The Wisconsin Project: Found: Lawe Street Hill to Fox River, Appleton, WI

21.5.14

Found: Lawe Street Hill to Fox River, Appleton, WI

Found: Lawe Street Hill to Fox River, Appleton, Wis.
E.C. Kropp Co., Milwaukee. Made exp. for Conkey & Co. Pub. Circa 1907. Written in fountain pen on back:
"Hello Tarmer: How goes it. Got here all in good order bag and baggage. Many of the old students are not coming back
but we seem to be getting lots of fresh ones. Met one bro this morning. Ever, Oscar."
Postmarked Appleton, September 9, 1907.

Found: New Concrete Bridge, Juneau Park, Milwaukee, Wis.
This massive concrete bridge length of span 217 feet with 81 feet over the tracks of the
Chicago & Northwestern Railway, leads to a beautiful six-mile drive along the lakeshore from
downtown Milwaukee through Juneau and Lake Parks to East Kenwood Boulevard.
Made in U.S.A. by E. C. Kropp Co, Milwaukee, Wis. Circa 1933. Written on back in ball point pen:
"Lake Michigan walked all around here Frank & I were here September 24, 1933, Milwaukee, Wis."

Found: Crossing the John A. Blatnik Bridge
Crossing the John A. Blatnik Bridge linking Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin.
Westerly Ports of the St. Lawrence Seaway.
© Photo and Pub. by Gallagher's Studio of Photography, 920 E. 1st Street, Duluth, Minn. circa 1961/1971.

According to these postcards, bridges in Wisconsin evolved from quaint stone walkways for ladies with bustles to passages over railroad tracks to massive concrete structures linked to the new war friendly Interstate system. Perfect for popular Elvis-like pink Caddys to zoom along high above the waterway, the concrete bridge was named for Minnesota Congressman John Blatnik in 1971. Blatnik supported St. Lawrence Seaway development and was among those in congress who did not support the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

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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.