Two well-known mural artists are taking their talents to South Milwaukee — and the result will be some eye-catching public art downtown.
One of the artists helped create the huge Giannis mural in downtown Milwaukee.
The other has been behind some beautiful public art in the Los Angeles area, including at SoFi Stadium, the Rose Bowl and Angels Stadium.
This beautiful explosion of public art is the result of separate projects being led by the City of South Milwaukee and Artworks, a grassroots group that is planning a “mural tour” downtown.
Together, they mark the most significant investment in public art in South Milwaukee in a generation, maybe ever. And I can’t wait to see it (and in, one on case, help paint it).
Sorce Martial Arts Mural
First, information on the Artworks mural, which will kick off with a painting party on Saturday, October 8.
From the Artworks web page …
We’re creating a mural tour in Downtown South Milwaukee! In August we contracted a Milwaukee based muralist, Tone Gomez aka @sketchy_tony, to design and paint our first mural on the Sorce Martial Arts building at 924 Milwaukee Avenue.
ART WORKS ON THE AVENUE | MURAL PAINTING PARTY
Join us: Sunday, October 8th 1-4pm. We’ll be kicking off our first mural installation by throwing a mural painting party at the site of the new mural.
- Meet with the muralist for a chance to paint a portion of the mural.
- Chalk up the sidewalk alongside other local artists.
- Enjoy face painting, taco truck, ice cream, popcorn, live music, bloody marys, shopping, bounce houses, fundraising, and community engagement.
Check out more information on Tone (and see some his terrific work) on Instagram.
From James Moran of Moran’s Pub and Artworks …
The funds for our first mural going up in October were raised from the sponsors and participants of our first wine tasting event held back in May at the beautiful DBHW Wealth Partners building on Milwaukee Ave.
A group of local SM business owners created a group called ‘Artworks’ earlier this year with the goal to help bring foot traffic and life back to our downtown in South Milwaukee. Although the initial focus is Milwaukee Avenue, we hope to grow, expand, and collaborate with more local businesses, building owners, sponsors, and creatives to create a downtown full of artistic, eclectic, and interactive murals. As the list grows, so will the walking and bicycling groups tours that will follow them as we look to create a vibrant new image for our downtown.
We love our SM history but that will not necessarily be our focus of this group.
I do want to state that this would not have happened without the vision and planning of Darlene Piszczek (Dar). Over the years, Dar has travelled all around the country for work and has seen the positive impacts of murals on communities of all sizes. This has not been a simple process to execute and Dar has gone above and beyond to pull this off in fantastic fashion.
Murals have the ability to attract new local businesses, help bring customers to pre-existing locations, and boost the economy of an area. All we can say about this first mural is that it is quite simply a game changer and will be the first of many that we will plan to bring to South Milwaukee. Our first mural will be revealed soon, but we have all taken an oath of secrecy, so ‘mums the word’ until our community event that is scheduled for Sunday 8th, October.
So who is behind the group? Artworks consists of Darlene Piszczek, Chuck Winn, Leah Minue, Ernie Wunsch, Tamara Janowski, and James Moran. All six (6) volunteers have businesses in South Milwaukee, five (5) of them located on Milwaukee Ave, and five (5) of us live in SM, with two (2) of us actually on Milwaukee Ave.
Human Concerns Mural
Another mural is coming a block away from Sorce Martial Arts, this one sponsored by the City of South Milwaukee. From the city …
The Common Council approved a contract with Mika Revell of LLP Studios for the mural at 1029 Milwaukee Avenue at their meeting on August 15, 2023 by a 6-1 vote. 116 mural designs were reviewed by a committee of seven stakeholders to determine the final design.
Design description: In the foreground are native flowers found in Grant Park, set in front of Grant Park shoreline, showing a beach, Lake Michigan and our city’s connection to the thriving Milwaukee region. The design also has the illusion of coming out of the wall and inviting people to step into nature.
The mural is slated to be started in September and should be completed over a seven day period.
Learn more about Mika Revell here, and check out some of her work …
I love all of this!
South Milwaukee Blog 
Personally, not very impressed with the art shown by Mika Rivell. Hope she does better by South Milwaukee.
Darlene and Bob, her husband, and the several other small business owners have done a ton of work in a very short period of time. We are fortunate to have all of them working hard to make our community more vibrant.
As SM residents, we appreciate their hard work.
Steve and Maureen Fenno
So you are going to slather gobs of paint on beautiful brick and stonework? Murals are not the be all and end all of cityscapes. For the third time, if there is any place for a mural in south Milwaukee, it is on the ugly concrete of the old Line Material building lining Marquette avenue!!!