The Wisconsin Project: Found: Horticultural Conservatory, Milwaukee, WI

17.2.14

Found: Horticultural Conservatory, Milwaukee, WI

Found: The New Horticultural Conservatory, Milwaukee, Wis.
Plants from all over the world are on exhibit.
Copyright by L. L. Cook Co. Milwaukee, circa 1967

Found: The New Horticultural Conservatory, Milwaukee, Wis. takes shape at Mitchell Park.
Plants from all over the world will be on exhibit in it when it is finished.
The sunken gardens attract thousands of visitors annually copyright the L.L. Cook Co.
from an Ektachrome Transparency, circa 1967

Found: Conservatory from Sunken Garden, Mitchell Park, Milwaukee.
E.C. Kropp Co., Milwaukee, Wis. circa 1910

The Conservatory at Mitchell Park in Milwaukee served the public with greenhouse displays of flowers from 1898 to 1955. Imagine a respite from the clatter of city life surrounded by flowers and sun pouring through glass. After only a half century of use, the Conservatory was determined "unsafe and impractical to repair" and demolished. The cleared site made way for the space age "Domes" under construction from 1959 to 1967. Each of the three glass beehive shaped structures (designed by Donald Greib) featured climate-controlled escapes for visitors stuck with an endless Wisconsin winter or in need of a change of scene. A desert dome, a tropical dome, and a floral show dome were built for a total cost of $4.5 million without bond. Half century later, LED lights and a light show were added, repairs made, and a grand re-opening staged providing inspiration to all of those who have visited these "ultra modern" wonders.

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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.