indelible studios

Old World Wisconsin
Originally uploaded by digitalsuzi

Yesterday M and I went with my mom, sister, nephew, aunt, and cousin to Old World Wisconsin, a living history museum that shows how people lived in our state in the 19th century. “Interpreters” in each building show you how things were done — blacksmithing, baking cornbread in a woodstove, tending cattle and bees, running a stagecoach inn, teaching at a one-room schoolhouse, playing games and with toys. We loved it, the grownups maybe even more than the kids, although the kids had fun too. Many of the materials they use are from the time period, although some are reproductions, and it was fascinating to see how spare and beautiful everything was. It amazes me that people would put time and effort into embroidering or decorating things, because they worked so hard and needed things to be very utilitarian, and when did they have time to do it? But beauty was important to them, and I’m sure that handwork was something both useful — skill-building, even if it was just decorative — and relaxing. I loved looking at all the fiber tools and fabric, especially in the general store.  I got lots of ideas for things to make and ways to decorate — and I’ll post pictures once we get our camera-cord situation figured out (in the meantime, you can do a flickr search for “old world wisconsin” and get a pretty good idea of what things look like). Another thing that amazed me was how closely the homes there resembled the aesthetic of high-design, eco-friendly homes I see on the internet. And we were all astounded at the size of the place; the landscape seems pretty authentic with its untouched pasture land and woods, and there are several little villages, each comprised of one nationality of people and their traditional architecture and ways of doing things (German, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, etc), although there was a bigger “crossroads village” and one that was an integrated community that included African Americans, even during the Civil War era. We didn’t get to stop there because the kids were about to melt down from hunger, but I’d like to learn more about it. M loved the schoolhouse since we actually got to “play school” and write on the slates and answer questions.  She also loved the baby animals, and a hoop game called the game of Graces (a game women could play, unlike baseball and other outdoor games). My nephew loved the hoop-and-stick game — of which you’ve surely seen pictures: a boy runs along, hitting a hoop with a stick, very simple!  Now we’re on the lookout for a way to make our own Graces set to decorate with ribbons, and maybe a hoop and stick set too.