A Guide to Wisconsin's Folk Art Environments

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Photo by Ben Slowey

Rudolph Grotto - Wisconsin Rapids

The Rudolph Grotto built by Father Phillip Wagner in the town of Rudolph near Wisconsin Rapids

This past year, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan displayed an exhibition titled A Beautiful Experience: The Midwest Grotto Tradition, which showcased pieces from several different grotto environments around Wisconsin. Our state is home to a myriad of whimsical folk-art attractions where immersive installations of jeweled edifices, uncanny statues and unusually crafted sculptures pay homage to historical events, townspeople and folklore.

These landmarks elicit all sorts of feelings from curiosity to humor to even eeriness. Each is worth a stop if you are ever in the area. Below is a guide to Wisconsin’s whimsical folk art; most are free to the public but may solicit donations for local programming or upkeep. Artifacts from many of these are on display at the Kohler Center’s Art Preserve. 

It’s most appropriate to start here in Milwaukee with Fox Point’s Mary Nohl House (“The Witch’s House”). Nestled in a secluded neighborhood along Lake Michigan, the estate is named after the legendary artist who lived in the house and created the concrete sculptures in the yard. Nohl’s characters include dinosaurs, fish and humans carved with ominous smiles. When she died in 2001, the property was turned over to the Kohler Foundation, which has kept it fenced off and closed to the public. View respectfully from the street!

The James Tellen Woodland Sculpture Garden is an hour north of Milwaukee in Sheboygan. Tellen, a woodworker and painter, carved approximately 30 miniature concrete sculptures depicting real and mythical figures between 1942 and 1957, each one carefully arranged along a path in the woods adjacent to his family’s summer cottage. Tellen’s works honor Indigenous folks, biblical scenes, forest animals and fairytale creatures, harmonizing his interests in art, nature and spirituality.

Painted Forest

Past Madison in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area is a landmark quite different from others on this list but worthy of mention. In the unincorporated town of Valton, a small, unsuspecting building houses Ernest Hupeden’s Painted Forest, an installation of stunning murals encompassing every wall of the room. Commissioned at the turn of the 20th century, Hupeden’s work depicts the Modern Woodmen of America, who had used the house as a meeting place at the time, within the idyllic Wisconsin wilderness.

South from there in the town of Hollandale is Nick Engelbert's Grandview, a house surrounded by 40 concrete sculptures laden with glass, stone, beads and other materials. The namesake Austrian American artist built the environment after recovering from an injury, incorporating historical and mythical imagery into his creations. Englebert’s house also contains many of his oil paintings, which he pivoted to upon aging out of making sculptures.

In the southwest corner of the state, the Dickeyville Grotto in the town of Dickeyville was built by Father Matthias Wernerus, a priest who combined his passion for Catholicism and patriotism with shrines and statues (some of which certainly have not aged well). Materials Wernerus used to build the grotto range from locally sourced stones and geodes to shells, corals and fossils from faraway waters, plus colorful glass, gems and ceramics.

The Dickeyville Grotto was a major influence on Paul and Matilda Wegner, who built the Wegner Grotto to the north outside Sparta. Made with concrete, glass, porcelain and other materials, the Wegner environment includes a glass chapel (which can be rented for weddings) as well as replicas of personal significance to the Wegners like a cake celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, the SS Bremen ocean liner and a peace monument. 

Prairie Moon Sculptures

If one follows the Mississippi River from La Crosse north for about an hour, you will stumble upon Prairie Moon, a park of 40 or so sculptures built by retired farmer Herman Rusch between 1958 and 1974. Surrounded by an oddly arched fence, the lot contains Rusch’s creations plus contributions by Halvor Landsverk and Fred Schlosstein, containing everything from a watchtower to a Hindu temple to dinosaurs to a man fishing in a hole, all fashioned with stone, brick, concrete and glass.

The central region of the state is home to Rudolph Grotto in the town of Rudolph near Wisconsin Rapids. Between beautifully landscaped gardens and rock alcoves housing divine themed exhibits are the Wonder Caves, which take visitors through tunnels that meander past quirky shrines of biblical and rural scenes. The grotto was built by Father Phillip Wagner of the on-site St. Jude’s Chapel. The Wonder Caves have a $3 entry fee. Watch your head!

Forty-five minutes from there in Marshfield’s Jurustic Park, retired attorney Clyde Wynia populated his yard with a cast of extinct creatures that supposedly inhabited nearby McMillan Marsh, each made from welded scrap metal. Wynia continues to give tours of the park to visitors today, which he keeps fun and interesting with jokes and silly tales.

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Photo by Ben Slowey

Wisconsin's Concrete Park by Fred Smith

Sculptures in Fred Smith's Wisconsin's Concrete Park along Highway 13 in Price County, Wisconsin (2026).

Our final stop takes us into the far north woods. Fred Smith’s Wisconsin Concrete Park along Highway 13 is the largest folk art environment in the state with 237 concrete sculptures adorned with colorful glass shards and stone. Smith, a retired lumberjack who struggled with arthritis, also built the Rock Garden Tavern in Phillips. The bizarre concrete village, built over 15 years, contains depictions of local legends, historical Indigenous figures, everyday townsfolk and forest creatures.

Additional immersive art environments in Wisconsin previously covered in the Shepherd Express include Paul Bobrowitz’s Spectacular Sculptures in Colgate and Dr. Evermor’s Sculpture Park in North Freedom.