Milwaukee, WI, United States
Nicolas Lampert is a Milwaukee-based interdisciplinary artist and author whose work focuses on themes of social justice and ecology. His artwork is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Library of Congress, and over fifty five archives and special collections across the US and Canada. Collectively, he works with four groups: the Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative - a worker-owned printmaking cooperative of thirty artists in North America that formed in 2007; the Art Build Workers -a group of six artists, designers, photographers and educators who are based in Milwaukee, WI. We work locally and travel around the country organizing multi-day art builds that help unions, organizations and movements amplify their messages through visual art, media, and archiving. We primarily collaborate with the National Education Association (NEA) that is the largest union in the country with an estimated membership of over 2.7 million members.; and Voces de los Artistas, an art-affinity group established in 2016 that works in collaboration with Voces de la Frontera - an immigrant rights organization based in Wisconsin; and ReciproCity – a Milwaukee-based collective established in 2012 that works at the intersection of art, architecture, and urban sustainability. His first book A People’s Art History of the United States: 250 Years of Activist Art and Artists Working in Social Justice Movements was published by The New Press in 2013 and is part of the People’s History Series edited by Howard Zinn. Lampert is a full-time faculty member (academic staff appointment) in the Department of Art and Design at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a joint appointment in Printmaking and Writing and Critical Thinking.
Other Media
Photo by Joe Brusky. Every art build is a new learning experience – a chance to learn new techniques and approaches and to amplify what works and to fix was…
In this virtual gallery conversation, socially-engaged artists Chip Thomas and Nicolas Lampert discuss the role of art and artists in activism and social movements, each describing their past and current…
What will happen after election day? In this unprecedented year, we are likely not to know who our next president is when we go to bed on November 3rd. We’re…
This past Saturday Voces de los Artistas (VDLA) – an art affinity group with Voces de la Frontera – organized a wheatpasting action to put up VOTE NOV 3rd /…
Two videos documenting the October 10, 2020 street painting action by Voces de la Frontera Action and Voces de los Artistas (the art affinity group with Voces.) Specific information for…
This past Saturday – October 10, 2020 – Voces de los Artistas (the art affinity group with Voces de la Frontera) painted a 275′ x 26′ street mural with text…
Call to action / authored by Nicolas Lampert and Dan S. Wang We are facing the most important election of our lives, one that will have consequences for generations to…
SEIU (the Service Employees International Union) recently asked the Art Build Workers to assist with a creative form of protest during a Fight for $15 protest outside the main entrance…
photo by Joe Brusky Deadline for first draft: March 1, 2020 Fast forward in your mind to Tuesday night, November 3, 2020. The results are coming in and the presidential…
The October 2019 strike for education justice by CTU (Chicago Teachers Union) and SEIU 73 strike ended with a new agreement after eleven-days on the picket line by more than…
The Milwaukee-based Art Build Workers just spent a full week working on two large-scale art builds in Houston for the NEA (National Education Association) annual conference. This was our second…
Here is a video by Joe Brusky documenting the recent Prince George County Education Association art build in Maryland.
Check out this video by Joe Brusky. It features an interview with Jasmene Miranda – an Oakland public school – during the OEA (Oakland Education Association) art build from January…
There is power in a union. There is power in the solidarity between teachers, students, and parents, and there is power in an art build. From January 18th to 20th…
There is power in a union. There is power in solidarity. And there is power in art. Last weekend these themes were on full display during a three-day art build…
This past week my daughter and I visited fellow Justseeds artist Chip Thomas on the Navajo Reservation. We traveled there for multiple reasons: to spend time with Chip, to see…
A week ago, five of us from Milwaukee traveled up to Minneapolis to work on a two-day art build during the NEA (National Education Association) Conference on Racial and Social…
Chip Thomas inspires. Powerful short documentary video on Chip Thomas (Jetsonorama) that was produced by KQED Arts.
Building Art to Keep Families Together from MTEA Union on Vimeo. Joe Brusky of MTEA and the Overpass Light Brigade made a time lapse video of the recent Voces de…
In 2012, I created an exhibition of prints and baseball jerseys in collaboration with Paul Kjelland that honored the Milwaukee Commandos, who among many things, helped protect the Civil Rights…