Ariana Huggett: Artist in Residence in the Milwaukee River Greenway
November 4, 2026 | Topics: featured artist
The Natural Realm presents Ariana Huggett, who is among 12 artists participating in a year-long residency program called ARTservancy, now in its seventh year. ARTservancy is a collaboration between Gallery 224 in Port Washington and the Restoring Lands Land Trust, Milwaukee Area Land Conservancy, Tall Pines Conservancy, and Lake Michigan Bird Observatory. The mission of ARTservancy is to promote the visionary work of both the artists and conservationists. Each artist has selected a preserve to spend time in and to engage with.
Reflections from the Artist
Inspired by the work of Milwaukee Riverkeeper and other local environmental restoration efforts, my project explores the relationship between human activity and the natural world within the Milwaukee River Greenway, a natural preserve situated in the heart of an urban environment. Here, natural processes and human intervention coexist, and traces of human activity are woven into a landscape that provides habitat for other life forms. Through regular walks along the river, volunteering with Restoring Lands, picking up trash, and an opportunity to explore the waterway by kayak, I have been observing this landscape, collecting some of the discarded objects I find, and considering the marks people leave behind.
My project consists of still life and plein air painting. In my studio, I paint and draw objects collected along the river, finding inspiration from Dutch and early American still life traditions, including trompe l’oeil painting. These works invite close observation of ordinary objects, exploring their material qualities and the boundary between trash and artifact. Removed from their original settings, the objects become subjects in their own right, raising questions about value, permanence, and the stories that material things carry.
Alongside this studio work, I have organized several plein air painting outings and continue to document the Greenway through direct observation. I have also become interested in the remnants of the “River Colony,” a former residential neighborhood located on the east side of the river just north of the Locust Street Bridge. Traces of earlier human habitation persist within the landscape there. This site offers an opportunity to consider how the river corridor has changed over time and how evidence of past lives remains within an environment continually shaped by both natural processes and human activity.
The landscape itself is also on the verge of significant change. Through an informational hike with the Waterway Restoration Partnership, I learned about a planned sediment cleanup project focused on the Greenway’s floodplains and the restoration of native vegetation. With work projected to begin next year, I am documenting the landscape as it exists now, before the restoration project transforms it. These paintings will serve as a record of a particular moment in the river’s history, preserving observations of an urban natural preserve in transition.
Together, the still life and plein air paintings examine different forms of material and environmental history: the objects we discard, the traces of lives once lived along the river, and the changing landscape itself. By focusing on a natural preserve within a city, my project considers the tension between the environments we seek to protect and the human activities that continually shape them. It asks how we assign value to what remains and how we might cultivate a deeper sense of responsibility toward the places we share with other life forms. Through collecting discarded objects, participating in restoration efforts, and making paintings that encourage sustained attention, I hope to invite viewers to reconsider our relationship with the natural world and what we leave behind.
Gallery
Video Gallery
Bio
I am a representational painter making intimate paintings primarily in oil from direct observation. My subjects have ranged from architectural interiors and exteriors to plein air urban landscapes, and more recently, still life. Grounded in themes of presence, memory, and life’s transience, my work reflects upon the passage of time.
I earned a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and MFA in painting and drawing from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. I was the inaugural artist-in-residence at the Charles Allis and Villa Terrace Museums and have exhibited my work both locally and nationally, most recently at Aquae Nguvu in Milwaukee’s Third Ward
I am currently developing Memory Bin, a series of still lifes that draw upon objects from my family and personal history. Originally from Louisiana, I have lived in Milwaukee for many years, a place that continues to inform my artistic vision.
Website: https://arianahuggett.art/
For more information about the Milwaukee River Greenway go to our Find-a-Park page.
This residency is sponsored by Restoring Lands: A Wisconsin Land Trust. Additional ARTservancy artists in residence at other sites can be found here.
This is the latest in our series of featured artists, which is intended to showcase the work of photographers, artists, writers and other creative individuals in our community whose subjects or themes relate in some broad sense to nature, urban nature, people in nature, etc. To see a list of previously featured artists, click here. The work of the 2024-2025 ARTservancy artists in residence is currently being exhibited monthly at Gallery 224. To meet the other ARTservancy artists in residence, click here and then use the drop-down menu.
All images courtesy of the artist, except as noted. The featured photo at the top of the Milwaukee River Greenway is by Eddee Daniel. Restoring Lands is a project partner of A Wealth of Nature.
The Natural Realm blog is part of A Wealth of Nature, which is a project of Preserve Our Parks.
About Preserve Our Parks
Preserve Our Parks, Inc. is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of parks and green spaces. Our mission: To advocate for and promote Milwaukee area parks and open spaces and to strive to protect the tenets of Wisconsin’s Public Trust Doctrine.
For more than 25 years, we have been a leader in advocating for the protection of Milwaukee County park lands, halting many proposals to develop, privatize, or sell local parkland and lakefront spaces. More information about POP, including past accomplishments, is available at www.preserveourparks.org.