The Wisconsin Project: Found: Hiawatha Shopping Center, Menomonee Falls

27.11.12

Found: Hiawatha Shopping Center, Menomonee Falls

Found: Hiawatha Shopping Center Center, Menomonee, Falls, Wis. photographed November 4, 1948 and
printed on Ilford IV RC Portfolio (purchased on eBay from the son of the photographer).

Found: Hiawatha Pioneer Trail. Recently established
Northwoods branch marking scenic wonders for thousands of tourists
who visit Wisconsin's Northwoods annually published by
Brown Postcard Co. Rhinelander circa 1964.
Postmarked Rhinelander, WI, September 2, 1978

Found: Hiawatha. This Indian is symbolic of all the Indians of the area
and is dedicated particularly to the braves of the Winnebagoes.
Among the most famous were Chief Decorah and his son Chief Winnesheik.
La Crosse started sa a trading post in Indian Territory.
Trail and river led to the prairie, a favorite gathering place for the Indians.
The French named it prairie La Crosse for a game they
saw the Indians playig which reminded them of their own game
of La Crosse. Riverside Park, La Crosse published by
Universal Photo Service La Crosse,
Wisconsin, Dexter Press, New York, circa 1960s

Known as a peacemaker and visionary, Hiawatha led the Onondaga or the Mohawk circa 16th century and may never have envisioned shopping centers, songs, trails and trains would be named for him. Centuries later, the American Petroleum Institute most famously concocted a scheme to mark the so-called Hiawatha Pioneer Trail traversing Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Minnesota not so much to honor Hiawatha as a way to sell more petroleum products. The trail wove through 1,500 miles of Wisconsin according to a Milwaukee Journal article dated October 10, 1967. The signs for the trail were eventually removed and a bike trail, named after the train, remains in Wisconsin, some signs turn up on eBay as oddities of a bygone era.

Found: Wisconsin Hiawatha Pioneer Trail map/booklet
and its Capitol, Northwoods, and Door branches.

Found: Hiawatha Pioneer Trail Sign, circa 1965

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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.