The Wisconsin Project: winter

Showing posts with label winter. Show all posts

28.2.15

Lone Harvestore, Brillion, WI

Lone Harvestore, Hugh Road, Brillion, Wisconsin, 12.03.2014
© J. Shimon & J. Lindemann

A lone Harvestore looms along Hugh Road. Separated from the building that it was originally attached to, there is a void framed by trees where the building once stood.

7.2.15

3 Harvestores, Calumet County, WI

Three Harvestores in Various Heights, Calumet County, Wisconsin, 12.03.2014
© J. Shimon & J. Lindemann

A whole lot of silage going on with four vertical silos and an expansive horizontal silage bunker and mound.

9.10.14

Three Harvestores, Branch, WI

Three Harvestores, Stone Road near Branch, Wisconsin (1.19.2014)

According to a USDA farm bulletin on homemade silos that predates the introduction of the Harvestore, the diameter of a silo "depends upon the quantity of silage to be fed daily." The Height is determined by the "number of tons of silage that will be required...governed by the length of the silage-feeding season." This farm with its three Harvestores and three concrete silos of varying sizes indicates expansions over time. Barns in various styles corroborate this as they coexist in the snow.

28.9.14

Harvestore Silo, Wayside, WI

Harvestore Silo, Mancal Road near Wayside, Wisconsin (1.19.2014)
© J. Shimon & J. Lindemann

Introducing a cool deep blue to the farm, where earth tones prevailed, made a modern statement starting in 1949. Harvestore blue results from the industrial process of fusing glass/enamel to steel. The blue of the Harvestore contrasted with the fields of crops, the tilled earth, golden oats, red barns against a backdrop of the blue sky.

28.2.14

Snowy Plowed Field, Marshall, WI

Snowy Plowed Field with Sun Behind the Clouds, County V, Marshall, Wisconsin (12.14.2013)
© J. Shimon & J. Lindemann

The expansive snow-covered plowed field with forest bordering the horizon under the silvery clouds of mid-afternoon before the Winter Solstice translated by film as bands of tone. Yet another field prepared for the planting of continuous corn.

27.2.14

Corn Stubble in Snowy Field, Columbus, WI


Corn Stubble in Snowy Field, Highway 151 & 73, near Columbus, Wisconsin (12.14.2013) © J. Shimon & J. Lindemann

The space of the expansive sky and fallow land covered in snow that will burst forth with a hybrid corn crop come spring are distinctly Midwestern. Signs of agricultural industriousness abound in the precise GPS-guided no-till rows, the expansive cleared land with diminutive touches of forest saved by wetlands or property lines, and the giant silos punctuating the horizon though looking small and faint despite their massive concrete presence. Reading the landscape.

1.1.13

Found: Along the Lake Shore, Milwaukee, WI


Found: Along the Lake Shore in Winter, Lake Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin by E.C. Kropp Co. Pub. Milwaukee No. 4693 postmarked West Allis, Wisconsin April 9, 1908

On January 1 in Milwaukee, Sheboygan, Jacksonport, and other locations along Lake Michigan, hundreds of people gather to indulge in or observe the Polar Bear Plunge climbing on icy shores much like these to get to the lake.

1.10.12

Lunch with Santa, Menchalville, WI

Lunch with Santa, Melchalville, Wisconsin, December 1, 2011

31.7.12

Great Clips, Madison, WI

Great Clips, Madison, Wisconsin, December 13, 2009
© J. Shimon & J. Lindemann

11.7.12

Convent, St. Francis Church, Holland, WI

9.7.12

Mirro Plant No. 15, Manitowoc, WI

The entire plant was in the demolition process in the spring of 2014.

Kwik Trip, North 8th Street, Manitowoc, WI

Kwik Trip, North 8th Street, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, 2009

Holy Family Memorial Hosptial, Manitowoc, WI

Holy Family Memorial Hospital, 600 York Street, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, 2009

901 Chicago, Manitowoc, WI

901 Chicago, Chicago Street, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, 2009

Hanger Prosthetics & Orthotics, Inc., Manitowoc, WI

Hanger, Inc. Prosthetics & Orthotics, Inc., North 8th Street, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, 2009

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.