Raoul Deal - Belonging

Opening soon in Walker’s Point, the heart of Mexican-American Milwaukee, Grove Gallery will unveil a collection of woodcuts and sculptures by beloved community artist and educator Raoul Deal. This exhibit mixes earlier pieces (some made in Mexico over 30 years ago) with newer work, each one contributing to a larger narrative of displacement and belonging. 

Featured works include woodcuts inspired by stories collected from Mexican families on the south side of Milwaukee, recent prints, sculptural installation elements and a new wall mural made up of large prints pulled from burned wood and assembled to function as a metaphor. The exhibit celebrates personal stories, ancestral knowledge, and different expressions of cultural resistance that shore us up as individuals and make the community stronger.

“Years ago, I walked into my studio in Coatepec, Veracruz and saw newly arrived swallows were building their nests directly under the crossbeams, but I imagined it to be a sign of good fortune,” said Deal. “I am told that swallows travel back and forth between Mexico and the United States yearly, and families return to the exact same location each time they migrate. Perhaps they too reflect on the possibility of a better world as they fly the long journey home.”

Opening Friday, November 13th, 2026 5-9pm
Gallery is Open on Saturdays from Noon till 4pm
Exhibition Closes on December 19th, 2026

Artist Biography 

Raoul Deal is an interdisciplinary artist, educator and Senior Lecturer emeritus at the Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, where he was the founding coordinator of the Community Arts BA program. For over 20 years, he also served as Artist-in-Residence for the Cultures and Communities program at UWM. In these roles, he promoted projects for students to work with diverse communities to carry out creative activities that respected and honored people’s lives, fostered pride, and created opportunities for individual and collective healing. Deal has exhibited in museums and galleries across the United States and Mexico and is represented in private and public collections such as the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Minnesota Museum of American Art, Yale University, and the University of Madison Special Collections.