Local Non-Profit Leads Expansion of Waupun’s Sculpture Collection

In the fall of 2023, the Waupun Common Council was asked to consider participation in a program that would increase public art displays across the City.

Jeni Maly, the owner of Imagine That Art Studio, and an art teacher at Waupun Area School District, had 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 Waupun.

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 (JEM) grant from the WI Department of Tourism.

The group was recently awarded a second JEM grant to assist with the return of IceFest, which is scheduled for February 15 and 16, 2025.

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 Waupun. Five new sculptures, each with a historical connection to Waupun arrived this summer. According to Maly, the program is possible because of successful collaboration between government, local business and nonprofit leaders.

When presenting to the Council, Maly shared, “The City of Waupun has been building and proudly displaying Shaler’s Legacy Collection for more than 100 years. 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.”

After hearing Maly’s idea, the Common Council 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 commented, “use of room tax money means that there is no impact to the local tax levy to deliver this program. Money the city receives through room tax is restricted by WI Statute to activities that are likely to generate additional hotel stays in a community.

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 (5) new sculptures to Waupun. Each sculpture was selected because of its unique tie to Waupun History.

Thanks to the generous contribution of businesses and nonprofit organizations, visitors and residents alike can enjoy the following exhibits:

o Narrow Escape (807 W Main) sponsored by Horicon Bank
o The Farmer (2 W Main) sponsored by Destination Lake Winnebago Region, Waupun Community Fund, and Fond du Lac Area Foundation
o We Can Do It (Across from 16 E Main) sponsored by Waupun Historical Society
o The World’s Her Canvas sponsored by Create Waupun (409 E Main)
o Monarchy (Food Truck Alley – 400 Block of E Main) sponsored by Waupun Fine Arts

Maly shared, “The City of Waupun has been building and proudly displaying Shaler’s Legacy Collection for more than 100 years. 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.”

People participating in the Waupun Sculpture Tour are encouraged to download the Otocast app to a cellular phone. Once downloaded, select the Waupun Sculpture Tour, where the user can listen to a narration from the artist or someone familiar with the artist’s work to learn about each sculpture and its meaning. The Otocast application is funded by a grant from Waupun Education Foundation.

The community is invited to attend a ribbon-cutting event on October 5, from 10 am to 2 pm, to celebrate the new art installations and the grand opening of the food truck alley, funded in part by a Vibrant Spaces grant from Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. From food trucks to live artist demonstrations, the day will celebrate the arts and all that is new in Waupun.

A full itinerary for this family-fun day can be found by visiting the Discover Downtown website at www.discoverdowntownwaupun.com/general-9.