Works of Art—Henrietta A. Landwehr Children's Library Center
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During September 1998, the walls of the Landwehr Children’s Library Center came alive with the work of muralist Joyce Winter of Menomonee Falls. Winter created a series of artwork that depicts themes of families, sites of Sheboygan, and outdoor adventures during Wisconsin’s four seasons. A frieze in the Story Garden features a look “Above the Garden Wall” showing sky, sun, rainbows, clouds and birds.Other areas feature the unifying theme of arched windows that “look” out onto scenes of places and people from the area. Several local children and adults served as models for Winter.
The murals were painted using washable, non-toxic acrylic paint.
Winter has painted murals in several schools in Menomonee Falls and exhibits regularly at art shows and fairs. She has attended Mount Mary College, Milwaukee Area Technical College, and the Layton School of Art, all in Milwaukee. Funding for the project was provided by a gift from the French Family Foundation to the Mead Public Library Foundation.
"Life Cycle” is a 144-inch by 36-inch panel by Kweku Andrews of Ghana, Africa, the 1979-1980 Sheboygan community artist-in-residence. According to the artist, the panel relates three different ideas about life from birth to old age.
Panel One shows the life stage during which the baby becomes the center of the parents’ attention. Children are very important because they represent the future security of the family. The border decoration is a symbol of the security of the home; the pot of water represents the parents nursing the child; the plants are a symbol of a child who needs parents to grow.
Panel Two deals with the adolescent who leaves the home to start a new life. While the parents hate losing a child, they leave the child with advice, expecting the child to uphold the family dignity. The bent plant tied to a straight pole represents a child; the pole represents parents. The border design symbolizes the parental control over the family.
Panel Three portrays the last stage of life when children take care of their elderly parents. Children should support their elderly parents, just as the parents raised the child. The border design depicts human relations. The tree on the right represents the mature child with two cut branches: one a walking stick for the aged parents and the other to support the old house on the left. The old house represents the aged parents.
A plaque was dedicated in 1954 in memory of Frances L. Meyer, who was the head children’s librarian from 1911 until her death in 1951. Using memorial contributions, Los Angeles sculptor Lowell Grant was commissioned to create a work of art showing Miss Meyer during a story hour.
Another plaque, directly to the south of the Meyer plaque, was a Grant commission of a local family that was later donated to Mead Public Library by the family.
Grant won scholarships to 12 art schools in Seattle and Los Angeles. His work can be found in public buildings and private collections on the west coast. His primary interest in sculpting was work symbolizing children and families.
Soleil de Mon Pays means “sun of my country.” This is the creation of Murat Brierre, Haiti’s great sculptor. His basic tools are a forge, anvil and hand tools that allow him to cut and work old oil drums and other metals into pieces of sculpture. At the time he created this sculpture in the 1960s, the young sculptor worked in a small studio in his home outside of Port-au-Prince. While he often creates religious sculpture, he also depicts witty scenes from everyday life. This sculpture was part of a 1968 traveling exhibit, “The Sculpture of Haiti,” that visited the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. It was purchased for Mead Library.
The Southeast Asian Bas-Relief panel is hand-carved of a solid teakwood single panel with multi-colored accents. It depicts a battle scene in a jungle setting with warriors on elephants attacking with spears, warriors on foot armed with swords, and a single rider attacking on horseback. It probably depicts the historic attack on the Siamese capital of Ayuthia by the Burmese in 1767. The 20th century work measures 60 inches wide by 30 inches high framed. It was a gift from Robert O. Larson of Sheboygan.
