Help Save Mary Nohl’s Art Environment
Mutually Agreed-Upon Proposal for Mary Nohl Home Cultural Overlay Submitted by JMKAC and the Save the Beach Drive Neighborhood Association
Thank You for Making Your Voice Heard
The John Michael Kohler Arts Center (JMKAC) leadership team and Creation and Preservation Partners (CAPP) board of directors extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who expressed support for the Mary Nohl art environment at the Fox Point Village Board meetings and in letters to the trustees. The Village Plan Commission favorably recommended a newly revised cultural overlay proposal on March 6 and sent it on for the Village Board to consider at an upcoming meeting.
Following a series of discussions with our Beach Drive neighbors, we’re pleased that CAPP and the Save the Beach Drive Association submitted a mutually agreed-upon proposal with significant modifications to the materials initially proposed in December. The new cultural overlay district proposal is the result of compromises on the part of both the Arts Center and participating neighbors.
We look forward to discussing the new proposal with the Village Trustees and are confident that, working together, we can identify a viable path forward for all.
The Mary Nohl art environment is a source of inspiration, delight, and curiosity throughout the broader community, and we are grateful for your contribution to preserving it for future generations to discover.
This proposed cultural overlay provides transparency for surrounding neighbors about what will and will not happen at the property. It also offers JMKAC with certainty and stability for the future as it plans to protect and preserve this special artist-built environment.
Thank you, again, for your continued support. The Village Board will schedule a vote on the proposal at a future date.
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Why the Mary Nohl Art Environment is Important to Support
As one of the few intact art environments created single handedly by a woman, Mary Nohl’s lakefront home plays a rich and distinctive part in the culture and heritage of the Village of Fox Point. The very character of the place she lived is embodied in her art.
Her art environment is and will continue to be a place of contemplation, not congregation. At no time will the site be open to the general public.
Although the majority of the artwork has been moved to the JMKAC Art Preserve in Sheboygan, the Mary Nohl residence and yard sculptures are too fragile to move. Preservation in place protects the origin of Mary Nohl’s creativity.
In 2021, JMKAC opened the Art Preserve as the first and only museum dedicated to artist-built environments. It is where JMKAC shares the fullness of Mary Nohl’s creativity with the public, free of charge. It showcases 35 artist-built environments, including eighty percent of the Nohl collection.
When Mary Nohl died in 2001, she bequeathed her home and art collection to Kohler Foundation, Inc., which later transferred ownership to Creation and Preservation Partners, Inc. (CAPP), an affiliate of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center.
Since 2012, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center has invested more than $3.6 million in restoring Mary’s home and the grounds. As a nonprofit organization, JMKAC has a fiduciary responsibility to allocate its resources in ways that fulfill its mission. The cultural overlay will permit the advancement of that mission by allowing very limited numbers of artists, educators, and researchers access to Nohl’s art environment. To properly preserve the home and art, JMKAC must limit the number of people at the site at any one time.
JMKAC education programs in area schools help foster pride of place among local youth by sharing the importance of Mary’s art, life, and legacy with students. JMKAC staff are working in the classroom with Bayside Middle School students on a project exploring Mary’s role in the local community. More than 100 Bayside Middle School students have been on field trips to the Art Preserve and Arts Center in Sheboygan. In addition, printed curriculum books were distributed to Fox Point Bayside School District art teachers.
The Mary Nohl Art Environment has been a fixture of the Fox Point community as a space for creative inspiration and artistic practice since the mid 1960s. Because of this storied legacy, the home is one of only three Fox Point properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places (2005). As a prolific artist, Mary Nohl’s (1914-2001) work is inextricably linked to her life on the edge of Lake Michigan. Mary drew constant inspiration from the changing colors of the sky, water and the natural world unique to her property.
Since 2012, the John Michael Kohler Art Center (JMKAC), long involved in the preservation and study of artist-built environments, has undertaken substantial restoration and conservation efforts to stabilize and maintain the property in its unique location.
JMKAC is asking the Village of Fox Point to consider the creation of a cultural overlay district for the Nohl property. The cultural overlay creates a pathway to host opportunities for local community members, educators, and artists to access the property. Through a limited usage plan, the Mary Nohl Art Environment will support the production of work that deepens the legacy, understanding, and value of this important piece of community history. Additionally, it will allow for the development of a committed and sustainable long-term financial support plan to preserve the artwork and property into the future. This will ensure that future generations of Fox Point residents will be able to say “Mary Nohl is a part of my community.”
For More Information
If you have any questions about the proposed cultural overlay, please call JMKAC Director Amy Horst at 920-694-4712.
Experience Mary’s Work at the Art Preserve
Today, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center’s Art Preserve in Sheboygan is the only place where the public can see and experience Mary’s varied works of art. It is home to more than 80 percent of her artwork.
We opened the Art Preserve in 2021. It is the first museum in the world to focus entirely on work from artist-built environments such as Mary Nohl’s. The Art Preserve is a showcase for the Arts Center’s world-renowned collection of more than 25,000 works from more than 30 art environments.
We invite you to explore the full scope of Mary’s creativity at the Art Preserve. Her paintings, sculpture, jewelry, ceramics, and much more are on display year-round in a prominent space dedicated to her art environment.
