Unusual, obsessive works
See bedazzled objects from The Original Rhinestone Cowboy, a ‘healing machine’ and a former lumberjack’s concrete sculptures at the new Art Preserve in Sheboygan
SHEBOYGAN, WISCONSIN — Fred Smith spent much of life as a Northwoods Wisconsin lumberjack, but during retirement used embellished concrete to form 230-some outdoor sculptures of animals and people. Loy Bowlin, of McComb, Mississippi, was a poor man who called himself “The Original Rhinestone Cowboy,” immersing his home in glitter and glitz and wearing bedazzled outfits to entertain.
Eddie Owens Martin, a New York drag queen and fortune teller, returned to the family farm in Georgia and turned it into a dazzling headquarters for his newfound religion.
Emery Blagdon, of rural Garfield Table, Nebraska, created a “healing machine” whose shiny mobiles and vivid paintings filled a large shed. Work began after his parents were diagnosed with cancer.
Each man died decades ago, but stories and evidence of their unusual, obsessive works endure at the new, 38-acre Art Preserve on the outskirts of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The $40 million showcase protects and elevates the work of these people and others, many of whom were unlikely to peg themselves as artists.
No other museum in the world is devoted to artist-built environments.
“Art environments are meant to be experienced as a whole rather than as individual pieces,” explains an Art Preserve introduction. “The secret lies in the relationship between the artist and the place.”
The Art Preserve, opening June 26, is committed to the care and study of these immersions, most made by people with little or no formal training. It is a satellite campus of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, 3 miles away, and a lasting legacy of the late Ruth DeYoung Kohler II, a woman of wealth who saw value in what unheralded people created, often with castoff materials.
“Everyone in the broader art world should be appreciative,” says Deb Kerr, director of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art in Chicago. She describes Kohler Foundation as a world leader in identifying and preserving these environments, and “the Art Preserve shows what is possible” to explain and share them.
The campus features 35 site builders from as far away as India and smaller samples of work by 200 other artists. About 20,000 objects will be rotated in and out of storage on-site; much previously was warehoused elsewhere.
“It’s a hybrid between compact storage and exhibition space,” says Sam Gappmayer, JMKAC director.
These artists did their work — often in rural areas — without a commission or fanfare. Many had no clue or care about who would keep their creations intact as generations passed. Their collections conveyed life experiences, philosophies and fantasies while filling homes, sheds, acreage.
Works by Eugene Von Bruenchenhein — an impoverished man who made towers, thrones and crowns with hundreds of chicken bones — were the Arts Center’s first acquisition. His tiny home near Milwaukee was full of selfmade art that was undiscovered until the artist’s death in 1983.
JMKAC acquired 244 of Von Bruenchenhein’s works in 1984 and now owns nearly 9,000 pieces.
“One of the most complex and multifaceted American self-taught artists” was how the American Folk Art Museum in Manhattan described Von Bruenchenhein during a 2011 show there.
Nek Chand was a road inspector in India who used concrete, rocks and scraps from a dump to build a make-believe kingdom that filled 25 acres of city-owned land. A selection of his sculptures — some concrete, others fabric — anchor the Art Preserve’s third floor.
From Aurora, Illinois, are dozens of the 600-some concrete sculptures made by Dr. Charles Smith to chronicle African American history and culture. Kohler Foundation got involved to preserve the collection after the artist moved south to care for his ailing mother, and Smith is one of the few living artists represented at the museum.
The three-level Art Preserve, next to a nature preserve and near the Sheboygan River, is architecturally unusual: It’s asymmetrical in design and built into a hill. Up an angled stairway
with exposed rock is a window to see museum staff members at work. Outdoors is room for sculpture gardens on two levels of meadow.
Sixty-four tall, thick and strategically angled timbers — Wisconsin pines and balsam fir — shield the building’s window-rich interior from continuous sunlight. Additional building materials — concrete, river stones — also are compatible with the earthy artwork.
All were designed by Tres Birds, of Denver, and Gappmayer says there’s room to grow. “We projected our needs for the next 20 years,” he says, “and this will meet it.”
Ruth DeYoung Kohler died three months after the Art Preserve was to open in 2020, a debut postponed by the pandemic. It was her idea to incorporate wood, stones and earth into the building design, as a nod of respect to nature and often-simple materials used by the artists.
Gappmayer says “acknowledgement of outsiders — those rarely recognized or honored — was a repeating theme” in the benefactor’s life. And on a museum wall is a quote attributed to her: “Be open to detours and side roads — often they lead to the richest experiences.”
Admission is free to the Art Preserve and the John Michael Kohler Art Center (150 miles north of Chicago); preregistration is advised. Be sure to check out the public restrooms, designed as immersive, unique art experiences. jmkac.org
More art nearby
A 1-mile drive south of the Art Preserve is the 8-acre Bookworm Gardens, open May through October. Entry is by preregistration. Sculptures and other whimsical art in the botanical garden are inspired by 70-plus books for children. Partners include JMKAC. bookwormgardens.org
Less than 2 miles west is the Kohler Design Center, a showroom for plumbing manufacturer Kohler Co., local history museum and gallery of art made with industrial materials. Ask about free, self-guided audio tours of village gardens, which contain additional artwork.kohlerdesigncenter.com
Seven miles southeast of the Art Preserve, near Lake Michigan, is the free-admission James Tellen Woodland Sculpture Garden, created by a longtime furniture factory worker who died in 1957. In the collection at his former summer cabin are about 30 concrete statues with religious, mythical and historical themes.kohlerfoundation.org/preservation
Want to see more? Kohler Foundation tries to find a local steward for art environments after stabilizing and restoring the sites. Check “Wandering Wisconsin” road trips that JMKAC posts at wanderingwisconsin.org. For additional preservation work, go to kohlerfoundation.org.
The Arts/Industry program in Kohler, for 40-plus years, has provided artists in residency access to Kohler Co. factory materials, technology and expertise. Four artists, including sculptor Daniel G. Baird of Chicago, made the cut for 2021. Applications for 2023 will be accepted in February 2022. artsinindustry.org