"Art and Infrastructure: Artists of the Mineral Street Overpass Project Area 5"

Opening Soon at Grove Gallery, “Art and Infrastructure: Artists of the Mineral Street Overpass Plaza Project - Area 5”
with Marina Lee, Celine Farrell, Melanie Ariens,
Ceci Tejeda, and Ann Mory Wydeven

(Milwaukee, WI) On Friday, August 8th, 5-9pm, Grove Gallery will present “Art and Infrastructure” a group exhibition of artworks by Marina Lee, Celine Farrell, Melanie Ariens, Ceci Tejeda and Ann Mory Wydeven. These artists were selected to add their artwork to a green infrastructure installation at
W Washington and S 5th and 6th Streets in Walker’s point. The infrastructure project includes a cistern, bioretention basins, stormwater trees, rain gardens, native plantings and porous pavement. The area invites the neighborhood in for use as a community plaza and educational space. Artists will be exhibiting a range of work from their individual artistic practices, including drawings, sculpture, printmaking, papier-mache, ceramics, and mosaic.

A sculpture by Marina Lee from Arts @ Large has been installed in the plaza's center. A bronze slab sculpture by Celine Farrel will be installed adjacent to this and mural work has been done on the cistern and surrounding area by Milwaukee Water Commons, with Melanie Ariens, Ceci Tejeda, and Ann Mory Wydeven, who worked with 180 students from the United Community Center’s Acosta Middle School.


OPENING: Friday, August 8th, 5-9 PM & Saturday, August 9th, 2025 12-4 PM
CLOSING: Saturday, August 30th, 12-4 PM

Grove Gallery is open to the public, noon-4pm on Saturdays..


Celine Farrell is a cast bronze sculptor and printmaker. She owns and restored the Lamers Building in Walker’s Point, a High Victorian Italianate commercial building designated a historic landmark by the City of Milwaukee. She earned her MFA in painting and sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art and an MFA in Sculpture from the Pius XII Institute in Florence, Italy. Celine was a lifer in the metals shops at Milwaukee Area Technical College where she studied metallurgy, foundry work, and welding, making the school her defacto metal casting studio for 30 years. She was commissioned by the Milwaukee Department of Neighborhoods to create a cast bronze slab sculpture of Native Butterflies to be installed at the Mineral Street Overpass in 2025.

Marina Lee is an artist working in sculpture, painting, and mixed-media with an extensive resume as a teaching artist creating community involved public art. She explores the interconnection between earth and humans in her personal work and brings this spirit of unity into her community art. Her vibrant and imaginative sculptures can be seen all over Milwaukee and beyond, in schoolyards, parks and other public spaces.

Melanie Ariens is a multimedia artist whose work focuses on the Great Lakes and freshwater issues. She uses art as a tool to create awareness around water issues, often using a simple metaphor to frame how we perceive the state of our shared waters. Because of her belief that our dependence on clean, safe water unites us, and that everyone needs access to it to thrive, she works as the Creative Arts Manager for Milwaukee Water Commons. MWC is a social and environmental justice organization that uses the arts as a way to capture hearts around water issues. Melanie has worked on public art projects for the Urban Ecology Center, the City of Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage district and the Watermarks project.

Ceci Tejeda was born and raised in Mexico City. Her parents are from Michoacán, Mexico, which is why she has Purepecha blood in her veins. Ever since she was a young girl, she’s admired her culture. She creates Alebrijes, a colorful, fantastical creature made from various parts of different animals, made of “cartoneria,” a unique and traditional papier mache technique from Mexico City. She also creates large-sized pieces that support various social justice movements and activism using the same technique.

Ann Mory Wydeven is a storyteller, colorist, and naturalist working with terracotta clay, mosaic and concrete. Wydeven holds a Bachelor’s Degree from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a Masters of Fine Art from Rhode Island School of Design. She is the owner of AMW Sculpture Studio in the production of mosaic installation, sculpture and pottery.

Also check out other Arts events in Milwaukee, Fine Arts events in Milwaukee, Exhibitions in Milwaukee.