Grotto Influence
From 1925 to 1930, Father Matthias Wernius, the priest at the Holy Ghost parish in Dickeyville, Wisconsin, constructed a complex of grottoes and shrines dedicated to the love of God and country. Drawing on German Catholic tradition, the structures are embellished with a variety of materials including colored glass, gems, pottery, porcelain, stalagmites, stalactites, corals, amber glass, quartz, ores, and petrified wood and moss. Many of the elements were contributed by people from around the region who heard about his ambitious project.
Father Wernius and his grotto were well known in the Upper Midwest. The grotto eventually became a tourist attraction and pilgrimage site. Wernius’s efforts inspired numerous people to construct their own grottoes and shrines, which ranged in scope and scale. Most of these works and sites have been lost to time, deemed not remarkable or rarefied enough to save.
The presentation of selected works by Jacob Baker, Madeline Buol, and Ingvald Skorgen at the Art Preserve testifies to this largely lost Midwestern expressive form.
