley Symphony Center
This fall, Ho-Chunk artist Truman Lowe (1944-2019) will be the subject of a major exhibition at Washington D.C.'s Smithsonian Institution. Meanwhile, Milwaukeeans can have a look for themselves at a trio of his sculptures, visible through the windows of Downtown Milwaukee's Bradley Symphony Center.
"The indoor location provides 24/7 access and a 180-degree perspective from outside," says John Riepenhoff, executive director of Sculpture Milwaukee, better known for the array of sculpted objects displayed for a mile-long stretch of Wisconsin Avenue. The group is responsible for mounting the 42 eye-turning pieces currently inhabiting heavily trafficked spaces in the heart of Downtown. A new set of sculptures is scheduled for installation in May. Look forward to cranes and flatbeds as the latest batch of "notable, wonderful things make their way down Wisconsin Avenue this spring," Riepenhoff says.
Sculpture Milwaukee was founded in 2017 from an idea by local entrepreneur Steve Marcus and was part of the Downtown BID before becoming an independent nonprofit in 2020. Increasingly, Sculpture Milwaukee has commissioned work for Wisconsin Avenue from living artists, some with ties to our state. As much as possible, the sculptures are fabricated in Wisconsin in keeping with the Badger State's machine-shop history.
Sculpture Milwaukee's third installation inside the Bradley Symphony Center's Ellen & Joe Checota Atrium honors Truman Lowe, a recently deceased Wisconsin artist. Lowe is interesting as a modernist working within a specific premodern tradition, abstracting and deriving his forms from Indigenous handicrafts and the natural settings of the Badger State. His trio of sculptures at the Symphony Center, Canoe Man, Plains Image and Untitled, are made of pine and peeled willow saplings, materials long familiar to Native American cultures of the Upper Midwest.
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"He was quietly doing exceptional work for a whole lifetime -- a great Wisconsin modernist taking complex ideas of Woodland Wisconsin and reducing them to their essential elements," Riepenhoff explains. Lowe was also important as an educator, joining the faculty of UW-Madison in 1975 and mentoring generations of Native American artists.
"I'm proud to share Truman's work with the people of Southeast Wisconsin before he enters the national spotlight" at the Smithsonian, Riepenhoff continues. "It's about building cultural pride and identity for Wisconsin. Art has the power to change the way we look at ourselves.'
Truman Lowe's sculptures will be on view at the Bradley Symphony Center, 212 W. Wisconsin Ave., through March 9.