In the village of Kohler, Wisconsin, is a self-guided walking tour with 55 pieces of outdoor artwork, all indigenous because of an unusual and longstanding program that places art studios in a factory setting.
The Arts/Industry initiative began 50 years ago as a way for Kohler Company factory employees and artists to learn from each other while building an appreciation for each other’s livelihood. Industrial materials and equipment are used to make the art, and each artist agrees to leave one piece of work behind.
Artists throughout the world apply for these three-month residencies in the plumbing manufacturer’s pottery and foundry divisions, and at least 500 have been selected to participate since the program’s 1974 inception.
That includes David Franklin of Washington, a wood carver who had two Arts/Industry residencies and is using a new maker space at Kohler Company to create 1,600 ceramic fish for a new entryway at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.
A Kohler product collaboration team had earlier helped Franklin create art for Milan Design Week 2024 in Italy, and the work then went to a new Kohler Experience Center in Miami.
“It’s incredible for all,” says Shari McWilliams, Arts/Industry project leader, regarding the intersection of artistry and industrial manufacturing. “One thing they (artists and Kohler workers) have in common is that they all work with their hands. That bonds them even further.”
Arts/Industry provides artists access to “a new set of knowledge” that may otherwise be out of reach, practically and financially. Example: Working with translucent porcelain in an art studio is not the same as working with the industrial porcelain that is a finish for bathtubs, toilets and sinks.
The artists’ cast-iron and ceramic sculptures are fired in the factory’s huge kilns, alongside Kohler products.
Shae Bishop was designing a piece of wearable art when we met in Kohler, but he is not a traditional fiber artist and his sketches won’t turn into quilts, weavings or embroidery.
For this project, Bishop’s inspiration is the mayapple, a common wildflower when he’s at home in North Carolina. One artsy rendition will turn into three sizes of molds, then dozens of ceramic clay pieces that are transformed – under intense fire – into vitreous china, the same material used in bathroom fixtures.
On a worktable behind Bishop is another project: a wearable ceramic diving helmet.
“Many of my garments are made by lacing together hundreds of ceramic tiles with fibers, making the rigid flexible as tile becomes textile,” he says, in an online artist statement. “By merging these materials, I disrupt assumptions about function and draw attention to the role of dress in communication and personal identity.”
Also at work in the pottery division is Lauren Mabry of Philadelphia, whose ceramic art has been shown in China, Indonesia and various U.S. locations. Her studies began in ceramics, wheel-throwing and the creation of functional art.
Now she is a glaze specialist (and a part-time glaze chemist for a tableware company back home) who is creating drip tiles that will be slip cast in Kohler. “I picture something like a big dripping wall” where “glaze color, movement and materiality” add artistry, she explained.
In the Kohler foundry, multimedia artist Lee Emma Running of Omaha and metalsmith Ger Xiong of Minneapolis also are at work until mid-December.
Each artist has 24/7 access to their unorthodox work studio, which is a short walk from living quarters that are provided to them.
The nonprofit John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, administers Arts/Industry. Kohler Company funds it.
“Artists need not have experience working with clay or metal, but an interest in adapting industrial processes to their practice and an openness to the factory environment is needed,” the art center explains online. Apply for the program here.
Free brochures about the outdoor art in Kohler, population 2,195, are online and easily found while in Kohler.
At the Sheboygan art center until May 2025 is “Lunch Break: Arts/Industry in Between,” which features art made by factory employees after work or during break time. There also is art that artists made for Kohler workers, as tokens of appreciation.
Art Preserve, which opened in 2021 between Kohler and Sheboygan, is a satellite campus to the Sheboygan art center. Admission is free, and both pay deep attention to unusual artist-built environments.
Side Dishes:
Free, three-hour factory tours at Kohler Company are led by retired factory workers Registration is required, as are closed-toe shoes. Expect to walk three miles.
In Kohler Design Center, which showcases new models of bathroom fixtures as though they were fine art, is a lower-level museum with smaller and less weather-resistant sculptures created by Arts/Industry participants.
The museum also delves into other local history, such as how the Kohler family emigrated from Austria and became globally known as a plumbing manufacturer and leader in hospitality.
Quick examples: The 2021 Ryder Cup was held at Kohler’s Whistling Straits golf course. Kohler Waters Spa and The American Club resort both earn five-star Forbes Travel Guide ratings.
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By Mary Bergin. Mary is a longtime travel, food and feature writer who lives in Madison, Wis., has written six books and pays particular attention to what is unique and of deep interest to the Midwest U.S. marybergin.com
