The Wisconsin Project: Lake Tomahawk

4.12.12

PDQ Car Wash, Calumet Avenue, Manitowoc, WI

PDQ Car Wash, Calumet Avenue, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, December 2010

Found: Texaco (Complete Lubrication), Lake Tomahawk (Oneida County), Wisconsin
all rights reserved by L. L. Cook Co. on Kodak EKC paper, circa 1940s

In Wisconsin, streets are named for their association with native tribes that once inhabited the land. Street names like Calumet (a north American peace pipe) are abundant while town names like Manitowoc (dwelling of the great spirit or evil spirit) or Lake Tomahawk (named for the shape of a nearby lake) in Oneida County) are unique to the history of specific locations. Written as they are on state and federal signs appearing along the highways and byways, these words becomes further abstracted and distanced from their meaning. Back in the 1960s, farmers found arrow heads as they plowed their fields and would display the. Earlier generation remember "Indians" coming into town, attending school, or existing on the periphery. Institutions like reservations and casinos have reshaped the 21st century landscape in Wisconsin while a young generation seeks to reclaim native identity and traditions as they raise consciousness about a history so important to America.

17.11.12

Found: Lingering by the Lake

Found: Lingering by the Lake "Vacationland Scene". When summer's greens give way to autumn's gold, the vacationer has many happy memories of his summer holiday. A Kodachrome Reproduction by the L.L. Cook Co., Milwaukee, circa 1959

Found: Greetings from Lac Du Flambeau, Wis. from color transparencies by Curteich Color (CK220), circa 1959.
Message written in fountain pen on the back: "Hi Mother-Fishing has been good. Ate 10 lbs.
of filet for dinner the other day. Have been swimming quite a bit. Rain yesterday but sunshine
the rest of the time. Be back Friday night. Love, Alice" postmarked June 22, 1959, 5 PM

Found: Greetings from Lake Tomahawk, Wis. from color transparencies by Curteich Color (CK 220), circa 1959.

Found: Greetings from Black River Falls, Wis. Wisconsin's Jackson County, offers the finest in diversified recreation.
Scenic fishing, streams, the lakes, trails in the woods, and the resort areas call you back frequently to
Wisconsin's vacationland by Speltz Studio, Black River Falls, Wis. made by Dexter, circa 1967.
Message written in ball point pen in Polish on the back postmarked July 19, 1967

Found: Lake Noquebay at Marinette County Park, Crivitz, Wisconsin. From a Ektachrome Transparency.
The L.L. Cook Co., Milwaukee, Wis. copyright 1961

Post cards became a way to learn about and vicariously experience a depicted place described by a friend in a personalized hand written message. We've found numerous mid-20th century postcards showing both individuals and groups of people absorbed by staring at the landscape while fishing, sitting, strolling or lingering. The stance is often meditative and the activities near the water are never gasoline powered.

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.