Amanda Rae Was Here...

In Appleton on Sunday, I realized I had a couple days to explore Wisconsin before attending to the EAA airshow in Oshkosh on Wednesday. My friend Leslie, with whom I’d worked in arts journalism, had heard that I was in the state and urged me to swing by Sheboygan, a city about halfway up the eastern coast, on Lake Michigan.

“Kohler Arts Center—make sure you do the factory tour and meet the resident artists,” she instructed. “I want you to meet our colleagues out there.”

Well, even with an advance phone call, that didn’t happen. Any and all colleagues seemed to be conveniently out of the office, and the marketing rep I met apologized and mumbled something about requiring advance arrangements to observe the resident artists and tour The Factory, which is located in another building entirely. No matter; I found the center’s current exhibition, Hiding Places: Memory in the Arts, wildly fascinating, and admiring the works burned through the rest of the afternoon.

[Because I can’t contain my enthusiasm: Of four sections dealing with memory—including works that confront dementia through reconstruction of memories that seemingly vanished into thin air or which memorialize shared experiences, such as the tragically humorous photographs of graffiti that cropped up post-Hurricane Katrina—my favorite, surprise, surprise, was “From Memory,” by artists who “are recording the world with uncanny precision…They all share an overriding impulse to log visually the memories they have stored in their minds. From neatly categorized lists of things or numbers to drawings of familiar faces or past experiences, they sort and archive copious volumes of thoughts on paper.” For once I am proud to say that my own list-making compulsions pale in comparison. Really, these artists are freaks. One guy set out to draw a picture of every single person he has ever met in his entire life. Come on.]

Eventually I discovered the WASHROOMS. (Kohler, fine kitchen and bath fixtures—makes sense). Each of the six restrooms in the building were commissioned for the center’s expansion in 1999 and created by artists in the company’s Arts/Industry residency program, each of whom spend as many as six months working in Kohler Company’s Iron and Brass Foundries, Pottery, and Enamel Shop. 

Through each door was a wonderland of porcelain detail. And the best bathroom-mirror self-portraits one will ever take, trust. So I will simply pass along what Leslie told me: If you find yourself anywhere near Sheboygan, Wisconsin….JUST GO.

Scenes from the EAA AirVentire Convention in Oshkosh, Wisconsin on Wednesday, July 27:

• Experienced a torrential downpour upon arriving at the Oshkosh Airport around 9 a.m. The grounds were vast, muddy, and swarming with poncho-clad people. Even though I had an umbrella, I was soaked after taking a tram to the main entrance.

• Headed to the Wearhouse to acquire a new long-sleeved shirt and a poncho. Met two pilots who tell me that Oshkosh is the BUSIEST AIRPORT IN THE WORLD this week—so busy that air-traffic controllers from across the country vie for the opportunity to work here. “The frequencies are so busy that you don’t talk to them, they talk to you,” one pilot, Jim Solberg, told me. “When you’re landing, they’ll say, aircraft, blue high-wing aircraft, rock your wings! [pause] OK, you can turn now.’ It’s like a machine gun going off when they talk.” 

• Moseyed on over to the Gas Welding Workshop tent, partly to stay dry and partly to learn about something I’ve always found fascinating: how to melt metal. When it was my turn, I get hooked! Maybe because I have “really steady hands,” or maybe because I’m a girl, but the old fellas were impressed. I worked on “moving the puddle” across strips of steel and felt the allure to keep at it. I just might have a new calling….

• Around 12:45 the rain had cleared, mostly. Downed a smoothie, walked about a mile, and boarded a shuttle bus to the EAA AirVenture Museum. Enjoyed an excellent speech by General Chuck Yeager—the United States Air Force test pilot who broke the sound barrier back in 1947. He’s surprisingly spry for being 88 years old. “I was in the right time at the right place,” he said. “That’s why I was picked to fly the X1.” His father did gas drilling and would instruct a then-fourteen-year-old Chuck to change the diaphragms on the gas pressure valves. Later, when he joined the Air Force, he chose as his base Wright Field in Ohio, only because it was close to his home. Luckily, they had an opening in maintenance, and he slipped into the position, then into testing. He had a high-school degree.

• Explored the fields showcasing the largest representation in the world of experimental and home-built airplanes. Met Craig, a JetBlue pilot from Boston who flew a craft and his crew in to the convention for the day. He’d never been to EAA before, so, why not!? In preparation to re-board and fly home, a makeshift security screening line for the flight attendants had been set up on the ground outside, to an inexplicably rapt audience.

• 3:30 - 6 p.m AIR SHOW! celebrating the centennial of Naval aviation. It was still cloudy and difficult to see some of the planes at times, but all in all, an impressive showcase chock full of barrel rolls, loops, and stalls plus incredible noise and smoke. I felt hypnotized by the grace and beauty of these creatures—the planes really do take on a majestic, bird-like quality in the air. During the patriotic portion, we saluted a Navy parachutist trailing an American flag as the “Star-Spangled Banner” rang loud and clear above the drone of engines in the sky.