Meet the 2024 Nohl Fellowship Emerging Artists

every year, Mary L. Nohl Fellowship awards funds to individual artists in southeastern Wisconsin to create new work or continue current projects. Recipients are divided into two cohorts: established artists and emerging artists. The 2024 Emerging Artist honorees are filmmakers Justin Goodrumphoto artist Jovanny Hernandez Caballeroand painter Nicholas Perry. At the end of the fellowship, their work will be exhibited in a group exhibition at the Haggerty Museum of Art in 2025.

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Tell us a little about yourself and what you plan to do during the communication.

Nicholas Perry: I’m a painter here in Milwaukee. I graduated from UW-Milwaukee in 2018. My practice involves making these figurative portrait works that previously revolved around obsession, sincerity, isolation and anxiety. But now it is evolving towards a more outward relationship with the landscape.

The final project is to continue to be full-time or part-time in my studio. I think for me, (it was) constantly trying to get better as a painter. … Regardless of the reading I do, what I watch every day, the experiences when I’m out in the field, exploring the flora and fauna of the natural landscape that is uniquely embedded here in Milwaukee. It’s a very rare opportunity for people living in a metro area to have such a strong citywide conservation initiative.

Justin Goodrum: I run my own film production company called Good Entertainment and currently the films I work on touch on a perspective that I haven’t seen much in film. So, I use this to submit my work and hopefully create change through the lens of the world.

My project is my first named feature film Christopher. Some of the things I touch on are topics that aren’t usually seen as much in film, and that’s mental health — especially in the Black community in Milwaukee. The funds really helped me focus fully on this. It is a portion that I appreciate very much because it was needed. There is still a lot to do in terms of fundraising and equity. But it gives me more time to work on the craft of the film as well as the story. And find ways to make it more sustainable here in Milwaukee as a filmmaker.

Jovanny Hernandez Caballero: I really focus as a community artist. A lot of the projects I do are very community based. Many people think that photography is my main artistic practice and it is not. I will always see photography as my job, as a photojournalist for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. But when it comes to my art practice, it focuses on pushing photography to be more installation-based or creating an immersive experience piece. And that is what I will focus on for the Nohl Fellowship – continuing to push that boundary.

I know (my project) is going to be very family oriented in that I come from a long line of family members who are artists. My family is from a small village in Oaxaca. We are indigenous. We are mixtecos. … With this installation piece, I want to pay homage to my family’s history of being indigenous artisans. I want to focus on showcasing some of the woven items that my grandmother and great grandmother made – things that have been passed down. … My grandmother, she makes blankets using the sheep from her farm. And being able to capture that through photography was unique and amazing. But I think with this project I also want to present them as artists, because it’s not enough to show an image of the object. I want them to be part of this exhibition because my family is very important to me.

What have you learned during your time in your job?

NP: It’s really accepting how organic development can be and that you only learn when you feel like you don’t know what you’re doing.

JHC: My goal is to think of art as a tool. I love being a storyteller. And I found that art, especially images, was such a great tool for that because it’s like the universal language that everyone can understand, especially coming from a mostly Spanish-speaking family.

JG: It takes patience. Another is that art is subjective. Just because a small part of the world doesn’t get your work or doesn’t understand it doesn’t mean it’s not good. (It’s) don’t let that discourage you.

How would you describe the art scene in Milwaukee?

JG: What I noticed is the camaraderie. You’re one or two people away from anyone here in town. This helps create – how connected everyone is and how willing people are to work together.

NP: What makes it unique is the level of diversity and sheer talent in this city. Slowly it became more and more globally recognized and seen as a hub to develop and create this wonderful thing and be more representative of what the art world could really look like.

What is your favorite thing about what you do?

NP: When it all comes into focus, and those projections, all those notes, all that reading, all the pictures and all the drawings – it all comes together and you’re like, this was worth it.

JG: The greatest joy is when a film is finished and you see people reacting to it. I’m creating something that feels like affecting real emotion, which is crazy when you think about it.

JHC: My favorite thing has to be how my work has connected with my community. What I mean by that is coming from the south side of Milwaukee, I come from a Latino/Mexican neighborhood. Rarely are there artists who reach a level where they present their work at a higher level, who gain recognition on a larger scale. As for me, I am forever grateful for the opportunities I have had in my life. A win for me is also a win for my family and my community because the work that I do—it’s unique in some ways to my family’s story, but it’s a story that’s shared with many families here in south. The Milwaukee part. … The work they do resonates with them because it reminds them of their home.

What is something you would like to see for the future of the Milwaukee art scene?

NP: When I walk through Downtown and see those empty office spaces… Okay, sure, they’re probably incredibly expensive, and usually our community is starting from scratch rather than in those locations, but I think we have the infrastructure in the city. to be able to cope with a larger art market.

JG: I think a lot of things are changing, in my experience, when it comes to supporting artists. I’d like to see that 10x as we go forward.

JHC: That continuation of collaborative work. How can we help each other grow in our careers? How can we help each other grow as artists? We are all trying to get some of the same opportunities because they are so limited. But I’ve had interactions with artists trying to help other artists or help them reach their potential, which I think is also unique here in Milwaukee.