My spring 16 Understanding the Visual II class participants at Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design paid a studio visit and received a tour of the art collection at the Pfister, courtesy of Artist-in-Residence 2015-2016, Todd Mrozinski. 

Todd talked us through part of his process painting his Shadow Series. As a MIAD alum, Todd had a lot to offer my students, welcoming us into his studio for an intimate chat.

 Todd Mrozinski, Pfister Artist-Artist-Residence 2015-2016, invited Molly to read at his curated "Teachers" show, at which he displayed a retrospective of his work alongside selections from his Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design teachers. 

Kavon Cortez Jones also performed some of his work at the January 22, 2016 event, including "Paris of the Midwest," an ode to Milwaukee that's become one of my favorite of his poems.

Molly paid homage to many of the teachers in her life, including her father, Ronald Snyder, professor of American History at Milwaukee Area Technical College and UW-Milwaukee.

Below is a slideshow featuring photos from some of our recent poetry readings. The first series is from a reading by members of the Wednesday writer's workshop of the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network (MARN), organized by Ànjà Notànjà and hosted at Milwaukee's Downtown Books. The middle series is from our Mabon Reading, which is one of the Brevväxling's quarterly in-house poetry nights. The last in the set is from the Middle Coast Poets Reading at the Riverwest Public House, hosted by Robert Vaughan and Paul Scot August. 

Molly and Royal are offering a kids zine workshop again at the Milwaukee Zine Fest, Saturday, November 9, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the Center Street Free Space, 703 Center St. 

The 6th Milwaukee Zine Fest is held at the Polish Falcon Nest, 801 E. Clarke St. 

We are tabling kids’ zines (as well as our own) again this year. Royal’s Writing Studio students at Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design are also tabling with zines they designed in class.

This is our fifth zine workshop: we’ve held two at our home, one at the studio of the Pfister artist-in-residence, Stephanie Barenz, and once before at Zine Fest. 

The Fest runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Stop in and see us, have a drink at the bar and food at Tess’ Vegan Cafe, talk zines and share in a vibrant DIY publishing culture. 


Visit the Milwaukee Zine Fest Facebook page for more information. 

Our zine-making workshop at the Pfister was a lot of educational fun. Mr. Zach Wiegman, a teacher at St. Marcus School in Milwaukee, has been designing extra-curricular projects in writing and arts with his partner, Stephanie Barenz, the current Pfister artist-in-residence. 

Molly and I were given the opportunity to inaugurate a new project in zine making with seven St. Marcus students, three of whom typically work with Stephanie on visual art interests while the others tend toward writing projects with Zach.

The zine workshop was a good way to bring those interests together.

From a tap-dacning  rooster who doesn't dance (at least until the sequel) and "Destiny," the story of two super heroes who (or course!) are about to save the world to typed poetry and a stick-figure Superman, these kids had great ideas. 

Thanks Zach and Stephanie: we had a great time spreading the word of and love for zines. 

Here's a slideshow of the students at work: 

Recently, we visited Guido Pfister, Christopher Latham Sholes and the former site of The Norman, on Wisconsin Ave. in Downtown Milwaukee, where four people died in a 1991 fire that consumed the iconic apartment building in minutes. 

Much like our Ofrenda, we paid homage to these people and places that impacted Milwaukee, lighting a candle for the dead at the former site of the Norman, bringing flowers and saying a few words at the Pfister family plot. Molly is posting about honoring the memory of Guido to the Pfister narrator's blog.

We often visit Christopher Latham Sholes, sometimes with custard-carrying kids, but this time we brought our new Royal Mercury portable typer. Molly typed out a note to Christopher and we left flowers for our typewriter inventing friend. 

The accompanying photo gallery documents some of our day visiting the dead. (Clicking on a thumbnail will generate a larger image and the gallery can be scrolled through.)