School of Art Welcomes Educator and Founder of Milwaukee Visionaries Project to Lecture Series

Joe Brusky

Art Build Workers documentation photo

The School of Art in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is pleased to welcome art educator and founder and director of the Milwaukee Visionaries Project Kim Cosier to campus and the school's Visiting Lecture Series. The lecture will be at tonight, Thursday, Oct. 12, at 5:30 p.m. at Hillside Auditorium, room 202.

Cosier is professor of art education in the Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she has been happily teaching since 2001. She is a member of the activist art collective the Art Build Workers and she is founder and director of the Milwaukee Visionaries Project, an award-winning media production/literacy program for urban youth. 

With her wife, Josie Osborne, she is also a founder of ArtsECO, a program that develops teachers as change-makers backed by a strong and sustainable community of arts organizations, non-profits and K-16 school partnerships. She believes in the power of art and the human imagination to create a more just and joyful world.

During the forthcoming lecture, Cosier will share aspects of her work with the Art Build Workers. The Art Build Workers are a group of seven artists, designers, photographers and educators who are based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

The Art Build Workers work locally and travel around the country organizing multi-day community-based events called art builds in collaboration with unions and other social justice organizations. Art builds are a form of creative collective action in which ABW partners with community organizations to create artwork that makes visible the messages of social transformation our partners are working to promote. ABW's goals are twofold: to support movements by amplifying their messages through visual art, media and archiving, and to build community through creative collective action. 

"We are very much looking forward to Kim Cosier's visit," said Paulina Camacho Valencia, endowed assistant professor of art education. "Her work with the ABW provides an excellent example of the transformative potential of community-based art education." 

Cosier's research and teaching focus on art and education for social justice, particularly related to intersecting cultural and social factors including gender, race, sexuality and class. She has published two books and numerous articles on these subjects. She is also a member of a performance troupe called Big Gay Church.

All are invited to learn more about Cosier's work at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 12, at Hillside Auditorium 202.