Arts + Literature Laboratory presents For the Love of Water, a group exhibition curated by Shea Schachameyer and Susan Simensky Bietila, featuring the work of April Ogimaakwe Stone, Bomgiizhik (Isaac Murdoch), Melanie Ariens, Richard Jones, Shea Schachameyer, and Susan Simensky Bietila, from Tuesday, March 3 through April 18, 2026.
An opening reception for the new exhibitions at Arts + Literature Laboratory will be held Friday, March 13, 2026 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm.
For the Love of Water is a grassroots resistance themed art exhibition to educate and inspire people to work collaboratively to protect the water. The show is a collaboration between Great Lakes artists whose work connects to water whether through the materials and methods used or the stories told. Water connects us all, and as such, so do the threats posed by extractive industries like mining and pipelines. By bringing the perspective of six different artists whose work is intimately connected to water, this exhibition encourages you to think about your connection to the water and presents a call to action.
For the Love of Water
April Ogimaakwe Stone, an Ojibwe Black Ash basket maker from the Bad River reservation in northern Wisconsin, has been working with black ash since 1998. She spent one year studying a basket in use before attempting to weave her first basket in the spring of 1999 and ended up falling in love with all things connected to this craft including live harvest and log processing of raw material into usable splint for weaving. Since 2000, she has researched and traveled extensively, sharing her skills with young and old. April harvests all of her raw materials from the ceded territory swamps and forests of northern Wisconsin and processes it all by hand, providing beautiful, natural material for her own baskets and for baskets made by others. She believes in the traditional skill building of handwork and the healing power of making baskets and has received much recognition for her working knowledge of Black Ash basketry, while being thought of as a patient and gentle... Read More
Bomgiizhik is from Serpent River First Nation. He is of the Fish Clan and is Ojibwe. He has four beautiful children. He currently lives in the forest at Nimkii Aazhibikoong, a indigenous community that focuses on indigenous language, art, and land based activities. Being blessed with the opportunity, Bomgiizhik grew up in the traditional setting of hunting and gathering on the land. Having spent many year learning from Elders, he spends a lot of his time as a Story Teller. Many of these stories become his visual art pieces which have become recognized world wide. Bomgiizhik is also a singer song writer who loves to make music whenever he gets the chance. You will often find him on the land looking at his favorite plants or gazing into the beautiful night sky.
Melanie Ariens is a multi-media artist whose work focuses on the Great Lakes and freshwater issues. She uses art as a tool to create awareness and capture peoples’ hearts around water issues. Often she often uses a simple metaphor to frame how we perceive the state of the lakes. She creates water shrines and fetish pieces, serving to inspire stewardship for our shared waters, gently urging us all to celebrate and care for them. In the Great Lakes watershed where she lives, she feels we have a special responsibility to do this, for we are the stewards of one of the World’s greatest freshwater resources. Melanie has worked on many public art projects including for the Urban Ecology Center, the City of Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage district and the Watermarks project.
Richard Jones spent his early life with three bodies of water. A backyard swimming pool dug by his father, a yet wild neighborhood creek, and a chain of piedmont ravines flooded for hydro-power and cooling nuclear reactors. The tension between wildness and management control agendas in these bodies were reflected in the 70% of water that made up his own, and continues to show up in Richard’s work. This time was also marked by tutored lessons in drawing, which set his path and vision. Upon leaving his southern home he received a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design, discovered meditation from a Korean Zen Master and spent a long weekend at a Trappist Monastery in SC. He then spent thirty plus years in deep conversation with glass, a super-cooled liquid that at times has an uncanny resemblance to water. Currently he’s trying to excavate language from its watery origins; carving glass, making prints and engaging with other people.
Shea Schachameyer is from Milwaukee and today lives along the shores of Lake Superior and identifies as a queer woman, parent, adventurer, abolitionist, water protector, and community organizer. As a textile artist, Shea combines her commitment to social justice with her creativity to connect people to the times, places, and experiences that give us a feeling of belonging and connection in this beautiful, devastating world. While Shea’s work is based in traditional quilting practices, she incorporates innovative techniques into her art as well as her love of adventure and background in water science. Her map-based art is created from sewing layers of fabric together into topographic maps to tell stories of place. Shea’s larger works also seek to remind us that rest and self-care are radical acts of resistance and sometimes, the most important thing we can do is to hold one another.
Susan Simensky Bietila is a Milwaukee based activist artist. She is known primarily for her graphic non-fiction, published in the annual comics anthology, World War 3 Illustrated magazine, which she often co-edits. She also makes puppets which are carried by Water Protectors in communities where the waters are at risk from mining and pipelines. She works in scratchboard and ink, block prints, photography, silkscreen, cardboard sculpture and applique, and her stories often start with her own experience. Born in 1947, and growing up in Brooklyn, New York, she attended the famed High School of Music & Art, Brooklyn College in the age of Abstract Expressionism and much later UW-Milwaukee, studying printmaking and photography. She is also a retired RN, and finally free to do artwork all the time. Her first solo book, Front Lines: A Lifetime of Drawing Resistance is out from PM Press.
PLAN YOUR VISIT
Arts + Literature Laboratory is located at 111 S. Livingston Street #100, Madison, Wisconsin, 53703.
Our galleries are open Tuesday through Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday noon to 5pm, and other programs take place throughout the week. Please check the events calendar and education section for details.