Two alums featured in art exhibit on recycling and upcycling
Alums Liz Bachhuber (BFA 1976, Art) and Jill Sebastian (MFA 1979, Art) have collaborated in a new art exhibition about recycling and upcycling titled Eat My Words, which will be featured at Madison’s James Watrous Gallery of Wisconsin from August 1 until October 12.
Bachhuber and Sebastian met during their time at UW-Milwaukee and have been close collaborators ever since. Bachhuber, who lives in Germany, and Sebastian coordinated the exhibition digitally, communicating online and alternating between shared studio time. Both artists explored ideas behind sustainability, doing their own research while still working together.
PSOA theatre student reflects on his time with Kids from Wisconsin
This summer, the Peck School of the Arts is hosting the Kids From Wisconsin, a popular performing arts troupe, for their pre-season production camp. The group kicks off their 57th tour with a premiere performance of “The Heat is On” at the UWM Mainstage Theatre.
The Kids from Wisconsin troupe travels across the state showcasing young musical talent, including high school and early college-aged singers, dancers and musicians. It is the only pre-professional performing and touring experience of its kind in the nation.
Being a Kid From Wisconsin
For young artists, the experience mirrors what professional tours look like, complete with intensive rehearsals, a tour bus and compensation for their work. Kids are also awarded academic scholarships at the end of the performance season.
Nathaniel Contreras is a musical theatre student at UWM and alum of Kids from Wisconsin. He joined the program in 2022 and continued as a member until aging out at 20.
“It’s a crazy experience. You’re learning a two-hour Las Vegas style show in two weeks,” Contreras said. “It’s like a chariot; it goes straight on.”
Practice days are comprised of rehearsals and performances, working under the direction of seasoned theatre and music industry professionals.
“It’s a long day,” said Contreras. “You’ll be dancing and singing in the morning, until later in the evening. Preparation was basically getting my endurance and physicality up.”
Kids come from hometowns across the state, giving them an opportunity to experience many different communities along the way. That includes Milwaukee, where one of the highlights of the season is a week of daily performances at the Wisconsin State Fair.
“Because we’d perform at State Fair in the middle of the day, we’d have the afternoon to explore Milwaukee,” said Contreras. “That was a blast, and I feel like it helped with my transition to Milwaukee and Peck School of the Arts.”
Impact of Kids from Wisconsin
For Contreras, Kids From Wisconsin gave him skills that he now uses as a college student pursuing a degree in performance and beyond. Contreras credits his time in the program, especially in his last year as a Student Leader, for improving his communication and relationship building skills.
“It built me personally,” said Contreras. “I’m a stronger individual now, and if I hadn’t been a part of this, I feel like I wouldn’t be who I am now.”
Every show is memorable and intricate, and for Contreras, his most memorable performance was in his hometown of Wausau.
“When we’d go to your hometown, you’d be announced at the end of the show,” said Contreras. “It’s impactful because your friends and family would get to see all the hard work you’d done all summer.”
“The Heat is On” premiere show is on June 25 at UWM’s Mainstage Theatre. The show is described as a summer playlist to accompany the season, bringing together the most iconic and sun-drenched medleys that transport you to lazy beach days, family road trips, backyard barbecues and late-night sing-along bonfires. Tickets and more information are available on the PSOA Event Calendar.
Payton Murphy ’27 (BFA Film)
AI-infused exhibition by Nathaniel Stern featured by Forbes
Nathinel Stern (Professor and Co-chair, Art & Design; Director, UWM Startup Challenge) had his recent exhibition featured by Forbes magazine. The exhibition, titled “Generation to Generation: Conversing with Kindred Technologies,” is a collaboration with poet Sasha Stiles and focuses on human-AI interactions.
Writer Leslie Katz describes the exhibition as an exploration of “how humans and technology evolve side by side, inextricable and directly reflective of one another.” Six interactive installations focus on different elements of the relationship between humans and technology.
“We want to nuance and complicate and deepen the dialogue,” Stern said in the article. “We’re looking at the history of technology materially, in many ways to get people to understand and engage with AI as something that is not so foreign, as something that is all of these previous technologies, feeds all of these previous technologies, feeds into them.”
“Generation to Generation” is on view at the Krasl Art Center in St. Joseph, Michigan, and will run until July 27. To read the full article, visit Forbes.
Guitar program Area Head honored with Distinguished Professor title
Professor and performing artist Rene Izquierdo (Area Head, Guitar) has been honored with the title Distinguished Professor for his outstanding work in the Department of Music. Fewer than 60 professors throughout UW-Milwaukee’s history have received the title, and he is the first from the College of the Arts & Architecture, according to former dean Kevin Hartman.
Receiving the designation of Distinguished Professor
The Distinguished Professor title is a distinction awarded to educators for conducting scholarship that has garnered national or international recognition. Izquierdo was awarded the title following a review by a board comprised of peers.
“I was nominated by the Executive Committee from Peck School of the Arts’ music department into the chair,” said Izquierdo. “After that, it goes to the dean, and they send out requests for external reviews. It takes a while for them to come back with their letters of support.”
Izquierdo came to the United States from Cuba’s Superior Institute of Art Havana to study for a Master of Music in guitar at Yale University School of Music, later going on to also receive a Master of Music in education from Lehman College in New York. After moving to Milwaukee in 2004, he formed UWM’s guitar program.
“Before I came to Milwaukee, there was no guitar program in the music department. We actually started the program from scratch in 2004,” Izquierdo said. “I created a model of what I thought was needed.”
Izquierdo has been overseeing the successful Guitar Studio and its students since then.
When school is not in session, Izquierdo tours the world performing and engaging with the community. He serves on the board for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, conducts the Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra, and performs research for the Milwaukee Classical Guitar Society, which he formed.
Role as an educator
For Izquierdo, being an educator is not just a role but also a passion. He encourages students to pursue their goals and take risks, drawing from his own experiences and unconventional paths.
“My career was very different when I was in Cuba, so when I came to the United States, I happened to audition to Yale University for a master’s degree in Guitar,” Izquierdo said. “My credits from the university in Havana did not transfer, so I had to audition. And I passed! I became a guitarist all of a sudden.”Izquierdo works one-on-one with students in the program, providing them with private lessons and tailoring his lessons to the needs of individual students. His performance career, personal life, and academic career are intertwined.
“My life is at the university. I’m a professor and a teacher at heart… I have the teaching bug,” said Izquierdo. “That’s what I like doing the most, and that’s my calling.”
Payton Murphy ’27 (BFA Film)
UWM alum featured in Wisconsin’s Museum of Art
A solo exhibition by UWM alum Melissa Scherrer Pare (BFA 1999, Art: Photography) is on view at MOWA | DTN, the museums gallery located inside Saint Kate–The Arts Hotel in downtown Milwaukee. The exhibition, Melissa Scherrer Paré: Natural Selection, features silk paintings and paper pulp vessels, inspired by the artist’s feelings and experiences in her childhood home.
In an article written by Judy Steffes for the Washington County Insider, the techniques Pare uses in her work are explored more in depth, including hot soy wax batik techniques and pulp paper creation.
“Viewers should expect a vibrant and cheerful assault of unexpected color combinations, shapes, and materials when entering the gallery,” said Dr. Jane Aspinwall, the Deputy Director of the Wisconsin Museum of Art. “Pare creates an organic world related to reality but very much its own magical space.”
To read the full article, visit the Washington County Post. “Natural Selection” is on view until August 31.
UWM alum uses collaboration in art
UWM alum and Chicago mixed-media artist and muralist Laura Lynne (BFA 2021, Painting & Drawing) spoke with Jamie Baker of Kane County Magazine about her experience using collaboration in her practice.
“I hired another artist to assist, Mari Dzhelasi, and the whole project went so much faster,” Lynne says. “It made me think back to my first few murals where I made so many rookie mistakes, like not planning out the colors first or not mixing enough of the colors beforehand and not using a projector. I’m definitely still learning, but doing the last mural really made me realize how far I’ve come and how much I’ve developed my mural painting process.”
UWM lecturer debuts inaugural exhibit at new Bay View gallery
When Trusted Media Brands creative director James Stepanek decided to open a new gallery in Bay View, he invited Shane Walsh (Teaching Faculty I, Art & Design) to be the first artist to exhibit work. Walsh’s solo exhibition, Extra Pickles, marked the official opening of No Instructions Gallery in May.
The gallery name refers to Walsh’s tendency to “do what his heart leads him to do, even if it means going overboard,” according to an article by Shepherd Express’s David Luhrsen. “Shane likes to keep a sense of humor in his paintings,” Stepanek added about the artist and educator behind the inaugural exhibition.
To read the full article, visit the Shepherd Express. Extra Pickles is on view until July 4.
UWM alum’s hot wax works on view at Idea Galley
UWM alum Jane Michalski (BFA 1978) is exhibiting her new collection of hot wax art titled “Enduring Process” at Door County’s Idea Gallery.
Inspired by her love of the natural world, Michalski takes inspiration from the rock formations and forest areas of Door County’s Cave Point in her newest pieces. Michalski will feature in daily showcases from April 24 to June 29 and July 5 to August 31.
UWM filmmaker talks about his feature film ‘The Field”
Tate Bunker (Teaching Faculty I, Film) was featured on Civic Media’s “Nite Lite” with Pete Schwaba to talk about the process of making his 2019 feature film “The Field.”
“The Field,” based in Manitowoc, is a thriller that follows a couple as they try to make an old farmhouse a home but discover other forces at play.
UWM alum’s film series to show at Thrasher Opera House
Peck School of the Arts alum and film producer Kurt Sensenbrenner (BFA 2011, Film) is set to screen his new film series “The Low-Phe Life” at Green Lake’s Thrasher Opera House on Thursday, May 29.
“The Low-Phe Life’ is a comedy series that mixes animation and documentary filmmaking. It follows the story of Sensenbrenner’s personal experience of living with phenylketonuria, a rare metabolic disorder.
PSOA Convocation is a celebration of artists and arts advocates
PSOA ended its 2025 school year by hosting Convocation, a ceremony held to celebrate Peck School of the Arts graduates receiving bachelor’s and master’s degrees. The ceremony featured live performances and showcases from each department, spotlighting what students have accomplished during their time at UWM.
Convocation and Graduation
Excited for what comes next, graduates reported feeling prepared because of their time at UW-Milwaukee. Graduating students were recognized for their achievements in remarks from department chairs to an audience full of family, friends and faculty. Participants walked the Bader Hall stage at the Zelazo Center to receive a gold stole that prominently displays the word “Arts.” They’ll wear them proudly at the UWM graduation the following day.
William Justice “Bucko Crooks” Mueller II, who is receiving an MFA in Art with a focus on sculpture, was one of the many students to be recognized.
“The time for individuality begins now,” he said. “Now that you’re leaving the institution, your practice is truly your own.”
The ceremony was an occasion to reflect on the wealth of resources students have at UWM, such as hands-on experiences, research funding, and professional connections. Ang Van Den Eden, who received a Studio Art BFA with a dual focus in Ceramics and Sculpture, was especially impacted by these resources.
“I took advantage of my resources,” said Van Den Eden. “I was able to do glaze chemistry research for my degree with the Student Undergraduate Research Fund and with grants, and I’m better off for it.”
Advocating for Art and Artists
The ceremony opened with a touching speech by Associate Professor and Head of School Steve Wetzel (BFA 2000, Film), reflecting on the importance of advocating for art and artists in the changing world. “Art has been and always will be important,” he said. “Nothing could ever be accomplished without art. Advocating for artists is one of the most important things.”
Wetzel echoed sentiments by outgoing Dean of the College of the Arts & Architecture, Kevin Hartman. He encouraged graduates to find occasions to personally thank family members, supporters and educators who made an impact in their artistic journeys to this point, calling on them to remain invested in the arts.
Graduates and audience members were noticeably moved, giving insight into how their own experiences as artists and supporters will continue to fuel their passion and advocacy.
“Art is super important. It’s an expression of being a human being regardless of how you’re expressing it,” said Lucas Wick, who also received a BFA in Art, at the dessert reception following the ceremony. “If you want to be silly, be silly. People need to laugh sometimes. Just do art and support art because art is everything.”
The 2025 Peck School of the Arts Convocation recognized graduates from Fall 2024, Spring 2025 and Summer 2025.
Story by Payton Murphy ’28 (BFA Film)
Original dance by senior PSOA student selected for ACDA national conference
Senior dance student Megan Holzhauer visited Washington, DC, to present her original choreographic work, “BEHIND THAT GLEAM,” at the 2025 National College Dance Festival hosted by the American College Dance Association (ACDA). Held every two years, the festival showcases the nation’s top college-level choreography and is considered the highest recognition for undergraduate dancers in the United States.
Attending ACDA
“BEHIND THAT GLEAM” was first presented in November at “New Dancemakers: Emanation,” a showcase of senior capstone projects. After “Emanation,” Holzhauer’s piece was chosen by Dance faculty to be performed at the regional ACDA conference in Stevens Point.
Following adjudication by three nationally acclaimed dance artists, “BEHIND THAT GLEAM” was selected for the national conference, marking the first time a UWM piece had been selected in more than two decades, according to Holzhauer.
“It was such an extreme honor,” said Holzhauer. “It never really felt attainable, like that could even happen. So, I am just so grateful that I had that experience.”
Holzhauer’s piece was one of only 30 dances from across the country.
“It was super special to be a small little pool of undergraduate students and to be able to represent UW-Milwaukee in that way,” said Holzhauer.
Part of the excitement was the culmination of a long-term project, with Holzhauer starting her research for the piece in the summer of 2024. Throughout the process, she felt supported and driven by her cast and collaborators.
“It was definitely a collaborative process,” said Holzhauer. “I owe a lot of it to my cast… They’re such beautiful dancers, and I’m so happy that I could have this process and opportunity to work with them.”
Elsewhere at the festival, a student performance choreographed by alum Miguel Peña (MFA 2016, Dance), who is the faculty director of Ballet Folklórico at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, took home the prize for “Best Student Performance.”
Dance students perform “BEHIND THAT GLEAM,” original choreography by Megan Holzhauer | Submitted photo
Major takeaways
Showcasing work for ACDA on the regional and national level is something PSOA dance students strive for throughout their education. The same is true for Holzhauer, who reflected on having the “experience of a lifetime” at ACDA.
“Since my freshman year, I was thinking about what I would create as a senior,” said Holzhauer. “Every step and every opportunity I had has just been such an accumulation of my time here at UW-Milwaukee.”
Attending ACDA served as a symbolic conclusion to her education at PSOA, with Holzhauer saying that being a dance major at UWM was a goal and ambition of hers since seventh grade.
Among those helping to make her dream a reality are the faculty.
“The support of the faculty alone was amazing,” said Holzhauer. “They have been the perfect support system for all of the seniors… They put their heart into these pieces.”
With post-grad life right around the corner, Holzhauer is taking her strong experiences from ACDA and the process of creating “BEHIND THAT GLEAM” into the professional world.
“I never knew I wanted to do choreography until I had this beautiful experience, and it opened my eyes,” said Holzhauer. “I really want to keep choreographing and presenting my work.”
Story by Jason McCullum ’25 & Payton Murphy ’27
UWM alum debuts documentary on the Hmong refugee experience
Filmmaker and UWM alum NK Xiong (BFA 2022, Film) talked with Jimmy Gutierrez of WUWM 89.7 about her new documentary “Why My Dad Loves,” which tells the story of her father and his understanding of love after facing persecution in Laos as well as the Hmong experience.
“I’m really able to tell these stories because of the sacrifices that they made,” Xiong says. “Because they chose to come to a country where they felt their children would be successful and not have to just survive like they did, but to thrive.”
To read the full article and listen to the segment, visit WUWM 89.7.
UWM hosts Spring 2025 Senior Screenings at the Union Cinema
After a year of work, graduating students in the Department of Film, Video, Animation & New Genres will screen their senior thesis films on the big screen to crowds of family, friends, faculty, and fellow students. The annual event is hosted in collaboration with the Union Cinema.
Learning by Doing
Jesse Malmed (Assistant Professor, Film) is one of five professors who oversee the production of the senior films, which include everything from mentoring the senior class to working with the Union Cinema to showcase the films.
“The ultimate thing is to create a space of celebration, reflection, and joy so everyone can come together and experience the pretty Herculean accomplishment of these many things being made by this many people,” said Malmed.
Students are given two semesters to produce a thesis film, serving as the culmination of their film school experience. With the wealth of knowledge accumulated from their studies, students work collaboratively to make films personal to themselves.
“There’s something about getting the chance to make something fully on one’s own,” said Malmed. “It’s the scale, ambition, the inevitability of compromise, and the learning through doing.”
The entire project takes months of preparation and communication to bring to fruition.
“It’s a lot of work split between the different senior instructors and the folks we partner with at the Union, who do a great job of making people feel warm and included,” said Malmed.
A still from “End of the World” by Kat KrindlebaughA still from “May Day” by Kim ReeseA still from “More Than Tacos” by Juan Reyna Marquez A still from “As We Understood Him” by Cecilia Downey
Making a Senior Film
Although rewarding, making a senior film is a long process with lots of moving parts. Students cover the entire scope of film production from start to finish.
Kat Krindlebaugh, whose narrative film “End of the World” follows a couple during the end of the world, started planning years in advance.
“I had originally written the script for my senior [film] in 2023,” Krindlebaugh said. “It had been written at a time where I had been experiencing a lot of loss and I didn’t know how to get over it, so I wrote a script.”
To produce their films, seniors work collaboratively with an entire community of artists, including students from outside of the department, alumni and faculty.
Kim Reese, whose narrative film follows a teenage girl meeting her future self and coming to terms with who she becomes, found collaboration with faculty to be especially rewarding.
“Because we have working artists as our faculty, we get a lot of real-world experience,” said Reese. “Real artists help you and teach you about the built-in professional practice and community.”
Juan Reyna Marquez speaks highly of the collaborative process while working on his film “More Than Tacos,” a documentary about the Mexican American experience and what it takes to live on the south side of Milwaukee.
“I had almost no documentary experience, to dive into something head-on is frightening for me,” said Reyna Marquez. “The crew of peers I had were all experienced with documentary filmmaking, and I am grateful to have learned a lot from them. I would not have been able to do this without them.”
It takes the right equipment to turn a vision into reality. The department maintains a well-stocked equipment room where students can rent out film equipment to support their hands-on experience. UWM also has its own dark room, a space used for processing 16mm film.
Cecilia Downey’s senior film is an experimental 16mm piece that follows the perception of Alcoholics Anonymous from an outsider perspective.
“It’s been really exciting to be able to use all of the resources available in the film department,” Downey said. “My senior is shot on 16mm film, and I’ve been able to process and cut it all myself. From the start to finish of making my senior film, I’ve literally had my hands on my film.”
Senior Screenings at the Union Cinema run from May 15-17. They are free to attend and open to the public. More information is available on the PSOA Event Calendar.
Story by Payton Murphy ’27 (BFA Film)
Film professor Joel Benjamin achieves great success with first VR film
As virtual reality technology continues to become more prevalent, so does the practice of using VR to make short and feature films. Recently, Joel Benjamin (Assistant Professor, Film, Video, Animation and New Genres) made his first foray into VR filmmaking with his short “Max Q,” which has achieved global success.
The creation and success of “Max Q”
“Max Q” is a 3D animated short that can only be watched with a VR headset. The short follows a couple who work for a company that travels across solar systems to collect data, traveling on shuttles to go from planet to planet.
“The goal really was to do a roller coaster ride of a film,” said Benjamin. “I was curious to see what the experience of a VR film would be like.”
The project began as a class project while Benjamin was teaching at DePaul University, working alongside students to start the project during a 10-week course. From there, Benjamin worked alongside his team for another three years to complete the film.
Benjamin described the film as a six degrees of freedom film, in which viewers can look around and move their heads to experience the film in three dimensions. The film is meant to feel immersive not only through its VR viewing ability but through its storytelling, with the entire film being one long shot with no cuts.
“It really is immersive and the viewer really feels like they’re in that space,” said Benjamin. “The fact that I could build this world and design every aspect of it was really interesting to me.”
On the film festival circuit, “Max Q” screened at Shapeshift Fest in Sofia, Bulgaria, and the Sona Immersive Storytelling Festival in Pittsburgh, among other festivals. Benjamin attended the latter, where he joined the film’s screenwriter and co-producer for a presentation, “Animation in Immersive Narratives,” and accepted the Audience Choice Award.
Still from “Max Q”Still from “Max Q”Still from “Max Q”Still from “Max Q”Still from “Max Q”
Takeaways for the classroom
While these accomplishments and accolades are great honors, Benjamin expressed that his desire to make “Max Q” was fueled by his imagination and love of filmmaking, not the awards.
“I was going to make this no matter what happened with it, whether anyone saw it or not,” said Benjamin.
This sentiment is one that Benjamin brings back to the classroom, with his primary goal as an educator being to get his students excited about creating original films.
“I feel like one of my major tasks as a teacher is to get students excited about learning, and that’s different than being excited about getting recognition,” said Benjamin. “I want students to make work because they want to make it, not because they want to get followers.”
Benjamin acknowledged that this goal is one that Peck aligns with well, as PSOA encourages students to push the boundaries of what is expected in the mainstream.
“I feel like Peck is a really good balance of teaching students’ technique and commercial sensibilities, but not for the sake of it being commercial,” said Benjamin. “There’s a strong balance of experimental narrative and narrative work coming out of the film school and the animation degree. I really appreciate that balance.”
