The Wisconsin Project: Found: Greetings from Milwaukee

8.12.12

Found: Greetings from Milwaukee

Found: Greetings from Milwaukee, Wisconsin: THE CITY THAT MADE BEER FAMOUS. Prosit! Key views on other side: County Court House, City Hall, St. John's Cathedral, Soldiers' Monument-Court of Honor, Milwaukee Depot, Lioness, Washington Park Zoo, Solomon Juneau-Milwaukee's First Mayor, Lincoln Memorial Bridge. by E. C. Kropp Co. Postmarked November 2, 1945

Found: A Bright Spot Milwaukee's Playground. Lincoln Memorial Drive, with a Splend9d View overlooking Milwaukee Bay, A Picturesque Six Mile Drive Along the Lakeshore from the Downtown Business District. The Lincoln Memorial located on the BRIDGE PLAZA. The imposing home of the Elks Club occupies an entire block, overlooking Lincoln Memorial Drive, built over the tracks of the Chicago Northwestern Railway. Inspect the deep rustically beautiful ravines, go Fishing, Swimming, Boating, Athletic Field, Golf Course, Concert Pavilion and Stadium. A truly delightful spot worth visiting by Lakeside Corporation, Realty Building, Milwaukee Title, Design, Color view made by Curt Teich copyright 1935.

Found: Greetings from Milwaukee Land. Milwaukee War Memorial on the Lake Front at 750 North Lincoln Memorial Drive. Here one sees the ultimate in Modern Architecture. Open to the public photo by David E. Brown circa 1960s.

Found: Greetings from Milwaukee Land. The Milwaukee Municipal Building and the City Hall photo by David E. Brown circa 1960s.

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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.