Indigenous artist Mark Fischer was chosen by Milwaukee Public Museum this past summer to create an outdoor art installation for the the plaza between the new museum on 6th and McKinley and its parking structure.
He's getting close to finishing the work.
Fischer, of the Oneida Nation, has designed “The Gathering Place,” a dome of copper trees encircling a stone foundation.
The piece is be a grouping of copper aspen trees – each representing one of Wisconsin’s First Nations – that rise up to the sky and nearly meet in the center.
The trees recreate the posts that supported traditional Great Lakes homes. Each pole has the name of one of the tribes and a floral pattern associated with the tribe.
The name of the work is a reference to the Potawatomi word "Minwaking" meaning “gathering place by the waters,” one of the sources of the name "Milwaukee."
Once completed, the sculpture will be accessible to all as the green space at the new museum is open to the public. The museum, currently under construction, is expected to open in early 2027.
I visited Fischer at his Germantown home and studio, where he's been working on the piece in his workshop, and it's being assembled in his yard. Once the museum construction has reached the appropriate stage, the work will be moved there.
The work is nearly complete and is striking.
"When you step inside you can feel how powerful it is," says Milwaukee Public Museum Tribal Liaison James Flores, and it's true.
"I wanted to show that our tribes get together and we talk to each other on a regular basis," the artist tells me. "It isn't like that in all states, but Wisconsin, we're friendly with each other. We tease each other, but we're friendly."
The tribes represented are Oneida, Stockbridge, Menominee, Potawatomi, Mole Lake, Saint Croix, Red Cliff, Lac du Flambeau, Bad River, Lac Courte Oreilles, Stockbridge and Ho-Chunk. Their names are welded vertically onto the trees, facing the center of the circle.
Fischer has also designed and fabricated a long vertical floral motif for each pole that will be welded onto the posts, facing outward.
The names and motifs will remain polished to a shiny copper color while the remainder of the trees will be sprayed with a copper sulfate solution to give them a green oxidized copper hue.
"I love the different types of floral patterns," Fischer says. "They always have food in there, some sort of fruit or berries. That's traditional for all tribes because we all have to grow food.
"I'm always looking for that type of stuff (about tribes). Something unique, just to know more about them.
"I raised the motifs so that when school groups come – or children or even adults – if they want to get something that they can take home with them, we're going to hopefully supply paper and pencils or charcoal. Then they can do a rubbing and get the whole pattern."
The base is made of local Lannon stone, with flat stones in the center and a circle of slightly raised stones along the perimeter.
"Those are seats for the children, we put 28 of them in," Fischer says of the stone circle. "Then I put 13 stones in the center, because that's what a turtle shell is made up of 13 and 28. And that's the lunar calendar. Not many people know it, but the lunar calendar is on every turtle's back.
"The stones I thought are important because that's something that's right here in southeastern Wisconsin. It's really a unique stone. Not many stones in the world can hold 22,000 to 28,000 pounds per square inch. They're so strong. My hope is that these stones will serve as a place for children to sit for storytelling."
Fischer takes me into his workshop and shows me some of the remaining sections of floral motifs that are being finished and need to be affixed.
He's worked with the tribes on these motifs and is waiting for a few of them to sign off on theirs.
But, he says, he's so far spent about 800 hours on "The Gathering Place."
"Probably another 200-300 before it's completed," he says. "Mostly the patina process. I'll be dragging scaffolding here and then I'll patina the whole thing. It'll get probably six to eight coats of this patina."
His sons, both engineers, have been helping him with the welding work. One of them works at Milwaukee Tool, which has offered the help of a number of employee volunteers when it comes time to dismantle the sculpture, move it Downtown and install it at the Future Museum.
"Milwaukee Tool offered anything I needed," he said, "they would help. And I says, 'really?' And they said, 'oh yeah, we started a Native American group here and we'll do volunteer work for Native American projects. And so if you need help in any way, we will come and help you. We have 20 people or 27 people signed up right now to come and help you whenever you need it'."
Fischer, who is from Milwaukee, creates works like this around the country and he says some of his work is owned by former German chancellor Helmut Kohl and a Japanese prime minister, among others.
Fischer has been involved in art projects with the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation, Oneida Nation Museum, UW-Madison, the Smithsonian Museum of Contemporary Native American Art and the Indian Community School in Milwaukee, where he was president for three years.
"When you grow up in Milwaukee, the museum is something you never forget. And so when I had the chance to be able to do this for the museum, I thought, 'wow, this is really be cool if I could do it.'
"I am incredibly proud to be trusted with creating such a meaningful piece of art, and it is something that I'll never forget, and my children will never forget.
“I feel a special connection to this land and am truly honored to create an iconic piece of art for this centuries-old gathering place to celebrate Native cultures, honor our natural world and create a highly interactive environment for visitors.”
Fischer – who learned to weld to copper from his grandfather and has worked as a full-time artist for 30 years – says he drew inspiration for the piece from aspen trees, which he says speak with each other through their root systems.
“Mark’s profound connection to the land and dedication to sharing Native American heritage makes him the perfect artist for this installation,” says Flores.
“Mark’s vision beautifully intertwines the cultural significance of the tribes in Wisconsin with the natural beauty of our environment. This installation will not only be a striking piece of art, but a powerful educational tool that will teach museum visitors about the rich traditions, history and resilience of Wisconsin tribes.”
You can learn more about Fischer at turtleclanart.com, and there’s more information about the Future Museum at mpm.edu/future.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
