Our first run into Wisconsin was a day of mixed reviews. As we have mentioned, not all of our expeditions are successful. Sometimes we don't even find what we seek and other things like bad timing or erroneous information foil our desires. As an unfortunate continuation from yesterday we hit our driest spell so far. We had four failures in a row..... Oh the humanity!
1. The mini-golf in the basement of an operating funeral home -- ooh sounds like our kind of thing. Alas, bad timing and bad info. We read that it was open until 9pm but called ahead to be sure. The attendant was not encouraging nor flexible; he was going home at 5 at that is that. Given our location, we would not make it through the Chicago traffic in time for at least a quick peak..... Rats!
2. Then today we went to see "The Rockmen" in Rockford, WI. This was a minor site but a set of outsider sculptures -- which we never did find. The address was found in a pretty park but all our other info did not match the current scene. After many u-turns and much wandering around, it was blank/zip/nada!
3. It was off to Beloit to see "The Angel Museum". The info was sketchy but given we had been to see a dog collection and Mr. Ed's elephants, we thought it was worth a check. Wrong. Snooze. Yawn. The "museum" was housed within an old church. This caused us to hope for the best. We envisioned old angels and ones from around the world made of various materials, large and small. We dreamed of angels from numerous belief systems. We were delusional. This place was nothing but an over-acheiving repository of porcelain figurines. Oy! There were masses of Hummel-Kincade-Precious Moments-like little cherubs. Just peeking through the doors to see the explosion of cutesiness was enough to make our not easily impressed souls wretch...... Gack! Our well developed and discerning tastes saved us $7 apiece and the horror of seeing Rodney turn into Aunt Bea or some sort of scary old Betty Davis-like Grandma of Kitsch dressed in a lace and floral print house-dress..... Run, Susan, run! The volunteer ladies are coming!
4. Our next quest was for some quirky fun and so it was off to Burlington to see "The Sci-Fi Cafe". All we can say is...... "Oh brother" (with concomitant eye-roll). This place was completely lame. Calling it a stupid joke is an insult to stupid jokes (Thanks Wanda). I mean this place makes the Roswell Museum look like the Smithsonian. Pathetic. Uninspired and not even good at being bad. There were the standard blow-up aliens, mugs and t-shirts; all dorky. My favorite was the "Wall of Proof" -- photos from local get-togethers out in the spooky woods with ghosts and visitors from the other side. The double exposures were so compelling that we felt compelled to leave on the next UFO flight off the planet. The photos below are the equivalent to Match.com and Facebook photos; they make the place look far more fun and interesting that it is in reality. Oh... and the thought of eating there was not in the tarot cards.
The string of futility seemed to be evolving into an inescapable pattern... Oh no! We've lost our Oddasee mojo! Ever hopeful, your intrepid travelers pushed on toward Fox Point to the site of Mary Kohl's concrete art; an outsider yard environment. While pulling into a rather chi-chi neighborhood on Lake Michigan, we began to think we once again had been led astray because this surely cannot be the home to the creative creatures we hoped to find.....
Then we saw them, the soul rejuvenating concrete heads and critters. At last our faith had been restored. In front of a smaller than the neighbors mega-domiciles and of a earlier vintage sat the home of marvelous Mary. The yard reaches to the shores of the lake with various characters leading the way. However, as excited as we were, "Houston, we have a problem." There is a very tall chain link fence surrounding our art prey. There were voices and we thought maybe the woman herself would see our lustful stares and invite us in. Then upon looking beyond the sculptures, we could see that none of the young men and women seemed be of the expected age. Eventually the lucky inside the fence people saw our ogling eyes and came over.
These art folks are part of a crew that is "saving" Mary's artistic wonders. They all work for the Kohler Foundation (we will be going to the Kohler Art Center on Friday). The goal is to preserve, restore and protect the entire property and it's art collection. Some of the pieces outside have fallen into disrepair since Ms. Kohl's passing a couple of years ago. Fortunately this philanthropic art organization has taken on the care of her work. Apparently the interior is filled with other art treasures. This group is also responsible for saving the art of Kenny Hill in Chauvin, Louisianna (remember the cement figures that the artist had just walked away from and disappeared?) along with many others. Hallelujah!
Now the downside. They could not let us beyond the gate. Legal issues. Like the "Cathedral of Junk" in Austin, there are issues with the neighbors. Apparently the Mr. and Mrs. Hoitytoity don't want all these art lover types to bring drugs and prostitution into their idyllic little domains. So, they can't appear to be open to the public. There are over achieving "No Parking" signs and we committed yet another heinous deed by ignoring them; to gain access to the site takes an act of Congress because prying eyes are watching. The hope is to one day have the place become a museum or at the very least be open by appointment. It sounds like a long process. It's so ridiculous. The place is practically invisible due to the vegetation and it isn't the kind of site that hordes will descend upon and mar the pristine quiet of the neighborhood.
So, my photos over the fence are not going to be adequate nor good. There is much to see and a lot of it on other sides of the house. Finally one of the young workers, Liz, grasped the depth of our curiosity and offered to take my camera and shoot some pics for me. You will see a combo of those and the ones I took below. We had a lovely talk with the art guardians and there was much sharing of info and ideas for our jaunt through Wisconsin.
Then it became apparent that Glady's Cravits had spied our getaway vehicle and called in the gendarmes because the local Barney Fife drove by twice to make sure that the art whores were not plotting the siege of her home. According to the caretaker, the siting of a police car is rare and must have been elicited by some eagle-eyed paranoid agoraphobic incapable of minding their own damn business selfish pain in our ass "neighbor". It just makes us crazy when certain people do everything in their power to force their narrow mindedness and lack of appreciation for the unique on anyone unfortunate enough to cross their nasty little paths.
Any whooo..... what we could see was great and we owe Liz a BIG THANKS! for her assistance (and Emily for the map their group has produced of other outsider locations organized into day trips). Our Oddasee spirit has been restored and we're excited for tomorrow. Our gratitude for the Mary Kohls of this world and organizations like the Kohler Foundation for preserving their art.
Love and concrete (in a good way) souls,
Rodney and Susan
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