The show was reviewed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Friday! We walked down to the Kwik Trip in Manitowoc to pick up copy. There amidst the cheap bananas and gallons of milk, we felt far away from the gleaming white Calatrava. The Kwik Trip offers its own gleaming white architectural elements and neat stacks of blue windshield wash that are equally transcendent. It was odd to see our portrait of the Revenal sisters, who we photographed in our studio in 1995, on the cover of the “Cue” section while standing in line at the Kwik Trip in 2008. A strange feedback loop. Hopefully Mary Louise Schumacher’s coverage will tempt people from around Wisconsin to take a crisp autumn day off and drive to the MAM to look at art. We can only hope. There have been several other  thoughtful reviews of the show posted online in the couple weeks and we are grateful. Vital Source did a nicely contemplative piece as did the Artsy Smartsy blog, the Shepherd Express, and WUWM.

There’s a catalogue for the exhibition available for $18 at the Museum Store. Even Johnie likes it. We worked with MAM curator Lisa Hostetler and MAM designer Dan Saal on a concept and design that feels more like a collaborative work of art than just another exhibition catalogue. Dan did an amazing job overseeing the details. It was printed in Wisconsin by Fox Company with sumptuous results. Many of the works in the show are reproduced plus there are four different covers–each is at the face of a photographer. Only their eyes peer through the narrow die-cut slit of each silvery cover.

The show officially opened last night with a reception and book signing. It was mind blowing to see so many friends, family, former students, artists, musicians, colleagues, professors, curators and fans of photography gracing the beautiful MAM spaces. There were surprises throughout the evening including Julie’s sister Heidi in candy apple red sari with husband Michael who flew in from Washington DC, Pearl in chic black dress who flew in from NYC, Jimmy von Milwaukee in cool baby blue polka dot bow tie, Chuck + Chuck from Madison in elegant black-and-white formal wear, Brad and Amber in matching sapphire blue ensembles plus so many of the people we’ve photographed over the past 20 years. Jimmy von Milwaukee sent us matching chartreuse orchid corsages! We signed a lot of catalogs too. There was a line! A line? It’s true. The catalog is a gem! It was designed by the MAM’s own Dan Saal. It features 4 different covers with eyes peering out at you. It’s a quiet show and we hope people will go back some rainy autumn afternoon and spend time in the dim chambers of the MAM’s inner sanctum Koss Gallery.

The MAM techs were finishing up the exhibition installation when we arrived for the press preview today. The purple walls and low light levels created the intimate viewing experience we and curator Lisa Hostetler envisioned.  They did a fantastic job as viewers will soon see. It was cool to find familiar faces at the press preview like Dave Luhrssen and Judith Moriarty (Shepherd Express), Bonnie North (WUWM), Mary Louise Schumacher (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). Plus we met writers from Vital Source, Jonathan West of Artsyschmartsy.com fame, curator Noah (Deb Brehmer’s son!) and Shepherd Express owner/publisher Louis Fortis. It’s great that Milwaukee continues to have so many media folks committed to covering the visual arts!

Mr. Daniel Ollman of About Face Media journeyed to Manitowoc last week to video us for the MAM. We talked about snapshots then made this postcard portrait of him. Later we all headed out in our Rambler wagon to photograph Richie who’s been living in a vintage Airstream trailer near Lake Michigan. A storm blew in off the lake. The seagulls went berserk circling overhead as we exposed our precious 4 sheets of film with the 12×20 banquet camera. Dan recorded it all on miniDV tape. It started to pour and the cameras were stashed. The four of us huddled in the Airstream listening to the rain, cleaning our lenses and drinking Point beer.

Some of the people in our photographs will be at the opening reception on Thursday. That’ll add a layer of intrigue to the event. There are four portraits of Nigel made in Manitowoc over a 10 year span, but he won’t be able to see the show ‘cause he’s doing time in the Wisconsin Prison System. In a recent 9 page letter he wrote, “I’m very proud but worried. You guys had a kind of Ramones feel in the sense that what you did was awesome…and it was too cool for the mainstream. But now you’re at the Milwaukee Art Museum. It’s like you’re playing arenas. I don’t like that the mainstream has caught up to you. They may understand the beauty and all the crazy aspects, but they just won’t get it.” Should we be worried?