News & Updates

Interviewer: First question, what was your life like before you founded AWE?

BARBARA: Well, first I taught at Alverno College for 7 years, and then I taught at Cardinal Stritch for about ten years.  I ran the art gallery and I did that with schools and I taught printmaking and drawing. Before that, my first teaching job out of grad school was at a HBCU (Interviewer’s note: probably Fayetteville State University) in North Carolina, and I taught there for two years. I learned more than I taught. That’s where I met my husband – he was stationed there, at Ft. Bragg. He was a conscientious objector and left the army. I also had worked with children, you know – I got a MA and then an MFA, but then in-between I certified as an art teacher. So, I did some intern teaching, where you’re paid but you’re working under a master teacher while I was In Spring Green, Wisconsin. So I worked with kids, and I worked with kids for short periods of time.

Interviewer: So you did a lot of work with kids!

Uh huh, yeah, I did. But I guess the experience that got me thinking about it was an experience I had at McDowell Montessori School, and I worked with a dancer. We did this project at the school, and it was an all-school project. It was so much fun, and it was so great for the whole school. Everyone – from the principal, the teachers, the parents, the maintenance people, everybody – played a part in making it really fun and meaningful. We made elephants out of paper mache that were huge, and all the kids played a role in it. They danced, they sang… I think that was the experience that most affected me, seeing how an artist in residence – there were two of us – could transform and inject a certain kind of energy into the school and the school body and the school family. I loved that experience. 

I did some other ones, one at Golda Meir… but it’s been a long time so I can’t remember the other places. But especially the one with the dancing and the singing and the visual art was a way to help kids touch their humanity, and the teachers too. A lot of them got pretty involved, and they had a chance to be expressive and creative. So, you know the Wisconsin Arts Board was funding these artists-in-residence programs and projects, and I did another project - it was really great. It was also funded by the Wisconsin Arts Board – it was a long time ago, not sure what year it was, maybe 1976. They did a project called Dairyland Graphics. They did murals all over the state, and another artist, Estherly Allan, and I, we worked on a barn mural in Oak Creek with some high school and middle school kids. That was great too, it was a lot of fun and really good for these kids. A lot of them didn’t have art in school. Now, I think we’re rated last – I think we’re rated either 48 or 50th in the arts – so then, the Wisconsin Arts Board stopped funding those artist-in-residence programs, and they stopped funding all kinds of things. I hope that will change. So, I guess that was part of the impetus that made me start thinking about it. 

I never had any idea it would become such a lasting and valuable organization. Any time you step into something, you don’t know where it’s going. Like, probably you when you started this job! You weren’t sure what you would end up doing.

Interviewer: That’s true!

There’s probably all kinds of things that were not on your radar that you could be doing. But that’s what happens when you step into a decision you make - when you step into the unknown. Which is a risk!

Interviewer: That’s true. So, I have another question for you. When AWE first took shape, what shape did it take? Did it start out as a nonprofit organization right away or was it something you did for fun, or…?

If I did anything right, it was getting the right people to be a part of it. When I came back from a bike trip, when I had time to think about what we could do, I asked a lot of people to help who had talent and all different kinds of skills and interests… but all of them were connected to visual art or teaching. Some of them aren’t alive anymore. Jane Bright was the head of the Wisconsin Gallery at the Milwaukee Art Museum… she’s no longer with us. Joan Michaels Pock was a well-known artist… Ken Anderson, he was the head of the Art department of MPS schools. So lots of different abilities and lots of different ways of looking at art. Sally Duback, you know her… Janet Matthews and Nancy Giazana… Janet was a professor at Marquette, not in art, but in education. Nancy was an art teacher. Those were the beginning people. Jerry McNamara too, who was an art teacher in MPS schools. It’s been a long time. But, they all stayed involved in one way or another for many, many years. When we started, we just sort of tossed the idea around about how we could do something in the Milwaukee community to encourage the arts in schools, and especially the artist-in-residence programs. Sally had the idea - I think this was always something she wanted to do – to get a van that would go around to parks. We started with the artists in schools, first, then we got a van donated. And we didn’t have any money, really. I think we decided to form a nonprofit 25 years ago. My husband is a lawyer, so he helped do that, and we got a grant when we first started going  – I’m not sure it still exists - from The Harry Frankie idea fund! It was through the Milwaukee Foundation. It was a thousand dollars. We used that- 

Interviewer: And that was more money back then!

Yeah, it was! 25 years ago. I mean, it really helped us get going.

Interviewer: You said the Milwaukee Foundation?

Now it’s called the Greater Milwaukee Foundation. That was a big help. Also, after that, we would meet at my dining room table, and we would figure things out there. In our second year, someone told us about the Ronald McDonald House charities, and we were told to apply for twice as much as we wanted because they never give you more than half of what you ask for. So we worked on a grant, and sent it in. I remember the woman who represented them came to our meeting at the house, and we got the whole thing! I think the full amount was twenty thousand dollars. So it was exactly what we asked for! All of a sudden, we had to hire staff, and buy more vans, and get more artists-in-residence in the schools. When we got the grant, we were like, “Uh-oh! We’d better get going!” (laughing) 

I remember we all spent time interviewing people who would volunteer, and people who would run the vans, except the first van we got – I remember Sally had a friend at Pieper Electric. This is going back to the first summer of Summer Truck Studio. They donated a van, and I remember Sally called me and said, “Can you go to Pieper Electric and pick up a van?” and I said, “Oh, okay!” I walked into the office and they said, “Here’s the keys! It’s the one out there”. It had old tools in the back, and was a real rattler. It was a little rusty, but the engine was in good shape. Then we hired an artist named Robert Cisneros, and we set up scheduling at four parks for a week each. He went around in the van to the parks, and I know he called me a few times saying, “I broke down on this street-” and I said, “And you’re calling me?” Funny things like that would happen. He did a good job, and he spoke Spanish so he was able to relate to all the kids at the park.

I think it was Marshall High School where we did one of our first projects. It was a really great project, the artists had the kids do self portraits. Lots and lots of kids, at least a couple hundred kids, did self portraits! They put them all in the lobby of the school when you walked in, it was great. It was really great. There were some other ones as well, but that was one of the very early ones. 

Interviewer: That’s amazing! You’re doing an excellent job, by the way, we’ve covered half my questions!

Oh, I did? That’s good!
Interviewer: In your opinion, what is the most important part of AWE’s legacy?

Well, I think it is about helping children and youth touch an important part of their humanity. That they have the experience of understanding the possibilities for themselves, for self expression, for experiencing that transfer of thought and feeling to a visual form… that can be shared with others. You know, I remember going to that celebration in October - It was a celebration of AWE’s 25 years. I talked to the high school kids who had art hanging up. It was a really great exhibit. I just happened to be standing looking at one of the paintings, and there was a young man from Ronald Reagan High School… I bet Keri knows who it was, he was about 14. He had three paintings up and his parents were there too. You could see how proud they were of him - and how much pride he felt in himself. His paintings were really nice. It makes me teary to think of it. 

Interviewer: Would you like some tissues? 

No, no, I’m good. 

Interviewer: It must have been amazing to see what impact you’d made in this city. 

I mean, it wasn’t me. I tried to start it. We got the Governor’s Award in our second year, and a friend of mine who is a really good writer, she didn’t even tell me. She just sent it in. We hired an executive director… She did a great job! Sharon Chaplock was at Marquette working on her PH.D. She was our first executive director, working part-time. You know, I think I asked the right people to be a part of it. The time was right. I don’t think any of us could have known that we were building something that would last so long, for one thing. It wasn’t just the money, it was… figuring out, like, “How are we going to do this?” I remember when we got the first van, we painted it. Sally used to live on a little farm, and we went out there and had a painting party, and that was really fun. We painted the van, and I’m just so glad… I’m so happy that there’s at least one van that has something to do with art and has something to do with kids. It’s so attractive and makes me happy. I think it makes everyone who was ever involved happy. It looks so inviting. And those interns - it was so fun watching them paint!

Interviewer: I think they had a good time too. Okay, I have a few more questions - did your art influence your work at AWE? If so, did your work at AWE also influence your art? 

Oh, gosh. That’s a thoughtful question. I think my work is pretty spontaneous. I don’t have a big plan, although I have a concept in mind that I’m working on. Maybe in a way, it became more spontaneous, not with a clear end point or product in mind… 

Interviewer: So you’re able to create more freely? 

Yes, exactly. That’s kind of how I am in my art and in my life. The thought had been going on for a while, but the form it would take was really dependent on the people that came together to do it. I had sort of a vague idea, but everyone contributed their ideas and their skills and their time - there’s no way you could predict that. There’s some of the things I do in my art I can’t predict - I have a basic idea, but the things I'm doing now, which are related to what I was doing then… I’m using all these grasses and it’s kind of random, but they connect together. When I print a layer on top of a layer, I can have somewhat of a projection of what will happen, but not a complete picture.

Interviewer: So feeling okay with uncertainty, and being okay with just letting things happen… 

Yes, uh-huh. It’s also counting on… in the making of the art… that these things are offering something - I’m not sure what it is. I can’t be certain what it’s going to be, but I accept what the material will bring. So, that’s really what happened with AWE. I knew that they all had great skills and vision… 

Interviewer: So, trusting the process?   llll
Yes! Uh-huh. Trusting them, more than myself, I think. Because each one brought something so significant to what happened. I never could have foreseen that. That it went on so long and that they stayed with it so long… All of them stayed until they both got sick, I think. I think it was 20 years that they stayed involved. There were lots of changes, and many new people came in as we went along. Lots of good board members, lots of people who were artists-in-residence and the head truck people, the interns… They all brought things that you couldn’t have anticipated but were great. 

Interviewer: I’m sure that both of them are part of your life’s work, and that they inform each other. 

Yeah, I guess they do. 

Interviewer: I have a few more questions for you and then I'll let you go. What was the greatest challenge you faced when you worked in AWE? 

I suppose it was letting go of stuff that… that nobody really had control over. Like, the van goes into the park and you have to trust that everything will be fine… You know, it’s been a long time since I had anything to do with what happens, but in the beginning, I was heavily involved. I wondered, can this person who’s had a couple of years teaching art, can he drive the van to the park and make stuff happen? You have to… 

Interviewer: Trust the team and trust the process, that it will be fine? 

Right, yes. Now it’s set up where there’s training and there’s a framework… you have a lot to build on to trust others. We didn’t have a lot of that when we started out. We had to figure it out. There were some challenges, but…

For a while, I helped with some of the training things, early on. Oh, I think we all helped to put together a plan for what we were going to do. I think usually the people - whether they were volunteers or paid - I think they all had a commitment to it, right at the beginning. As far as I know, there weren't any big problems with being dedicated to the organization. 

Interviewer: Because you had people who thought it was important and gave their time… Yeah, I get it. 

Right, and they created an environment, whether it was in a school or a park, where kids would thrive and really have fun. I love that at least two young women came back as lead artists who went there in the parks as a child.

Interviewer: I believe it! The program has been going for a long time. 

That was a real compliment, that they benefited enough to want to be a part of it. So… I really liked that. I hope it happens again. 

Interviewer: I’m sure it will. The program continues - it’s only a matter of time. Next question - when it comes to your work in AWE, what do you think is the greatest victory? 

I think that it’s still going, that it’s lasted this long! I mean, it’s just such a great surprise.. I haven’t had anything to do with it in a long time.

Interviewer: So it does exactly as it says it will do and continues doing it at a very predictable pace?

Yeah! And you know, there have been changes and additions, and that’s what you would hope! Like things for teenagers, you know. People like you who develop it and bring the skills that you have to the organization… That’s happened for many years. Each person brings a different twist or talent or ability to it. That’s what’s really wonderful. To see that happen… you know, and to have young people… 25 years ago, none of us were that young when we started out...  Now the ones that are still alive are REALLY not young. (laughing) 

But Sally and I, and Janet Matthews, and Nancy Giazano, we were involved for such a long time. Long enough to really see it go off on its own. The executive directors especially, everyone’s been different and brought a different approach.

Interviewer: And new perspectives? 

Yeah. Each one, I think, builds that position into something better, and Keri’s brought great skills to it. This is really making me think about it! Over the years, there have been so many good board members. I don’t know any of them now. And that’s how it should be! I left the board… Let's see… I was on the board for around 20 years. Which was probably too long! I was starting to be the one who said, “Well, back in 1999, we tried that and it didn’t work!” 

Interviewer: I mean, but that’s important for people to know! If you did already try it, and it didn’t work… 

Yeah!

Interviewer: So you served on the board for 20 years? 

Yeah, 20 years, I think it was. I felt so connected to it and I liked knowing what was going on. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have known that much… So, I saw a lot of executive directors. 

Interviewer: When did you leave the board?

I don’t know. About six years ago? So that’s too long, you know. 

Interviewer: I mean, but you gotta stay active! You gotta stay in the community. You gotta stay in the game, as my cousin likes to say. 

Well, I liked being able to contribute something, but after a while, it was the same old something. Then, new people came in. The board really changed over the years - from the first few years, it was mostly people involved in art and teaching or something quite connected. Then we gradually added more people that had different skills, like someone in banking, or a lawyer - skills that a board needs. And in the beginning, in the first 5 years, the board was pretty much hands on, we were doing everything. Whatever needed doing, we were doing it! We grew into not needing that so much because we had a good staff and good executive directors - people who could take care of all that stuff. So it grew up to be a board of people with skills from the community that had, you know, the know-how with legal things and stuff like that. 

Interviewer: It’s good to have those different perspectives.

Yeah! Someone in HR, or someone in communications… Those skills are really important, you know? Especially when it comes to moving an organization along. I think they’re great people. All the people I’ve connected to have been really valuable. Everyone plays their part in a different way. 

Interviewer: Yes, and that’s the important part right there.

All the different pieces of the puzzle make the whole. 

Interviewer: Exactly. 

Someone said to me the other day, my calendar is like a crossword puzzle - I’m trying to fit all the words together but they aren’t going together. Eventually the pieces come together the way you want them to. 

Interviewer: Yeah. Sometimes that takes some time. It looks like it’s all worked out!!

Yeah, it’s pretty amazing! I’m pretty impressed with what is happening now and it’s really good to see - like vetting new equipment, it’s a step! It’s a step that counts. 

Interviewer: I have one more question for you. What’s the most important part of AWE’s story you want to share with the community? What do you want to emphasize about our narrative? 

It’s what I said earlier about connecting children and youth to their humanity. To have the opportunity to express who they are and share with others, that part of themselves that can only be expressed with visual materials. I think that’s the most important thing. There’s a lot of other things, I think. I remember early on, going to the parks and there were kids who had never used a paintbrush. They were in 2nd or 3rd grade. They had never touched a paintbrush. The leader had to show them what to do with it. It seems pretty obvious - you dip it in the paint, put it in the water to clean it - but, I mean, there still are a lot of children that don’t have that in their homes or in their schools either. After all, it’s “frosting”. 

Interviewer: According to the school system, yeah. 

It’s essential to understanding who we are. I’m glad that those kids that don’t get it elsewhere get it in a park or when an artist comes to the school. Some things we take for granted - and a lot of kids don’t have exposure to that. 

Interviewer: You have a really good point there. I’m hoping to publish some statistics. I have researched how children learn and how the arts help them learn, how it helps their cognitive abilities and functions. It's very interesting research, so I'm going to try and put it together coherently. 

Yeah, I’ve read a little bit about that. It’s really so amazing what an impact it has. But also, I don’t like justifying the arts by saying, oh, it helps reading, it helps math! It helps kids behave! Or it helps.. All these things. Because I think- 

Interviewer: You should do it for its own merit.

In itself, the arts have great value. But those other things are needed to convince… whoever.

Interviewer: The people who have money.

Yeah, the people who think they know about education, and they think that they know best… that kind of person. Both are important, but they have different levels of importance to a developing person. 

Interviewer: I agree. Thank you very much for your time! I really appreciate it! 

Shea Garden Revitalized by Community Project

Posted June 11th, 2024

AWE projects begin in myriad ways.  At Escuela Verde, project coordinator Monica Beltran explained, “My students and I helped in a community clean-up in the Silver City neighborhood because we were told that the park would be removed because of lack of care. During that visit, we discovered a prickly pear cactus. I always say that it’s that little cactus that inspired my students and I to step up in caring for the garden. We saw how a small cactus was thriving on such a busy intersection. I created workshops during the school year to involve my students.  They took on the project with a lot of enthusiasm and creativity. I think it’s because they saw their ideas would make a direct impact in the neighborhood. I enjoyed seeing the praise they received from neighbors during the celebration.  We learned a lot during this process.  I hope this encourages them to step up and participate or lead community projects. Our work at Shea Park will be ongoing.  I hope we can involve more students in maintaining this beautiful space.”

Compared to most parks in Milwaukee, Shea Park is tiny –a petite pocket park, a triangular shaped piece of land on the busy corner of 34th and National. AWE lead artist Sally Duback’s work to enhance the park began in mid-January, 2024. Working in small groups, fifty-six students created hundreds of bright clay tiles inspired by nature.  Sally then transported the tiles—playful flowers, leaves, birds, trees, a few amphibians, and a heart or two—to the Potters Guild, in the basement of the Marshall Building. After firing the tiles, she brought them back to Escuela Verde. Sally and the students worked together to create three mushroom shaped stools, into which they embedded the rainbow-colored tiles. They also created seven-by-ten-inch-wide mosaic panels to border the top the park’s pergola.  

On Thursday, May 23rd, Sally and the students put the finishing touches on the mushroom stools and the pergola.  Students encouraged passers-by to decorate more bright tiles garden pavers to border the garden. Children got their fingers covered in grout as they stuck the cheerful tiles into the messy grout. “Can I lick my fingers?” asked one little boy. 

Sally climbed a ladder to adhere the pergola’s decorative border while the school’s project coordinators, Monica Beltran, Sarah Luther, and several helpful students arranged the trays of delicious treats to celebrate the successful completion of this service- learning project. Marco Romantini also assisted with the park by painting several sidewalk murals to encourage visitors to play and create.

The park is now a welcoming spot to stop to smell the flowers, sit on the whimsical mushroom stools amid the flowering garden, and watch the bustling activity of the neighborhood.

Thanks to Escuela Verde’s activism and to Sally Duback’s creative work with the students, Shea Park is now a vital and colorful feature of the neighborhood, a welcome green spot on a city street.  

Sally summed up her experience by saying, “It was a pleasure working at Escuela Verde.  I truly enjoyed the enthusiasm of the students”.