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Monday 12pm - 5pm Tuesday 12pm - 5pm Wednesday 12pm - 5pm Thursday 12pm - 7pm Friday 12pm - 5pm

Union Art Gallery

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Union Art Gallery

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Student Run Art Gallery | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee | Free and Open to the Public

https://linktr.ee/UnionArtGallery

**All of our event and exhibitions are FREE and open to the public.**

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Union Art Gallery (UAG) is an art space dedicated to the exhibition of diverse, contemporary art. The UAG presents a broad range of visual art by exhibiting work in all mediums by local, regional, and national emerging and established artists. In addition, the Union Art Gallery prides itself on being an accessible space for UWM student artists to exhibit and learn. The UWM Student Union is accessible for those with special needs. For group tours or special hours, please call our office.

10/29/2026

Tomorrow, Friday 10/30, we will have special hours from 2-5pm instead of our regular hours so everyone can enjoy the Brewers World Championship Parade! GO BREWERS!

10/27/2026

Common Ground closes October 30th which means you have until Friday to see the amazing work by Ilya Gurevich, Ellery Pascual, Haven Overton, and Lillith Forsythe! Thanks to everyone who stopped by the opening and our Touching on Process event last week.

10/15/2026

If you are a UWM student who likes free art trips, make sure to join us this Saturday, October 17th from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm for our fall Museums and More trip! This saturday we will be visiting the Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend. The trip is free for UWM students and includes transportation, lunch, and museum admission! Be sure to sign up at the link in our bio today because seats are filling up fast.

10/13/2026

Join us TODAY from 1-2pm for Sustainability Sips in the Union Art Gallery! There will be free tea and recent MFA alum Corrigan Eckert will be speaking about the design process behind a new eco-arts campus mural. While you are in the gallery make sure to enjoy the beautiful work in our current show, Common Ground.

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10/09/2026

Join the Union Art Gallery on Saturday, October 17th from 9:00am - 3:30pm for our fall Museums and More trip! We will be traveling to the Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend. The trip is completely free for students and includes transportation, lunch, and museum admission. Sign-up is first come first serve, so make sure to fill out the registration by following the QR code or visiting the link iJoin the Union Art Gallery on Saturday, October 17th from 9:00am - 3:30pm for our fall Museums and More trip! We will be traveling to the Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend. The trip is completely free for students and includes transportation, lunch, and museum admission. Sign-up is first come first serve, so make sure to fill out the registration by following the QR code or visiting the link in our bio!

Plus don’t forget! Tonight is the opening of Common Ground. Join us and the artists from 5-7pm!

10/07/2026

Check out some detail shots from our new exhibition, Common Ground! Join us this Friday, October 9th from 5-7pm for the opening reception.

Common Ground explores the possibilities of working with natural materials, bringing together artists whose practices engage with these mediums. The featured works demonstrate the diverse ways artists transform raw materials into objects of beauty, meaning, and innovation. Each work reflects a unique engagement with its medium, revealing how natural materials can be manipulated and reimagined. By presenting these varied artistic perspectives, Common Ground highlights the conversation between material and maker. This exhibition serves as both a tribute to the natural world and an exploration of materiality as a creative force. It invites viewers to consider the origins of the materials that surround them and to reflect on the ways artists cultivate dialogue between natural materials and contemporary artistic practice.

Co-sponsored by the Office of Sustainability

10/04/2026

We are excited to introduce the fourth of four artists featured in our upcoming show Common Ground, which runs from October 7th to October 30th! Make sure to join us this Friday, October 9th for the opening reception from 5-7pm.

Lillith Forsythe is a paper based artist working out of Milwaukee, WI. Her work is rooted in the methodical processes of papermaking and printmaking. Lillith investigates how surface and material can be molded to mimic organic forms in unnatural ways. Their work entwines an admiration for natural sciences and craft with feelings of discomfort and existentialism.

Lillith graduated with a BFA from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in 2024. Since then she has exhibited in spaces locally and regionally including Addendum, Woodland Pattern, UW Oshkosh, and Var Gallery. Lillith was an artist-in-residence with the Plum Blossom Initiative’s Bridgework program as a member of their 10th cohort in 2024-25.

Artist's Statement:
The act of looking is vulnerable- there is a desire to understand or document what we see. I am drawn to elements of organic textures that reveal themselves quietly. My recent works document my natural surroundings, often trees, rocks, and water. In the studio I examine my symbiotic relationship with these forms. Their constant presence, even in my typical urban environment, makes my observation of them appear mutual. If I stare at the same tree for long enough, it starts to feel like it is looking back at me. My work honors this relationship through repetition and labor. I approach the surface of organic shapes methodically through the medium of papermaking. My relationship with paper is conversational. I push and pull and prod, and still I relinquish control. Observational mark making becomes a conduit for my stream of consciousness. This routine creates its own reality. My body learns to replicate shapes that do not care if they are real or not, like looking in the mirror until your face starts to change, before stepping backwards and realizing it was familiar all along.

10/02/2026

We are excited to introduce the third of four artists featured in our upcoming show Common Ground!

Ilya Gurevich is a Milwaukee based wood artist whose work reflects a multicultural life shaped by immigration, assimilating in Midwest, growing up millennial, and general life experiences. Born in Minsk, ex- Soviet republic of Belarus, he immigrated to Milwaukee as a teenager, discovering creativity in high school art classes where punk aesthetics and DIY culture first sparked his passion for making. Early jobs in building maintenance and remodeling taught him the satisfaction of working with own hands, power tools and different materials—skills that closely intervened with his future engineering career and creative outlets.

Artist's Statement:
My work is driven by a mission to use reclaimed materials and personal narrative to challenge the invisible divisions that separate people. Through wood art and photography, I explore the shared human experiences that transcend borders, politics, and timelines. Century old lath—salvaged from Milwaukee homes and marked by time, labor, and history—became my primary medium. Old materials, that most would consider dumpster junk, are repurposed into some sort of sentiment obtaining another chance at life as art.
Growing up in Belarus and building a life in the Midwest shaped my understanding of cultural contrast, displacement, and belonging. These experiences and traveling have revealed how easily stereotypes and propaganda distort our perception of one another. My mission is to counter that distortion. Each piece is an attempt to highlight the emotional common ground we all share—nostalgia, struggle, humor, loss, resilience, music, history and common cultural nuances—regardless of where we come from or what we believe.
The works evolved from cool looking geometric shapes into pieces that carry personal sentiment, cultural memory, and reflections on identity. I create to open a window into my own story, not for self focus, but to offer viewers a place to recognize their own connection. When someone connects with a piece, it becomes a reminder that our lives, though shaped by different circumstances, often echo one another.

09/30/2026

We are excited to introduce the second of four artists featured in our upcoming show Common Ground, which runs from October 7th to October 30th!

Haven Overton is a Chicago-based artist working at the intersection of textiles, sculpture, and bio-arts. Their practice investigates the unnoticed and undervalued, utilizing a lens of environmental activism to address the climate crisis and the Anthropocene. Captivated by microbiology and the natural world, Overton's work bridges the gap between scientific inquiry and material studies. Currently a BFA candidate at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Overton was a 2025 recipient of the Dean's List of Outstanding Sophomores award. Their work has been exhibited across Chicago and Colorado, including a solo exhibition at TLD DesignCenter and Gallery and various group shows at The Bridgeport Art Center, Woman Made Gallery, BMOCA, and Arts to Hearts Project magazine.

Artist's Statement:
Rooted in a life inspired by the innate beauty of the natural environment, my practice is centered around exploring a world that goes unnoticed, undervalued or taken for granted. Stemming from a lens of environmental activism and education, I aim to explore and foreground issues of our current climate crisis, the concept of the anthropocene, and my captivation with the world of biology and microorganisms.
Through slow, intentional fiber processes—stitching, weaving, layering and dyeing—I explore how human impacts on nature can carry vast emotional weight, creating multidimensional narratives that reflect the complex relationships between humanity and the natural world.
Integrating metal, bioarts, and reused materials, my work blends the tactile and the conceptual, driving the conversation about environmental justice and awareness within the anthropogenic climate—evolving into both records and reinterpretations of my outdoor encounters, mainstream media reports of the global crisis, and the world under my microscope. Evidently blurring boundaries between the organic and the crafted, this work asks us to reconsider what we value, what we overlook, and how deeply we are intertwined with the environments that sustain us.

09/28/2026

We are excited to introduce the first of four artists featured in our upcoming show Common Ground, which runs from October 7th to October 30th! Make sure to join us next Friday, October 21st for the opening reception from 5-7pm.

Ellery Pascual (any/all) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Milwaukee, WI. Pascual received their BFA from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MAY 2026). They use painting and ceramic sculpture to create objects that serve as emotional archives, cataloging complex feelings shaped by societal systems and their influence on multicultural experiences. Their work has been exhibited in numerous group shows across Milwaukee, including Walker’s Point Center for the Arts, Portrait Society, Gray Area, and Satéllite Gallery. Pascual was a recipient of the Partner Scholarship Program and studied at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center (JUL 2025).

Artist's Statement:
Overwhelmed by social hierarchies, I create to dismantle layers of patriarchal tradition through raw emotion. My artistic practice is deeply tied to my Afro-Latino and q***r identities, reflecting my multifaceted experiences. I produce both vessels and paintings that serve as emotional archives, cataloging complex feelings shaped by societal systems and their influence on multicultural experiences.

My creative process is intuitive; the shapes of my vessels emerge organically, guided by instinctive coils, while the surfaces of my canvases are informed by reclaimed scrap, paper, and discarded materials. This approach reflects the exchange between gut feeling and impulsive action, allowing me to develop honest depictions of my experiences that adorn both my ceramic works and paintings.

Through vibrant imagery and tactile forms, I convey deeply personal narratives that reflect the manufactured double consciousness imposed on my ancestors, and which I now navigate. Each piece serves as a lifeline, providing a means to understand the world without the constraints of assimilation.

Address

2200 E Kenwood Boulevard
Milwaukee, WI
53211

Opening Hours

Monday	12pm - 5pm
Tuesday	12pm - 5pm
Wednesday	12pm - 5pm
Thursday	12pm - 7pm
Friday	12pm - 5pm

Telephone

(414) 229-6310

Website

http://www.unionartgallery.uwm.edu/

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