The Wisconsin Project: Found: Historical Surgeons' Quarters, Portage, WI

21.4.14

Found: Historical Surgeons' Quarters, Portage, WI

Found: Historical Surgeons' Quarters, Portage, Wisconsin.
Located just east of the city on Hwy. 33, this is the only remaining structure of FORT WINNEBAGO.
Built before 1828 as the home of a French Fur Trader, it was purchased by the army when the Fort was begun.
It was used to quarter Medical Officers at the Fort.
The quarters overlook both the Fox River and the WAUNONA TRAIL,
made famous by Father Marquette and Louis Jolliet in 1673.
Photo & Pub. G. R Brown Co., Rt. 5 Eau Claire, Wis. 54701. Circa 1970s.

These buildings seem to be the residue of the complex history of the white man settling in Wisconsin and negotiating with the Ho Chunk people. All that remains of Fort Winnebago in Portage on the Fox River are these log houses filled with 19the century artifacts operated by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The Portage web post about the site boasts of featuring a period operating table as part of the displayed artifacts.

Found: Old Indian Agency House, Portage, Wisconsin.
Built in 1832 by the U.S. Government for John Kinzie, the Indian Agent to the Winnebago.
Furnishings no later than that date. Restored in 1932 by WISCONSIN SOCIETY OF COLONIAL DAMES.
Photography by P. Richard Eelis.

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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.