Events
List
The Grilled
Cheese Grant
An annual community-funded emerging artist grant based in Milwaukee, WIBy artists, for artists
Week of Feb 10th
February 13th, 6PM
World In Action / Misprints / Spoy / Buena Cara
6PM @ Cactus Club
March 15th, 3-8PM
Voting ends at 6:30PM
@ Vanguard Sculpture Services
3374 W Hopkins St, Milwaukee, WI 53216
Meet the
2025 Finalists
Lucy Mattern
Lucy Mattern is a Milwaukee-based artist completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her large scale paintings test the limits of gestalt perception while exploring semiotics through subtle color shifts, contrast in paint thickness, and reference of signs.
She currently serves as a Gallery Assistant at Real Tinsel and is a recipient of the Else Ulbricht Scholarship. In pursuing her interest in perception and language, she hopes to teach English in Prague before advancing with a Masters of Fine Art in Painting at the international Alfred-Düsseldorf MFA program.
lucymattern.com
yo yo collective
yo yo is an artist collective based in Milwaukee, WI. Their practice is rooted in memory and recollection, preserving fragments of past experiences through performance, sculpture, and installation.
As first and second-generation immigrants, they are perpetually in motion going to and from, similar to the wooden object attached to a single string that moves back and forth when played. The movements are, at times, tangible, invisible, solitary, communal, and ever-evolving. As they pay homage to their ancestry and to each other, they invite the audience for active engagement and critical conversation within the community.
yoyocollective.cargo.site
Max Van Loan
Max Van Loan is an experimental filmmaker and artist. They received their BA in Cinema from Binghamton University (NY) and their MFA from University of Colorado Boulder.
Their work is diaristic in nature and often takes the form of short analog films and videos and occasionally multimedia installations. They are interested in play and a sense of wonder in the mundane.
maxvanloan.com
Madi Weglarz
Madi Weglarz grew up in the small, north-eastern Wisconsin town of Crivitz. She moved to Milwaukee in 2021 to attend the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and is set to graduate spring of 2025 with her BFA.
She is now a local emerging Milwaukee artist and designer who works primarily in 3D programs and sculpture. They have shown work in group shows at MIAD’s Gallery at the Ave, SomeFools, Hawthorn Contemporary, and a solo show at Ergonomica. She has also tabled at MIAD’s ZineFair twice, selling her printed risograph works.
madiweglarz.cargo.site
Siren Harris
Siren Harris is a metal artist pursuing a BFA in New Studio Practice at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, expected to graduate in 2026.
Siren creates intricate, emotionally charged works that explore personal identity, transformation and personal meditation. Drawing on a diverse range of life experiences, her art functions as both a form of catharsis and a tool for navigating complex emotional landscapes.
sirensmetal.com
tt our
2025 Jurors
Phoenix S. Brown is an interdisciplinary artist and musician based in
Milwaukee, WI. Originally from Cincinnati, OH, she earned her BFA from
the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design with a minor in art history.
Her work explores themes of empowerment, self-healing, and
transformation through mystical imagery, symbolic language, and
environments influenced by her upbringing on the cusp of the Midwest and
Appalachia. Brown is a recipient of the 2024 Wisconsin Emerging Artist
Achievement Award and has participated in residencies at the
Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati, OH), Yale Norfolk School of Art
(Norfolk, CT), and the Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT).
Her work has
been exhibited throughout the Midwest and beyond, including solo
exhibitions at the Wright Museum of Art (Beloit, WI) and Trout Museum of
Art (Appleton, WI), as well as group presentations at NADA Miami Art
Fair, Other Art Fair (Chicago, IL), and Untitled Art Fair (Miami Beach,
FL).
Alec Regan is
an interdisciplinary artist, designer, and fabricator based in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He earned a BFA in Integrated Studio Arts from the
Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and is currently pursuing a
Master’s degree in Architecture at the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Regan is the co-founder of the collaborative artist
project American Fantasy Classics, a volunteer staff member at ACRE
Residency, and a recipient of the Mary Nohl Fellowship in the Emerging
category.
Some of his recent exhibitions and projects have been
presented at Bahamas Biennale (Detroit, MI), Enclave Lab (London, UK),
Basketshop Gallery (Cincinnati, OH), Arturo Bandini (Los Angeles, CA),
Usable Space (Milwaukee, WI), and The Green Gallery (Milwaukee, WI).
As a
fabricator, Regan has worked with Milwaukee based design-build firm,
Current Projects, and had been involved in projects at institutions such
as the the Chipstone Foundation, Milwaukee Art Museum, Toledo Museum of
Art, Elmhurst art museum, Boston Athenaeum, Wrightwood 659, the Chicago
Architecture Biennial, and the Whitney Biennial.
Wylie's art practice, which incorporates video technology, performance, drawing, and queer futurity, has haunted galleries in Chicago and beyond for the past fifteen years. His work recently focuses on Elmer Ellsworth, dandy abolitionist and purported lover of Lincoln, who was first to die in the Civil War after taking down a giant Confederate flag and more recently he’s focusing on around about queer mystery cults, mother goddesses, and the space rocks they lived in.
Thank you to 2024 Community Sponsors Artdose Magazine, aryn kresol, Blanket Editions, Cactus Club, Current Projects, docMyArt, gener8tor Art, Heinn Chapman, MARN, MIAD, K Pop Events Wisconsin, Portrait Society Gallery, Stories of the Streets, Tanager Sculpture Works, Troubadour Bakery, Task Creative, Var Gallery, WPCA, Young Space