Author Archives: Katherine Wikoff

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About Katherine Wikoff

I am a college professor (PhD in English, concentration rhetoric) at Milwaukee School of Engineering, where I teach film and media studies, political science, digital society, digital storytelling, writing for digital media, and communication. While fragments of my teaching and scholarship interests may quite naturally meander over to my blog, this space is intended to function as a creative outlet, not as part of my professional practice. Opinions are my own, etc.

A Shining Cross (and why I’m no Ansel Adams)

Posted on April 15, 2016 by Katherine Wikoff

The glint of sunlight reflecting off this cross atop Old St. Mary’s Church caught my eye as I walked back to my office around 9:00 this morning after teaching my first class. Here’s a reverse shot I took a bit … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Creativity, Milwaukee, Photography | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Making a Picture

Posted on April 9, 2016 by Katherine Wikoff

The other day when I posted the “rainbow” light slanting through my office’s Venetian blinds, I mentioned that usually the light coming through is white and casts interesting shadows. Here’s an example of what I mean. I take a lot of … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Photography | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

A Venetian-Blind Rainbow

Posted on April 5, 2016 by Katherine Wikoff

Here’s what I saw when I stopped by my office on the way to my 8:00 a.m. class this morning. Usually the light slanting through the Venetian blind into my office is white, creating interesting patterns of grayscale shadow on my multi-recessed wall. I’d never seen color … Continue reading →

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Signs of Spring

Posted on March 29, 2016 by Katherine Wikoff

You know it’s spring in Milwaukee when lawns throughout the city are taken over by these lovely carpets of blue flowers. Scilla siberica (Siberian squill) is their official name. They make me so happy! Apparently, though, this pretty flower is considered “invasive” because it … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Milwaukee, Nature | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

How “tilt shift” in movies unites form and content

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Katherine Wikoff

I’m teaching film studies this quarter, and one of the small pieces of information I introduce to help students develop a vocabulary for talking about movies is the concept of “tilt shift” photography. I’m no expert on the technology itself, except to … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies and film | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Ghost Sign

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Katherine Wikoff

I’m fascinated by old signs that have long outlived their usefulness. The resolution in this photo isn’t very sharp—I took it with my iPhone while sitting at the Juneau and Old World Third Street stoplight—but it pulls together several eras in … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, Art, History, Milwaukee, Photography | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

Norman Rockwell’s The Bookworm Redux

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Katherine Wikoff

There’s a special gallery two doors away from my office in the Grohmann Museum that houses a collection of paintings by a 19th-century German painter, Carl Spitzweg. On the wall outside that gallery is a painting by American painter Norman … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Books and reading, History, Milwaukee | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Grohmann Museum Rooftop Garden, February

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Katherine Wikoff

If I have a small class, I’ll occasionally take my students up to the rooftop sculpture garden on a warm spring day. We carry benches from all corners to sit together for discussion. To keep track of our time, we need merely glance over … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, Art, Life, Milwaukee, Photography, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Spooky Demon in the Rear Window

Posted on February 16, 2016 by Katherine Wikoff

I saw this “image” in the rear window of the vehicle in front of me over the weekend. Even though it’s just where the washer fluid flowed down and the wiper (poorly) swished across the window, to me this looks … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Photography | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

A Handy Perch

Posted on February 1, 2016 by Katherine Wikoff
Posted in Art, Milwaukee, Photography | Tagged | 2 Comments