The Wisconsin Project: Found: Looking at Lakes and Rivers

5.9.12

Found: Looking at Lakes and Rivers

Found: Turk's Head, Devil's Lake State Park near Baraboo, Wis.
The ripple marks in this rock show that it was once part of the floor of an
ancient sea. Copyright by and published by
H.H. Bennett Studio, Wisconsin, circa 1965

Found: "View from High Rock: This beautiful view is found in the Upper Dells of the Wisconsin River,
Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin" copyright H. H. Bennett Studio, circa 1965

Found: "Greetings from Appleton, Wisconsin: Huge driftwood offers shelter from the misty spray blown up by crashing waves on a quiet beach." copyright L. L. Cook Co., 1951

Found: "Lake Scene/Bohners Lake, Burnlington, Wis." color by Eric Sanford, circa 1960

Found: "Riverside Park, Watertown, Wisconsin: Riverside Watertown's largest park, is ideally situated along
the banks of the Rock River" copyright L. L. Cook Co., 1951

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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.