Artist Reception: Lillian Luft, Marna Brauner, and Hai Chi Jihn

Marna Brauner is Professor Emerita of Art and Design (1989-2014) at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, specializing in fibers and surface design. She received her MFA in textiles, with distinction, from California College of Arts and Crafts, and her BFA in Visual Art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She exhibits her work nationally and internationally, including solo and group shows in India, Mexico, China,  South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Brauner has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Wisconsin Arts Board, and the Milwaukee Artists Foundation. Her work was featured in the books The Surface Designer's Art and Celebrating the Stitch: Contemporary Embroidery of North America, as well as Fiberarts magazine and Surface Design Journal.

Hai Chi Jihn has made Milwaukee, Wisconsin her home for the past 40 years. A native of Taiwan, she earned her BA in Textile & Clothing Design in Taiwan and her MFA in Metalsmithing from UW-Milwaukee. She exhibits internationally in the US and in Taiwan, and is invested in fostering cross-cultural dialogue between Taiwanese and American metal artists. She has curated exhibitions on contemporary metal works in the US and Taiwan. Jihn's grants and awards include the Mary L. Nohl Fellowship for Individual Artists, the Mary L. Nohl Suitcase Export Fund, Alverno College's Sacagawea Award, Kohler Co.'s Arts/Industry Residency, and UW-Milwaukee's G.O.L.D. Award.

Lillian Luft is a multidisciplinary artist based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin who crafts precious objects and jewelry. Her work centers her personal history and her deep engagement with the materials and histories that impact her life. Luft leverages the inherent qualities and cultural weight of the materials she works with to make objects that subvert common expectations and encourage unexpected behaviors. Lillian graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and she maintains a studio at Milwaukee’s House of RAD. She has completed a residency at the Baltimore Jewelry Center, and in 2022 she was the recipient of the Windgate-Lamar Fellowship Grant from the Center for Craft. In addition to her studio practice, Luft is a volunteer gallerist and mussel conservationist in Milwaukee.