Long before Twitter and Facebook became mobilizing forces for collective action, the contemporary mural art movement in America offered a medium for community expression and empowerment.
Whitewater’s Cultural Arts Center’s August exhibit “Caryl Yasko: Public Art, the Original Social Medium” highlights the work of a nationally renowned artist who was at the forefront of this movement.
Yasko’s work will be on display through Sept. 9.
The public is invited to a free opening reception on Sunday Aug. 12 from 1-4 p.m.
The founder of the Chicago Mural Group, John Pitman Weber, will be presenting an overview of Yasko’s work at the opening.
The show will run Thursdays through Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. A closing reception will be Sunday, Sept. 9 from 1-4 p.m.
“The real significance of public art is that the people in the community actively participate in developing their visual voice,” said Yasko. “The public artist’s task is to maintain artistic integrity and cohesiveness so that once the work is completed, it stands as both as a statement representing the ideas and the sentiments of the community and as a strong artistic composition so that the intent of the mural is easily read.”
Yasko’s “Under City Stone,” painted in Chicago in 1972, made her one of the nation’s first female community muralists and put her at the forefront of an art movement that produced hundreds of large-scale works in the United States and Europe.
Yasko explored themes — such as health care and immigration — that are highly relevant today.
Yasko moved to Whitewater in 1976 and became a dynamic factor in the Wisconsin Artist in the Schools Program.
She has held more than 50 artist-in-residence positions, working with children and adults to create murals and large-scale contemporary sculptures in many Wisconsin communities.
One of her murals, “The Prairie Tillers,” is located just minutes away from the exhibit at 119 W. Center St.
Yasko’s emotionally compelling work is often praised for its strong compositions and breathtaking use of color, to which she credits her classic training as a painter and a sculpture.
She has won numerous awards and is published internationally in books and featured in films. She has also taught public art techniques at the Art Institute of Chicago and many colleges and universities, inspiring countless individuals to develop their ideas and express their voices.
The current exhibit highlights Yasko’s significance as a leading figure in the American Public Art movement and examines what it means to be a public artist, according to the Whitewater Arts Alliance.
On hand will be works of art ranging from mural reproductions and original drawings to sculptures and carvings. The exhibit will also include preparatory drawings, watercolors and models to show how the artist developed an influential method of working with communities to collectively express an idea’s conception to its final form.
“We started the mural movement because we believed that art should be available to everyone,” said Yasko. “We broke the barrier between the artist and the viewer and collaborated with people on the street, in neighborhoods and communities to reflect what they wanted to say about what was important to them at the moment. It was and still is a social medium much like the Internet is today.”
Whitewater’s Cultural Arts Center is located at 402 W. Main St. in the historic White building near the Birge Fountain.
Wondering about Carol Yasko. She painted a mural at Central High School years ago. I was the art teacher there at the time.