The Mosse Humanities building — which houses the art program at UW-Madison — is known for its imposing brutalist exterior. It is one of the most infamous landmarks on campus, and most students are familiar with it, at least in passing. One of the lesser known, but most interesting, parts of this building is Gallery 7. Hidden on the 7th floor, far above the classrooms and concert halls, is an art gallery that showcases the work of UW-Madison undergraduates in the art program.
Gallery 7, and other on-campus galleries are an important introduction for many art students to the business of art installation and display.
With over 30 UW owned art galleries, there are places for artists to showcase different mediums of their work in many environments. Students have the opportunity to showcase prints and other 2D art at Ebling Library, multimedia work at the School of Education, or large 3D pieces at the Wisconsin Institute of Discovery.
The large array of galleries in diverse places around campus exposes many students, who would otherwise not visit galleries, to the art of their fellow classmates. This works to enlarge, and strengthen the art community on campus, and create an environment of visually educated students, regardless of their area of study.
Anika Neidinger, a senior studying metalwork and printmaking at UW-Madison, explained the benefits of diverse student art galleries, stating that “gallery display is so beneficial for the art community in Madison because it is an easy way for students to support local artists and give them more exposure, which is really important for the artistic climate on campus”.
Anika who currently has work on display at Bascom hall, and has had past installations in Gallery 7, emphasised some shortcomings in regards to the accessibility of gallery display, stating that it often necessitated scheduling a year in advance, and highlighting the limited space available for artists.
The issues caused by hundreds of students competing for limited display availability, coupled with the long wait times, is partially alleviated by the prevalence of off campus art galleries.
Yin Gyu, a junior studying art at UW-Madison, talked about the openness of off campus art galleries to accept work from students. Yin used to intern at the Madison Museum of Contemporary art where “they do events and they host gallery nights where people in the Madison art community come in and you can share your work” Yin says.
Both University owned and independently owned art galleries provide different benefits for the community. While on-campus art galleries are incredibly accessible to students, they are still limited in the amount of artwork they can display. Off-campus galleries, while they are less accessible for all students, provide opportunities for artists to reach a wider audience and become integrated into the art community outside of Madison. “I think that in general I enjoy seeing how art is able to bring together people... I think it's really cool to see how art is able to build community in Madison” Yin said.
The art community in Madison is home to a plethora of diverse voices, and “galleries in Madison definitely give young emerging artists a place to show their work and introduce people to communities other than just the centralized campus area” Anika said.
If you are looking for a centralized area to view local student art, Gallery 7 is one of the easiest to access. Once campus opens it will be open from 9am-4pm every weekday, with exhibits rotating every few weeks. This spring the gallery was dedicated to displaying the work of students graduating with a Masters in Fine Arts, and you can be sure that there are many interesting and diverse shows to follow.
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