Art in the Wild

It’s probably the self-trained folk artist who has enough guts to exhibit his or her art out of doors where anyone passing by can see it. This art is probably the most fun because one never knows what might be out there just around the next bend in the road.

Rick’s son and daughter-in-law live across the street from the James Tellen Woodland Sculpture Garden in Sheboygan. The concrete sculptures are in a pleasant park setting - a lovely place for a walk. 

Chainsaw Gordy sells firewood and attracts attention to his business with a row of chainsaw totems along County Road M near Medford on the edge of the Chequamegon National Forest. He’s mounted hundreds of old chainsaws by slotting them through telephone poles. 

Self-portrait

One of the M&M characters?

This sculpture in Wisconsin Dells probably was carved out of a tree by an artist with a chainsaw, too.

Flowers on a side street not too far from Bowman Park

Stones and glass were the materials of choice of Father Wernerus at the Dickeyville Grotto – another remarkable piece of folk art in southwest Wisconsin.

We can thank the John Michael Kohler Arts Center and the Kohler Foundation, Inc. for preserving some of these unusual works throughout our state that still stand for our visual enjoyment.