Patty Loew:
Up the coast from Green Bay is a Wisconsin treasure, Peninsula State Park in Door County celebrated its centennial last year. 100 years of scenes like this with beautiful forests and family memories. It's the second oldest park in the state and one of our largest. The park includes eight miles of Lake Michigan shoreline. And last summer it inspired a unique art project that makes a statement on the water. "In Wisconsin" reporter Jo Garrett shows you how in Door County.
Jo Garrett:
That man in the boat is motoring amid artwork. His art. Most would call him a sculptor. He sees himself as something simpler, creating something larger. The man is Dan Engelke.
Dan Engelke:
I think of myself as an instrument maker. I make instruments. And I've put the play in specific locations for a specific period of time. I tell them when to play and I tell them when it's over. And what they play is the art. What they play is the song of the life of where they are. The art is where we are. They're alive out there. And things are happening.
Jo Garrett:
Where we are is Tennyson Bay in Peninsula State Park and this was a first. The first time in 100 years that park officials have allowed for an installation such as this. Engelke’s artwork, Wood Wind, was up for six weeks in the summer of 2009. The occasion was the 100th anniversary of the founding of this beloved park.
Man:
So what prompted you to do something like this?
Dan Engelke:
Well, I've done this for a long time. It's been 25 years or so.
Jo Garrett:
Engelke has a national reputation as an environmental artist and this work is also part of a three person exhibit sponsored by this art school and gallery, the Peninsula School of Art in Door County. The exhibit is called Ecoctivity, which means activities that promote the environment and sustainability. Director Kathy Hope-Gonzalez.
Kathy Hope-Gonzalez:
We're all familiar with someone painting a landscape. We're familiar with that part of it. But I don't think many of us always think about creating work from and in a natural surrounding.
Jo Garrett:
In and from natural surroundings.
Dan Engelke:
It's made principally of ash. Everything comes from a sawmill from Door County. The ash I chose because a, it's a very suitable material for making these curves. Secondly, ash, I know, is under a real stress from the emerald ash borer, an invasive species and they're very concerned about it up here. Below the surface I use cedar.
Jo Garrett:
And above the surface are solar collectors that power up during the day. To sing a song at night.
Dan Engelke:
I think you will like it. It's a whole different piece at night.
Jo Garrett:
The piece changes and reacts to the natural world like a jazz tune played by Peninsula State Park.
Dan Engelke:
This piece I do look at as a visual music. It struck me that some of these pieces are quite reminiscent of like a treble clef.
Jo Garrett:
Wood Wind could be called a love song.
Dan Engelke:
I started coming to Door County when I was about seven or eight years old. In fact my brother and I built our first raft together at Walter’s Point, about 1,000 yards from here. It barely floated. It's a favorite place of mine and I hope it's a favorite place of yours.
Jo Garrett:
He has worked around the United States and abroad. When he hit retirement, he came back to Door County. He came home.
Dan Engelke:
It's always been dramatic and dynamic and I’m back home. And this piece is a way of celebrating that as well. I want it to be beautiful. No question. It's a beautiful place and it deserves my best effort.
Jo Garrett:
And it's taken effort, great effort, to bring this piece to fruition.
Dan Engelke:
Pretty much have given up the summer. I started working on this full time. I mean, construction in April and have done nothing else but work on this piece.
Jo Garrett:
And once up, this art is not over.
Dan Engelke:
Once a day I make an inspection. There's a lot of maintenance involved. I came down here one morning and I counted one less than there should have been. I lost three more that day.
Jo Garrett:
The instruments can drift and require realigning. Bear in mind they each weigh 40 pounds. That's a lot of work to keep the composition true.
Dan Engelke:
The basic configuration of the harbor, the bay here is a curl, a shape of a curl and the configuration not only of the pieces themselves but the way the pieces are arranged as a curve.
Jo Garrett:
He's not the only one keeping an eye on his artwork. A crew of volunteers signed on to keep watch over Wood Wind to report on any damages, keep vandals away and to explain it.
Woman:
You can understand this man going out here in a boat and making these huge sculptures?
Woman:
Yeah.
Jo Garrett:
Michelle Kemp and her husband Gary were among the core group of the Wood Wind watchers. They love the park and they loved Wood Wind.
Michelle Kemp:
Sometimes you need something to catch your eye because people can drive through this park and all they see is trees. I actually think that that's what his piece does here. It makes you pause. Stop and reflect on what makes the park so beautiful in the first place.
Jo Garrett:
Wood Wind is now taken down, tucked away. This song is still.
Dan Engelke:
I subscribe to the idea that things don't have to be permanent in order to be powerful. We're all here for just a little shot across the sky. We're just all here for a brief moment, just a second, you know. Nothing is permanent. Some of the most poignant moments are oftentimes extremely brief.
Jo Garrett:
Wood Wind is now gone but the place that inspired it, the place that displayed it, made it, endures.
Dan Engelke:
Whoever thought 100 years ago that you would set aside this piece of land, absolutely in my estimation could be commended. I'm privileged, feel wholly privileged and honored to be part of the celebration.
