'They're part of history': Charles Allis Art Museum temporarily rebrands to feature women, nonbinary artists

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- In an industry where women and minorities are typically underrepresented, the small steps toward improving inclusivity matter.

In Milwaukee, one museum is taking that into its own hands. 

As of Jan. 26, the Charles Allis Art Museum is temporarily rebranded as the Sarah Ball Allis Art Museum -- an ode to Charles' wife who was a Wisconsin socialite and avid art collector. 

“In having that name, patriarchal norms mean slowly she was simply written out of the story being told here," said Caroline Dannecker. with marketing services. “To simply hear this collection only being spoken about in terms of Charles was almost heartbreaking.”

After Charles died in 1918, Sarah continued to travel and expand her collection before ultimately passing in 1945, bequeathing the home and its contents to the city of Milwaukee.

"We know that she survived the Civil War, the suffragette movement, WWI and WWII," said Executive Director Jaymee Harvee Willms. "I think it builds a narrative of a person who was devoted to culture, devoted to a global perspective, committed to dignity for every person, and when we see that ethos from their collection and from their behavior and from these artifacts they have left behind, it's not hard to conceive that maybe this is a place they would have ended up."

The Charles Allis Art museum is getting a makeover — starting with its name! We’re exploring the new exhibits featuring women, femme & non binary artists, and diving into why the small museum is tackling gender inequalities tonight on @CBS58pic.twitter.com/UC0ppSAjvw

— Ellie Nakamoto-White (@ellienw_news) January 27, 2023

Besides the name change, the exhibits will also feature work from female, femme, nonbinary, and other minority artists.

“Women and nonbinary people have historically been disadvantaged, their narratives written by others,” said guest curator Kate Schaffer, who identifies as nonbinary. "By renaming the Allis, we’re repairing the history of the home, the collection, and Sarah herself, and we’re taking a small but significant step to amend the historical silencing of women and nonbinary persons, particularly in the art world."

Dannecker agreed, noting that the museum wants to make sure they are "telling all of the stories that are relevant to Milwaukee."

“They are producing that art, they are telling these stories, they are part of history, they are part of the present," Dannecker said. “From 2008 to 2018, less than a quarter of exhibitions at major galleries in the US highlighted art by women. That’s not really progress.”

Harvee Willms added that museums have responsibilities to be diverse.

"When we really think about our role as an institution and being the cultural fabric of Milwaukee, I think we have an opportunity to create space and place for women," Harvee Willms said. "At the Sarah Ball Allis Art Museum, it's quite literally about making that space and identifying, historically, the people who literally carved out the way for all of the artists that are here today."

The museum will change back to its original name on June 11.