Neighbors: Near and Far Exhibit
To view the full exhibit, please visit Roberta’s Art Gallery in the UC on the main level from January 27-March 3, 2025
Artists: Charlie Steinbrecher, Carig Ede, and Dan Gamble
This exhibit explores the unseen bonds among communities and the critical call to cultivate relationships with neighbors, near and far. It features three "neighboring artists" who have been connected since their time at UW-Milwaukee in the 1980s. Some of these showcase detailed portraits of Iowa neighbors drawn during a period marked by targeted immigration arrests in Postville, Iowa.
Artist Statement by Charlie Steinbrecher
On my best days drawing is like going to an outdoor market from another culture. I’m seeing things that I didn’t even know existed. I’m curious, intrigued, and need to keep an open mind and an open eye. I can experience new, wonderful possibilities in life.
Artist Statement by Craig Ede
My goal in these portraits is to communicate the uniqueness and dignity of each subject. Portraits often focus on elites, examples being government functionaries or university presidents. These are humbler people. I did not choose to portray them for a fee, but out of visual interests developed when I encountered them as neighbors, acquaintances, and more. Each one is visually unique.
Some of these people arrived in the United States from another country, so they are neighbors in a secondary way as well. In each case, by focusing on the specific person, I have tried to avoid the sort of ridiculous generalizations that happen in our political discourse where people are metaphorically defined as contagion because of their place of origin. Such a limited metaphor inhibits our ability to see people as they really are. They are not germs; they contribute to the richness of our society. They are our neighbors. The people we experience life with. These works aim to reveal that. Artistically, my co-exhibitors have been my spiritual neighbors for quite a long time. I invited them to exhibit with me for that reason. We are closer than might appear at first glance.
Artist Statement by Dan Gamble
A year ago I bought a small house in a small mid-central Iowa town. It needs a lot of work and because I have limited means, I do most of the work myself. My neighbor, an eighty-something year-old retired farmer, railroad mechanic, Navy veteran, likes to “supervise” (his words), offer advice when I’m out working up on the ladder. He had a stroke a few years back and lost half a leg; his mobility is restricted to a seated walker or a motorized scooter. He often asks for help with various tasks - changing garage light bulbs, bolting reflectors on the back of the scooter. He always has a tool to offer as payment, something he’s held on to over the years but now no longer has the dexterity to use. “Take it,” he says, “I don’t need it anymore. Can’t use it anyway.”
These are drawings of tools he’s given me; the process of rendering these objects has revealed to me — to my surprise — much about my neighbor I’d otherwise have missed.
Artist: Craig Ede
Lupe - Pencil
Artist: Craig Ede
Maria Augustina - Pencil
Artist: Craig Ede
John Schlee - Digital
Artist: Dan Gamble
Artist: Charlie Steinbrecher
There's an Angel in There Somewhere
Artist: Charlie Steinbrecher
Who Was That