The Wisconsin Project: Found: The Demons Anvil, Wisconsin Dells, WI

13.7.12

Found: The Demons Anvil, Wisconsin Dells, WI

Found: The Demons Anvil, Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin copyright H. H. Bennett Studio, circa 1965
Verso Caption: In spite of its ominous name, the Demons Anvil holds no terror for the modern day camera fan.

H. H. Bennett (1843-1908) settled in Kilbourn City in Wisconsin. He admired the landscape and made it the focus of his photographic practice in 1865 making glass plate pictures of rock formations and the land forms along Devils Lake and the Wisconsin River so much so that he began making photographs to show it off. Kilbourn City became Wisconsin Dells and the rest is history. Were it not for Bennett's photographs, the area may have remained a secret or perhaps another river side factory town. Bennett's restored studio space. a historic site, is not to be missed at 215 Broadway in Wisconsin Dells. Operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society, his darkroom, studio set up, storefront shop are preserved as they were at the time of his death in 1908. Multi-media exhibitions tell the story of photography's relationship with the growth of tourism and Bennett's relationship with native peoples. A recent book, H. H. Bennett, Photographer: His American Landscape (University of Wisconsin Press, 2010), by Sara Rath tells his biography and reproduces his photographs.

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THE WISCONSIN PROJECT

Our research-driven Wisconsin Project contemplates the rooted-ness and state-of-mind resulting from inhabiting a single place, our native Wisconsin, for a long time. Through critiquing postcard views both made and found, we learn a great deal about past and present Wisconsin. We began making postcard views of the places immediately around our studio and on our drives around Wisconsin in about 2008. We use the vintage postcard film format and print the cards in palladium and cyanotype. By communicating details of a specific place, seeming to register only marginally on the national radar, the project seeks to bring audiences into a Wisconsin mental space. Some in the art world would argue that the Midwest, particularly Wisconsin, makes for banal “fly over” subject matter. Our project challenges that by finding meaning in the ordinary and inviting audiences to examine, dialog, and reflect on the particular emotional quality of the idiosyncrasies of place and the perceptions of those both inside and outside of it. Sometimes distant memories are involved and a longing for a time now gone. Wisconsin’s glacier inflected landscape and proximity to the Great Lakes creates an exotic arena for living that informs our project. The life cycle plays out and rural and urban ruins serve as monuments to existences as people, places, and ideas surface then vanish. Ultimately, we aim to grapple with complex perceptions of Wisconsin ranging from nostalgic, romantic, and idealized--as depicted on myriad real photo postcard and standard tourist postcards--to mysterious, dark, and Gothic as conveyed in works of art and literature such as Michael Lesy's "Wisconsin Death Trip" book and Werner Herzog's "Stroszek" film. The project culminated in a residency with workshops and community collaborations and the installation "We Go From Where We Know" at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center 10.13.2013-3.7.2014 and later the Harvestore Bandshell for Fermentation Fest in 10.2014. The blog continues the exploration of postcards.