A notable artist-created home where Mary Nohl (1914–2001) transformed every aspect of the property, from the house itself to the sculptures dotting the landscape, into a comprehensive work of art. Mary Nohl’s lakeside cottage and yard are replete with sculptures, paintings, and decorative elements. The site stands as one of the most important artist-built environments preserved in America, particularly significant for its creation by a woman artist in the mid-20th century.
The yard features fifty-nine concrete sculptures, many figural and life-size. Inside the house, almost every surface is adorned; she hand made stained glass, painted her furniture and walls using carpet swatches as brushes, and displayed her paintings and ceramics. In addition to her environment, Nohl was a prolific artist: jewelry; sculptures in resin, wood, aluminum foil and metal; puppets; paintings; and pottery. There are now over thirty-five hundred Nohl works of various media in the Arts Center collection, in addition to the home itself and an abundance of archival material.
Inspired by her life on the shore of Lake Michigan, Nohl used every imaginable material to construct a colorful and whimsical world. She refused to be confined by artistic categorization and was omnivorous in her selection of materials and methods of making. In addition to operating a commercial pottery studio for a decade, she was a painter, sculptor, printmaker, woodcarver, writer, illustrator, cartoonist, and jeweler—yet she described herself as simply “a woman who likes tools.”
After Nohl’s death in 2001, Kohler Foundation, Inc., took on stewardship of her life’s work. In 2005 the Mary Nohl home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Public access is carefully limited to preserve the site, limited to pre-scheduled group tours arranged through the John Michael Kohler Arts Center.
Credit: Overview from museum website