John Michael Kohler Arts Center (JMKAC)

Visual Arts: the John Michael Kohler Arts Center staff annually originates 15-10 curated exhibitions that are part of an annual, broad theme exploring relevant issues in contemporary art, emphasizing installation works, new genres, craft-related forms, communally transmitted traditions, and the work of self-taught artists. The Arts Center is world-renowned for its collection of over 25,000 works within the genre known as artist-built environments. These exceptional and multifaceted works of art result from individuals who significantly transform their surroundings over time with readily available materials. The Arts Center is a leader in preservation and presentation of such environments, whether the work is in situ or maintained within institutional collections. The unifying theme for 2022 was ways of being. The visual and performing artists whose work was presented at the Arts Center recontextualized our past, reoriented our present, and projected new, viable futures. Collectively, they asked, what if? The five main exhibitions in the series were:"lee hunter: cosmogenesis." Hunter's multidisciplinary practice explored our relationship with nature, and the narrowing gap between apocalyptic fiction and the reality of climate change. "sarah zapata: a resilience of things unseen." Zapata explored pre-hispanic textile techniques and multigenerational peruvian feminine crafts to create a vision that is indeterminate and yet optimistically hopeful. "in the adjacent possible." Five artists' installations provided a view into potentialities that lie just beyond what we know. Their work placed us in the adjacent possible, a space where we can dream alternate ways of being in the world. "creative growth!" This was the first exhibition to consider the history of the creative growth art Center in oakland, ca. This is the preeminent Center for artists with disabilities in the u.s., and has, in turn become a model for similar centers nationally and internationally. "sarah mceneaney and lydia ricci: the extra ordinary." These two artists examined the objects and events that animate and populate their everyday lives to highlight the constant presence of exciting potential in seemingly ordinary circumstances.performing Arts: offerings included "nassim," a play by iranian playwright nassim soleimanpur, who presented an audacious new theatrical experiment. Each night a different performer joined nassim on stage, while the script waited, unseen, in a sealed box. The levitt amp sheboygan music series presented 11 concerts over the course of the summer with 19,100 attendees on the city green and in the Arts Center's matrix theater. At the end of the season, we hosted the ladama residency. While onsite for the final levitt amp concert of the season, the women of ladama worked with various community groups including students at sheridan elementary and the jmkac preschool to create a song specifically for and about sheboygan. Youth art month: the 36th annual youth art month featured "Arts for all Wisconsin and for the first time, included work by students with visual impairments from various schools within the cesa 7 district. Art links sheboygan: this program, open to individuals age 55 and better, supports creative aging. In 2022, 65 participants (some in-person, some virtual) worked with teaching artists in a series of four workshops: book Arts, mixed media collage, ceramics, and painting. Together, they presented a culminating exhibition, "never what is planned." School tours: 2,585 students visited the Arts Center and the art preserve. With every visit, students went on a tour of the galleries with a trained docent and participated in hands-on artmaking. The art preserve: in 2022, we made several new additions to the collection at the recently opened art preserve (opened in june, 2021). This facility is an experimental space designed to house the collection of 35 artist-built environments and offers the public curated open-storage, education spaces, and a conservation lab. Major projects for 2022 included: 1) randall (randy) zahn, the great-grandson of albert and louise zahn designed the face of the zahn homestead at the art preserve. 2) working with Kohler foundation, Inc., we acquired the home collection of imagist artist, barbara rossi. 3) we also acquired a group of works of southern african-american environment builders from the souls grown deep collection and worked on their conservation to prepare them for exhibition.

Education: education efforts deepen the impact of exhibition and performing Arts programs. The Arts Center offers classes and workshops for people of all ages; docent-led k-12 school tours with accompanying workshops; has a licensed arts-based preschool onsite; and an interactive, hands-on learning space for people of all ages called "the social studio." Other key programs are spark!, a program for people with memory loss and their caretakers; art links sheboygan, a creative aging program designed for active seniors; artist residencies for both exhibiting and regional artists to work directly with the public, and teacher recharge, a full-day professional development program for educators of all grade levels and subjects. In 2022, the Arts Center served over 5,600 people and distributed over 400 to-go kits in the social studio and provided participatory field trips for 2,600 school children.

Performing Arts: performing Arts offers a wide array of programming for all ages. The Arts Center hosts world-class music, dance, film, and theater offerings. In 2022, the levitt amp sheboygan music series returned to a full series of 11 concerts. We welcomed an average of 1,500 to the city green every thursday night and during the midsummer festival of the Arts. This program ran mid-june mid-august. These family friendly events were part of ways of being, a yearlong theme at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center exploring the questions, what if we look to artists for what is possible? We give ourselves space to dream and then work to make those dreams real? We collaboratively construct a world in which many worlds fit? Ways of being includes exhibitions, performances, classes, artist residencies, and workshops. We welcomed back in-person programming including indie lens pop up (documentary film series by pbs), the senior honor recital, and get the gig (a battle of the bands event).2022 also saw the return of in-person residencies. Including a creation residency with ashwini ramaswamy that included a workshop with over 20 high school students. We presented a theatre residency with playwright, nassim soleimanpour which had 5 performances including a school show with a talk-back. The week-long residency brought together over 500 community members in our theater.in the fall we concluded our levitt amp series with a week-long music residency with ladama. The band was able to immerse themselves into sheboygan and our theme, ways of being, which inspired a new song (debuting this spring!). They performed and held workshops for almost 500 students and community members.

Arts/industry: the Arts Center hosts numerous artist residencies including a special partnership with Kohler company that began in 1974 called arts/industry. This highly competitive program gives artists the opportunity to work in the industrial foundry and pottery and to use the tools and processes to create new work. In 2022, the Arts Center welcomed 12 artists (3 cohorts of 4, staying for 3 months each.)

Connecting communities programming brings artists to the Arts Center to generate a creative exchange with the community. In 2022, we were able to host 2 short residencies including working with nichole canuso of nichole canuso dance company, who was in residence for a few days in august. During this time, the artist engaged with community at a levitt concert hosting a storied embodiment workshop in the studio tent, reaching about 100 people. The artist also engaged with community partners and members in one-on-one conversations and being involved with a unity walk and parade connecting the artist with over 20 community members. In september, ka ly engaged with hmong women in sheboygan in a moob batik workshop which began with a story circle. Due to the desire to have this workshop be intimate, the attendance was less than 10 people. This also tied in with an artist visit with artists visiting sheboygan in planning, an upcoming exhibition, cloth as land, looking at hmong indigeneity.

Special events 2022: throughout the year, the Arts Center hosts special events and programs. In 2022, the following events were held: may 21: ways of being exhibition celebration - our first in-person exhibition celebration since covid. The evening event explored the launch of a new theme and exhibitions exploring reimagined ways of being in our world. The evening commenced with an artist and member reception followed by music, conversation, food, and libation. The evening's attendance was about 150 people.july 16-17: 52nd midsummer festival of the Arts was held. This weekend featured 100 juried artists selling an array of mediums, free hands-on art making workshops, concerts, and a new addition showcasing progressive studios alongside the creative! Growth! Exhibition. Attendance for the weekend was about 15,000 people.august 7: chair city cookout - due to weather this event had to move indoors at the art preserve. We were able to continue with live music and art making. Attendance was estimated at about 100 people.october 6: member month happy hour - this event happened at the art preserve and included exhibiting artists featuring a signature cocktail they created and followed by a short talk about their work and a brief performance. Attendance was around 80 people.october 16: an open house was held at the james tellen woodland sculpture garden for people to explore the environment and a historian/conservator gave a talk about log cabin history in the recently conserved tellen cabin. Refreshments were also served to an audience over 125 people.october 27: benefactors dinner was for about 80 attendees and include dinner and artist presentation with a focus on creative! Growth!december 4: winter continental was an indoor and outdoor event featuring an ice sculpture, art-making workshops, performances inside and outside, a fire pit, and food stations. Attendance was 705 people.