Signs and Sculptures: Waukesha Janboree

Yesterday, I spent part of the snowy day in my old home city, Waukesha, to attend their annual Janboree.  Every year, they have a winter festival with outdoor games, arts & crafts for kids and a popular ice sculpture contest.

While I was down there, I remembered that some of the businesses in the downtown area have put up some art of their own spotlighting the city's history.

One of the themes of these murals is the electric guitar, invented by Waukesha native Les Paul.  Waukesha is known as one of many Gibson Guitar Towns, and the Waukesha County Museum even has a permanent exhibit dedicated to Paul.

But, the main reason I went back to downtown Waukesha was the ice sculpting contest.  This year's theme was "The Olympics" (makes sense), and the sculptures ranged from athletes to the Olympic torch to the 5 Olympic rings.  Unfortunately, I couldn't stay until the sculptures were finished since the snow was accumulating and I was worried about driving home.  But, as you can see below, the sculptors worked hard to make their creations, and I was very impressed by their talent to turn ice into art.

Guitar Town Statues Round 2

Last June, my hometown of Waukesha, Wisconsin was named a Guitar Town by Gibson Guitars, since Les Paul, the inventor of the electric guitar, was born here and is buried here.  To celebrate the honor, many local artists created special guitar statues, some small, some 10-feet tall, which are now prominently displayed throughout the downtown area. 

While the festival to celebrate the unveiling of the larger statues was a lot of fun (please see the original post at http://artphotocraft.blogspot.com/2012/06/my-hometown-guitar-town.html to get the full story), it was very crowded.  In fact, I hadn't seen that many people in downtown Waukesha since we helped celebrate Harley Davidson's 100th anniversary.  This made getting prime photographs tough.  So I went around town and took some better photographs of some of the statues in their new homes. 

The first statue, above, was designed by Ramona Audley and is located in front of First Federal Bank on Wisconsin Avenue.  To see more of her work, visit http://www.gallery1art.com/Ramona.html.

The guitar above, featuring the face of Carlos Santana, was designed by Ben Stark, and is located near the Fox Riverwalk in front of Waukesha State Bank. 

This beautiful guitar, featuring a hummingbird, was designed by Marcia Schneider, and it has a very high-profile place in the middle of downtown's restaurant district.  To see more of Marcia's work, visit http://www.almontgallery.org/artists_mschneider.htm.

This guitar with the tiger was designed by Gene Evans of Milwaukee.  It also has a high-profile spot located in front of the Waukesha Historical Society on Main Street.

I have included a few more of the guitars from the June festival, since I thought these were really nicely done by the arists.  The one above was designed by Bill Reid.  To see more of Bill's work, visit
http://www.toryfolliard.com/sculpture/Bill-Reid.shtml. 

This guitar was one of my favorites, designed by Jennifer Espenscheid.  To see more of Jennifer's work, visit http://www.thesomagallery.com/.

The one above was designed by Chuck Weber, a well-known Waukesha artist who's work is featured at Almont Gallery downtown.  I loved this guitar so much, and the photo turned out so well (if I do say so myself), I framed it and it is hanging in my living room.  To see more of Chuck's work, visit http://weberportraits.com/.

I am still in awe of these artists' work even after nearly 3 months of seeing them on my city's street corners.  And these were just the tip of it.  In addition to the 10 large guitars, there are 17 standard-size Les Paul Gibson guitars on display throughout downtown featuring more hand-picked artists' work.  To get a full list of guitars and where to see them, go to http://www.waukeshaguitartown.com/.

My Hometown: Guitar Town

Last night, I had the immense pleasure of attending the dedication ceremony and festivities that marked my hometown, Waukesha, Wisconsin, as a Gibson Guitar Town.  This is due to the fact that Les Paul, the inventor of the electric guitar, was born there.  I didn't know that there were other U.S. cities with this disctinction, including Cleveland, Austin, Nashville, Los Angeles, and Miami (London, England, is one as well).  But, Waukesha is the only city of its size to receive this honor, and there was so much to see and hear last night to celebrate.

The highlight of this honor was that 10 local artists were handpicked by Gibson to create 10-foot guitars that were positioned on each corner of the "five points" area of downtown.  I knew a few of these artists including my friend, Jeff, but many were unknown to me.  What an honor for these artists to be able to display their work on such an amazing scale. One is above, and you can see the others below:

Chuck Weber, a well-known Waukesha artist, created this guitar, and his friend, who was on hand to answer questions, said there was a Les Paul recording that you could listen to inside.

The artist who created this guitar created some really cool paintings of famous rock legends that used to hang in Neighbor's Social Club before it changed owners.

And my friend, Jeff, a local artist (and land developer) created this guitar.  That's him standing next to it.

Also downtown, there were some local arists creating music-themed art right on the street.  It's rare that Main Street and its surrounding streets are closed down completely (they also did so for the Harley Davidson 100-year anniversary), but this created a street fair atmosphere allowing these artists space to make their creations.

Last night was also the kickoff of Friday Night Live, a weekly summer music series, where local musicians play on various downtown Waukesha street corners.  Since Main and Broadway were closed, these bands were able to play to larger audiences.  The main stage, where The Les Paul Trio opened the festivities, was located in the middle of the five points.

My favorite of these bands is, hands down, The Lonely Hearts (pictured below).  They are a quartet of teenage boys who are, no joke, the BEST Beatles cover band I have ever seen.  They also played songs by The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, and The Doors.

The night ended by running into a few friends I used to hang out with when I lived in downtown Waukesha, and going over to the Main Stage with them to watch the headliners, The BoDeans.  The BoDeans are best known for playing the theme song to "Party of Five", but they are originally from Waukesha (in fact, the original members went to my high school, although long before I did).  I managed to get this shot of Sammy BoDean from the audience:

I had a great time celebrating the fact that my hometown has been named a Guitar Town, especially being a die-hard rock-and-roll fan.  I'm so please Gibson chose Waukesha to add to their impressive roster of Guitar Towns, and I hope this helps to promote the city as the vibrant, eclectic, fun place that it is.