The City of Wauwatosa recently announced a new public art program at Hart Park in Tosa Village, and it needs your input.
The Hartwork Project – expected to be an annual event – serves up sculptures by four local artists and wants the community to select its three favorites. You can see the works and learn about the artists below.
The top three vote-getters will have their works on display in the park during the summer months, when Hart Park is hopping pretty much every single day, thanks to Tosa Tonight and other events and festivals, a great playground, sports fields, a skate park, splash pad and more.
"We’re so thrilled to bring The Hartwork of some incredibly talented local artists right here in our own backyard," Wauwatosa Mayor Kathy Ehley said in announcing The Hartwork Project.
Added Wauwatosa Communications Manager Melissa Weiss, "Public art installations have a unique way of enriching the surrounding environment and contributing to a more vibrant community. We look forward to welcoming residents and visitors alike to Hart Park this summer to enjoy these impressive works of art and experience everything that makes Wauwatosa so special."
A call for artists was issued last autumn and the Tosa tourism committee – which is funding the project via hotel/motel tax revenue (not property taxes) – narrowed the entrants down to the final four (bios provided by the City of Wauwatosa) ...
Trenton Baylor
Born and raised in Milwaukee, Trenton teaches sculpture, digital fabrication, woodworking and furniture design at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. Trenton’s sculptures are featured in local, regional and national exhibitions, as well as public and private collections.
Paul Bobrowitz
A mostly self-taught Wisconsin native, Paul has a passion for using repurposed materials in his work. Paul’s relationship-based sculptures are part of a 6-acre outdoor gallery and are included in prominent public and private collections.
Timothy Jorgensen
Timothy’s work has been exhibited all over his native state of Iowa and surrounding states. Timothy was part of a student public art fabrication team in Iowa, and he recently moved to Wisconsin to pursue a fine arts degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Ben Zoltak
Ben studied painting, figure drawing, sculpture and more at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and later taught art in various Milwaukee Public Schools. Ben’s work has been on display in Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Chicago.
You can vote for your favorites through March 15 at thehartworkproject.com or in person at Wauwatosa Public Library and Hart Park Senior Center.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
