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.

Tenacity (or, “Life finds a way.”)

Posted on May 26, 2016 by Katherine Wikoff

At first glance this probably looks like my usual abstract, geometrical whatever type of photo. (It surprises me to realize I even have a “usual” type of photo . . . ) But look again. Can you see it? That delicate little spiral … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Movies and film, Nature, Photography | Tagged , | 9 Comments

Blue Skies over the MSOE Campus Center / Blatz Brewery Bottle House

Posted on May 18, 2016 by Katherine Wikoff

It’s been a nose-to-the-grindstone kind of day. Reading lots of student drafts in my two sections of film studies and compiling/composing feedback for the debate teams in my freshman studies class. I got to work shortly after 8:00 this morning and will be … Continue reading →

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Fallen Petals in Wet Grass

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Katherine Wikoff

When the spring rains come, the litter of magnolia petals and crab apple blossoms somehow reminds me of the Ezra Pound poem, “In a Station of the Metro”: The apparition of these faces in the crowd: Petals on a wet, … Continue reading →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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