Thursday, June 11 | 5 pm
Prairie Springs on Park | Milwaukee

Join Arts @ Large as we celebrate 25 years of expanding equitable access to the arts in our community! Art Vs. Food, our signature event, brings together some of the community’s most talented chefs and visionary artists for a one-of-a-kind evening of culinary creativity and artistic expression.

Featured Chefs

Chef Gregory León

Chef Gregory León was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and raised in Venezuela, where food, family, and culture were inseparable at the kitchen table. After returning to the United States, he relocated to San Francisco in 1994, spending 18 years cooking in acclaimed
restaurants including Poesia, Mirtille, and Horatius. During this time, he traveled extensively through Spain and Portugal, developing a deep, enduring connection to the cuisines of the Iberian Peninsula that would later define his culinary voice.

In 2012, León moved to Milwaukee and launched Amilinda as a pop-up in 2013, opening its brick-and-mortar restaurant in 2015. The restaurant quickly earned local and national recognition, including three stars from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and
inclusion on Thrillist’s 21 Best New Restaurants in America. For nearly a decade, Amilinda has remained a fixture on Eater’s must-visit lists and has become a pillar of Milwaukee’s culinary scene—shaping the city’s dining culture, mentoring generations of cooks, and serving as a creative hub for collaboration and community. In 2025, Amilinda celebrated its 10-year anniversary, marking a decade of sustained excellence,
relevance, and leadership.

Chef León is a two-time James Beard Award finalist for Best Chef: Midwest (2022, 2023) and a two – time semifinalist for Outstanding Chef (2024, 2025). Central to his leadership is a philosophy that challenges traditional kitchen hierarchies. One long-
standing “rule” he intentionally breaks is the notion that the Executive Chef should be the sole creative voice behind the menu. At Amilinda, León actively invites his Sous Chefs, Chef de Cuisine, and Chefs de Partie to contribute ideas, techniques, and dishes. His role is to guide, edit, and refine those contributions so they align with the restaurant’s identity, seasonality, and standards—not to silence them. This collaborative
approach fosters ownership, trust, and professional growth, and many of Amilinda’s most successful dishes have emerged from shared dialogue rather than a single authorial voice.

Pastry Chef Nick Hoover

Nick Hoover is the pastry chef at Mother’s in Bayview, a fusion concept focused on building community through the fusion of culinary perspectives. His work leans on both whimsy and aroma, making frequent use of uncommon botanicals and off-kilter pairings in an effort to highlight the capacity of pastry as a medium for exploration, play, and changing perspectives.

Featured Mixologist

Ricky Rameriez

Ricky Ramirez (owner of The Mothership) grew up in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood in a working-class Latino immigrant family of Guatemalan and Dominican heritage. In 2019, he opened The Mothership to bring world-class cocktails to Bay View—crafted with fresh ingredients and serious technique, but served in a laid-back, unpretentious setting. In January 2026, The Mothership was named a James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Bar, recognized for its exceptional drinks, leadership, hospitality, team culture, and values.

Known for its irreverent, no-nonsense approach, The Mothership blends intricate techniques with an eclectic selection of forgotten and exotic spirits, delivering standout cocktails that rival nationally recognized bars. While humor and satire are part of the bar’s personality, inclusivity and sustainability remain core to its operations—reflecting the spirit of Milwaukee itself: humble, cool, and unbothered by clout. As the city garners national attention, The Mothership proudly positions itself at the forefront of Milwaukee’s emerging cocktail scene, earning the hashtag #veryseriousbar.

Featured Artists

John Kowalcyzk

John Kowalczyk is multi-faceted artist working in mixed media paintings, murals, sculptures, community projects and larger than life installations that incorporate clashing patterns, bold colors, and rich layers of texture, narrative and history. Much of his work explores ecological processes such as the reforestation of native plant species and the metamorphosis of life inhabiting our universe. He utilizes his practice to connect, convene, and build communities, often collaborating with civic organizations and neighborhoods to share their stories in dignified, accessible, and joyful ways through public art. Kowalczyk is just delusional enough to believe art can save us.

Yesi Pérez

Yesi Pérez Luevano, She/Her/Hers, is a Latinx creative. A graduate from Marquette University and the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design with a major in political science and a focus in studio art, she continues to call Milwaukee her home as a proud Southsider. While she prefers working traditionally through the medium of painting, she also explores working through other traditional mediums, digital illustration, and culinary art. Mental health, emotions, stewardship, nature, identity, growth, life, and death are recurring themes in her pieces. Pérez loves to play with color and is drawn to creating pieces that carry heavy symbolism and meaning. Her goal is to make art and food that fosters reflection, conversation, and connection.

Lucky Diop

Born in Senegal, West Africa, Lucky Diop has been performing since the age of 10. Lucky earned a degree in traditional African Music from the National Conservator of Music, Dance and Drama of Dakar in Senegal. He immigrated to the United States in 1993, settling in Milwaukee through the International Exchange Program of the YMCA in 1994.

Committeed to working from the community and its children, Lucky Diop has been perfomring and teaching contemporary and traditional West African expressions of cultural values through drumming ,song and dance. Through his performances and classes, Lucky taks participants on a journey into his motherland and the ssence of Africa – drumming being the heartbeat of Africa; the songs, being its emotion and feeling; and dance, being its rhythm.

Exploring the vast cultural and folkloric resources of Africa in this way, Lucky’s quest to enlighten his students and audiences takes on a vibrancy that few will forget.