Mount Mary Art Professors Guide Students to Create Multimedia Look at Bronzeville

Written by admin   // March 18, 2013   // 0 Comments

Exhibit at Milwaukee High School of the Arts Runs Through March 22

Two Mount Mary art professors worked with more than a dozen Milwaukee High School of the Arts students for five months to create “Standing on Their Shoulders: Memories of Bronzeville,” a multi-media exhibit on the African American neighborhood.

Through oral histories, photo collages and painted murals, the teenagers captured key elements of the historic area.

Led by Mount Mary art professors Paul Calhoun and Brad Bernard, the students learned a variety of skills, including interviewing, writing, editing and storytelling. Most importantly, the students were educated about Bronzeville.

According to Calhoun, none of the students, most of whom were African American, knew anything about the neighborhood.

“The students conducted more than a dozen interviews with elders who lived in Bronzeville,” says Calhoun. “They heard first-hand about segregation and what it was like at the turn of the 20th century.”

The student work focuses on three aspects of Bronzeville – the importance of religion and jazz and African American life during that time.

The exhibit is on display at the Milwaukee High School of the Arts, 2300 W. Highland Ave., Milwaukee, through March 22.

The project is supported by a grant from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Mary L. Nohl Fund and Know Thyself.

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