Summer Freshet, Artful Abundance from

The League of Milwaukee Artists is pleased to present the most recent works of its members, and – perhaps in unprecedented fashion – all artists and all their works who have applied to this show have been juried in by juror Steve Puttrich. All 76 works will form a comprehensive show at the Plymouth Arts Center from August 13 through October 1st. Summer Freshet: Artful Abundance from the League of Milwaukee Artists is sponsored by Robert and Phyllis Hoopman in Memory of James Hoopman.

The LMA exhibition will be open to the public the evening of the Arts Center’s 17th Annual Cheese Capital Jazz and Blues Crawl fundraiser, Friday, August 13 from 4:30 to 8:30pm The public is invited to meet the artists during a special reception which will be held one week later, Friday, August 20 from 5-7pm. Entertainment for the reception will be presented courtesy of Steve Hamer.

The League of Milwaukee Artists (LMA) was formed in 1944 by a group of local artists seeking venues to show their works. For 77 years, the LMA has championed artistic creativity and is dedicated to the promotion of visual creation, personal artistic growth and the expansion of the Arts in our state, region and community. It also provides a scholarship for art students. League membership is limited and competitive, with only a few members juried in each year. We currently have more than 100 artists creating two- and three-dimensional artworks in all forms of media.

By the early 1950s, the League founded a gallery on Highland Avenue and began to meet at the Milwaukee Engineering Society building, northwest of the Marquette campus. It was at this time that the League became the first art group in the Midwest to hold outdoor art fairs. The fairs were held in local parks including Washington Park and on the grounds of local landmarks such as the Charles Allis House and Radio City, the home of WTMJ-TV and in shopping malls. Fifteen thousand people attended the Whitnall Park Art Fair in October of 1955. By the mid 1950s the League found a home within the Charles Allis Museum and held an Annual Spring Juried Exhibition.

​In more recent years, the League has been home to several renowned local artists and is aggressively looking to provide ways to exhibit our members’ work and to find ways for the public to see our shows. League membership is limited and jury review for the few membership openings each year is very competitive. In addition to donating to local charities and scholarship funds, the League initially organized the Milwaukee Plein Air Festival and co-hosted with the Wisconsin Visual Artists. This event raised money for Artists Working in Education giving young people an opportunity to explore art in their schools and neighborhoods. The League membership has participated in the Milwaukee Artist Market at the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Green Living Festival at the Mitchell Park Domes, sketching and painting for visitors.