August 9, 2025 · 4Pm to 7PM · Food for Health

2007 N Doctor M.L.K. Jr Dr, Milwaukee, WI 53212

Artwalk 2025 returns with Crowned in Color, an immersive gallery experience celebrating Milwaukee’s local artistry, neighborhood storytelling, and cultural pride on Historic King Drive.

About the Bronzeville Artwalk

Visual Art Installations · Live Performances · Food, Drinks & Community Vibes

The Bronzeville Artwalk is a weeklong celebration of visual art, music, and culture presented by the Historic King Drive BID and curated by AVRA. As a core part of Bronzeville Week, it transforms local businesses into galleries and culminates in a capstone event at Food for Health. This year’s theme, Crowned in Color, honors legacy and creative expression while spotlighting student, amateur, and professional artists shaping Milwaukee’s cultural future.

What’s New This Year (2025)

  • Expanded Submissions: Now accepting photography and performance entries alongside traditional visual art.

  • Focused Showcase: Limited to at least 9 featured artists, ensuring meaningful exposure and deeper engagement.

Artist Opportunities

  • Showcase up to 3 pieces (max size: 7ft x 7ft)

  • Connect with businesses for potential long-term installations

  • Sell their work during Bronzeville Week

  • Compete for supply scholarships awarded based on public voting

2025 ARTIST alley

All art sales are handled exclusively by the artists themselves, please reach out through their contact methods linked to each section.

The Curious Mind

Motherhood

ARIANNA PETRIE

I am an artist through and through—a walking piece of art. My work challenges social norms and those in power, driven by a growing desire to engage in activism. I’ve faced deep trials, but through resilience, I’ve transformed silence into voice. Art has been my greatest coping tool, a space for healing and truth-telling. I am a creative problem solver, using my lived experience to shape work that speaks, confronts, and uplifts

Color Around Us

DAWN JACKSON

I grew up exploring many forms of arts and crafts, but painting and drawing became a focus later in life. For me, being an artist isn’t about a title—it’s about creating something from nothing, in my own way. Coming from careers with step-by-step processes, art challenges me to embrace uncertainty and trust the journey. I often begin with a color palette and let the piece evolve, allowing space for surprise. While working within themes pushes me out of my comfort zone, it always leads to unexpected and rewarding outcomes. I hope you enjoy the work you’ve experienced.

Carried On

Frick & Frack

Respite

DEMAR WALKER

I am a multidisciplinary artist from Milwaukee, working in dance, theater, film, photography, and poetry to tell stories of Black life in the Midwest and across the African Diaspora. My work explores themes of race, gender, and identity through the idea of “finding and making home”—a practice rooted in Black resilience and place-making amid historical and ongoing displacement. Influenced by The Colored Museum, West African dance, and Basquiat’s neo-expressionism, I examine how personal and cultural histories intersect to shape the spaces we create and inhabit.

Motherhood- Sacred Relationship ($325)

I AM the story ($400), Mi pelo is the inspiration to the stories you tell ($400)

ELLIA HILL

My current work explores family and culture through the lens of my Puerto Rican identity—an identity shaped by complex history, blended traditions, and fragmented stories. I aim to research, document, and preserve our narratives so they’re not lost or overlooked. My art honors the ingenuity of my ancestors, who created with what they had. In that spirit, I use repurposed materials—thrifted frames, aged paint, hand-cut paper—to craft pieces rich with personal meaning. Each element carries a story. As I navigate intersecting cultures and familial roles, my work begins to uncover the deeper layers of memory, heritage, and survival.

America's #1 Target ($800)

K.F.K.W.B. ($6,000)

Let Me In ($3,200)

ERICA WRIGHT

I grew up doing many different forms of arts and crafts. Painting and drawing as a regular activity, however, came much later in life. So, for me, being an artist is not necessarily about the label applied to someone. Painting and drawing are just other acts of creating something from nothing. Being able to create something where I have the freedom to do it in my own way gives me the opportunity to explore options and allow myself to be surprised by the outcome. As a person whose occupations have usually entailed prescribed steps to get from start to finish, this can be challenging. Through the process of creating a painting/drawing I have to continually remind myself that the beginning does not reflect how the finished product will look. Therefore, I strive to enjoy the journey of creation and continue until it “appears” to be done, often starting with no prescribed end in mind. I usually create based on a color palette and design around them. I find these works easier than creating around a theme. Doing work around themes however challenge me to go beyond my comfort zone and I am always surprised by the outcome. I hope that you enjoy the work that you have viewed.

Door County Fall ($2,975)

Flower Boats ($1,375)

Tiny Dancer 2.0 $3,695

JONATHAN MEDINA

My work explores emotion through color, texture, and atmosphere. As a self-taught artist, I rely on curiosity, reflection, and a deep desire to express what words often can’t. Inspired by Claude Monet, I paint what I feel rather than what I see, using acrylics and neo-impressionist techniques to evoke memory, movement, and mood. My pieces are layered impressions—bold, fleeting, and emotionally charged. Rooted in tradition yet deeply personal, my art honors resilience and beauty. Being part of Bronzeville’s Crowned in Color Artwalk is a meaningful way to connect with and uplift the community I strive to reflect.

May She Rest

Beauty Sanctuary

LADASIA BRYANT

I’m Ladasia Bryant—a recent graduate from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, specializing in Communication Design (Class of 2023). I have recently transitioned into working as a program coordinator with PEARLS for Teen Girls, as well as owning my own company, Braided Magazine. My creative journey converges graphic design, fine art, and education, focusing on community and meaningful change through the arts. I combine all of these media because I believe all five senses will further our understanding of each other and the stories that need to be told.

Emotions (Sisters) ($85)

Tempest ($165)

Royalty ($60)

LEAH CASHAW

I’m a mixed media artist and K4–8th grade art teacher who works primarily with acrylics and upcycled materials. My work focuses on color, texture, and transformation, often using abstract forms and themes like hair to explore identity and expression. With a background in art therapy from Mount Mary University, I see each artistic choice as holding emotional weight. I’m drawn to the challenge of reimagining discarded materials—byproducts, packaging, and old artwork—into vibrant, layered pieces that invite viewers to look closer and find meaning in reinvention.

Zula’s Whisper ($1200)

BOMANI ($475)

Legendary ($790)

PAMELA GRAHAM

Pamela Graham, leather artist, creative, educator, and devoted mother of four. Pamela is the visionary founder behind Nandi Collection, where she manifests exquisite leather art and personal accessories driven by intuition and spirituality. Pamela’s work has graced prestigious venues like America’s Black Holocaust Museum and is currently showcased in galleries including 5Points Art Gallery, MOWA, River Center Gallery and Ayzha Fine Art Gallery. Her aspirations extend beyond borders, aiming to expand her influence globally through collaborations. Pamela’s mission is to cultivate inspiration form emerging artist and reignite the passion in seasoned ones, believing that art has the power to shape society. In addition to her artistic pursuits, Pamela generously shares her talents by teaching art at group homes and shelters across Wisconsin. Pamela’s enduring impact on Milwaukee’s art community is centered on service and fostering societal change. She views art as revolutionary tool capable of enriching lives, guided by intuitive and spiritual aesthetic choices rather than premeditation.

The Blue Lady ($1800)

ROSY PETRI

Rosy Petri is a self-taught mixed media artist and storyteller from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is currently represented by Calabar Gallery in Harlem, New York. Petri served as the inaugural Artist in Residence at the bell hooks center at Berea College (2021), a Mary L Nohl Emerging Artist Fellow and a Mildred L. Harpole Artist of the Year (2020), the 11th Pfister Artist in Residence (2019), and a Milwaukee Artist Resource Network mentee under artist Della Wells (2018). Petri’s work can be viewed in several prestigious collections, including the James Museum, the bell hooks Center at Berea College, the Pfister Hotel, Hunger Task Force, Northwestern Mutual’s Giving Gallery, African American Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin and the Milwaukee County Courthouse. She is currently a member of the Women of Color Quilters Network, Spectrum Gallery, and the Kujichagulia Producers Cooperative.

ONI Princess ($375)

Sovereign Truth ($375)

Can’t Let G* ($150)

SAVVY BREAUX

My work explores memory, identity, and emotional transformation through bold, vector-based designs centered on Blackness in its most intimate and layered forms. What began as an emotional release during times of heartache has grown into a visual language of presence, reflection, and growth—shifting from pain to a dialogue with joy, curiosity, and becoming. Drawing inspiration from anime, Andy Warhol, comic books, samurai stories, and early techniques like stipple drawing and acrylic painting, my characters blend softness with sharp lines, embodying resilience, rest, and vulnerability. Themes of transformation, masculinity, and ritual run through my work, especially in exploring Black and queer identities. Whether on canvas, poster, or screen, my art invites viewers to engage with the tension between strength and stillness, where I find my voice and hope others see their own reflections.

Untitled.17

TIERRA BENDER (T.ERA)

T.Era, formerly Tierra Bender, is a Milwaukee artist whose mixed-media work blends acrylics, collage, oils, and natural materials to explore the tensions between faith and science, discipline and freedom. A former scientist and athlete, her bold, chaotic style acts as both diary and invitation, reflecting deep presence and honesty. For her, art is a bridge connecting herself, her community, and the possibilities beyond “yes,” embodying a physical act of faith through which she listens and evolves.

No Heros where I'm From

Infinite Hoops

VEDALE HILL

I only Do what I know and I only know what I Do

Pray (1 Thessalonians 5:17) ($275)

Hidden in GLORY (1 Peter 2:9)($275)

Ready (Luke 12:40) ($275)

ZAIRE MCCOY

Art has been my sanctuary, a gift from God that allows me to express my thoughts and emotions on canvas. Through various media, I find solace and freedom to explore the complexities of life. In times of trial art has become my escape, transforming struggles into beautiful expressions of creativity.

PARTNERS & SPONSORS

AVRA served as the lead curator and creative partner for the 2024 Artwalk, helping to shape a dynamic, community-centered experience. Building on the success of that collaboration, the BID is proud to continue its partnership with AVRA for the 2025 event, deepening our shared commitment to local artistry, cultural storytelling, and impactful public engagement.

YWCA Southeast Wisconsin serves as the lead sponsor for the 2025 Artwalk student scholarship awards, reinforcing their longstanding commitment to equity in education and creative opportunity. Their support makes it possible to directly invest in young artists across the city, ensuring that this year’s celebration of local talent also nurtured the next generation of changemakers.

Want to be a Partner or Sponsor for this campaign? Email us at admin@historickingdrive.com

GALLERY

Artwalk Through The Years