If you've been to Bay View this summer, chances are you've noticed four 12-foot banners casting interesting images of faces mixed with text and vivid color standing in the lawn of the Bay View Historical Society at 2590 S. Superior St.
If curiosity got the best of you and you stopped to explore, you'd have discovered that it's not only an art installation created and curated by Bay View High School students in collaboration with Discovery World staff, but also a fascinating history exhibit.
The Bay View Observatory is a tribute to the community, an exploration of neighborhood history, and a look into the future. Based on the idea of a compass, the four large banners represent the four cardinal points -- and the people of Bay View.
Over 30 markers point to different historically significant neighborhood sites -- things like the Rolling Mill Site, the site of the Bay View Tragedy, the former Welsh Congregational Church, the Pryor Avenue Iron Well, Groppi's, Puddler's Hall, Three Brothers (which used to be a Schlitz tied tavern), the WWII Memorial Garden, Bay View High School, the former boathouse in Humboldt Park, Horace Chase's log cabin, the Green Bay, Milwaukee & Chicago Rail Company, the Avalon Theater, the former Standard Brick Company, the site of the Little Red School House, Puddler's cottages, the South Shore Yacht Club, a few shipwrecks near Bay View, and Spencer Tracy's house.
At the center of the observatory is the Community Table including a map of Bay View. The installation is where Bay Viewers have spent the summer adding their own chapters to the history book of Bay View.
"The Community Table -- the center hub is really what makes this art installation unique," says Heidi Heistad, Discovery World's Digital Media Producer and leader of Discovery World's Art and Archaeology of Me program. "It's a place where people can share their own personal histories of Bay View -- stories of things that only they know and stories that have been handed down."
Bay View High School students gathered on the site on three dates throughout the summer to interview residents young and old about their experiences in the neighborhood -- from friendships they formed, business they started to memories of growing up in the area. More than 38 interviews were conducted by the students, some of which will be archived along with their photographs, artifacts and documents within the Bay View Historical Society Collection.
The Bay View Observatory is a result of a partnership between Discovery World and Bay View High School. The students took part in the Art and Archaeology of Me program, working with Discovery World professionals and exploring archaeological methods and tools, research and interviewing techniques, media production design and visual art.
OnMilwaukee.com staff writer Julie Lawrence grew up in Wauwatosa and has lived her whole life in the Milwaukee area.
As any “word nerd” can attest, you never know when inspiration will strike, so from a very early age Julie has rarely been seen sans pen and little notebook. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee it seemed only natural that she major in journalism. When OnMilwaukee.com offered her an avenue to combine her writing and the city she knows and loves in late 2004, she knew it was meant to be. Around the office, she answers to a plethora of nicknames, including “Lar,” (short for “Larry,” which is short for “Lawrence”) as well as the mysteriously-sourced “Bill Murray.”
