Clarence Powell’s Temple of Historical Carved Art in DeSoto, Wisconsin, housed his detailed dioramas depicting scenes from the life of Jesus and historic United States battles. Hung above eye level and set on tables and shelves scattered throughout a dimly-lit room, Powell wanted viewers to engage with his works as a narrative, moving from scene to scene. The dioramas are crudely constructed, held together at the corners by cut and scalloped coffee cans. He used readily available materials such as wire, cork, rope, painted cotton, bits of mirror, magazine clippings, commercial carpeting, dried plants and roots, cardboard, and bits of tin, and he covered the front faces in panes of glass.

The Arts Center’s twenty-nine dioramas and four paintings are all that are known to exist of Powell’s work.