The Mary Nohl Art Environment (also called the Fox Point Art Yard, Fox Point Witch's house and Mary Nohl's house) is a residence in the
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...
suburb of
Fox Point, Wisconsin. The property, which is filled with folk art created by artist Mary Nohl (1914–2001), is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
.
Mary's father Leo, a Milwaukee attorney, and his wife Emma bought the lot along
Lake Michigan in 1924, and the family enjoyed summers there in a prefab cottage through the 1920s. In 1940 the parents expanded the cottage into a year-round home, adding the house between the cottage and the garage. Shortly after, Mary moved back to Milwaukee and moved into the house with her parents. After a couple years of teaching art in Milwaukee she resigned, and settled in to producing art at her pottery studio in Whitefish Bay, and at her jewelry studio in her parents' home.
[ With ]
After the death of her parents, a sizable inheritance left Mary Nohl the chance to create artworks. She used concrete and found objects such as
driftwood
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Driftwood is wood that has been washed onto a shore or beach of a sea, lake, or river by the action of winds, tides or waves.
In some waterfront areas, driftwood is a major nuisance. However, the driftwood provides shelter and fo ...
,
wire
Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm
A wire is a flexible strand of metal.
Wire is c ...
and
glass
Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling ( quenching ...
to build sculptures. In addition, the exterior and interior of the house are colorfully decorated. Hundreds of works have been cataloged.
Following Nohl's death, the embellished home and sculpture garden were given to the
Kohler Foundation for preservation.
In 2012, it was transferred to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center.
After a fruitless, decade-long struggle with the residents of Fox Point to allow limited access by the public, the foundation decided to move the house and its art to a site in
Sheboygan County. The house was to be dismantled, starting in the summer of 2014, and rebuilt, at a cost of between one and two million dollars, but the plan was recently canceled.
As of April 2015, the house will remain in Fox Point and is expected to be restored.
In addition to her home and artwork, her estate of over $11 million was left to the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, which administers the Mary Nohl Foundation to provide arts education for children, and the Mary Nohl Fellowship artists' scholarships among other activities.
A biography, ''Mary Nohl - Inside & Outside'', written and designed by Barbara Manger and Janine Smith, respectively, was published in 2008.
Further reading
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References
External links
* ''
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel''
"Pilgrimage to 'witch's house' was a rite of passage"Wisconsin Historical SocietyA Single Woman is a Witch: Battling to Save the Art Environment of Mary Nohl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nohl, Mary, Art Environment
Houses in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin
Articles containing video clips
Outsider art
Visionary environments
National Register of Historic Places in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin