Fall 2023/Winter 2024

Jul 24

December 14th, 2023

To kick this newsletter off, we want to let you know that WaterMarks is hiring! The position is Project Coordinator for Programming and Engagement and it'll be based out of the Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) working full-time on WaterMarks!

We're so excited about this partnership with MPM and to meet our new Project Coordinator! You can view the position description HERE.

To apply, please send a PDF resume and brief cover letter highlighting your relevant experience, why you’re interested in this project, and what you love about Milwaukee to watermarksMKE@gmail.com by 12/31/2023.

Community Highlight: Melvina Park

Community, Century City, Connections, Collaboration

WaterMarks provides a meeting place for Milwaukee's artists, residents, and scientists. In anticipation of Melvina Park's finished expansion and redevelopment, we look forward to our spring 2024 artist and WaterMarker installations in the Century City neighborhood.

Artist: Mikal Floyd-Pruitt

Mikal Floyd-Pruitt is a Milwaukee-based artist who works with various mediums of artistic expression - including visual, performance, media – through a community-engaged lens. As a Harvard University alumni, Mikal returned to Milwaukee to create. Among many successful projects and exhibits, Mikal is currently the co-director of Homeworks: Bronzeville – a cultural development project that will provide housing and working spaces for local and visiting artists.
Mikal co-led a virtual WaterMarks walk of the Garden Homes Neighborhood in 2021 and has been selected to complete an art installation at Melvina Park. His installation will feature multigenerational superheroes who embody the ideals of environmental stewardship. The installation will remind neighbors that no matter one’s age, each person is capable of caring for their environment.

Learn more about Mikal

Resident: Lois Love

Lois Love is a Milwaukee resident who has lived on 27th and Capital for 22 years. Because of her neighborhood’s location, her home experiences an extensive amount of stormwater runoff. As an individual, she feels a sense of accomplishment due to the amount of water she is able to keep out of her basement and her community with the help of her rain garden and her rain barrel.
Living near Melvina Park and Green Tech Station, Lois has witnessed extensive transformation over the years in the 30th Street Corridor. With the recent revitalization and redevelopment plans, she sees lots of possibilities for Melvina Park to continue to be a gathering place for the neighborhood.
Click below to learn more about Lois Love’s rain garden work.

Scientist: Wilniesha Smith

Wilniesha Smith is the intern and outreach coordinator for the nonprofit, Reflo. Joining Reflo in 2017, Wilniesha brought years of experience, as well as an environmental health water quality technology degree from Milwaukee Area Technical College. As a former MMSD intern herself, Wilniesha uses her position to inspire and guide new cohorts of Reflo's environmental interns every summer.
Wilniesha co-led a virtual WaterMarks walk of the 30th Street Corridor in 2021, bringing a green infrastructure perspective to how stormwater can be better managed. As a walk leader, she used Benjamin Franklin School and Melvina Park as examples of redevelopment projects that encompass green infrastructure - such as rain gardens, bioswales, and cisterns - in their planning.
Click below to learn more about Wilniesha Smith’s work:

Featured WaterMarks content was completed by Michael Timm. Photo of Wilniesha Smith by Jade Iseri-Ramos.

Community Events

WaterMarks isn't building an atlas of water alone. We get to work with countless organizations and individuals on this endeavor. WaterMarks Community-University Working Group is a collective of residents, artists, community-based institutions, and researchers who assemble to guide the future of water in Milwaukee.

Here are some upcoming events that our partners are hosting: