Life's A Bunch of Broken Pottery Shards

I know I've mentioned in the past about one of my Milwaukee neighbors, Mary Nohl, one of Wisconsin's leading folk artists who made cement sculptures. Mary in her 80's lived across the street from me so I have been fascinated in the cement art form for a while. So... 
when my Arkansas Master Gardener mentor, Janet, posted in her blog about an excursion to Wouterina Cement Sculpture Gardens recently during her attendance at a Youth Gardening Conference in the Twin Cities, I knew I had to go see this 3 acre perennial cement sculpture garden.

I checked on line and discovered Wouterina gardens had limited summer hours being only open for tours twice/week on Wednesdays and Saturdays until August 1st so my window of opportunity to go was very narrow. My RV'ing garden loving, artistic friend Cheryl was presently living parked in the Twin Cities so I knew she'd be game if she was available.

What I hadn't read carefully until I looked for directions was that a minimum of 5 guests were needed to have a tour.  Uh oh. Thank goodness for texting and email as I set upon the task of finding 3 more buddies last minute who might enjoy this field trip 20 minutes north of Red Wing, Minnesota ( 2 1/2 hrs from La Crosse)  Luck was with me as I found 3 other available adventuresome souls and off we went on our excursion Wednesday am unaware of the true beauty that awaited us. 

the first water pump

These cement sculpture gardens are the result of the work of Wouterina, an artist of Dutch descent who found herself originally renting this farmland parcel in Beldenville, WI some 28 years ago (ya know those '70s back to the landers) living without water/ electricity. Sound familiar, Natureman?After 3 years a water line was dug from a neighboring farm and the following day a trench into the house's basement and VOILA running water. Wouterina's rent went up to a whopping $125/month. And, eventually Wouterina (Riana) also persuaded the farmer to sell her the 3 acres.

Water was transformational in many ways especially in Riana's art when she started focusing on cement sculptures. 

About a 100 whimsical figurines and mosaic cement works dot her manicured trails and garden beds. 

Around every bend are surprises to delight the visitor. Birds, fish, serpents, statue of liberty, mermaid, people, planters, bird houses among so many others ...

There are also numerous seating possibilities to appreciate the botanical environs.  Each more whimsical than the last.

Unique sheds with oodles of character dot the acreage along with Riana's charming abode with a large front porch filled with painted wooden and metal porch furniture and her tobacco barn studio. Even an outhouse is filled with old National Geographics for reading material. 

Wouterina gives workshops on the premises in her art studio. Her sculptures aren't solid but formed around a metal mesh. By looking underneath you can see it's hollow, making it much easier to move around... Like plants if you don't like it in one place you can move it.
We had such a great visit in this artist's garden oasis in the middle of farm country. 

Admission was $10/person and I wish we could have stayed longer but we needed to get back home. You can rest assured, I will return to this magical place.

I took over a 100 photos and it wasn't easy deciding which ones to share with you. It's that good and I kept seeing more that I missed. 

Thanks so much for sharing Janet as I might have lived forever in this area and never come across  this artist's gem in the Wisconsin farmland without your post!

 Natureman asked if I'd be interested in learning the technique. Riana would travel the 2 1/2 hours if I got 10 students at $225 ea. Interested? Life can be just a bunch of broken pottery shards made into something very unique. Wink, wink. You know I'm game.

*Wouterina, like my Milwaukee neighbor, is thinking of leaving this legacy to the Kohler Museum in Sheboygan. They did a beautiful job of restoring Mary Nohl's art and having a full time docent/custodian live on site. See link:Mary Nohl BTW the neighbors lost their battle.