"I adore math," says artist Sara Daleiden. "Calculus is spatial thinking. It uses my imagination."
This is not something you hear from the mouths of most artists, but it's quickly made clear that Daleiden is cut from a very precious cloth. She goes on to express the merits of Catholic education, also something rarely stated. "I had a great experience in Catholic schools. My teachers were very creative, and they gave me a lot of leeway."
Daleiden's adoration for academics, especially math, led her to the prestigious Notre Dame University where she declared a major in the Philosophy of Math. But then, something happened: After sitting in windowless classrooms with other future mathematicians, Daleiden had an epiphany. "I thought to myself: This can't be my life. I don't want to do this with my body."
Feeling oppressed by the academic devotion to intellect, Daleiden began to focus on the potentials within her body to move and understand. She delved into making metaphors full-time in classes outside of her major, often using the human form as the starting point.
{INSERT_RELATED}Daleiden believes that the viewer is an integral part of the art, and many of her pieces involve interaction. After noticing that some people feel awkward with their bodies in gallery spaces, she became fascinated with helping people to feel present and attached when they're around art.
"Sometimes (in life) I feel like a hostess. I just want people to feel comfortable," she says. This is a topic that causes her and other artists to disagree. Some believe that there's an important lesson in awkward encounters, but Daleiden disagrees. "There's already so much awkwardness in the world. I don't want to produce more."
Daleiden also strives to insert art into the pathway of everyday life, and believes art shouldn't be limited to hanging in unapproachable galleries. Living out this personal philosophy, she became involved with Art Street Window, organized by artist Paul Druecke.
Daleiden also coordinates an ongoing movement called "Traveling Wearables." For this project, she and a group of friends attend public events wearing the same color. Brooke Maroldi, a Milwaukee filmmaker, documented these colorful excursions, including last fall when 12 people wore bright orange to the opening of the Calatrava addition. "It made us feel connected," says Sara. "And we really needed that. It was three days after September 11. A man and his little boy who happened to be wearing orange joined us. It was amazing."
As one of the core contributors to the alternative exhibition space now known as Rust Spot*Dye House, Daleiden has had a tremendous influence on the gallery's vision. "Rust Spot is a space for artists to collaborate and engage in healthy experiments with consideration of the warehouse site," she says.
For her first Rust Spot piece, she and artist, Nicholas Holbus, filled a room with thousands of real autumn leaves, allowing gallery goers to frolic around like five-year-olds. "Rust Spot's atmosphere encourages visitors to be playful with art while still being challenged," says Daleiden.
Last summer, Daleiden co-curated the Wearable Sculpture fashion show with George Sheppard at the Modjeska Theatre. Recently, another version of the show opened for The Violent Femmes concert at the Oriental Theatre.
"Each day we make decisions about what we wear and work with perceptions of our own and others because of the symbols these colors and forms create. This show (Wearable Sculpture) includes many experiments with how wearable forms can question, inspire, exaggerate, entertain and essentially become artwork," she says.
She and other local artists also just finished a collaborative work with Wild Space Dance Company at the Gaslight Building on the MIAD campus. "The show explored different options for the stage audience relationship," she says. "Logistically, the audience was able to roam freely through most of the warehouse with the dancers mingling around them."
Daleiden's commitment to collaboration is immense, and she continuously credits much of her success to other artists, such as Harvey Opgenorth, Nathan Page and Sarah Kamsler. "I don't feel like I could work in isolation if I wanted too," she says, once again suggesting that although she appreciates math's brain food, art is sustenance for her soul.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
