''Milwaukee'' is a public artwork by Cleveland, Ohio artist George Mossman Greenamyer (b. 1939), located at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee;

Golda Meir Library Golda is a term of which the various forms stem from Proto-Germanic '' gulþą'' "gold", and may refer to: Geography * Golda, the original name of Gouda, South Holland, Netherlands * Golda, the earliest known name for the river Gouwe in the Nether ...

, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States of America.

Description

Painted Steel, 18' high x 20'1" wide x 5' deep. Although the piece is entitled ''Milwaukee'', agricultural iconography is included. The sculpture reads from left to right, starting with the Milwaukee Lighthouse, a lighthouse keeper at the harbor breakwater and a seaman standing on duty aboard a Great Lakes freighter and a workman holding a shovel on top of a

grain elevator A grain elevator is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In the grain trade, the term "grain elevator" also describes a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lower level and deposits ...

. The Urban scene begins with city folk nearby the

U.S. Bank Center (Milwaukee) U.S. Bank Center is a skyscraper located in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, noted for being the tallest building in the state of Wisconsin, and the tallest building between Chicago and Minneapolis. Standing and 42 stories tall, the building has ...

, followed by

Milwaukee City Hall The Milwaukee City Hall is a skyscraper and town hall located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was finished in 1895, and was Milwaukee's tallest building until completion of the First Wisconsin Center in 1973. The Milwaukee City Hall was ...

and houses typical of early

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

and

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

immigrants. The most western part of the sculpture ends with a mailman delivering mail to a typical mid-western farmhouse, a cow, and a farm couple.Buck, Diane M. and Virginia A. Palmer (1995). ''Outdoor Sculpture in Milwaukee: A Cultural and Historical Guidebook'', p. 138. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison

Historical information

An addition to the

in 1988 qualified UW-Milwaukee for the Percent for Art program created in 1980. The Wisconsin Arts Board administers Percent for Art and a gubernatorial-appointed committee reviews the artists' applications. In examining proposals for the

site, the committee considered the works of fifty-six artists before selecting George Mossman Greenamyer.

Location history

''Milwaukee'' has been located at the

, 2311 East Hartford Avenue, since 1989. The state of Wisconsin granted commission of $21,400 to the artist for the design, fabrication, and transportation of the work to the site. It was dedicated on May 2, 1989.

Artist

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Greenamyer received his BFA from the Philadelphia College of Art and his MFA in sculpture from the University of Kansas. First and foremost, Greenamyer considers himself a straightforward narrative sculptor. The public sculptures Greenamyer creates usually contain specific references to a community's history, architecture, and industry. He visits each site to talk with local people about the history and social background of the area. Then Greenamyer works the forge, hammering the steel into the ribbed structures on which the narrative portion rests. The pieces are welded, assembled, ground down, sandblasted, primed and painted. The buildings and figures were forged at the Carswell Sculpture & Ironworks in Marshfield, Massachusetts, before he trucked the pieces to Milwaukee. The Cardinal Fabricating Corporation in Milwaukee created the large black steel pedestal to the artist's specifications.Buck, Diane M. and Virginia A. Palmer (1995). ''Outdoor Sculpture in Milwaukee: A Cultural and Historical Guidebook'', p. 49. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison

References

{{University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Outdoor sculptures in Milwaukee 1989 sculptures Steel sculptures in Wisconsin