facebook-wisconsinproject

Father Matthias Wernerus sculpted the Dickeyville Grotto of bits of colored glass, minerals, shells, pottery and other shards embedded in mortar. After driving along Highway 151 heading southwest out of Madison the place looks like a colorful mirage of pop culture intersections with patriotism and religiosity. An adjacent gift shop sells holy water, holy cards, and rosaries. Our first visit to the grotto with college friends in the 1980s  pointied toward the surreal possibilities of making fantastical realities in hidden away places. Some art historians believe Father Wernerus gained inspiration from the much vaster Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend Iowa and that Wernerus' creation in turn inspired similar mystic grotto projects in Wisconsin.

Found: Front View of Grotto at Dickeyville, Wis., © 1929 Rev. Math. Wernerus Genuine Curteich-Chicago "C.T. American Art" "The Grotto of Christ, the Kind and of Mary his Mother, was conceived, esigned, and bult by a priest from thousands of pebbles, stones, shells, and corals from all parts of the world. Its beauty and originality must be seen to be appreciated.

Found: Holy Ghost Cemetery, Dickeyville, Wis. Genuine Curteich-Chicago "C.T. American Art" circa 1929

Found: Park Scene, Dickeyville, Wis. Genuine Curteich-Chicago "C.T. American Art" circa 1929

Rich Bouril with Toni Gosz's, Kellnersville, WI, 1972 Photo courtesy of Rich Bouril

 Wisconsin Polka King Romy Gosz (1910-1966) made rich complex Bohemian style polka music that formed the sound track of our lives. His records, TV appearances, and live performances created the atmosphere of all social events from weddings to firefighters picnics. We collect his Polkaland LPs, 45s and 78s for the drunken joie de vivre they encapsulate. His family has worked to keep his memory alive even hosting a Facebook page. Grandson Rich Bouril offers Roman's Espresso Roast coffee at his Culture Cafe on Calumet Avenue in Manitowoc, Wisconsin and remembers skate boarding in the dance hall of Romy's former home/tavern at Polifka's Corners. Daughter Ramona "Tootsie" Bouril has a boutique, Ramona's Courtyard Shoppe, next door to Rich's cafe. Despite the long trek from Manitowoc, her high school dates were willing to make the "mighty long" trek to Polifka's Corners near Kellnersville to pick her up.

    

Driving the rural back roads of 21st century Wisconsin isn't as romantic as the vintage postcards we've posted once portrayed it when gawking at the landscape was the only concern. Now there are texting teens, liquid manure spills, and farm implements wider than the road. The "picturesque" mid-century roadways depicted on postcards invited folks to jump in their cars with family and friends to motor to destinations throughout the state. Fall colors, rivers, scenic bluffs, and parks peppered the landscape. Being an attentive driver or "keeping your eyes on the road" seemed beside the point. A perfectly neurotic Wisconsin night driving movie scene is a highlight of Woody Allen's 1977 film Annie Hall.  New York City comic Alvy Singer (played by Woody Allen) and night club chanteuse Annie Hall (played by Diane Keaton) visit her home town of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Singer's Manhattan aversion to driving plays out in a scene with Annie Hall's brother Duane (played by Christoper Walken) confessing his psychopathic driving urges in his dimly lit bedroom: "Sometimes when I'm driving on the road at night and I see two headlights coming toward me fast, I have this sudden impulse to turn the wheel quickly head-on into the oncoming car. I can anticipate the explosion, the sound of shattering glas, the flames rising out of the flying gasoline..." Modern Super-Highways with their smooth curves, reinforced dividers, and fenced-off roadbeds eliminate many rural hazards as drivers zoom between cities and suburbs. Still, the back roads remain the most intriguing Wisconsin driving as they weave through the glacial Wisconsin landscape, small towns, and woods with lush trees arching overhead.

Found: Antigo by Curteichcolor® 3-D Natural Color Reproduction and Antigo Card Service, Antigo, Wisconsin, circa 1960

The culture of eating, drinking, and refreshing in the age of the motor vehicles evolved from the full-service truck stop with restaurant (open 24 hours, seats 100, delicious food, mechanics on duty) such as the Adams DX, infamous for its appearance in Werner Herzog's Strozek. Now there's the Kwik Trip here in Wisconsin, established in 1965 and spreading into Iowa and Minnesota. It offers the 24/7 convenient consumption experience for motorists that the old truck stops once did. Besides gas, there's a range of food (from onions to Greek yogurt), a bakery, a dairy, hot coffee, lottery tickets, newspapers, and smokes. The Kwik Trip became the hub in the neighborhood near our studio by the mid-1990s. In the late 1980s, there were still a couple grocery stores within walking distance, a food co-op, news and video store, and there wasn't a lottery. All that's gone now and the Kwik Trip has filled the void, a lifestyle.

In a time of industrial scale agriculture and massive confinement barns that keep cattle out of view, cows grazing along the road have become a rare sight, even something the tourism department people want to nurture to create quaint views. Once America's Dairyland, Wisconsin has lagged behind in milk production to California. Massive farms pop up in Wisconsin as the small farms with red barns and a manure pile fade away to be replaced by big "dairies" with computers displaying commodity prices in the office, scores of employeees, human resource managers, manure lagoons and 10,000 cows always waiting to be milked. Cheddar cheese carving, artisanal cheese, and small operations are re-emerging and reinventing themselves as public interest in "local" grows.

Using poplar trees found onsite at our farm while channeling ideas and visions set out by Wisconsin natives, Buckminster Fuller his ideas about tensegrity, and the Domes in Milwaukee, we've been making wigwams for our upcoming exhibitions.

Found: The new Horticultural Convservatory, Milwaukee, Wis. takes shape at Mitchell Park. Plants from all over the world will be on exhibit in it when it is finished. The sunken gardens attract thousands of visitors annually copyright the L.L. Cook Co. from an Ektachrome Transparency, circa 1966.