Long touted as the Bratwurst Capital of the World, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, now finds fame as America’s capital of “outsider art.” Since June of 2021, our little neighbor to the north houses one of the world’s largest collections of works by some 200 artists who were self-taught, unconventional, and seldom recognized, or just labelled as “folk.” Their works – created without commissions — celebrate life experiences, philosophies, and fantasies.
For perspective, think of what you’ve seen at Chicago’s Intuit, the Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art. But the Preserve is much bigger. And its collection has been lauded in articles in the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times.
The creators of the Preserve’s art and bits of architecture include farmers, a lumberjack, a tavern owner, a road inspector from India, a former drag queen, and a recluse from the Chelsea Hotel in New York City. Their works range from concrete human figures, books cast in resin, apocalyptic paintings, a wooden menagerie of beasts, and a Canadian’s “healing machine” to hand-lettered signs with religious messages. All are displayed in a new three-level, light-filled museum designed by Tres Birds of Denver.
Admission is free. Pre-registration is recommended via https://www.jmkac.org/art-preserve/. While you’re in Sheboygan, also consider a visit to the nearby John Michael Kohler Arts Center, which created the Preserve.
1. The Preserve is fronted with 64 thick, angled timbers that help shield the building’s multi-windowed interior from sunlight. It was designed by Tres Birds of Denver. Photo/Hoffmann2. Visitors are welcomed by more than 150 sculptures from the make-believe kingdom of Nek Chand. A road inspector in Chandigarh, India, Chand scavenged used concrete, rocks, bits of colored glass, shards of pottery and fabric to create life-size human figures. Photo/Hoffmann3. Outsider artist Nek Chand called his sculptures “immortal beings.” Photo/Hoffmann4. “Jackknife Artist” Levi Fisher Ames stocked his wooden menagerie with hundreds of intricately carved real and mythical beasts. Photo/Hoffmann5. Resin was the medium of Stella Waitzkin, who lived in the Chelsea Hotel in New York City. To create her “Details of a Lost Library,” she cast leather-bound books, clocks, birds and other forms in transparent resin. Photo/Hoffmann6. Nick Engelbert’s reclining mermaid was a roadside highlight at his farm in Grand View, Wis. He turned to painting when he felt too old to make more outdoor art. Photo/Hoffmann7. Frank Oebser relived his memories in sculptures that he scattered throughout his barns, sheds and yard in Menomonie, Wis. His buggy driver wears Frank’s old clothes; the face is a dime store mask of George Washington. Photo/Hoffmann8. In the 1950s Jesse Howard began covering his 20-acre property in Fulton, Mo., with hand-painted biblical messages and comments on political and world views. He called the installation “Sorehead Hill.” Photo/Hoffmann9. Jesse Howard even commented on the vandals who stole his signs: “Yes, I see these people [who] sneak up here when they think that I am asleep, and then sneak off like a dog that has been killing sheep.” Photo/Hoffmann10. Ray Yoshida, one of Chicago’s famous Imagist artists, collected the folk art shown in this restaging of his apartment. He also was a professor at the School of the Art Institute, whose wildly eclectic collection ranged from art acquired at the Maxwell Street Market to ritual masks from New Guinea. Photo/Hoffmann
Wow, really interesting article and great photos. Will definitely visit on my next trip to Wisconsin this summer.
Thanks much Brent.
Thanks Brent. I had never heard of this place, and I too, will plan to visit.
Great info Brent. On my bucket list and I intend to make it happen