![\"Ernesto](\"https:\/\/urbanmilwaukee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nErnesto \u201cNeto\u201d Atkinson poses in front of a painting he\u2019s working on in his studio. (Photo by Jonathan Aguilar \/ Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service \/ CatchLight Local)<\/p>\n
After visiting art museums across the globe, Ernesto \u201cNeto\u201d Atkinson<\/a> realized their large, cavernous spaces and smell reminded him of his time as a child working as a tour guide in the catacombs of Antigua, Guatemala.<\/p>\n That\u2019s when the idea came to create The Catacombs of Neto Art Museum.<\/p>\n \u201cI realized that the museum is a cemetery for art,\u201d said Atkinson. \u201cArt is dead, without anyone seeing it.\u201d<\/p>\n The Catacombs of Neto Art Museum opened in October of 2024 in the lower level of\u00a0 the Marshall Building<\/a>, 207 E. Buffalo St.<\/p>\n This is the first bilingual art museum in Milwaukee, designed as a space for inclusion, conversation and connection, but not silence.<\/p>\n \u201cAnybody can come here. Art is a language that speaks to all of us,\u201d Atkinson said.<\/p>\n Atkinson grew up in Antigua, Guatemala, and lost his biological father when he was 7 years old.<\/p>\n \u201cMy first encounter with death was my father dying in my hands,\u201d Atkinson said.<\/p>\n To help support his family after their loss, Atkinson sold his art on the streets and did other odd jobs. Art became a way to process his grief and survive poverty.<\/p>\n Atkinson began his professional artistic training at North Dakota State University and went on to complete a master\u2019s degree in art therapy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.<\/p>\n In Chicago, he met his wife and business partner, Jenny Urbanek<\/a>, who is a yoga instructor, artist and art educator.<\/p>\n Atkinson also has a private art therapy practice, Integration Healing\/ Alivio Integral<\/a>. He says the museum is like an extension of that work.<\/p>\n Atkinson said he brings clients into the museum space to see healing in action. There he can show them examples of how he worked through a particular challenge through a piece of his artwork and encourage them to do something similar.<\/p>\n \u201cHe often brings clients over here. I don\u2019t know how many a week, but it\u2019s very often,\u201d Urbanek said.<\/p>\n Atkinson\u2019s art therapy clients are not the only ones who can receive mental health benefits while visiting the museum.<\/p>\n Urbanek recounts seeing people who may not usually feel comfortable around art finding meaning and confidence through talking with Atkinson.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re usually old men who are kind of tough. By the end of the conversation, they\u2019re both crying together,\u201d Urbanek said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd they come back,\u201d Atkinson added.<\/p>\n Atkinson\u2019s vision for the future of The Catacombs of Neto Art Museum is focused on continued collaborations and long-term sustainability. Plans include yoga classes taught by Urbanek<\/a>, Milwaukee Museum Days<\/a> and Gallery Night MKE<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cMy vision is that in a couple of years, (the museum) is not mine anymore. I want to give this to the community,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cI want this to be for them.\u201d<\/p>\n Jonathan Aguilar<\/a> is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between\u00a0CatchLight Local\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0Report for America<\/a>.<\/p>\n This article<\/a> first appeared on Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.Several paintings on display at The Catacombs of Neto Art Museum.<\/p>\nThis painting, titled \u201cElla in my Mirage,\u201d depicts Atkinson\u2019s wife, Jenny Urbanek, as she views a painting while he views her.<\/p>\nSeveral mask sculptures made out of air dried clay and painted with watercolors hang on a wall. They\u2019re part of the collection, \u201cVisage #1.\u201d<\/p>\nCarl Peterson gazes at a painting by Ernesto Atkinson<\/a> during the first night of Gallery Night MKE. The free two-day event allowed residents to explore Milwaukee neighborhoods while viewing and purchasing original artwork from local and regional artists.<\/p>\nJenny Urbanek and Ernesto Atkinson pose for a photograph in front of some of his paintings during Gallery Night MKE on Jan. 16.<\/p>\nA sculpture by Ernesto Atkinson on display at The Catacombs of Neto Art Museum.<\/p>\nA new sculpture titled \u201cThe Eternal Light.\u201d<\/p>\nAn art installation titled \u201cThe Rest of the Paint Brushes\u201d on display. This piece contains the paint brushes that Atkinson used during college.<\/p>\nA pile of paints from Atkinson\u2019s studio.<\/p>\nSeveral different art works and materials sit on a shelf at Neto Atkinson\u2019s studio.<\/p>\nA painting titled \u201cLas Alas de Milena\u201d on display.<\/p>\nA closeup of the three-dimensional textures found in the painting \u201cLas Alas de Milena.\u201d<\/p>\nAn art installation titled \u201cCatharsis\u201d hangs on a wall. Atkinson created the piece by taking the boxing gloves pictured on the right and punching the canvas. He said after making the piece he cried from all the emotions that were released during the process.
\nErnesto Atkinson talks with Carl Peterson during Gallery Night MKE.<\/p>\nErnesto \u201cNeto\u201d Atkinson displays several paintings he is working on in his studio.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Get a daily rundown of the top stories on Urban Milwaukee Ernesto \u201cNeto\u201d Atkinson poses in front of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-276339","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}