Last Friday’s Gallery Night was capped off by the fabulous ART Milwaukee Wedding Party at the Pfister Hotel. Unlike your typical black-tie affair, site wedding guests were clad in everything from tuxedos and re-purposed prom dresses to skinny jeans and tank tops to Neo-Victorian Steampunk outfits. ART Milwaukee chose the matrimonial theme because the main feature of the evening was the holy artistic union of 16 artists painting on large canvases throughout the ballroom.

Party-goers sipped cocktails while watching the artistic couples paint in real time. Some artists, store heedless of flying paint, adhered to the wedding theme by wearing their own gowns and tuxedos. Paintings ran the gamut from cheerful and bright to maudlin and dark. A yellow and orange fish flopped across one canvas while a black sun-like shape burst from the corner of another.

Members of the Milwaukee Steampunk Society presented themselves as walking works of art. Steampunks dress in the aesthetic tradition of the Victorian era, plus their own fanciful hats and ornate goggles to go with lacy gowns and coats with tails. They were a fitting addition to the evening, as Pfister Artist-in-Residence Timothy Westbrook revealed the 19th century wedding gown that he had constructed from recycled materials. All attendees were welcome to dress up with Victorian props at the ART Milwaukee photo booth.