(wind howling) - How many artists do you showcase at the Greenwood Park Gallery?

- Right now, I think we have maybe 17 artists showcasing their art.

We do have some of their originals.

We have some of their prints or their limited editions.

- What are your criteria as you meet other artists in our community?

- A good heart.

(gentle bright music) - In Milwaukee's Sherman Park neighborhood sits a hidden gem of culture, diversity, and art.

Fred Robinson is the owner of Greenwood Park Art Gallery and Framing.

Fred's goal is to make art accessible and available to the members of his North Side community.

(gentle bright music) (package shuffling) Greenwood Park is more than just a gallery and frame shop.

It's a community hub, a place to learn and work, a place for artists to gather and exchange ideas, a place to experience new perspectives.

Fred, what kind of art do you showcase here?

- We're mainly an African American art gallery here, but you can find all type of art.

- On this episode of "The Arts Page," we meet Fred Robinson, and learn about his great commitment to the arts in Milwaukee.

(gentle bright music fades) (wind howling) (upbeat bright music) (upbeat bright music continues) Fred and his father, Fred Robinson Senior, founded Greenwood Park 20 years ago after a trip to the Circle City Classic in Indianapolis.

The Circle City Classic is an event hosted by the Indiana Black Expo.

It showcases Black excellence, culture, and tradition.

What was it that really appealed to both of you about this?

- The need for art in our community.

And then what we did is we researched it, and we traveled the United States to learn the business.

The framing business, and also the art business.

- Family is very important to Fred.

Around Greenwood Park, he has several dedications to the loved ones that made him the determined person that he is.

Tell us about the different rooms inside the gallery and their meaning.

- What I tried to do is I tried to really show homage to my family.

We do have the rooms named, they're named after different chapters of my mother's side of my family.

(wind howling) Greenwood Park is a area where my dad grew up at in Corpus Christi, Texas.

So that's how we got the name.

- Do they know that you've made tributes like this?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I have a great family, and I love them and they love me, so they know.

- Fred and his father were tradesmen before starting the gallery.

So to put those skills to good use, they decided to also offer picture framing at Greenwood Park.

What is this step of the framing process?

- Yeah, so this actually is the first step.

(machine whirring) This is a double 45 fixed saw.

Two key things is, your blades should be fixed so that you don't have any room for movement.

And then you have to make sure that your blades are sharp, and that's what creates great corners.

So this machine here is called a V-nailer, same thing as a under pinner.

And what it does is it takes a nail, a V-nail, and brings it from the bottom up on the frame.

And that's what joins the frame.

So this process here is the process to cut glass.

(glass squeaking) (machine tapping) We can cut up to a 60 inch piece of glass, or a 60 inch piece of plexiglass.

- Fred, we've made the frame.

So tell us about the mat process.

(machine swooshing) - [Fred] Two reasons for a mat on a piece of art is to keep the art off the glass, because it goes between the piece of art and the glass.

And for aesthetics, it may look right.

You may need to try to bring out a particular color that's in the art piece to accent the art.

And this here is the final product.

- The gallery side of Greenwood Park features a mix of local and international art.

One of the featured local artists at Greenwood Park is Milwaukee native, Pam Graham.

Pam Graham, you are one of the featured artists here.

It is such a pleasure to meet you.

Tell us about your artwork.

- Thank you.

My name is Pamela Graham.

I'm a leather artist here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and I also teach leather art.

I love using textures.

I love manipulating leather.

It's a very natural material for me to work with.

So it is the medium that I choose to work with in my work.

- How did you discover that you loved the leather experience?

- So, early in high school, 90s hip hop era, putting leather patches on my clothing, accessorizing, cutting up leather, took me to creating jewelry.

So I started off making small jewelry, handbags.

And then eventually- - Are these, yes.

- Leather earrings.

- Beautiful.

- [Pam] And then eventually, it led me to doing leather wall art, leather pillows, leather curtains, so leather home decor.

- Greenwood Park has played a vital part in Pam's artistic journey.

She's grateful for them and their important role in Milwaukee's art community.

Pamela, what does Greenwood Park mean to you?

And what does it mean to the community?

- Greenwood Park is a great asset to the community.

When you consider some of the things that we normally see in our community, liquor stores and a lack of grocery stores and a lack of community organizations, it is a place for artists, creators, to come and gain exposure.

And connect with other artists long-term.

It is gonna be a really great foundation for a lot of artists in the community.

And just a lot of positive things that will happen that will influence this community in a positive way.

- Another side to Greenwood Park is engagement and enrichment.

They offer lots of opportunities for artists to connect with one another, learn more about art, and a wide variety of other topics.

What are some of the other things that you're involved in, for our creative community here?

- One of the biggest things that we're most proud of is, we do Mindful Mondays here at Greenwood Park.

And what that is, is we focus on different industries each month.

And the industries consists of just different things that we want to expose to our community.

It can be about health insurance, it can be about different industries that we feel that is important to our communities.

We also have a podcast that we do out of here, called "The Network Effect."

(gentle bright music) - [Sandy] Spending the day at Greenwood Park, being surrounded by and viewing all the beautiful art, was truly inspiring.

And that's why Fred does it, he hopes to inspire his community and instill in them a sense of passion, not only for art, but for whatever they do.

- I'm blessed and I just wanna continue to bless.

You have to recycle your blessings.

So that's one reason that I'm doing it as well.

- Greenwood Park Gallery and Framing, it really seems like this is your calling.

- Yeah, I think it is.

I think it is.

It comes from a father loving his son and training his son, keeping his son focused in life, and wanting to leave a legacy.

It comes from family.

This comes from community.

(gentle bright music fades) (wind howling) (gentle bright music) - [Sandy] Thanks for watching "The Arts Page."

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