Public Art at WPCRC
Reach For It
Faisal Abdu'Allah in collaboration with MMSD students (2025)
Featuring graffiti art by @MFDave247 (Dave Gutkowski)
Multi-media installation (2026)
The Warner Park Community Recreation Center Public Art Project represents a unique collaboration between local Madison Metropolitan School District middle school and high school students, internationally acclaimed professional artist and UW-Madison professor Faisal Abdu'Allah, the Madison Arts Commission, and multiple City agencies including Parks, Engineering, and Planning.
This experimental public art process explored the potential of combining arts education and community engagement opportunities for youth, while also designing meaningful public spaces.
Abdu'Allah conducted an eight-week after-school Public Art & Design Workshop during the spring semester of 2025 with 20 MMSD students. Each week, students were provided with a delicious and nutritious meal from a local restaurant and were compensated for their time as artists and design consultants. Students kept sketchbooks to record their thoughts and ideas between classes, while exploring a range of creative disciplines including painting, photography, drawing, and design. Teaching assistants and documentarians captured the process, provided inspiration, and introduced different aspects of the creative process.
A highlight of the workshop was a session with Wisconsin Badgers basketball player Kamari McGee, who helped students explore the connections between art and sport. More importantly, the discussion encouraged them to think critically about the purpose of public art and its relationship to community. From these conversations emerged the idea of incorporating graffiti as a contemporary visual language, leading students to suggest a collaboration with local graffiti artist @MFDave247.
The installation Reach For It is the culmination of this creative partnership between the students and Abdu'Allah, translating their collective vision into a permanent work of public art.
"Artists have long carried the task of revealing what lies just beyond ordinary sight, guiding society through difficult questions, and uncovering the quiet beauty hidden in plain view. Reach For It grew from that impulse and from the time I spent with the youth atelier at Warner Park. Their sketches, collages, photographs, and restless observations became my palette, offering colors, materials, and references to give their ideas form. What began as a workshop evolved into a shared language, a dialogue across generations and perspectives." - Professor Faisal Abdu'Allah, Ph.D.
Chazen Family Distinguished Chair in Art Department of Art Associate Dean for the Arts, School of Education
"The finished piece stands as a colorful reminder that the Warner Park Community Recreation Center has always been a 'stable north' for the area's vibrant community, past, present, and those still to come. The Parks Division thanks Faisal and the youth who participated in the workshop for their creativity and dedication to create a unique art piece and thoughtful message for the expansion at WPCRC." - Zach WatsonWarner Park Facility Manager
About Reach For It
Reach For It is a full room immersive installation that reflects the positive energy of Warner Park Community Recreation Center. Entering the space from the hallway off the main lobby, viewers experience movement through bold color, layered iconography, forced perspectives, and larger than life imagery. The sand hill crane's phases of flight move upward in a counterclockwise motion around the space leading the viewers to the inspiring message and title of the piece. This visual journey inspires the viewers to use elements of creativity, inclusivity, community, and nature to keep moving toward that thing / force / desire / challenge / decision / goal that is just out of reach.
Artist Faisal Abdu'Allah collaborated with MMSD students, Ania (Ani) B., Andy B., Gracie B., Ollie H., Talia J., Eliceo L., Ethan M., Ella M., Charles (Charlie) M.-V., Izaek M., Leo N., Emerson P., Jack R.-A., Genevieve R.-G., Helen S., Liam S., Janelle (Jay) T., Leon W., Isabella (Bella) Z., and graffiti artist @MFDave247 (Dave Gutkowski). Fabrication & Installation by Wild Blue Technologies
About Faisal Abdu'Allah
Dr. Faisal Abdu'Allah (b. 1969, London) is a contemporary artist renowned for his large-scale steel prints and tapestries that examine the intersectionality of identity. His work has been exhibited on five continents, including presentations at the Torino Biennale, the 55th Venice Biennale, and most recently Art Basel. Abdu'Allah has collaborated with leading cultural figures such as Sir David Adjaye, Virgil Abloh, and choreographer Frank Gatson, Jr.
He is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Award, the Mayor of London Award, the National Endowment for the Arts, and support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. His works are held in major collections such as Tate Britain, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA), and the Chazen Museum of Art.
Abdu'Allah is the Chazen Family Distinguished Chair in Art and Associate Dean for the Arts & Innovation in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He appears in the Netflix documentary The Fade and was honored as a Wisconsin Academy Fellow in 2024. He is represented by Magnolia Editions (USA) and Autograph (ABP) in the UK.
About Graffiti Artist Dave Gutkowski
Gutkowski's art is a dynamic fusion of abstract expressionism and the raw energy of graffiti and tattoo subcultures. His pieces, which range from traditional paper and canvas to unconventional surfaces, explode with bold lines, intricate textures, and a rebellious spirit drawn from city walls and human canvas. His recent cross-country journey, much like a modern-day pilgrimage to find balance, has directly inspired a new body of work that will be showcased at the event. This creative pilgrimage was fully funded by the sale of his art and a few paid mural commissions he completed along the way. The exhibition provides a unique opportunity for Madison audiences to witness the culmination of Gutkowski's artistic quest.
While he has been on the road creating new art, he has also continued his practice of generously donating his artwork to communities in most major cities, believing in the power of art to enrich public spaces and connect people.
“Gutkowski's practice reveals how art can serve as both mirror and catalyst—reflecting lived experiences while opening new possibilities for community, dialogue, and transformation. “ -Dr. Faisal Abdu'Allah