Mary Nohl, Milwaukee Genius

The reason for the visit was Nohl's eccentricity, which made her yard a target for vandals as well as a local landmark. But it didn't take long to see that the art was far more important than the oddity. I had visited a couple of art environments at that time, including Howard Finster's Paradise Garden near Summerville, Georgia, and Nohl's place was clearly one of those. It may have seemed more domestic than heroic, tucked away next to Lake Michigan in its comfortable corner of suburban Milwaukee, but it constituted a clear statement of her personal vision.