Several alums and faculty are screening films this spring as part of the 2025 edition of the Milwaukee Film Festival. The Peck School of the Arts is excited to highlight the incredible work that our filmmakers and artists are bringing to the Milwaukee community. We’ve rounded up some PSOA connections among the festival selections.
Civic Music Milwaukee has announced its 2025 award recipients, and there are several honorees with ties to the Peck School of the Arts. Timothy Klabunde and Dr. Zachary Durlam will receive Citizen Awards, while Trinny Schumann and Cassie Wilson were …
As the Spring semester rolls on at PSOA, so does the latest run of Experimental Tuesdays, a free weekly screening series that showcases artist-made films and videos. Founded by the late Carl Bogner, Experimental Tuesdays has been hosted by the …
Throughout the second half of 2024, several faculty members took their films across the country and abroad for a variety of film festivals and screenings. These screenings exemplify how PSOA film faculty stay engaged in the independent film market.
We are deeply saddened by the passing of teaching professor and dear friend Carl Bogner, whose tenacious fight against cancer came to an end on Sunday. In recent days, countless former students, colleagues, and friends have assembled in his honor …
For many years, UWM has welcomed senior students from Hubei University of Technology (HBUT) in Wuhan, China, to complete their BA in Studio Arts at PSOA. This global partnership not only offers a unique degree pathway for HBUT students but …
Winifred (Elysse) Newman has been named Dean of the College of the Arts and Architecture, effective June 2, 2025. Dr. Newman comes to UWM from Clemson University where she serves as the Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Affairs, Mickel Professor of Architecture, and Director of the Institute for Materials, Systems, and Environments in the College of Architecture, Art, and Construction.
Late Professor Emeritus Yehuda Yannay was honored and celebrated at a memorial concert presented by UWM Chamber Music Milwaukee last week. The event featured five selections of Yannay’s original works alongside speeches from some of his closest friends and colleagues.
Professor Emeritus Dick Blau, who co-founded the UWM film department is currently utilizing an empty storefront to display his latest art exhibition “The Same River Twice,” a slow-moving, abstract loop of the Milwaukee River.
Mike Gibisser (Associate Professor, FVANG; Director, Film Graduate Program; Co-Chair, Tech & Facilities Committee) was recently awarded the UWM Office of Research/Outstanding Creative Research Achievement Award. Gibisser has accomplished many years of success in filmmaking, with his most recent film “A Common Sequence” being a self-described “labor of creative research.” For many years, Gibbiser has blended his love of film with education, sharing a collaborative space with his students.
Over 35 years of artistic expertise, expression, and activism from Raoul Deal (Teaching Faculty Emeritus, Community Arts) is currently displayed in his expansive exhibition “Continuum 24: Where Everything Begins.” The exhibition is a career retrospective featuring artwork from his time spent in Mexico and South America to the culture shock of moving his family to Milwaukee, and everywhere in between.
Dr. Debra Hardy (Assistant Professor, Art Education) spent her summer in Chicago advancing her research project “Illuminating the Expanse of Bronzeville’s Black Artist-Educator Networks, 1930’s-1960’s.” This opportunity was a result of Hardy receiving a research fellowship with the Black Metropolis …
Melissa Anderson (Lecturer, Dance) has earned the Artistic Achievement Award by the Chicago National Association of Dance Masters, joining a prestigious group of dance educators. Anderson received the award during CNADM’s Summer Workshop.
Maria Gillespie (Professor, Dance; Director, Dance Graduate Program) was recently awarded the 2024-25 UWM Advancing Research Creativity (ARC) Grant to help fund her yearlong choreographic research project. Under the working title “Wild Tongue: Translating Embodied Memory in the Language of Dance,” Gillespie will work with long-time collaborators Kevin Williamson and Nguyên Nguyên to explore a variety of identities through dance. Part of this exploration will root in Gillespie’s Chicana ethnicity and queer performance methodologies.
The UW-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts (PSOA) begins the 2024-2025 academic year with a new leader. Associate Professor Steve Wetzel officially assumed the role of Interim Head of School for PSOA on July 1, 2024. A respected educator and accomplished artist, Wetzel has been an integral part of the Peck School of the Arts community since his arrival to UWM in 1998.
