The Wisconsin Project: Found: Little White School House, Ripon, WI

14.11.14

Found: Little White School House, Ripon, WI

Found: The Famous Little White School House, at Ripon, Wisconsin.
Birth place of the Republican Party in 1854.
Color photo by Fagan. Genuine Natural Color Fagan Publishing Co., Madison, Wis. Circa 1955.
Postmarked Ripon, Wisconsin, June 26, 1959.

We once showed our One Million Years is Three Seconds project about four older Wisconsin men who'd lived through the technological changes of the 20th century at Ripon College. Bob Watt, who was one of the four men, got madder than a hoot owl that we'd show our work, especially photographs of him, in Ripon...the "Birthplace of the Republican Party" in the Little White School House...Though some believe that the party was merely "conceived" in Ripon, among the uniting issues was a commitment to abolish slavery.

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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.