{"id":14887,"date":"2026-03-11T14:20:51","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T19:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/?p=14887"},"modified":"2026-03-11T14:20:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T19:20:53","slug":"slow-digest-mich-dillon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/slow-digest-mich-dillon\/","title":{"rendered":"Slow Digest: Mich Dillon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Once a month throughout the 2025-26 academic year, <\/em>Slow Digest will feature an episode of C21’s <\/em>6.5 Minutes With…C21<\/a> podcast series, produced by C21 Graduate Fellows Jamee N. Pritchard and Yuchen Zhao.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this episode of 6.5 Minutes with C21<\/em>, graduate fellow Jamee Pritchard interviews Milwaukee-based sculptor and UW-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts lecturer Mich Dillon<\/a>. Dillon\u2019s artistic practice explores memory, connection, and liberation through wood, rope, and found materials. In his work, wood symbolizes the human body, rope represents unseen tensions, and found objects speak to the cultural imprints carried through everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dillon\u2019s sculptures, including the award-winning Supporting Dreams<\/a><\/em>, reflect on both personal experience and broader social perceptions. He explains that the piece was intentionally designed around a simple visual metaphor:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was trying to keep the concept really simple and exemplified with each piece. The top of the sculpture is an old Milwaukee window frame that\u2019s green. Beneath it is a red beam support, like the kind you\u2019d place under a cracked beam to hold up a house. The base is a mound of dark soil that, when the sun hits it, actually sprouts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The materials carry symbolic weight. The old window frame represents earlier generations and long-standing ideals in Milwaukee. The beam support signifies the act of holding something up, while the soil suggests the possibility of new life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd so oftentimes we think of the old supporting the young,\u201d Dillon says. \u201cBut I was also thinking about how the young need to support the old, specifically within Milwaukee.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Central to Dillon\u2019s practice is the idea of \u201cslow care,\u201d which he describes as being fully present and attentive within the creative process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019d say slow care is being present within yourself,\u201d he explains. \u201cOftentimes I get caught up in my mind, racing thoughts pulling me this way and that way. But when I\u2019m working, I kind of shut that off and let my body do the processing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rooted in Milwaukee\u2019s diverse communities and shaped by his experiences navigating different cultural and racial spaces, Dillon\u2019s work invites reflection on how care, attention, and memory shape both art and everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n