(Waupun) A non-profit group in Waupun is leading an effort to expand the city’s sculpture collection. Last fall, the Waupun Common Council was asked to consider participating in a program that would increase public art displays.
Jeni Maly, the owner of Imagine That Art Studio, and an art teacher at Waupun Area School District, recently returned to the community and had a keen interest in helping renew interest in public art by building on the legacy of industrialist Clarence Shaler. Maly started a non-profit called Create Waupun whose sole mission is to obtain sculptures and murals for the betterment of the city.
Maly and her nonprofit board created IceFest, a winter festival dedicated to celebrating the arts in 2024, with the help of a Joint Marketing Effort grant from the state’s Department of Tourism. The group was recently awarded a second grant to assist with the return of IceFest, which is scheduled for February 15th and 16th of next year.
For their next venture, Maly’s non-profit is focused on expanding sculpture exhibits in Waupun through an affiliation with the Eau Claire Sculpture Tour to bring rotating art exhibits to the city. Five new sculptures, each with a historical connection to Waupun arrived this summer.
The Council also recently committed $5,000 from room tax funds to pay the consulting fee associated with the Eau Claire affiliation and to build the bases for the five sculptures.
Mayor Rohn Bishop says the use of room tax money means that there is no impact to the local tax levy to deliver this program. He adds that the Eau Claire program has a solid track record of achieving this objective and Waupun already has a recognized group of assets in the Shaler collection of sculptures making the connection a natural one.
Once the affiliation was established, Maly’s next order of business was to find sponsors for the program. The fee to install a single sculpture through the program is $3,000, which covers installation and use of the sculptures for a one-year period. Maly and her team were successful in bringing five new sculptures to Waupun. Each sculpture was selected because of its unique tie to Waupun History.
- Narrow Escape (807 W Main) sponsored by Horicon Bank
- The Farmer (2 W Main) sponsored by Destination Lake Winnebago Region, Waupun Community Fund, and Fond du Lac Area Foundation
- We Can Do It (Across from 16 E Main) sponsored by Waupun Historical Society
- The World’s Her Canvas sponsored by Create Waupun (409 E Main)
- Monarchy (Food Truck Alley – 400 Block of E Main) sponsored by Waupun Fine Arts
Maly says the city of Waupun has been building and proudly displaying Shaler’s Legacy Collection for more than 100 years. She adds that Create Waupun would like to build upon Shaler’s rich and remarkable sculptures with a year-round exhibition and sculpture tour of original outdoor sculptures by national, international, local, regional art and artists.
The community is invited to attend a ribbon-cutting event on October 5th, from 10am to 2pm, to celebrate the new art installations and the grand opening of a food truck alley. Click HERE for a full itinerary.
