Chipstone Foundation – The Dave Project

Currently on View at the Milwaukee Art Museum

Through collaboration with the Chipstone Foundation curatorial staff, Jon Prown, Executive Director/Chief Curator and Sarah Carter, Curator/Director of Research Milwaukee-based visual artist Mutope J. Johnson, helps to re-imagine the history of African-American material culture and design history. As part of the reinstallation of the Milwaukee Art Museum, which opened to the public on November 24, 2015. 

David Drake, also known as “Dave the Potter” was a highly talented and historically significant ceramic artisan (ca.1800-1870s). Dave’s story and craftsmanship inspired The Dave Project Gallery, which celebrates the lives and work of historic African-American artisans and makers.

The Chipstone Foundation curatorial staff states; “Milwaukee-based artist Mutope J. Johnson created the eight paintings featured in The Dave Project Gallery. Each image is based on careful research and Johnson’s own creative response to the objects. His paintings enrich the stories we are able to tell about these artisans by visualizing the worlds these objects once inhabited.” Chipstone Foundation Milwaukee Art Museum

The Dave Project • Series of eight paintings • Watercolor on Paper