Artist finds inspiration on Wisconsin’s backroads
is an art. It’s also a necessity that’s good for the soul, according to artist Tony Stencel.
A Wisconsin Army National Guard veteran and father of three, Stencel wanders the Badger State’s back roads whenever time allows, painting the scenes he finds along the way.
Meandering is another way to describe his circuitous journeys as that comes without negative connotations, said Stencel, a Waukesha native who currently lives in Long Grove, Ill.
The best word that describes his Wisconsin excursions is “hiraeth,” which sounds like something out of “The Lord of the Rings.” It’s an old Welsh word that doesn’t directly translate into English, according to Stencel. It denotes a homesickness for a home you cannot return to, a home that maybe never was, or the yearning, nostalgia and grief for lost places.
“I wander to remember and forget, to look for forgotten stories that exist in the Wisconsin landscape, to find solace,” he said.
A graduate of the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, Stencel (aka the Backroad Artist, see tonystencel.net) has studied painting with nationally recognized watercolorists and pursued his craft in many farflung places around the world.
After serving nine years as an illustrator with the Wisconsin Army National Guard including a deployment to Germany, Stencel was invited to be a civilian artist member of the U.S. Air Force Art Program embedded with a unit in Afghanistan for 12 years.
He calls that time a “defining moment of my life.”
“I went on their missions with them, walked through the same minefields as they did, and documented through my art, which now resides in the permanent collection of the U.S. Air Force in the Pentagon, the missions these brave war-fighters were going through every day,” he said.
No matter where he’s traveled, though, Stencel still feels drawn to Wisconsin.
“I was born and raised in Wisconsin, my heritage, and thus my identity, is inextricably tied into Wisconsin. My wife doesn’t understand this ‘Wisconsin proud’ thing, but for those of us from Wisconsin, it’s a real thing,” Stencel said.
“There are so many hidden gems out there,” he said.
His favorite places inround clude the 1850 Hyde’s Mill with rare wooden waterwheel in Ridgeway (this is privately owned but viewable from public property), rural Columbia County and the expansive Columbus Antique Mall, and open-air museum Old World Wisconsin in Eagle, particularly at Christmastime. If his sketching fingers get cold, the cure is hot chocolate.
In Waukesha, he loves to stop for a hot dog with the works and a root beer at John’s Drive-In, established in 1937 and commonly referred to as John’s Root Beer by locals. John’s is open yearWandering on Arcadian Ave.
Part of the appeal of wandering is the leisurely, untethered pace.
“Wandering/meandering is an absolute must for the soul, at least my soul. Today’s world is filled with stimulation of every order. Buzzing, dinging, news feeds ... it becomes a cacophony of background noise,” he said. “Between dad duties and aging parents, my life is full. Escaping and/or wandering the back roads of Wisconsin once in a while is my recess from the real world.”
“Each person has a story, as does every old building. Sit down long
enough to listen and you may, just maybe, find a story there.”
Jennifer Rude Klett is a
Wisconsin freelance writer of history, food and Midwestern life. Contact her at jrudeklett.com.