The Wisconsin Project: Moonlight on Lake Michigan, Manitowoc, WI

13.7.12

Moonlight on Lake Michigan, Manitowoc, WI

Moonlight on Lake Michigan, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, July 5, 2008
© J. Shimon & J. Lindemann

Found: Superior, Wis., Moonlight on Lake Superior Bay
published by Raphael Tuck & Sons, 1907

Found: "Two Rivers -- Coolest Spot in Wisconsin"
by Curteich, Chicago, circa 1930

Found: Moonlight on Lake Geneva, from Recreation Building, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, circa 1930

Found: Moonlight on Lake Monona, Foot of Monona Avenue, Madison, Wis. by E.A. Bishop Publishing, circa 1930

Found: Moonlight on Ellison Bay, Door County, Wisconsin by Ahrens News Agency, circa 1930

Found: Moonlight on Wisconsin River, Nelson Dewey State Park, Near Prairie Du Chien, Wis. circa 1931
Caption: "...Indeed it is difficult to imagine a scene more charming than the Wisconsin River by moonlight, as the quiet waters reflect the silvery rays on the pebbled beach and along the winding shores and wooded banks."

The melancholy moon shimmering on lakes and rivers appears a common theme circa 1930. In post-Great Depression America, the faraway moon touching the landscape creates a mystic escape.

2 comments:

Erik Rinard16:44
When I think about the last time I saw moonlight on Lake Michigan, it wasn't a column across the water, but a reflection of the Moon itself. There's always been something very romantic to me about that idea, that you could walk out onto the water and step into that perfect, shimmering spotlight.
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johnie13:07
Imagine what the natives thought when they came upon such a scene while gathering berries along the shore...
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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.