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USA
Midwest
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West Bend, IA
Grotto of the Redemption - Father Paul Dobberstein
1872-1954
Religious/spiritual
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Information:
Built: 1912-1959
It is generally told as a fact that as a young seminarian, Father Dobberstein became critically ill with pneumonia. As he fought for his life he prayed to the Blessed Virgin Mary (the Mother of God) to intercede for him for the grace of health. He promised to build a shrine in her honor of he lived.
The illness passed, the student completed his studies and after his ordination he came to West Bend as Pastor in 1898. For over a decade he was stockpiling rocks and precious stones. The actual work of giving permanence to his promise began to take shape in 1912.
Dobberstein had an invaluable coworker at the Grotto. Matt Szerensce, whom Dobberstein apparently referred to occasionally as "my good right arm" began working with the priest as a young man. Graduating from high school in 1912, Szerensce signed on as full-time grotto collaborator, a career move ultimately resulting in fifty-two years of intense labor.
There are almost a hundred carloads of rocks and stones, the vast bulk of which had to be processed, stored, classified and handled many times before it found it's final and proper place in the harmonious structure.
No accounting was made either of the many man-hours of labor involved in building the Grotto or the money expended in gathering the stones and shaping them into a harmonious unit.
West Bend Grotto
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Bibliography:
"Detour Art—Outsider, Folk Art, and Visionary Folk Art Environments Coast to Coast, Art and Photographs from the Collection of Kelly Ludwig" by Kelly Ludwig, Kansas City Star Books, 2007.
"Rare Visions & Roadside Revelations" (the book), by Randy Mason, Michael Murphy and Don Mayberger, Kansas City Star Publishing, 2002.
On DVD - Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations, "Neighborly Northerners", KCPT, Kansas City Public Television, 1996-2001.
"Sacred Spaces & Other Places: A Guide to Grottos & Sculptural Environments in the Upper Midwest" by Lisa Stone and Jim Zanzi, Chicago, IL: The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Press, 1993.
"20th Century American Folk, Self Taught, and Outsider Art" by Betty-Carol Sellen, Cynthia J. Johnson, Neal-Schuman Publishers, New York, 1993.
"Self-Made Worlds: Visionary Environments" by Roger Manley and Mark Sloan, Aperture, New York, 1997.
"Self Taught, Outsider, and Folk Art—A guide to American Artists, Locations and Resources" by Betty-Carol Sellen with Cynthia J. Johnson, McFarland & Company, 2000.
"American Self-Taught Art: An Illustrated Analysis of 20th Century Artists and Trends with 1,319 Capsule Biographies" by Florence Laffal and Julius Laffal, 2003.
"Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations Coast to Coast Travel-o-Pedia" by Randy Mason, et. al., Kansas City Star Books, 2009. |
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