Time Is Running Out
opens November 15th
Time is running out, and we are determined to have the material properly preserved, believing it to have a definite value. -Miriam Frink, 1972
It has been years since I have had an exhibition focused on my work, and Polly Morris, the director of Lynden Sculpture Garden, has reminded me repeatedly that I’m not curating this exhibition; it’s my show. So I’m reminding myself again, and telling you now before going into this any further.
As mentioned briefly in my post from last week, which was a recap on my recent trip to Minneapolis, I wanted to share a bit more behind the scenes for Time Is Running Out, opening November 15th, 2025, in Milwaukee at the Lynden Sculpture Garden house gallery. I think the larger and never over conversation around how exhibitions come together is ripe, one I’m very interested in having as someone who has worn many hats in both DIY and institutional spaces. Bottom line, there isn’t a single path, and there’s always room for doing something better and lessons to learn. I love having this conversation, so feel free to invite me to this table if you want to chat over lunch sometime about checklists, time-lines, loans, pricing, exhibition copy, fabrications, installation, budgets, contracts, and did I mention timelines?
As many exhibitions are, this one has been a few years in the making. A slow roll of culminated ideas lingering from years of research, working in Charlotte Partridge's (1882-1975) and Miriam Frink’s (1892-1977) papers, while writing As Ever, Miriam. Responding to the archive in a small house gallery is a dream opportunity, and since most of you may not be able to make it out to Wisconsin for this, I’m going to give a quick sneak peek at some of my process, some work-in-progress pictures, and a sliver of thinking behind the work in the exhibition.
There have been a lot of firsts for me with this experience, mainly leveraging fabrication of commissions for some key pieces I wanted realized in the gallery. I am so grateful to have had the support to see these pieces realized, and to know the perfect local makers and community members connected to the work to create the objects. It was the ideal partnership and a true win to get to see my vision realized (well, it’s not installed yet, but the work is better than I could have ever imagined).
The relatable (at least to me) exhibition title comes from the last sentence of a letter drafted by Miriam Frink she wrote to the Wisconsin Historical Society in 1972. Time is running out, and we are determined to have the material properly preserved, believing it to have a definite value. She was writing on behalf of herself and her partner, ten years her senior, Charlotte Partridge, with the hope of placing their papers in the collection. The exhibition is described on Lynden’s website as such;
“Through an act of excavation and reimagination, Levine restores Partridge and Frink to a more prominent place in our narrative of Milwaukee’s past. Using archival materials, objects, and storytelling, Levine engages with lesser-known parts of their history. She explores their legacy through four themes: domesticity, creativity, partnership, and community, and four tropes: The Studio, The Sketchbook, The Metal Object, and The Protégé, each an entry point into an intimate, lifelong collaboration.”
So, earlier this year, I picked up this small, inexpensive museum exhibition booklet at the Rose Art Museum. I was there to see Leonora Carrington: Dream Weaver, absolutely worth the 2+hour drive. I first came to Carrington through her books (highly recommend if you like surreal and mystical stories written by a visionary woman), and it was phenomenal to finally see her paintings in person. I’m always looking for printed matter that can be design and layout inspiration, but I had the publication I was planning on doing for the exhibition on my mind, and it was the perfect mockup size and felt great in my hands. In a future post, aka once the booklet is printed, you will see the similarity of the size, format, and design.
The exhibition publication will be 40 pages and includes four essays: The Fox Point Studio: A space of Possibility, The Sketchbook: Art as a Necessity, The Metal Object: Devotion in a two-inch Box, and The Protege: A shining Symbol of Gifted Youth. Each essay connects to the exhibition themes and work in the gallery, but can also stand alone. It has allowed me to get some of my expanded research out of my brain, onto paper, and out into the world. Currently in production, the booklet will be Riso printed by the local (to Milwaukee) duo BearBear in an edition of 100 and (eventually) available for sale online via the gallery. For kicks, here’s a window into how my brain made things overly complicated while trying to mock up the cover design for the gallery to send to their designer. A result of this experience, I have committed to finally learning InDesign in 2026. More on that later, but for real.
The true inspiration for this exhibition was Charlotte and Miriam’s Fox Point studio, which I am not going to derail my post and get into. But for me, it’s a very important domestic and creative space that was the segue between their apartment life and moving into their forever home, sometimes called “the house on the hill". The sketches for the studio live in their papers, and I thought, wouldn’t it be amazing to bring this place back into space to talk about it more? And so be it when you have a friend who is available and willing to make your Fox Point studio dream come true. The 1:12 scale studio model fabricated by Alex Gartelmann, whose contributions are woven into this web in other, less visible ways as well, will be the anchor of the exhibition. Without giving away the final work, which is absolutely incredible (I’ll do a summary post-opening), just check out the attention to detail in this to-scale chimney. If you are curious (I was) about how many tiny bricks this took to complete, it was 1400.
The other thrilling fabrication, which I still can’t believe is real, was made by Rachel Reichert. If you have heard me talk about this body of work or looked deeply at the book, you may know that I’ve been low-key obsessed with the “metal object” that lives in Charlotte and Miriam’s archive. It became the gold foil-stamped monogram on the cover of As Ever, Miriam, and is the inspiration for the endpapers. The same monogram designed by M. Wright will be used in the exhibition publication. And that very monogram was used as direct inspiration for Reichert to fabricate not one, but two brooches (one for Charlotte and one for Miriam, obviously) for the exhibition.
There are a bunch of other moments I could share, but it’s always easier for me to show off other people’s work, and I am just giddy over the model studio and brooches. So I’ll leave it here for now, but maybe it’s a bit more obvious some of the things that have been going on in the background if you know me or pick up on my “I’m too busy these days vibe.” The exhibition itself has a hefty run through March 2026. I’ll be back to do some programming in the new year if I miss you at the opening. If you can make it, heads up, I’ll be doing a gallery talk at 3 pm, followed by a conversation with Seth Ter Haar. So plan to come in time, or miss it strategically (no judgment).
For the past several years, Levine and Ter Haar have been pursuing their own lines of research on Charlotte Partridge and Miriam Frink, partners, educators, and co-founders of the Layton School of Art. As artists and curators, Levine and Ter Haar approach the act of remembering as a form of queer world-building; they also extend their historical research beyond the page and into the gallery and the studio. Their conversation will move between the exhibition, shared research subjects, methodology, and the broader implications of their work. Together, they will explore how curatorial practice, archival research, and community work coalesce to unearth and re-present overlooked histories.
One fun final fact is that Seth mentioned this week for you local folks, “Milwaukee PBS will be airing a new half-hour program called Movers & Shakers that includes a segment on Charlotte Partridge and Miriam Frink. I’ll be featured as one of the main presenters along with Josie Osborne.” The premiere is on Monday, November 17, at 3:30 am (if this isn’t a typo, it’s a very strange time), but it will also re-air throughout the week on Channel 10:
Tuesday, November 18, 4:30 pm
Wednesday, November 19, 1 pm
Thursday, November 20, 5:30 pm
Friday, November 21, 11:30 pm
And if you missed it in last week’s post, here is my schedule for while in Wisconsin in a few weeks if you or someone you know is interested in coming to see me talk about my work, to say hello, or to wish me a happy birthday, because I will be celebrating my 48th year while out there!
I will be there for the final event in Milwaukee, at the archives! Amy
I love learning about how it is all coming together! I can’t wait to see images of the final installation - and I definitely need to a get a copy of the booklet. I’m also very intrigued by ‘The Undisciplined Collector’!