The Artist Artist Otis Houston Jr. creates new work at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, 2022. Otis Houston Jr. (born 1954, Greenville, SC) lives… Read More »Otis Houston Jr.: My Name is My Word (in response to Jesse Howard)
608 New York Avenue
Sheboygan, WI 53081
(920) 458-6144
Reservations are recommended as capacity is limited.
Entry to the Art Preserve and Arts Center is FREE
Hours for both locations:
Tue, Wed, Fri: 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Thu: 10:00 a.m.–8:00 p.m.
Sat and Sun: 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Closed on Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve Day, and New Year’s Day.
The Art Preserve and Arts Center are wheelchair accessible. A limited number of wheelchairs are available for use free of charge on a first-come, first-served basis. Lockers are available at both locations to store your belongings.
Kohler Foundation, Inc., established in 1940, has long supported the arts and education. The work of Kohler Foundation encompasses five major areas of concentration: art preservation, grants, scholarships, a performing arts series, and the management of the Waelderhaus, a historic home. Kohler Foundation is committed to the preservation of art environments and important collections, as well as Wisconsin culture and heritage. Their conservation efforts include work by numerous artists also in the Arts Center’s Collection, such as artists Kenny Hill, Ernest Hüpeden, Bernard Langlais, Eddie Owens Martin (also known as Saint EOM), Mary Nohl, Herman Rusch, and James A. Tellen. The Arts Center and Kohler Foundation have worked together on efforts to conserve, preserve and exhibit the work of these, and other artists, over the past several decades, and this partnership is ongoing.
Visit Kohler Foundation, Inc.
SPACES—Saving and Preserving Art and Cultural Environments—is dedicated to the study, documentation, and preservation of art environments and self-taught artistic activity. SPACES was incorporated in 1978 for the purposes of identifying, documenting, and advocating for the preservation of large-scale art environments. Founding director Seymour Rosen conceived of SPACES as a national (and, later, an international) organization; currently managed by Kohler Foundation in Kohler, Wis., it boasts an archive of approximately 35,000 photographs as well as numerous books, articles, audio and videotapes/DVDs, and artists’ documents. SPACES and the Arts Center collaborate on exhibitions, catalogs, and research projects and these efforts are ongoing.
Visit SPACES Archives
The Wisconsin Art Environment Consortium was formed in 2008 by the stewards of nine of Wisconsin’s art environments to build awareness of and appreciation for these sites and the artistic and cultural heritage they embody. Together they produced a guide to these sites called Wandering Wisconsin.
Visit Wandering Wisconsin
American Folk Art Museum
Chauvin Sculpture Garden
Dr. Evermor’s Art Park
Intuit
James Tellen Woodland Sculpture Garden
Lenore Tawney Foundation
NarrowLarry’s World of the Outstanding
National Center for Preservation Technology and Training
Outsider Art Fair
The Painted Forest
Prairie Moon Sculpture Garden
Rock Garden of Chandigarh
Roger Brown Study Collection
St. EOM’s Pasaquan
Watts Towers
Wilson Whirligig Park
Wisconsin Concrete Park
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.
Hours for both locations:
Tue, Wed, Fri: 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Thu: 10:00 a.m.–8:00 p.m.
Sat and Sun: 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Arts Center
608 New York Ave
Sheboygan, WI 53081
Art Preserve
3636 Lower Falls Road
Sheboygan, WI 53081
Be the first to find out about exclusive deals, the latest exhibitions, and top trends.
Be the first to find out about exclusive deals, the latest exhibitions, and top trends.
