The Wisconsin Project: Found: Chief Silvertongue, Wisconsin Dells, WI

28.11.12

Found: Chief Silvertongue, Wisconsin Dells, WI

Found: Chief Silver Tongue real photo postcard on Azo paper.
Note handwritten on back in ballpoint pen reads:
"Our guide at the Wisconsin Dells, Kilbourne, Wis. 7/15/31".

Found: Chippewa Indian Chief photographed and published by
Annabelle Gallagher Post Cards & Pub, Duluth, MN, circa 1960s.

Found: Indian Chief and Tepee, photo and published by
G. R. Brown Co., Route 5, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, circa 1960s.

Found: Chief Blow Snake in full ceremonial dress. Wisconsin Dells, Wis.
Photo by Arthur Langford, Genuine Natural Color by Dexter Press circa 1950s.
Postmarked Merrill, Wis. June 30, 1955, 3 PM.

Found: Heap Big "Little Indian Chief". Greetings from Lac du Flambeau, Wis.
Genuine Curteich Color postcard circa 1930s.
Postmarked Lac Du Flambeau, Jun 26, 1952 5 PM.

Found: Stand Rock. A trained dog leaps the chasm at Stand Rock.
Spectacular scenic formation at Wisconsn Dells.
He affords amateur photographers an unusual "shot" and is a thrill
to all visitors copyright H. H. Bennett Studio circa 1950s.

Found: Ink Stand. Lower Dells at the Wisconsin is like an old-style ink well.
The tall pine on top resembles a quill pen. Wisocnsin, Dells, Wisconsin.
Copyrighted by the H. H. Bennett Studio, Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin,
"Plastichrome" by Colorpictures, Boston, circa 1950s.

Found: The Sunrise Call at the Stand Rock Indian Ceremonial, Wisconsin Dells, Wis., is sun in the Zuni language.
The play of light on the feather headdress of the singer resembles the rising of the sun. Suitable for framing.
Copyrighted by H.H. Bennet Studio, Wisconsin Dells, Wis Foilex printed in W. Germany circa 1960s.

In mid-century Wisconsin Dells and elsewhere in Wisconsin, any picture was a good picture if it included an "Indian Chief". In the Dells, it was a gig involving a great amount of theater. Among the most renowned was Chief Silver Tongue (1882-1964) (a/k/a Oscar Norton), a Hopi. He was an attorney turned singer on the vaudeville circuit who later staged an "Indian Pagent" that ran for 30 years each summer on Stand Rock in the Dells.

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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.