Lorine Niedecker’s Cabin in Fort Atkinson, Wisc. – A Literary Landmark

By Brian D’Ambrosio

Photo of Lorine Niedecker's Cabin in Fort Atkinson, Wisc. - A Literary Landmark, By Brian D'Ambrosio

Lorine Niedecker was a poet’s poet. English poet Basil Bunting considered her to be one of the finest poets of the 20th Century, and William Carlos Williams called her the Emily Dickinson of her time. Though internationally noted, in Wisconsin she remains a stranger – so much so that a 2003 biography of Niedecker by John Lehman was titled America’s Greatest Unknown Poet. Lorine Niedecker is referred to as a poet of place because her imagery was so rooted to her life on Blackhawk Island. She celebrated the visions and sounds of Blackhawk Island, a stumpy, marshy peninsula along which the Rock River pours before emptying into Lake Koshkonong. As an objectivist poet, the simplicity of her words still intuitively touches our own experiences.

The daughter of a Wisconsin carp fisherman, Niedecker was greatly influenced by her life on Blackhawk Island. She was born in May 12, 1903, on a spit of land near Fort Atkinson. She lived much of her life beside a flooding river in a Spartan cottage without electricity or running water. An only child, her words weave the textures of her culture, family and neighbors.

The seminal point in her poetic development came in 1931 when she read Louis Zukofsky’s ”The Objectivist” issue of Poetry magazine. By 1940 Niedecker viewed herself exclusively as a poet. Reclusive and shy, her primary motivation was to have her poetry shared and read and her reputation as a poet locked. Niedecker’s poetry reflects her vision of the world, water, fish, fowl and flood. She spent her childhood outdoors watching blackbirds, willows, maples, boats, fishermen and spring floods engulfing her little house. In a letter to a friend in 1967, Niedecker confirmed the pure inspiration she found in her surroundings on Blackhawk Island: “Early in life I looked back of our buildings to the lake and said, “I am what I am because of all this – I am what is around me – these woods have made me….”

View of Spit From Lorine Niedecker's Cabin

She lived first in the log-sided house and later the house alongside the waterway from 1947-1970. Today, literary followers from around the world make their way to Blackhawk Island to view the small one-and-one-half-room cottage where Niedecker lived and wrote. The Lorine Niedecker homes are privately owned and not open to the public.

The Friends of Lorine Niedecker sponsors a monthly poetry reading in Fort Atkinson, which is rich with Niedecker-related sites, including W7309 Blackhawk Island Road, the location of Niedecker’s writer’s cottage and modest home. Both of which are private property, but access is allowed through an appointment with the Friends of Lorine Niedecker. Other notable markers include: Union Cemetery, County Road J north of Hwy 106, Cemetery Road, the burial place of Lorine Niedecker and her parents Henry and Daisy; 506 Riverside Drive, the home where Lorine stayed during the school year 1917-1918 with family friends; 1000 Riverside Drive , the home where the Niedeckers lived from 1910-1916; 209 Merchants Avenue, the Dwight Foster Library, home to Lorine’s personal library archive; 401 Whitewater Avenue, the Hoard Historical Museum, which operates a room with myriad artifacts related to the poet’s life.

“Our job is to promote and identify the work of this great poet,” said Ann Engelman, president of Friends of Lorine Niedecker. “Her fellow poets were so promotional of her, from William Carlos Williams to Allen Ginsberg. Her fellow poets really praised her.”

Few people were aware of Niedecker’s poetry, and she died virtually unknown outside of contemporary circles. Her poetic reputation has enhanced so widely that in 2011, Engelman can claim that no anthology of 20th Century American poetry is whole without some of Lorine Niedecker’s work.

Lorine Niedecker

“Her esteem as a major American poet grows each year,” said Engelman. “In Wisconsin, she is still very much unknown. Our goal as a society is to change that.”

Sources:
Lorine Niedecker: A Life, UW Press
American Poetry Archival Project, University of Nebraska

Creating Art: Toward 500 Images – Part II

Anwar Floyd-Pruitt hold his mixed-media assemblage, "Crown Head on Criss Cross" at Blutstein Brondino Fine Art.

Anwar Floyd–Pruitt graduated from Harvard University with a psychology degree and then his creative muse lead him in a totally different direction.  Exhibiting in “IMITATING LIFE: Synthesizing Saneness” with painters Kevin Boatright and Mikal Floyd-Pruitt (Anwar’s brother) — this is his first official art exhibition. Possessing the intuitive approach often attributed to self-taught artists, unhampered by mainstream aesthetics, Anwar is driven to make things that are recognized as “art.” Often declaring it strange, many witnessing this art genre are perplexed. Preconceived notions and expectations that artists draw only realistically commonly prompt, “Can you draw me?”

Most likely influenced by these same expectations, Anwar confided, “My work is a way to deal with the jealousy I sometimes feel when I see other artists’ work. Saddened, as a child, by my inability to draw, sculpt, or paint figurative works very well, I decided to put time into doing what I enjoyed and exploring the possibilities outside of realism.” His revelation reminds me of the jealousy that I, as a child, felt toward classmates who received praise for drawing well.

Anwar Floyd-Pruitt, "Skulls," Khaki, Denim, leather, wood, tacks, acrylic paint, 11" x 9," 2012, at Terry McCormick Gallery. Photo by artist.

Accomplishing a kind of conceptual folk art came with Anwar’s decision to move outside of realism as he gravitated to reusing rescued materials destined for the garbage can. “I am free from having to make sense and I love the fact that recycling creates much of my work. I also enjoy the fact that I can find inspiration for my work anywhere – like interesting patterns. As a youth, certain patterns disturbed me, and even today looking too long at a honeycomb or at images from an electron microscope create this unpleasant visceral reaction. Strangely, I am often drawn to examine these patterns further, almost like playing chicken with my nerves.”

Presently, Anwar collages the reverse sides of old marketing posters with cut up old marketing posters, cuts and/or knots scraps of discarded clothing and leather, sands and staples butt-ends of wood, pounds tacks, and sews with thread. “I give a new life to that which was pronounced dead,” he declares. “Instead of a defibrillator, I use scissors, sewing machines, staple guns, hot glue, hammers, and double stick tape.” Plus, the sound that his tools make “lets him know that change is occurring.”

Anwar Floyd-Pruitt, "Drunkard's Last Stand (detail)," Acrylic and collaged recycled posters, 6 of 30 - 11" x 17" each, 2010, at Terry McCormick Gallery. Photo: Mikal Floyd-Pruitt

With the beginnings of a new piece, he says he often fights uncertainty and fear,  unsure of what the end result will be. “My work relates to the exhibition title “IMITATING LIFE/ Synthesizing Saneness” in that the process of creating art calms my nerves, soothes my soul, and provides an outlet for my pent up thoughts and emotions,” he explains. “I find that making art is a meditation of sorts. Not that anything in this sometimes – crazy outside world has changed by the time I finish a piece, but I have changed. I have increased my ‘saneness.’

Being acquainted with Anwar’s family for years, I’ve known him as my daughter’s classmate, in elementary and high school — and as my youngest patron. One of my most memorable art sales followed my slide lecture presented to his 1983 Montessori class. When Anwar requested a “large” piece of my artwork, his parents, Dr. and Mrs. Pruitt, purchased a watermelon pastel. Now 34, his early art interest and foray into collecting in elementary school has germinated. Functioning like a consummate obsessed, self-taught visionary, Anwar is well on his way to creating his 500th piece. Witnessing that journey is “icing on a very artsy cake.”

“The Passion of the Self–Taught Artist” is Anwar’s next exhibition at Blutstein Brondino Fine Art, opening on Gallery Night Friday, January 20, 11 – 9 pm. – March 10, 207 East Buffalo Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 1-800-737-3715. Receptions are also planned for January 26th and 27th.

The Terry McCormick Gallery: Contemporary Fine and Folk Art continues with his work on Gallery Day, Saturday, January 21, 12 – 5 pm at 2522 North 18th Street. For questions, call 414-264-6766 or email terryevelyn@hotmail.com.

–Evelyn Patricia Terry

I Love This Town – Hartford, WI

It has started, my year of visiting small town Performing Art Centers to experience theater. If the remainder of the year is like this first trip, I’m going to have a wonderful time.

Creating Art: Toward 500 Images – Part I

“As an artist, you will know who you are, when you have created your 500th image,” stated one of my UW-Milwaukee art professors in the 1970s. Often I pass his statement on to artists desiring their art careers to “hurry up and blossom” or their personal styles to “hurry up and blossom.” As a benchmark worth aiming for, a commitment to 500 images sounds like a stretch, but it keeps one busy creating – the most beneficial element of a successful art career.

Mosaic fabricator Catherine Lottes & workshop leader Evelyn Patricia Terry flank "Life's Garden." Photo: Yokesphotography.

So that is, of course, what I told Kevin Boatright, Mikal Floyd-Pruitt, and his brother, Anwar Floyd-Pruitt, after encountering them in October at different locations during Milwaukee’s final 2011 Gallery Night and Day’s 23rd annual event. The afternoon of Gallery Night, Anwar and Mikal attended the unveiling of a public art project, “Life’s Garden,” created by Catherine Lottes and installed at 6th and Reservoir. In 2010, Lottes invited me to assist her with my expertise in facilitating watercolor workshops. Pieper Hillside Boys and Girls Club’s art students and Lapham Park’s resident seniors attended separate workshops – developing images for Lottes’ innovative mosaic tile production process. During the reception, Anwar, Mikal and I talked about art, and shared desires and life situations.

About 10 p.m. that evening, I encountered Kevin Boatright in the Third Ward. As we sat talking about art and visibility, Kevin said emphatically, “I want more for my career.” I concurred with that desire “of more” for my career. Kevin then said, “You may be down now, but at least you have been up.” “Down,” referenced my statements that I needed my large pastel and monoprint sales — so robust once-up-a-time — to resume.

Both fortuitous meetings compelled me to offer the Terry McCormick Gallery: Contemporary Fine and Folk Art, as a stepping stone in their journey and point them in a direction that would eventually propel them toward “prosperous” career goals. I recalled speaking with renowned artist, Faith Ringgold. She stated that “lack of money flow” was never an issue in her career — so “continuous” copious money flow tops the list of my present career goals. These three artists desire a career in which their art will make money for them also.

I requested their input, but my initial and ongoing advice was that they consider choosing healthy lifestyles to be holistically successful artists. Being sick is a mentally and physically challenging environment to create in. Consequently, our meetings included freshly juiced green vegetables and small amounts of fruit, along with Caroline Carter’s raw crackers, dips, and granola. Kevin eventually acquired a juicer and Anwar has been looking for the right one.  Until it is acquired, he began blending raw vegetables and fruits.

During brainstorming sessions, Mikal and Kevin developed the exhibition title, “Imitating Life: Synthesizing Saneness.”

Imitating Life: Synthesizing Saneness, Postcard, 4" x 6," designed by Mikal Floyd - Pruitt.

Mikal designed an energetic invitation, reflective of dominant color choices evident in his paintings — red, blue, yellow, green and white. Artists’ statements, artwork presentation, titles, prices, signage and press releases were tackled, as basic foundations that fueled my career. Anwar and his father, Dr. Eugene Pruitt, graciously assisted moving furniture from downstairs to upstairs to create more wall space.

The opening reception, December 10, 2011, was well attended. I was acquainted with a few people, but many new faces were in the crowd. A resulting visit from Barbie Blutstein during the first week of our exhibition, netted an invitation for Anwar’s artwork for the next Gallery Night and Day, January 20 and 21, at Blutstein Brondino Fine Art. They are located in the Marshall building, 207 East Buffalo Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (1-800-737-3715). With a self-taught theme, this exhibition additionally includes folk art selections of George Ray McCormick, Sr., Ktinsley, Prophet Blackmon, Richard Mynor and Rev. Josephus Farmer from the Terry McCormick Gallery.

Daily goal setting, intense productivity, record keeping and audience cultivation must be focused on to reach my instructor’s “500 – image” benchmark and/or the success that they desire. They have the “God-given gift.”  “The rest of the story” as Paul Harvey, so aptly included in commentaries, will be individually honed.

Anwar Floyd-Pruitt, Kevin Boatright & Mikal Floyd-Pruitt in front of Mikal's paintings. Photo: Terry McCormick Gallery.

Kevin’s, Anwar’s and Mikal’s artists’ statements, aesthetics and more information of our earlier art encounters, continue in my next blog. The Terry McCormick Gallery will be open again on Gallery Day, Saturday, January 21, 12–5 pm. It is located at 2522 North 18th Street. Call 414-264-6766 or email terryevelyn@hotmail.com. Check my website for our press release and other images: evelynpatriciaterry.com/news.

–Evelyn Patricia Terry

Wisconsin School of the Air Lives On

To fulfill a requirement for a course on distance learning, doctoral student Megan Murtaugh decided to create a web lesson about the Wisconsin School of the Air.  Designed for use in primary and secondary classrooms, this radio-based education series grew out of the Wisconsin Idea, a philosophy maintaining that all Wisconsin residents should have access to the university’s services. Or as the motto goes, “The boundaries of the university are the boundaries of the state.”

Fannie Steve hosted an award-winning WSA program for young children. Photo: Wisconsin Public Radio.

WHA broadcast Wisconsin School of the Air in various forms for forty years, between 1931 and 1971. Megan got in touch with me regarding vintage WSA audio she found on Portal Wisconsin. Along with these audio files, the lesson she created includes an audio overview of the WSA; a blog post composed by a former student in a WSA classroom; images; an assessment and more.

Until I listened to Megan’s web lesson, I hadn’t really thought of Wisconsin Public Radio as a pioneer in distance learning. I usually associate that term with big schools offering entire degree programs online. But of course, distance learning encompasses a sweeping range of experiences–from full-on virtual campuses like the University of Phoenix, to the individual courses or portions of courses that you can find on PortalWisconsin.org, to the training webinars I sometimes view from my desktop.

In a way, Wisconsin School of the Air lives on in Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Television–both based at the University of Wisconsin-Extension. University of the Air, a descendant of the WSA, still airs Sunday afternoons on WPR. Through programs like University of the Air, University Place (WPT’s virtual lecture hall), and many, many others,  we have access the state’s best thinkers–poets, politicians, scientists and scholars.

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By the way, I was curious how Megan Murtaugh, a Florida graduate student, came to select the Wisconsin School of the Air as a project focus. She told me she came across the story of the WSA while researching for another class. She says she was also motivated by her husband Jimmy: “He lived and went to school in Wisconsin for a good portion of his academic career. I thought it would be fun to investigate some of Wisconsin’s history and then see if he knew about it. It turned out this project was an educational experience not only for me but for my entire family, my friends and my peers as well.”

How’s that for above and beyond the Wisconsin Idea?

Link to Megan Murtaugh’s Wisconsin School of the Air web lesson.

–Tammy Kempfert

Little Free Libraries: A Wisconsin Idea

Everybody loves the Little Free Library, a grassroots project begun by Wisconsin residents Rick Brooks and Todd Bol to promote literacy and community.

In case you haven’t yet heard of the project, its name says it all: the libraries are boxes, most constructed of wood and Plexiglas, that hold around 20 books. Much like the informal “take a book, leave a book” collections found in workplaces, churches and coffee shops, Little Free Libraries allow you and your neighbors to borrow and share books on the honor system. Volunteers raise the money to build and install them, and then oversee the book collection and maintenance.

Brooks and Bol began the Little Free Libraries movement in Hudson and Madison in 2009, and their operation is spreading rapidly, with libraries in Prairie du Chien, Eau Claire and Algoma, and as far away as Portland, Oregon, and New Orleans, Louisiana. You can find them both indoors and outdoors, at businesses, non-profits or even in your neighbor’s front yard.

Through December, you can visit a special exhibit featuring one-of-a-kind models, painted and decorated by Wisconsin artists. Ten artists donated their talents to create these artful libraries, with sales funding Little Free Library installations in Dane County and throughout the state. Above right is Madison artist Helen Klebesadel‘s library, “It Is Always the Season To Read.”

Find out how you can install a Little Free Library in your neighborhood, or purchase one of the ten utilitarian works of art on exhibit at Story Pottery in Mineral Point, by visiting littlefreelibrary.org.

Wright’s Style

In early November the Lake Geneva Regional News reported that the local library had installed two original windows from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Lake Geneva Hotel. The setting is fitting since the library, which opened in 1954, was designed by Wright apprentice James Dresser, the subject of a post to this blog earlier this year.

The hotel in Lake Geneva was one of only a handful of Wright hotels that was constructed.

An early image of the Lake Geneva Hotel (Wisconsin Historical Society Image ID 36456)

In this instance, the commission came in 1911 from Arthur Richards and John Williams. Richards had also engaged Wright to design a hotel for Madison (not built) and would, within a few years, launch his American System Built House project with Wright. A number of these structures still stand, including a row of six houses and duplexes on the south side of Milwaukee.

The Lake Geneva Hotel opened in 1912 and financial problems soon arose. It held on for nearly 60 years through various owners and at least one name change, to the Hotel Geneva, before being demolished in 1970.

In the world of Wright, however, that is rarely the end of the story.

A night light using the window design from the Lake Geneva Hotel

Even Wright’s demolished work lives on through merchandising. So while the Lake Geneva Library is fortunate to have original windows from the hotel, you can buy the window design on a table clock, night light, magazine rack or doormat.

The commodification of Wright and his work has been going on for several decades and I confess to having some Wright tchotchkes of my own. The upsides are exposing a wider audience to Wright’s work and generating income, through licensing, for the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. The downside is reducing Wright to a mere stylist. He is so much more and we are fortunate to have a rich array of his  buildings in Wisconsin to help remind us.

The Curious Hu-Manatees

Beware of the hu-manatees in St. Petersburg, Florida. Photo by Jessica Becker.

Until about five years ago, 1000 people a day relocated from somewhere else to live in Florida. I arrived in St. Petersburg Florida for a conference organized around the over-arching theme of re-imagining the American Dream just as the world took note that global population has reached 7 billion. The former director of the Florida Humanities Council welcomed us to St. Pete’s with a semantics joke: In her state, where people have always come to reinvent themselves and live out their American dreams, she was sometimes called the director of the Florida Manatee Council.

The annual conference gathered together people from the 56 humanities councils located in the U.S. states and territories, all of which receive funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.  As the current economic and cultural climate requires that we all use full-strength creativity to re-imagine our life here on earth, and public funding for the humanities becomes less certain, I wondered if it wouldn’t be a good idea to team up with the dolphins and palm trees and manatees to explain the value we bring to the world.

After three days of deliberate and truly stimulating conversation about what, exactly, this American Dream notion means to each of us, as well as what role the public humanities play in the future of our states, the country, and the planet, I remembered why we are importantly not staffing sea animals and tropical plants as colleagues.

The humanities are about being human. They are everything about being human. How we as humans make sense of our place on earth, as one of 7 billion other humans, or as one of millions who have chosen or found ourselves in Florida or Wisconsin or wherever. And the way we each think about identity, responsibility, opportunity, citizenship, destiny, and our dreams. As humans, we are curious creatures and therefore are humanists by nature. We engage in the humanities as we wonder about stuff, explore the world, and talk about it with others. And the more of us on the planet there are, the more curious minds will be ruminating on this wild and interesting life and trying to make meaning of it.

At this particular point in history, money for public humanities projects is scarce. Public humanities projects, such as museum exhibitions, the collection of oral histories, the publication of reflective historical accounts, the opportunities for people to gather to read, write, and think together, those projects are harder to fund. It makes me sad. And it is a major assault on my own personal American Dream: that we as Americans enjoy public education, cultural sharing, and civic debate. But I am still hopeful that human curiosity and creativity will overcome silly things like money problems.

The day before I returned to Wisconsin, I sat in the harbor looking out at the Gulf. I was surprised to see a single dolphin swimming very close to my feet, which were dangling from the cement shoreline. I think of dolphins as hanging out in pods, not alone. This particular dolphin, I imagined, was a curious one. He was checking things out. A budding humanist, perhaps, exploring and looking for meaning? In Florida, it seems, the manatees and dolphins are part of the story.

By Jessica Becker, Director of Public Programs at the Wisconsin Humanities Council

 

 

‘Sharing the Spotlight’ at Campanile Center for the Arts

By Woody Woodruff, Executive Director, Campanile Center for the Arts

Woody Woodruff. Photo: Campanile Center for the Arts.

The Sharing the Spotlight program at the Campanile Center for the Arts in Minocqua celebrated its first birthday in September with a sense of accomplishment. That feeling, however, was also tempered with a feeling of how much more there is to do in our community.

The concept originated for us in December 2009 when musician George Winston performed at the Campanile and revealed that food pantries were his charity of choice. Mr. Winston generously agreed to donate the sales of his CDs to the local pantry. In addition, we incorporated a food and monetary drive in the Campanile lobby and held a post performance reception with all proceeds going to the pantry. For a small community we were thrilled to be able to generate approximately $3,000 right before the holidays, which meant a Christmas dinner for residents who otherwise might not have enjoyed one. It was incredible how the area pulled together for the cause while getting to see a great concert as well.

At that point we understood the power that a community has to help others. Every area has several worthy nonprofit organizations and charities that, like the arts centers, are all struggling for survival.  In this world it too often seems like it is “every man for themselves” to try to generate whatever funds they can, but it doesn’t have to be that way. As an arts center and community gathering place, we are fortunate to have the visibility and platform to be in the public’s eye, but this isn’t the case for many of the others. So many worthy organizations escape the public’s attention, even though their causes are vital to the communities in which they exist. Campanile set out to change that.

Our Sharing the Spotlight program has raised awareness, funds and volunteers for community non-profits. Photo: Campanile Center for the Arts.

Over the past year, Sharing the Spotlight recipients have included the Tri County Council on Domestic Abuse and Sexual Assault, the Lakeland Pantry, Firebird Foundation, North Lakeland Education Foundation and the AVW Foundation, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, Lakeland Sharing Foundation, Community Food Pantry, the Blood Center, Habitat for Humanity, the Northern Wisconsin Literacy Task Force, the Senior Center, Northwoods Wildlife Center and the Minocqua Museum. During that year the program has helped to raise several thousands of dollars for the partnering organizations, but the benefits don’t end there. Partners also added members, volunteers, sponsors, workers, donors, mentors and public awareness and publicity.

We like to think the Sharing the Spotlight program will have long-range impact, one that will ultimately lead to a higher quality of life in the Minocqua area–not only for the recipients, but for those who give as well. The feeling of community camaraderie and the networking opportunities we’ve built are the frosting on the cake. The program has helped create a bond among local non-profits, while diminishing the sense of competition for donors’ dollars. Through Sharing the Spotlight, we’ve learned that we are all in this together and we all need each other; no one is more important than anyone else.

Remembering Mildred Fish-Harnack

A new WPT program premiering tonight has all the suspense and romance you’d find in a Hollywood thriller — but this one is a real Wisconsin story, with a genuine hero and a tragic ending. Wisconsin’s Nazi Resistance: The Mildred Fish-Harnack Story tells the tale of  Milwaukee-born Fish-Harnack, who joined the resistance movement in Berlin and paid for it with her life. In fact, she was the the only American woman executed on the personal orders of Adolf Hitler.

It was at UW-Madison where Mildred Fish met her husband Arvid Harnack–she a student and teacher there, and he a Rockefeller Fellow from Germany. With him, she moved to Germany in the late 1920s, and they soon witnessed Hitler’s rise to power. At great personal risk, the couple worked with other activists to oppose Hitler’s Nazi regime: distributing literature, helping Jews and transmitting intelligence information about the Third Reich to the American and Soviet governments.

In 1942, the Harnacks were arrested along with a number of other resistance fighters. Within months, Arvid was sentenced to death and hanged at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin. Mildred, originally sentenced to six years of hard labor by the Reich Court Martial, was sent to the guillotine in February 1943 after Hitler revoked the judgment and ordered a second trial.

Actress and Greendale native Jane Kazcmarek narrates the documentary, which airs Monday, Nov. 7, at 8 p.m. on Wisconsin Public Television and Milwaukee’s MPTV. WPT has also launched a companion website that provides a wealth of video, documents, photos and a timeline.