Looking at Local in a New Light
Overture Center’s four galleries create a forum for diverse artistic expression that fosters the growth of local artists, curators and arts organizations. Three galleries radiate off Rotunda Lobby and the Playhouse Gallery serves as lobby for The Playhouse Theater. Overture Galleries are free and open to the public.
Artists’ Information Upcoming Exhibitions Previous Exhibitions
Playhouse Gallery – Ho-Chunk Art: Sharing our Sacred Voice through our Art
Curated by Melanie Tallmadge Sainz
FRI, NOV 1, 2019 – SUN, JAN 5, 2020
Join us for the Ho Chunk Art Playhouse Gallery Reception FRI, NOV 1 from 6 PM – 8 PM. Enjoy indigenous hors d’oeuvres prepared by Wild Bearies and see the pageantry of the Ho-Chunk culture with exhibition dances by The Wisconsin Dells Singers and Dancers celebrating the beauty of Ho-Chunk people.
The original peoples of the Madison area are the Ho-Chunk. In English Ho-Chunk translates to People of the Sacred Voice. Despite the arduous times faced by the Ho-Chunk, their culture and creativity has endured. While there is no word for art in the Ho-Chunk language, there are words that describe beauty and goodness. These qualities will fill the space of the Playhouse Gallery. Contemporary mixed media art will be juxtaposed with traditional Ho-Chunk art forms that blend natural materials obtained through local foraging and harvest and paired with commercial art products that reflect our adaptive lifeways.
Fourteen Ho-Chunk artists from Wisconsin and beyond will provide a broad perspective of the values and traditions of their heritage. In respect of tribal elders and creative trailblazers, the art of long-time Madison residents Truman Lowe (1944 – 2019) and Harry Whitehorse (1927 – 2017) will highlight this exhibit. The contributions made by these elders have inspired countless contemporary Ho-Chunk artists to continue our legacy of preserving our culture through the arts.
Featured artists include:
Levi Blackdeer – Simone Brown – Alvena Foss – George Greendeer – Sidney Hall, Jr. – Tom Jones – Rita Kingswan – Josie Lee- Kelly Logan – Truman Lowe – Henry Payer – Christopher Sweet – Melanie Tallmadge Sainz – Harry Whitehorse
Overture Playhouse Gallery is sponsored by Norman Berven & Barbara Mittelstaedt Berven, The Arts Access Fund, a component fund of the Madison Community Foundation and by contributions to Overture Center for the Arts. Additional sponsorship for the Ho-Chunk Exhibit is provided by Ho-Chunk Gaming.
Special Rotunda Gallery Exhibit! – Keep Hope Alive – Obama: An Intimate Portrait – Pete Souza
WED, OCT 23 – SUN, DEC 8
Former Chief Official White House Photographer Pete Souza shows his stunning behind-the-scenes photographs of President Barack Obama.
During the eight years of the Obama Presidency Pete Souza took almost two million photographs of President Barack Obama. More than 300 of those images comprise his coffee-table book, “Obama: An Intimate Portrait,” which debuted as #1 on the New York Times bestseller’s list in 2017. As President Obama wrote in the foreword, “Over the course of eight years in the White House, I probably spent more time with Pete Souza than with anybody other than my family.” Souza was present not only for every meeting, but for the private and personal moments that, according to President Obama, captured “the mood, the atmosphere and the meaning of those moments.”
This exhibit coincides with the Keep Hope Alive presentation by Pete Souza on FRI, OCT 25 in Capitol Theater
Fall 2019 Exhibition Cycle
TUE, SEP 10 – SUN, DEC 1
Reception: FRI, OCT 4, 6-8 PM | Promenade Lounge
GALLERY I – Swept Away – Aaron Laux & Katherine Steichen Rosing
Join us for an Environmental Community Circle THU, OCT 17 from 6 PM – 7:30 PM in Wisconsin Studio. Regional climate change advocates join Swept Away artists, Aaron Laux and Katherine Steichen Rosing, and community members to explore personal micro-solutions to global environmental issues.
Using the circle as a symbol of earth and eternity, Swept Away weaves a narrative of climate change. A rich tapestry of natural materials and impressions of ephemeral objects explore the effects of human disruptions to the equilibrium of the biosphere.
GALLERY II – Multiplicity of Being – Anwar Floyd-Pruitt & Xiaoyue Pu
Join us for a Hip Hop Puppet Party as part of Kids in the Rotunda on SAT, OCT 26 at 10:15 AM & 11:45 AM on the Rotunda Stage! Make music, sing and laugh in a participatory show with Anwar Floyd-Pruitt and his collection of colorful musical instruments, puppets, and props.
Floyd-Pruitt and Pu explore themes of identity, society, and culture through portraiture. Floyd-Pruitt’s energetic mixed media self-portraits reflect on his past, present and future. Pu is a photographer whose images challenge elitism within the fashion industry and explore the multifaceted identity as Chinese through her use of the color red.
GALLERY III – Unstill Lifes – Yeonhee Cheong & Jayne Reid Jackson
Join us for Mezzotint: A Global Report WED, NOV 6 from 7 PM – 8 PM in Wisconsin Studio! Master printmaker Jayne Reid Jackson will report back from the 5th International Mezzotint Festival, a Biennial held in Ekaterinburg, Russia. Jackson will demonstrate techniques and tools of this rare and resurging print form.
Yeonhee Cheong and Jayne Reid Jackson are artists who use their technical skill to transform everyday scenes into rich metaphors. Using watercolor and pastel, Cheong grapples with her identity in botanical self-portraits. Jackson’s mezzotints and etchings are literally and figuratively reflective, speaking to the fragility of life.
Gallery hours
Monday – Thursday, 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM
Friday, 9 AM – 9 PM
Saturday, 10:30 AM – 9 PM
Sunday, 12 PM – 5 PM
For more information about these exhibits, please contact our Community and Education Program Manager, Beth Racette at bracette@overture.org / 608.258.4169
