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Substack • An Unweeded Garden • David Isaacson
We walked into the old Modern Woodmen of America meeting hall in Wonewoc, Wisconsin and gawked at the interior, which had been painted top-to-bottom at the turn of the 20th century by a self-taught muralist named Ernest Hüpeden. The walls were covered with curious images of lumberjacks, masked figures, a castle on a hill, a guy riding a goat… all rendered in a “vernacular” or “naïve” style.
“Oh hey,” my friend Mickle said, “it’s Severance.”
Isthmus
This one is waaaay out there, but worth the drive for multiple reasons: the beautiful Driftless scenery, the quirky folk art shrine that is The Painted Forest, and the free concert from the band Swarme of Beese, visiting from Austin, Texas.
Hyperallergic
Countless displays of intense and idiosyncratic brilliance are nestled in the grassy hills of the Midwest state.
Madison Magazine
In the tiny town of Valton, Wisconsin, the former meeting house for a secret society of woodmen still stands.
The Land Behind
In the small rural community of Valton, WI (roughly 40 people) you will find one of the most fascinating and obscure relics of the old, weird America – The Painted Forest.
Southern Oregon PBS
David Smith, Art Professor, Edgewood College, introduces the murals painted by self-taught artist Ernest Hüpenden in the late 1890s. Hüpenden’s work reflects the rich tradition of folk art in Wisconsin and is painted on the walls and ceiling at The Painted Forest in Valton, Wisconsin.