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USA
Midwest
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Menomonie, WI
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Menomonie, WI
Little Program - Frank Oebser
Folk Art Site
Self-taught Artist, Sculpture environment
Site Status: gone
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Information:
Oebser was a farmer, an inventor, and a man who saw humor in everything and fun everywhere. "Tinker Frank," as he was known, built a fanciful amusement park-style environment in his barn in Menomonie, Wisconsin. Oebser called his conglomeration of sculptures the "Little Program;" a showcase for his ideas on how to recycle the farm equipment fading into obsolescence. In the 1960s and 1970s many visitors came to ride his Ferris wheel and laugh at "George Washington" engaged in numerous endeavors. Many sculptures were preserved after the artist’s death, though Oebser’s employment of myriad temporal materials in his works resulted in continual decay over time. The five large pieces in the Arts Center’s collection are among the few that still exist.
This environment was dismantled in 1989.
John Michael Kohler Arts Center
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Bibliography:
"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, 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.
"Sublime Spaces & Visionary Worlds: Built Environments of Vernacular Artists," by Leslie Umberger, Erika Doss, Ruth DeYoung Kohler, Lisa Stone, and Jane Bianco, published by John Michael Kohler Arts Center and Princeton Architectural Press, 2007.
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Road rules:
Please remember to always be respectful of private property, use common courtesy and treat people with kindness. If the location is private, never enter without the owner’s permission.
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All contents © 2004 - 2007 Detour Art Co.
All images are property of the artists who created them.
No portion of this site may be reproduced, copied or revised without written permission of the authors.
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