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Washrooms

In the late 1990s, the John Michael Arts Center commissioned six artists to transform its public washrooms into works of art. Working in Kohler Co.’s Pottery and Foundry under the auspices of the Arts/Industry residency program, the artists designed and created the tiles, plumbingware, and other components comprising these immersive spaces. They also oversaw the installation of their work.

As hybrids of public and private space, of fine art and utilitarian design, these washrooms exemplify the Arts Center’s mission of generating creative exchanges between artists and the public. They also embody the belief that art can enliven, enrich, and inform every facet of life.

The two washrooms located in the Arts Center’s atrium are the work of New York artist Matt Nolen and Massachusetts artist Cynthia Cosentino (another, designed by California artist Yolande Macias McKay, is no longer extant). Brooklyn artist Ann Agee and Philadelphia artist Merrill Mason created the two east wing washrooms. California artist Casey O’Connor collaborated with seventy preschool-age children to design the Children’s Studio washroom. New York artist Carter Kustera created the sixth washroom, located near the Theatre.

The artist-designed washrooms at the Arts Center epitomize the achievements of Arts/Industry—an ongoing, decades-long collaboration between art and industry conceived by former JMKAC Director Ruth DeYoung Kohler II. Launched in 1974 as a means of supporting artistic exploration, Arts/Industry gives artists from around the world the opportunity to create new bodies of work using the facilities, technologies, and materials of Kohler Co.

Casey O'Connor: Childhood Vitreous

Location: Preschool

The washroom in the Children’s Studio was created by and for the children in JMKAC’s Preschool with California artist Casey O’Connor. Childhood Vitreous combines spirited painted tiles in primary colors with O’Connor’s sculptural homage to beloved children’s toys. He perfected a technique of injecting discarded stuffed toy animals with liquid clay. After drying, the stuffed toys are fired. The hardened clay retains the form and textures of the toy animal, while the stuffing and fabric burn away. O’Connor utilized this technique to make sculptures for the niches in the washroom, often joining parts of one toy with parts from another. These sculptures evoke a flood of memories prompted by the worn nap of much-loved teddy bears and crocheted animals. The room, finished with a toddler-scale sink, has a bright blue scalloped seat toilet and hundreds of ceramic tiles glazed by children who attended the Arts Center’s arts-based preschool. Self-portraits and images of family members, pets, suns, and monsters make this a special place for children.

Carter Kustera: Tell Me Something I Don't Already Know

Location: across from Theatre

Carter Kustera’s family washroom, Tell Me Something I Don’t Already Know, is based on information anonymously provided by Arts Center members. Over nine hundred members sent in their first name and a brief sentence about themselves for use in this project. Kustera harvested such gems as, “Vue is living his dreams,” “Marjorie is a 100–year–old fairy tale princess,” “Bob won’t admit that the squirrel has beaten him,” and “Laura paints the world.” Imagining what each person looked like based on the descriptions, Kustera painted hundreds of silhouettes–humorous, serene, and stern–that cover the walls of the room. The counter, carved into the shape of a profile, supports a clear glass lavatory, while the mirror above is etched with an invitation for viewers to: “Tell me something about yourself that I don’t already know.”

Merrill Mason: Filling and Emptying

Ann Agee: Sheboygan Men's Room

Cynthia Consentino: The Women's Room

Matt Nolen: The Social History Of Architecture

Location: Atrium

New York artist Matt Nolen created a ceiling-to-floor tile mural for the largest of the washrooms. His interpretive The Social History of Architecture is a tour of architectural periods from ancient Egypt to the present. On the longest uninterrupted wall, illustrations of architectural icons progress through the ages, beginning with the modern era and continuing through the art historical periods of Art Nouveau, Victorian, Baroque, Gothic, Medieval, ancient Rome, and ancient Egypt. On the opposite wall, tiles and fixtures portray the hands of rulers or visionaries from each successive period with appropriate symbols of power, from a cell phone to the Pope’s ring. While in the washroom, as you make use of the various fixtures, you can imagine yourself a Pharaoh, Caesar, pontiff, or CEO. This subtle empowerment of the individual is reinforced by a quote by poet, writer, and natural philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe that rings the soaring blue ceiling of the room: “Whatever you can do or dream, you can begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”

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