Visual Art

The Artistic Harvest

family farm history inspires mixed-media work

Barbara Arnold, photos by Andrea Paulseth |

Vicki MIlewski’s latest work, on display at the Galaudet Gallery, is inspired by her family’s farming roots.
Vicki MIlewski’s latest work, on display at the Galaudet Gallery, is inspired by her family’s farming roots.

When siblings Vicki and Mike Milewski were growing up in Chicago’s Northwest suburbs, they traveled to the Milewski family dairy farm in Thorp to help with the planting and harvesting of alfalfa, corn, and hay. Vicki, a fifth generation artist on her mother’s Galaudet side of the family, now lives and creates her art on the farm which has been in the family for more than 150 years, well before Wisconsin was even a state.

Vicki’s experiences on the farm then and now serve as inspiration for the current exhibit at the Galaudet Gallery in downtown Eau Claire: “Part 1 of Where Our Food Comes From: The Milk Receiving Jar: Dairy Farming in the 21st Century.” Gerhard Richter’s and Georgia O’Keefe’s use of the color white in certain paintings also influenced her for this collection of 164 drawings, paintings and mixed media – of which 46 are on view at Galaudet Gallery.  

Corn is also an integral part of this exhibit. Little corn plants no more than six inches high caught the eye of Vicki on her early morning walks on the farm. As the sun struck the pollen portion of the stalk, it glimmered like gold. Vicki was determined to replicate it in her art, first starting with sketches, then drawings, oils, a milk-based paint called casein, and finally mixed media in which she combines fiber art, prismatic pencils, water color, and oil. She is successful in these pieces by using primarily golden yellow and all shades of green, framed with weathered barn wood which all pops against the indigo and forest green walls of the gallery.

 “Glenn, our rental farmer who is an Old Order Mennonite, using a horse and buggy and a steel-wheeled tractor, invited me over to his farm during milking time after I told him how the corn he planted had inspired me. Every member of his family is involved during milking, which lasts for two hours twice each day,” shares Vicki, a listed American Abstract Expressionist artist.

“The early morning light from the sun coming through the milk house windows and illuminating the receiving jar was a metaphysical experience,” she continues. “The milk flows from the cows’ udders which are attached to suction cups, through the milk pipeline system before entering the clear receiving jar. In the receiving jar, the confluence of the heavier protein rich part of milk and the lighter watery part of milk are mixed and also re-oxygenated in preparation for market. Then, the mixed milk continues to the bulk holding tanks where it can be kept up to three days at 42 degrees, before flowing into the milk truck, which arrive here practically every other day.     

“Before visiting Glenn’s farm, I didn’t know what was involved in bringing milk from the cow to my table,” Vicki concludes.

Two rustic, vintage milk cans as well as a metal Holstein from the Milewski farm mailbox on display provide a contrast to the contemporary-looking artwork and the receiving jar process.

All artwork is for sale. The gift shop also has farm-related vintage and retro items on display and for sale.

“Where Our Food Comes From Part 1: The Milk Receiving Jar: Dairy Farming in the 21st Century” at The Galaudet Gallery, 618 S. Farwell St., Eau Claire • 12-8pm daily through June 1 • (715) 513-9994 • www.facebook.com/galaudet.gallery.llc • galaudetgallery@gmail.com