From historical pieces, modern pieces, and the building being a work of art itself, the Milwaukee Art Museum has proved to be a valuable field trip for art students in the past.

“I like seeing a lot of the more historical-looking pieces,”  Wyatt Michel, senior who participated in the field trip last year, said. “More realistic pieces. I really like those and I try to put more realism into my pieces. There’s lots of different things to look at, it’s not just old, boring things, there [are] new things as well. Sometimes they even put in high school work in the hallway.”

Michel said that he loves eating lunch by the lake in front of the beautiful museum building, but the most valuable thing is the inspiration.

“You get to see different things that can possibly inspire your next piece or just to get a feel for different things, maybe it sparks an idea in you,” Michel said. “It’s just something to put a foundation on for what you may want to put in your own art pieces.”

Michel says that art pieces will have certain themes, or ideas that the artist had in mind before crafting the piece, that can help young artists come up with brand new ideas. He says that he is specifically inspired by the amount of realism in older pieces of art.

“Artists have specific ideas going into certain pieces for the most part,” Michel said, “and you can usually see that, and you kind of want to reflect that in your own pieces, so it’s just getting ideas because sometimes it’s hard to think on your own.”

Besides the pieces in the museum, Michel also loves the building and the surrounding landscape, citing it as a piece of art itself.

“It’s a really cool looking building. During the day there’s wings that open up and that’s pretty cool. It’s like the whole building itself is an art piece,” Michel said. “Last year it was a nice day outside so we got to eat on the shoreline of Lake Michigan.”

Michel has been into art since grade school, and says he is going to the Savannah College of Art and Design to study graphic design.

“It’s just a nice experience because you get to see all these different pieces and exhibits,” Michel said, “sometimes they have new exhibits to see and hopefully there’ll be one this year.”