 | |
| Founded | 1940 |
|---|---|
| Founders | Evangeline Kohler Marie Christine Kohler Lillie B. Kohler Herbert V. Kohler, Sr. O. A. Kroos |
| Location | |
| Services |
|
| Website | www |
The Kohler Foundation, Inc., is a philanthropic organization that works in the areas of art preservation, grants, scholarships, and performing arts.
Kohler Foundation was founded in 1940 by Evangeline Kohler, Marie Christine Kohler, Lillie B. Kohler, Herbert V. Kohler, Sr., and O. A. Kroos. [1] The original stated purpose of the Foundation was to fund programs supporting the aged and infirm, orphans, students, victims of floods, famine, epidemics, tornados, and other national emergencies.
Marie Kohler died in 1943, and her will specified that the major portion of her estate went to the Kohler Foundation. [2]
Marie Christine Kohler was instrumental in construction of the Waelderhaus (German for "forest house") in the Village of Kohler, completed in 1931 and initially intended for use by the Kohler Women's Club and the Girl Scouts. [3] Designed by Austrian architect Kaspar Albrecht, it is a tribute to the traditions of the Bregenz Forest region of western Austria. Currently managed by the Kohler Foundation, the building is open for tours and available for events. [4]
In 1950, the Foundation purchased the Wade House in Greenbush, Wisconsin, for restoration and preservation. [5] After renovation was completed, the Wade House was turned over to State Historical Society of Wisconsin. [6]
The Foundation was a major sponsor of the construction of the Kohler Memorial addition to the Kohler public school which opened in 1957. The Foundation contributed $300,000. [7] The other major contributors to the project were a trust from the late Governor Kohler worth $500,000, the Village of Kohler, and the Joint School District No. 2. [8] The building cost $1,500,000 to construct and comprised a grand theater, gymnasium, indoor-outdoor swimming pool, and a youth center. [7] After it was opened, the building's theater became the venue for events of the Distinguished Guest Series.
Also in 1957, the hospital in Plymouth, Wisconsin, completed an addition to which the Foundation contributed $60,000 for the construction of the east wing, named the Kohler Wing. [9]
In 1966, the Foundation gifted the Kohler homestead on New York Avenue in Sheboygan to the Sheboygan Arts Foundation, Inc., to establish a community arts center. It was named the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. [10]
In 1980, the Foundation purchased the Painted Forest building in Valton, Wisconsin. Originally constructed by the Modern Woodmen of America in the late 1800s, its entire interior was painted in folk art style by the itinerant artist Ernest Hűpeden in 1898–1899. The Foundation restored the building and entrusted it to Sauk County, Wisconsin, with the Historical Society of the Upper Baraboo Valley acting as custodian. Sauk County returned the site to the Foundation in 2001. Following additional infrastructure work, the Foundation gifted the Painted Forest to Edgewood College in 2004. [11] [12] The Foundation also constructed an art studio and study center in Valton and dedicated it to Edgewood College in 2005.
In 1944 the Kohler Women's Club established the Distinguished Guest Series, sponsoring concerts, plays and speakers, such as the Salzburg Marionettes, [13] the Robert Shaw Chorale, [14] and the singer William Warfield. [15] In May 1953 it was announced that the Kohler Foundation would join the Kohler Women's Club as a co-sponsor of the series. This change followed the death of Ruth DeYoung-Kohler in March, 1953. [16] The series continues to run, and the 2023–2024 season is its 80th year.
In 1970 the Kohler Foundation, along with the Kohler Company and the estate of Herbert V. Kohler, Sr., contributed funds to found of the Kohler Art Library in the newly constructed Elvehjem Art Center at the University of Wisconsin. The total construction cost of the Elvehjem was $3.5 million. The art library is still housed in the art center along with Chazen Museum of Art. [17] [18]
In 1998, the foundation acquired the home of Loy Allen Bowlin, known as "The Original Rhinestone Cowboy." It was dismantled and donated to the John Michael Kohler Art Center, where it was reconstructed and is preserved as a folk art treasure. [19]
The Kohler family has a history of funding college scholarship dating to 1927 when the Kohler Family Scholarships were established with two endowment funds, one for boys and one for girls, each in the amount of $10,000. The initial amount of the scholarship was a total of no more than $500 to each recipient. This fund was administered by the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents. [20] The endowment was increased in 1943 by an additional $10,000 by the estate of Marie Kolher. [2] The funds in the scholarship endowments are periodically increased by the Kohler Foundation. [21]
In 1955, the Kohler Foundation began financing a resident graduate fellowship program called the Marie Christine Kohler Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin. [22] Until 2012, students in the program were housed in the former governor's mansion dubbed the Knapp House. The Foundation continues to support graduate fellowships at the university's Wisconsin Institute for Discovery (WID). The fund is currently known as the Marie Christine Kohler Fellows @ WID. Fellows receive an annual stipend of $3,000. [23]
The Foundation and the Kohler family have also supported the International Crane Foundation by funding education and research and aiding with transportation. In 1978, the Patrick and Anna M. Cudahy Fund and Kohler Foundation, Inc., supported a full-time educator. [24] Funding was also given for crane habitat studies in China. [25] In the late 1990s members of the family began transporting Siberian crane eggs between Asia and Baraboo with company jets and continued to do so for a number of years. [26]
Eugene Von Bruenchenhein (1910–1983) was an American self-taught artist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Over the course of fifty years, from the 1930s until his death in 1983, Von Bruenchenhein produced an expansive oeuvre of poetry, photography, painting, drawing and sculpture. His body of work includes over one thousand colorful, apocalyptic landscape paintings; hundreds of sculptures made from chicken bones, ceramic and cast cement; pin-up style photos of his wife, Marie; plus dozens of notebooks filled with poetic and scientific musings. Never confined to one particular method or medium, Von Bruenchenhein continually used everyday, discarded objects to visually explore imagined past and future realities.
The Sylvanus Wade House is a former stagecoach inn located in Greenbush, Wisconsin, United States. The house provided lodging and meals to travelers in the mid-1800s, before the construction of a nearby railroad made the stagecoach route obsolete. Today, it is part of the Wade House Historic Site.
The Mary Nohl Art Environment is a residence in the Milwaukee suburb of Fox Point, Wisconsin. The property, which is filled with folk art created by artist Mary Nohl (1914–2001), is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The John Michael Kohler Arts Center is an independent, not-for-profit contemporary art museum and performing arts complex located in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, United States. The center preserves and exhibits artist-built environments and contemporary art. In 2021, the center opened the Art Preserve, a satellite museum space dedicated to art environments.
The John Michael Kohler House is an historic house listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, United States. The house is currently a part of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center complex.
Warrington Wickham Colescott Jr. was an American artist, he is best known for his satirical etchings. He was a master printmaker and operated Mantegna Press in Hollandale, Wisconsin, with his wife and fellow artist Frances Myers. Colescott died on 10 September 2018, at the age of 97.
The Vollrath Company is an American company based in Sheboygan, Wisconsin that manufactures stainless steel and aluminum equipment and smallwares, and deep draw stainless steel items, for commercial and institutional foodservice operations.
John Michael Kohler II was member of the Kohler family of Wisconsin and was a prosperous industrialist and mayor of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Kohler founded what later became known as the Kohler Company, a large producer of bathroom and kitchen products.
Terry Kohler was a member of the Kohler family of Wisconsin and an American businessman, Wisconsin Republican Party leader, sportsman, philanthropist, and conservationist.
Marie Christine Kohler was a member of the Kohler family of Wisconsin and was prominent in the community life of Sheboygan and Kohler, active in social work and better homes projects, and was well known for her philanthropic deeds.
Kohler Distinguished Guest Series is a series of lecture and performing arts programs began in 1944 with a current venue at the Kohler Memorial Theatre in Kohler, Wisconsin.
The Waelderhaus is a structure in Kohler, Wisconsin, managed by the Kohler Foundation. It was constructed by Marie C Kohler as a memorial to her father John Michael Kohler II (1844–1900). It was built as a headquarters for the Kohler Women's Club, the local chapter of Girl Scouts and as a public meeting place for lectures and small performances.
Julilly House Kohler was a member of the Kohler family of Wisconsin and was writer of books for children. She lived in Kohler, Wisconsin. She was active in social work and community projects, and was well known for advocacy for the preservation of burial mounds constructed by the North American Mound Builders at Sheboygan Indian Mound Park.
The Kohler Riverbend Estate is an historic property located in Kohler, Wisconsin. It was built in 1922–1923 By Walter J. Kohler, Sr., then governor of Wisconsin and president of the Kohler Company. It was reported to cost in excess of $1,000,000 to construct.
Wade House Historical Site, also called Old Wade House, is a 240-acre (97 ha) open-air museum in Greenbush, Wisconsin. A Wisconsin historic site, the site is operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Kaspar Albrecht was an Austrian architect and sculptor.
Beth Lipman is a contemporary artist working in glass. She is best known for her glass still-life compositions which reference the work of 16th- and 17th-century European painters.
Destination Kohler is the hospitality and real estate arm of the Kohler Company, and the tourism promotion agency for the Village of Kohler, Wisconsin.
Albert Zahn was a self-taught sculptor from the Prussian province of Pomerania, who lived and worked in Door County, Wisconsin for most of his life. He is known primarily for his painted wood carvings of birds. Zahn is also well known for his depictions of angels and for the creation of the Albert Zahn House which he built with his wife Louise Zahn, and adorned with hundreds of his carvings. Albert Zahn carved most of his sculptures from cedar and then instructed Louise Zahn who painted them. Some of Zahn's other notable subjects include maritime workers, Prussian soldiers, dogs, and deer.
Ruth DeYoung Kohler II was a museum director and teacher from Wisconsin who championed under-recognized, self-taught artists and vernacular art. She was the director of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center from 1972–2016. She led the development of the Art Preserve in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the first museum dedicated to the exhibition and conservation of artist-built environments.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)