911±¬ÁÏÍø

Current Exhibitions

May 7 – Aug. 23, 2026
WE THE PEOPLE: Portraits of Veterans in America

Participation in the Blue Star Museums program last summer has prompted the Grohmann Museum to find new ways to explore veterans’ contributions to American industry through art. We are grateful to showcase Mary Whyte's watercolor series, WE THE PEOPLE: Portraits of Veterans in America, a project that ties the art of labor to the impact of veterans' work throughout our country.

Renowned watercolor artist Mary Whyte has captured scenes of working America and honored the nation’s working class throughout her career, and in this remarkable series, she has depicted military veterans of all ages and in all walks of life. For this show, Whyte traveled the country, interviewing each individual featured in this exhibition over the course of seven years. Through her work, we see the individuals who have served our country in the military, in the ways that they continue to serve the country in industry—from agriculture to education to public service. The result is fifty large-scale watercolor portraits of everyday American veterans, including a Missouri dairy farmer, a Rhode Island lobsterman, and a Pennsylvania science teacher. Altogether, WE THE PEOPLE presents a timeless portrait survey of the United States through labor and human achievement.

May 7 – Aug. 23, 2026
Boots and Sand: The Marines of 29 Palms
Photographs by Dennis Darmek

Boots and Sand: The Marines of 29 Palms began serendipitously in 2024. On a family trip to Joshua Tree, the artist Dennis Darmek decided to make an unplanned visit to the Marine Corps Combat Center, 29 Palms, California, resulting in this photo project. His only other visit to 29 Palms was in 1969 when, as an 18-year-old Marine, he received advanced weapons training before shipping out to Vietnam. Darmek says while memories can be suspect after 50 years, it’s impossible to forget the intense desert heat and rugged mountains of the Mojave Desert.

Upcoming Exhibitions

Sept. 4 – Dec. 20, 2026
Lina Bertucci: Railroad Voices—The Milwaukee Road, 1974–1977
Gallery Night Event – Oct. 16, 5-9 p.m.
Featuring a Gallery Talk with Lina Bertucci and Cindy Angelos: The first women to work in the Milwaukee Road yards

Lina Bertucci was hired by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (The Milwaukee Road) in 1974 as a brakeman (brakewoman). She was only the second woman to work in the Milwaukee Road yards, following her aunt, Cindy Angelos. Both Bertucci and Angelos entered training on the same day, and their arrival immediately sent tremors through the male-dominated field. But through ambition and optimism, they settled in by demonstrating full competence in their many challenges. While difficult, the work paid more than most other entry-level jobs and appealed to their adventuresome spirits.

As an aspiring artist, Bertucci arrived armed with her camera in her bag, at first hoping to simply fit in, to be respected as more than just the “girl with the camera.” Before long, she was accepted by most of her colleagues and set about chronicling her experience and daily toil, and did so for three years, until The Milwaukee Road filed for bankruptcy protection in 1977. In recalling her work, she notes that “these photographs were never simply creative memories of a personal experience, but a record of a social and historical moment—a communal cultural and industrial transformation that intersected with my own identity as I stood witness to its passing.”

Bertucci’s work while on ‘The Road’ resurfaces for this special display of an important part of Milwaukee’s industrial history and a woman’s impact on art and industry. Through her portraits of the railroad and the railroad worker, we are provided an insider’s view of a world few had access to, but so many were impacted by.

Upcoming Events

Past Exhibitions

2026

• Dave Clay's Industrial Atmospheres

2025

• The Legend Lives On—50 Years Later
• The Kalmbach Art Collection: Pairing Words and Imagery
• Going to Work for the Community: A Visual History of the Beckum-Stapleton Little League
• On the Edge: The Labor and Environment of Dimensional Stone Quarries

2024

• Gil Reid and Friends: Working on the Railroad
• Crossing the DMZ: A Contemporary Look at Working Women
• Patterns of Meaning: The Art of Industry by Cory Bonnet
• H.D. Tylle at Seventy: American Worklife

2023

• Mining Gems: Stories from the Collection
• Excavations: Paintings and Drawings by Michael Newhall
• David Plowden: The Architecture of Agriculture

2022

• A Time of Toil & Triumph: Selections from the Shogren-Meyer Collection of American Art
• Familias Unidas: Tribute to the Migrant Farm Worker Labor Movement in Wisconsin, 1960s-70s
• Robert O. Lahmann: Working in Wisconsin

2021

• The Railroad and the Art of Place: Photographs by David Kahler 
• artWORK by the League of Milwaukee Artists 
• Electric Steel: Recent Photographs by Michael Schultz 

2020

• TWO EDMUNDS: Fitzgerald and Lewandowski—Their Mark on Milwaukee 
• IRONBOAT: New Photography by Christopher Winters 

2019

• The Magnificent Machines of Milwaukee 
• Roll Up Your Sleeves 
• Growing Place: A Visual Study of Urban Farming 

2018

• David Plowden's Portraits of Work
• Wallace W. Abbey: A Life in Railroad Photography 
• The Art and Mechanics of Animation 

2017

• Masterworks from the Grohmann Museum - Celebrating 10 Years 
• Artists at Work: The Cedarburg Artists Guild 
• STEEL: The Cycle of Industry by David Plowden 

2016

• On the Job: Photography by Jim Seder 
• Milwaukee's Industrial Landscapes: Paintings by Michael Newhall 
• Art of the North Shore Line 

2015

• Forge Work: New Photography by Michael Schultz 
• Metal for Mettle: Historic Commemorative Medals Honoring Labor and Achievement 
• H.D. Tylle: Studies 
• Carl Spitzweg in Milwaukee
• The Art of the Milwaukee Road 

2014

• Erich Mercker: Painter of Industry
• Art Shay: Working 
• Trains that Passed in the Night: Railroad Photographs of O Winston Link 

2013

• A Working Ranch by Jim Brozek 
• Born of Fire: Scenes of Industry from the Westmoreland Museum of American Art 
• Bridges: The Spans of North America - Photographs by David Plowden 

2012

• 911±¬ÁÏÍø at Work: Selections from the Campus Archives 
• Carl Spitzweg: The Poor Poet and Other Characters 
• Great Lakers: Selections from the Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Public Library 
• H. D. Tylle: Touring Germany and Working in Wisconsin 

2011

• Requiem for Steam: The Railroad Photographs of David Plowden 
• Milwaukee Mills: A Visual History 
• Lake Boats: The Photography of Jim Brozek and Christopher Winters 
• Wonders of Work and Labor: The Steidle Collection of American Industrial Art, Penn State University 

2010

• Working Wisconsin: Selections from the Museum of Wisconsin Art 
• Foundry Work: A View of the Industry, The Photographs of Michael Schultz 

2009

• Midwest Murals: Joe Jones and J.B. Turnbull from the Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University 
• The Bookworm by Carl Spitzweg (1808-1885) 
• Wisconsin at Work: Thorsten Lindberg Paintings and Drawings from the MCHS Collection 
• Cradle of Industry: Works from the Rhineland Industrial Museum 
• American Steel: Works from the Collection of Tom and Lorie Annarella 

2008

• A Focus on Figures
• Stone

2007

• Physicians, Quacks, and Alchemists