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“Chelsea and Mariano really wanted to stress the ways that we’re connected, not just different,” she said.
The Museum’s Executive Director David Hummer said the connection between the photos comes from the same humanity in all of us.
“What The String Project finds, consistently, is that everybody desires the same thing. You want to be happy and live a peaceful life with family and friends. That string, that common thread, connects us all,” Hummer said.
The exhibit is a collaborative effort with Community Foundations of North Central Wisconsin. The photos will become a part of their annual Welcome Week celebrations in September.
Visitors can also become a part of the string project in an interactive photo opportunity. Both the museum and community foundations hope people leave the exhibit feeling a sense of belonging.
“I hope [visitors] feel good about witnessing what it means to be human and that we’re not that different,” Hummer said.
The String Project will run through mid-October. You can visit the museum for free Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. -3 p.m.
Copyright 2024 WSAW. All rights reserved.
Published: Jul. 25, 2024 at 9:27 PM CDT
WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) - A new exhibit is open at the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art. The award-winning exhibition is called The String Project: We Are All Connected.
It features true-to-life photos from over 30 countries and across five continents. The global project produced about 50 photos and filled three galleries. Every photo has one unifying factor: a string.
“The really cool thing is that the artists decided to have people hold a string to represent how we are all connected,” Cheryl Wolken, marketing specialist with Community Foundations of North Central Wisconsin, said.
Wolken said that the photographers, Chelsea Nix and Mariano Cortez, came up with the idea because they noticed all of the connections between people they met.
By Isak Dinesen Jul 25, 2024 Updated Jul 25, 2024
WAUSAU, Wis. (WAOW) -- Wausau's newest art exhibit has a theme of connectivity.
It's called "The String Project," opening Thursday at the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art.
The exhibit is a collection of 49 photographs taken around the world, and they all have one thing in common: each person featured is holding onto a rope that seamlessly connects with the ropes in other pictures.
Officials say it's designed to give perspective on how people live across the world, but all share the same Earth.
"I hope they really not only notice the person, but the context of where the person is, so some of them, they're on a mountain, some the person is in their home, or they're working at a shop; [primarily] to learn more about our world and to see the different places people live," said Cheryl Wolken, with the Community Foundation of North Central Wisconsin.
The museum is located just north of the 400 Block in downtown Wausau.
You can see the exhibit for free until October 12, and is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.
Published: Apr. 29, 2021 at 4:34 PM CDT
WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) - The Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art is opening its doors for the first time in months for its International Biennial Portrait Competition.
The museum will open Thursday from 12 to 5 p.m., followed by a reception from 6 to 8 p.m.
WMOCA Director David Hummer says the museum will display 52 pieces of artwork from around the world.
“We’ve got work here from China, Peru, Spain, Germany, and England,” Hummer said. “And then from New York to LA.”
One artist will win the “Best in Show” Award at the reception, which includes a $2,000 prize from WMOCA and a $4,000 award and full-page ad with Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine, according to Hummer.
Hummer says artists are excited to physically showcase their artwork, compared to how they have shown it throughout the pandemic.
“We converted to virtual exhibitions instead, but it’s just not the same,” Hummer explained. “You have to see work in person.”
Hummer says the competition kicks off the museum resuming to normal operation. WMOCA will stay open Thursday through Saturday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Copyright 2021 WSAW. All rights reserved.
By Stella Porter
Published: Oct. 26, 2019 at 5:49 PM CDT
People put on their best costumes today for the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art's first ever Halloween fun run.
“There isn’t a run in October for anybody. October is always skipped over,” said museum director David Hummer.
The Wicked Wausau 5K run started at the museum and looped around Barkers Island, with runners coming back to celebrate the museum's own spooky tale.
"The catalyst for this was the ghost here that inhabits the Wausau museum. Her name is Martha. A lot of people have heard of her. So we decided, what a better way to celebrate the month and Martha than to do a 5K,” said Hummer.
Afterwards, families could enjoy food, beer and hot apple cider, and live music inside. Proceeds went toward the museum.
Published: Apr. 11, 2021 at 5:41 PM CDT
WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) - The Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art currently has a virtual exhibit titled Facing the Universe: the Cosmos Within. Museum owner David Hummer has a painting in the show, as does local artist Kara Lasiewicz. It, along with other shows from around the world, was chosen to be encapsulated on the moon in late July.
“There’re painters from all over that got into this show, and then this was unbeknown to anyone, that all of a sudden this show along with others was picked to be sent to the moon, so to speak, in digital form on a little SD card,” said Lasiewicz.
The project is the work of physicist and author Dr. Samuel Peralta.
“He’s just this almost entrepreneurial man that just loves art and he wants to encapsulate it somewhere otherworldly so when you look up at the moon it’s like, ‘Oh my god there’s going to be the digital rendition of the girls up there,’” said Lasiewicz.
“It’s nice that there’s something more and we’re able to show other beings or whatever that there is good, and it’s going to continue to be made no matter what,” Lawiewicz said.
The Artists on the Moon project will travel on Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission One, and will have works by 1200 artists and one AI.
Copyright 2021 WSAW. All rights reserved.
By Rashad Williams May 28, 2020
WAUSAU, Wis. (WAOW) -- The Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art reopened on Thursday, welcoming residents from the community back in.
The museum has been closed for three months. Currently there's an ehxibit displaying figurative paintings of agricultural farm animals by Door County artist Craig Blietz.
"We’re opening in hopes that people slowly start to get back out in the community, and get structure back in their lives," Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art Executive Director David Hummer said. "If they’re looking for entertainment this is a very safe place to be. We do encourage masks and everything is completely cleaned and sanitized."
Hummer added that there usually aren't large crowds at the museum, so social distancing won't be an issue to maintain.
By Glen Moberg October 6, 2017
For the last 13 years a historic building in downtown Wausau has sat vacant. Once the primary gathering spot for the community’s movers and shakers, the Wausau Club now has a new tenant: an art museum.
Executive Director David Hummer is hoping his Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art revitalizes the landmark building while also shaking up the city’s economy.
“This museum is going to create a tremendous attraction for people not just in the state of Wisconsin, but for the entire region of Iowa, Michigan, Illinois, (and) Minneapolis,” Hummer said “We’re a great geographic location for something like this to happen.”
he opening exhibit features the work of 48 artists, selected from 750 entries, with workshops conducted by Alyssa Monks, an internationally renowned painter. The “Best of Show” artist will receive a $10,000 award.
“Every museum has its own niche. So we’re bringing in work that ordinarily in the Midwest does not get shown,” Hummer said. “We’re building a bridge between the east and west coasts. It’s intriguing to those artists to exhibit here because they’re very well known on the coasts and in Europe, but the Midwest has never heard of them.”
On Friday, workers were sawing and sanding boards and continuing the renovation work on the old building, even as Hummer prepared for the evening’s opening reception.
David Hummer, executive director of the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, stands outside the historic building that once housed the city’s Wausau Club. Glen Moberg/WPR
On Friday, workers were sawing and sanding boards and continuing the renovation work on the old building, even as Hummer prepared for the evening’s opening reception.
“It very well may have met the wrecking ball. So, I’m happy that I was able to kill two birds with one stone,” Hummer said.
Much of the work is being done by volunteers who also helped renovate thePavilion, a century-old concert venue in nearby Rothschild, which they saved from demolition.
“It’s a lot of work, but we want to give birth to this and let it walk on its own. There’s just been a huge outpouring of community support that I am extremely humbled by,” Hummer said.
The Wausau Club building was donated to the city in 2014 after extensive repair work by owners Tom and Connie Schuette. The city council voted to give the building to Hummer, a Wausau-based artist, for the museum project in February.
“It’s not every day that a museum of contemporary art opens in the north woods of Wisconsin,” Hummer said.