Grottos Represent the Confluence of Folk Art and Faith

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Photo via Kohler Foundation - Facebook

Dickeyville Grotto

Dickeyville Grotto

Frances Rasmussen is no longer with us. If she were, the devout Milwaukee Catholic and mother of 10 would likely be once again lobbying her husband Norbert to drive the 162 miles from Milwaukee to Dickeyville in southwestern Wisconsin to visit the Dickeyville Grotto, so she could drop a knee and say a prayer in front of the sometimes outrageous construction. The grotto is one more example of how folk art and faith have come together over the years in the Upper Midwest.

The Dickeyville Grotto and Shrines were created by Father Matthias Wernerus, a German- American priest, between 1924 and 1930. It’s one of many such folk-art installations located through the United States, with their highest concentration in Wisconsin and Iowa. It’s also mentioned prominently in “A Beautiful Experience: The Midwest Grotto Tradition,” an exhibition that opened June 7 at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan.

Originating from the European Catholic tradition of situating shrines in natural locations such as caves or similar manmade structures, Midwestern grottos also represent the history of immigration and cultural adaptation in the region, according to JMKAC collections curator Laura Bickford, who co-curated the exhibit with assistant curator Chava Krivchenia. In the U.S., grottos were primarily constructed by German Catholic immigrants to create connections between their local communities and homelands and provide a focal point for worship.

Colorful Stones

Grottos often were commissioned or at least supported by local Catholic parishes. However, many of the structures were created by artists intrigued by the sculptures and their faith-based nature. Rock and concrete frameworks were decorated not only with crosses and other representations of faith, but also casual items, toys, colorful stones and patriotic symbols through which the German immigrants wanted locals to know that they were loyal to their adopted county. Even the so-called “Virgin Mary Bathtub Shrines” often found in front of Catholic households in Milwaukee and elsewhere, are an offshoot of the grotto tradition.

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Photo courtesy of Pam Mendenhall via John Michael Kohler Arts Center

Madeline Buol and the Buol Grotto and Sculptures

Madeline Buol, Buol Grotto and Sculptures (site view, n.d.), Dubuque, IA, 1946–c. 1960. Photo courtesy of Pam Mendenhall

The JMKAC exhibit focuses primarily on the first public presentation of “Grotto,” a 13-piece work created beginning in 1946 by Madeline Buol, the earliest known female grotto-creator. Buol worked for 15 years on the collection in the side yard of her home in Dubuque, Iowa.

In 2011, 25 years after Buol’s death, the Kohler Foundation—which supports the preservation of Wisconsin cultural heritage and art environments, including other major grotto sites—acquired the pieces to save them from destruction following the sale of the artist’s house. The grotto underwent extensive conservation and was gifted to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, where it entered the Art Preserve collection.

Buol’s grotto sculptures, which range in size from 2 feet to more than 8 feet tall, are built with concrete embellished with objects she had collected, including marbles, toys, colored glass, family keepsakes, shells of varying shapes and sizes, and figurines and stones gathered during her travels. Among the components she created are a star-shaped sculpture, two rosaries, and an interpretation of the Dickeyville Grotto.

“Buol’s grotto is a part of a lineage that continues today, and the exhibition brings this tradition of Midwestern grottos to life with other artifacts from our permanent collection as well as new commissions by artists Stephanie H. Shih and E. Saffronia Downing who reimagine the (grotto) tradition in a contemporary context,” says Bickford.

And that’s something of which Frances Rasmussen, who had her own Virgin Mary Bathtub Shrine, would heartily approve.

“A Beautiful Experience: The Midwest Grotto Tradition is on display through May 10, 2026, at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, 608 New York Ave., Sheboygan. For more information, visit jmkac.org.

Grottos Up Close and Personal

As part of the exhibit, JMKAC has published an interactive map of Midwest grottos and related sites in Wisconsin and Iowa. Among the closest to Milwaukee are the St. Francis Grotto in St. Francis and Shari Tuska’s Wayward Garden in Milwaukee. Addresses and contact information are available on the map, copies of which are available from JMKAC or you can access the map online.