Mollie Jenson (1890-1973) was an American sculptor from

River Falls, Wisconsin River Falls is a city in Pierce County, Wisconsin, Pierce and St. Croix County, Wisconsin, St. Croix counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is adjacent to the River Falls (town), Wisconsin, Town of River Falls in Pierce County and the Kinnic ...

. She was the creator of a series of

folk art Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative art, decorative. The makers of folk art a ...

sculptures known collectively as Mollie Jenson’s Art Exhibit (also known as Mollie Jenson’s Zoo & Museum). Her work is an example of

outsider art Outsider art is art made by self-taught or supposedly naïve artists with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrates e ...

and

vernacular architecture Vernacular architecture is building done outside any academic tradition, and without professional guidance. This category encompasses a wide range and variety of building types, with differing methods of construction, from around the world, bo ...

. Mollie Nelson was born in 1890, the daughter of a Norwegian farmer. She inherited her father's farm near River Falls, and lived there until 1959. She married Obert Jenson in 1911, and was the mother of six children. Her early artwork consisted of traditional craft items, including

hooked rugs Rug hooking is both an art and a craft where rugs are made by pulling loops of yarn or fabric through a stiff woven base such as burlap, linen, or rug warp. The loops are pulled through the backing material by using a crochet-type hook mounted i ...

quilts A quilt is a multi-layered textile, traditionally composed of two or more layers of fabric or fiber. Commonly three layers are used with a filler material. These layers traditionally include a woven cloth top, a layer of batting or wadding, a ...

, paintings, horn furniture, and

wood carvings Wood carving is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation ...

. Jenson completed her first outdoor sculpture, the ten-foot tall ''Dutch Windmill'', in 1940. The ''Windmill'' was constructed of

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

embellished with tile

mosaics A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

, topped with electric lights and a

blackface Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person. In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...

lawn jockey A lawn jockey is a statue depicting a man in jockey clothes, intended to be placed in front yards as hitching posts, similar to those of footmen bearing lanterns near entrances and gnomes in gardens. Because of the prevalence of black lawn jo ...

. Jenson’s 1941 ''Fireplace'' began as an outdoor

hearth A hearth () is the place in a home where a fire is or was traditionally kept for home heating and for cooking, usually constituted by at least a horizontal hearthstone and often enclosed to varying degrees by any combination of reredos (a lo ...

made of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

, and

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

pieces. Through continual additions, she expanded the structure into a cavern-like, elaborately decorated covered patio. Her last large-scale work was the ''Horseshoe'', a diorama inspired by the Patriotism Shrine at nearby Dickeyville Grotto. The ''Horseshoe'' consisted of a semi-circular stone wall, decorated with curving concrete spires and deer

antlers Antlers are extensions of an animal's skull found in members of the Cervidae (deer) family. Antlers are a single structure composed of bone, cartilage, fibrous tissue, skin, nerves, and blood vessels. They are generally found only on male ...

. From 1938 to 1959, Jenson also operated a roadside zoo featuring 150 animals, including monkeys, peacocks, a lion, and a retired circus bear. Following Jenson’s death, family members concerned with the safety of the structures demolished all but the ''Dutch Windmill''.

References

External links

Mollie Jenson's Zoo and Museum
- photographs and information from Mollie Jenson's grandson {{DEFAULTSORT:Jenson, Mollie 1890 births 1973 deaths People from River Falls, Wisconsin American women sculptors Sculptors from Wisconsin Visionary environments 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American women artists Outsider artists Women outsider artists

See also

References

External links