The Art of Work: A Field Trip to the Grohmann Museum

Join Upper House to tour the remarkable Grohmann Museum of Art at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, where the world’s most comprehensive collection of art depicting the evolution of human work resides.

Like other quality museums, the Grohmann Museum boasts an extensive collection of art created across several centuries and in various media. But the Grohmann is distinct in its thematic focus, dramatically depicting the strenuous demands and sometimes elusive rewards of human labor, ranging from work on sea and land, in mines and factories, in laboratories and trade shops, from pre-industrial to post-industrial eras. Endowed to the Milwaukee School of Engineering, the Grohmann Museum’s art, architecture, murals, mosaics, sculpture garden, and stained glass dome collectively reinforce and elevate the dignity and principle of hard work.

As the group explores “The Art of Work,” we will consider a Christian perspective of work from the standpoint of being God’s image-bearers and co-laborers. Together we will contemplate the transformative nature of labor and the ways that “vocation” crosses industries and work formats in service to God’s all-encompassing work of renewal in the world.