The Wisconsin Project: Barn

Showing posts with label Barn. Show all posts

24.10.14

Harvestore (early model), Fredonia, WI

Harvestore (early model), County D at Highway 57 near Fredonia, Wisconsin (4.18.2014)
© J. Shimon & J. Lindemann

The height of this early model Harvestore silo, circa 1949, matches the 34 foot height of this traditional wood dairy barn, circa early 20th century. Note the adjoining milk house. Silo height was once determined by the number of cattle to feed, duration of winter or other factions. The height of this 'new' silo seems based instead on aesthetics.

16.4.14

Killian's, Kaukauana, WI

Killian's, Kaukauna, Wisconsin (May 2013)
© J. Shimon & J. Lindemann

Barns and silos of varying vintages dot the Wisconsin landscape coexisting as evidence of evolving agricultural technologies that enabled dairy farmers to increase production. From quaint old red wood barns with windmills to early 20th century concrete silos to late 20th century Harvestores, the structures remain as memorials to a desire to embrace progress and expand on traditional food production practices. Agricultural silos have a distinct history going back centuries and enabled farmers to preserve animal feed or silage through fermentation.

10.3.14

Farm with Silos, near Columbus, WI

Farm with Five Vertical Silos, Highway 73, near Columbus, Wisconsin (12.14.2013)
© J. Shimon & J. Lindemann

Some Wisconsin cows go outside and most eat silage--fermented fodder--during the winter months. Silage used to be stored in vertical silos, but many farms have converted to "ag bags" or concrete bunkers leaving the Wisconsin landscape profoundly changed.

2.3.14

Barn and Power Lines, Stockbridge, WI

Barn and Power Lines in Snowy Landscape, Highway 55 and County F, Stockbridge, Wisconsin (12.14.2013)
© J. Shimon & J. Lindemann

The power lines run parallel to the snowy prairie foregrounding the iconic
Wisconsin barn protected by a forest.

12.11.12

Farm near Fox River, Wrightstown, WI

Farm near Fox River, County Trunk ZZ, Wrightstown, Wisconsin, June 30, 2012

25.7.12

Barn with Silo, near Brillion, WI

Found: Barn 1905, location unknown, circa 1907 (on Kodak Azo paper)

4.7.12

Found: Barn, WI

Found: New Barn with tile, Wisconsin, circa 1907 (on Kodak Azo)

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.