To complement our mission of using urban nature to educate, inspire, and motivate people towards positive change, the Urban Ecology Center exhibits artwork in our Riverside Park and Menomonee Valley branches. All of the work displayed feature nature-related subjects, the natural sciences, natural products used as art or the relationship of the urban environment to nature in their themes. Learn more about the history behind these exhibitions in this blog post.

No current art exhibits, check back for an updated schedule. Click here to explore our exhibit archive.

Our Gallery Space

Riverside Park

Artist Michael Kutzer presents his work at an opening reception in our Riverside Park space. Photo: Nancy Aten

At our Riverside Park branch the spacious Community Room serves as gallery, meeting space, and classroom, and with its plentiful wall space typically exhibits two artists concurrently.

Menomonee Valley

Our first ever show at our Menomonee Valley branch featured Plein Air paintings of the area surrounding the Center by local artists. Photo: Jamie Bilgo Bruchman

Our Valley Room hosts exhibits at our Menomonee Valley branch as well as meetings and community programs. This space features plenty of natural light and typically shows one artist at a time.

Contact Info

Do you have questions about our shows? Are you interested in purchasing any of the work displayed? Are you an artist interested in exhibiting your work at the Center? For these and other questions please contact Chris Steinkamp, our Riverside Park Branch Manager at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Angélica Sanchez, our Menomonee Valley branch manager at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

I came to the Center two and a half years ago as a summer camp intern. As my role has changed from environmental educator to volunteer coordinator and community health evaluation coordinator, I have found myself reflecting on a question that has repeatedly come up in the various roles I’ve held: What is environmentalism?

It didn’t take long in my role as an educator to notice that how I engaged with nature wasn’t universal. Activities I loved as a child, like catching bugs or sitting quietly in the woods or playing in snow, while appreciated by some, could be terrifying, disgusting or down right boring to some of my students.

Join us on November 20, 2013 for our Volunteer Appreciation Party and Annual Meeting, an evening of food and fun as we celebrate our year, share our future plans and thank our wonderful volunteers for the tremendous work they do. Among those volunteers being recognized are members of the Urban Ecology Center Board of Directors. We thank them for the vision and leadership they provide.

As part of my job I get to meet a lot of really interesting and wonderful people. In fact, that’s one of my favorite parts of this work! For example, I recently got to meet Surhabi Shah, the Director of the US Environmental Protection Agency Urban Water Initiative. She was in Milwaukee and wanted to meet with a few of the folks involved in the work in the Menomonee Valley to learn about what we’re doing to restore that waterway.

The EPA wants to know what we’re doing here? Amazing! But also a little nerve wracking.

Whether they are planting trees, greeting our visitors or giving our branches a "face-lift," we are grateful for the hard-working volunteers who give their time to furthering the Urban Ecology Center's mission. Come celebrate their efforts at our Volunteer Appreciation Party on November 20th, 2013. Look below and see for yourself just some of the things volunteers have accomplished during 2012-2013!

Autumn is when nature provides us with a reminder of change: leaves become vibrant, the sun sets early and morning frost is on windows. It is also the season when we at the Urban Ecology Center reflect on our year and the changes we made as an organization. Our fiscal year begins in September in order to include an entire school year, so fall is the time when we’re getting ready for a “new year.”

“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” — Ryunosuke Satoro. 

I love the community we’ve built at the Urban Ecology Center! I am constantly amazed by the dedicated and passionate people I meet here. Here are four affirming vignettes – all from one day!

First I had a meeting at Menomonee Valley:

Our Menomonee Valley branch is one year old – time to celebrate! Join us on Saturday, September 7th as we take a look back at our past year and explore Three Bridges Park!

It's been a busy and exciting first year that included school programs, summer camps and the opening of Milwaukee's newest park! We thought it be fun to take a look at our past year and share some of our favorite memories. Check back as we will be updating this page until Saturday's celebration!

The High School Outdoor Leader Program is a two-year, environmental career internship for teens who have completed grades 9-10. Outdoor Leaders are trained in 8 areas including education, stewardship, research and community relations. In addition, Outdoor Leaders take two week-long research trips. This year they even organized and ran our 2013 Teen Survival Challenge!

The topic on the first day of the Urban Ecologists Summer Camp in the Menomonee Valley was insects. The honeybees in our rooftop hive gave the campers a special treat by letting them witness one of the more exciting events in the insect world: a bee swarm, which accompanies the birth of a new queen. This would soon become an experience they wouldn’t forget.