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The genesis of this exhibition was inspired by the work of Milwaukee photographer and
painter Steven Sellars. Steven spent several weeks in Special Collections at the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) conducting image research. Fascinated by his investigations of the imagery
found in seventeenth-century natural history publications, I decided to put out a general
call, and issue a challenge, to other Milwaukee-area artists, inviting them to
conduct their own research on a topic of their choice that could be supported by
the resources in Special Collections. The research could take any form--visual, conceptual,
literary, historical, technical--and could make use of any one or combination of resources from our
broad collections. The challenge to them was to create at least one original work in any medium
based on that research. Over a two-year period many artists responded to the call. The
fourteen artists represented in this exhibition catalog successfully completed
work based on their research. Their responses to their studies are as varied as the resources they
used and their own individual perspectives.
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