John Michael Kohler Arts Center

John Michael Kohler Arts Center Discover the John Michael Kohler Arts Center and the Art Preserve. Two unique, always-free destinations for art, creativity, and connection.
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| “Thomas Haneman: Synapses” opens September 12 at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. 🌿Inspired by his garden and a...
09/03/2026

| “Thomas Haneman: Synapses” opens September 12 at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. 🌿

Inspired by his garden and a renewed sense of joy after a long period of depression, Thomas Haneman’s fantastical botanical paintings bloom beyond the boundaries of nature and science. Richly toned and wildly inventive, these “Floating Flowers” feel at once otherworldly, underwater, and Edenic—like fresh sparks of energy brought to life on canvas.

Drawing on the visual language of seventeenth-century Dutch still lifes and eighteenth-century botanical illustrations, Haneman’s paintings offer a contemporary vision of growth, healing, and joy.

🔗 Learn more: www.jmkac.org/exhibitions/.

📸: (1) Thomas Haneman. Photo courtesy of the artist. (2) Thomas Haneman, Untitled (Islands), 2020; acrylic on canvas; 30 x 30 in. Courtesy of the artist and Portrait Society Gallery. (3) Thomas Haneman, Hesperidia, 2022; acrylic on canvas; 30 x 40 in. Courtesy of the artist and Portrait Society Gallery. (4) Thomas Haneman, Nectariferous, 2020; acrylic on canvas; 30 x 30 in. Courtesy of the artist and Portrait Society Gallery. (5) Thomas Haneman, Proxima Passiflora, 2020; acrylic on canvas; 30 x 30 in. Courtesy of the artist and Portrait Society Gallery.

09/01/2026

Did you know that the Art Preserve is the first and only museum dedicated to artist-built environments? ✨

Rather than presenting art as objects removed from their original settings, the Art Preserve brings entire creative worlds together. Across three floors, visitors can explore immersive spaces and more than 25,000 works created by artists who transformed their homes, studios, and surroundings into extraordinary environments.

From visionary collections to deeply personal places of imagination, the Art Preserve invites you to experience how artists shape the world around them.

🔗 Explore the John Michael Kohler Arts Center digital guide at Bloomberg Connects to learn more about the featured collections at the Art Preserve → www.jmkac.org/digitalguide/.

08/31/2026

Take the scenic route. Slow down. Stay awhile. 🌿

Inspired by Wisconsin’s historic waysides—places to pause, reflect, and reconnect—Wayside Days at the Art Preserve invites you to embrace discovery through art, music, community, and shared experiences.

Join us for a free weekend of connection and creativity featuring:
✨ September 18: Wisconsin Historical Society History Makers Tour
✨ September 19: Rock Procession — witness the 79 stones from Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis: Rock Fade (≈ 45 Billion Years) journey to their permanent home at the Art Preserve
✨ September 19: Art Preserve Community Day featuring Levitt AMP: House of DOV: Circle of Apathy feat. Family Junket

Explore artist-built environments, enjoy live music, take a stroll, share a picnic, and discover what becomes possible when we are more deeply attuned to our communities, our surroundings, and one another.

Learn more and plan your visit at www.jmkac.org/wayside or with link in bio.

| “Robert Blackstone: Crystal City” opens September 12 at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. ✨A monumental found-obj...
08/29/2026

| “Robert Blackstone: Crystal City” opens September 12 at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. ✨

A monumental found-object sculpture, Crystal City is Robert Blackstone’s self-contained modern city, built from found objects, electronics, glass, toys, family videos, and personal mementos. Combining sound, light, movement, and living elements, the immersive work explores memory, connection, and the human experience.

Originally conceived as an elegy for Blackstone’s grandmother, the project evolved into a reflection on social and economic injustice and a vision of a more interconnected city. This exhibition marks the first time Crystal City will be shown outside Dayton, Ohio, where it was created.

The exhibition also features additional works exploring history, the passage of time, and the human condition.

🔗 Learn more: www.jmkac.org/exhibitions/ or with link in bio.

📸: (1-3) Robert Blackstone, Crystal City (installation view, 2022), Dayton, OH. Photo: Susan Byrnes. (4) Robert Blackstone, Crystal City (installation view, 2025), Dayton, OH. Photo: Patrick W. Buckley. (5) Robert Blackstone, Crystal City (installation detail, 2025), Dayton, OH. Photo: Patrick W. Buckley.

08/27/2026

Step inside the imaginative world of Eugene Von Bruenchenhein.

Born in Wisconsin in 1910, Eugene Von Bruenchenhein spent his days working as a florist and baker while transforming his West Allis home into an immersive artistic universe. Alongside his wife, Marie, he created paintings, sculptures, photographs, and elaborate tableaus that blurred the boundaries between everyday life and imagination.

After Von Bruenchenhein's death in 1983, his life's work was brought to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center for documentation and eventual acquisition. Today, the Arts Center is home to one of the most significant collections of his work, and many of his works are on view at the Art Preserve, where visitors can experience his singular artistic vision in depth.

08/24/2026

Currently on view, “When Threads Meet, They Speak” brings Bengali kantha, HMong-Miao paj ntaub, and Japanese boro textiles into conversation, exploring shared traditions of patchwork, care, creativity, and renewal across cultures and generations.

Curator Pachia Vang reflects on the impact in shaping the exhibition:

"One of the most exciting aspects of working within our collection was encountering an array of traditional textiles from different cultural groups across Asia. It felt like a treasure trove that gave us the opportunity to think deeply about their connections, a process that reinvigorated our commitment to their care and inspired this exhibition.

On display are examples that speak to their shared visual languages. The 10-foot-tall star is a Bengali kantha story cloth, illustrating scenes of heroic triumph and longing admiration amidst eye-catching creatures that teeter between myth and reality. Across from this masterpiece stands another: the Hundred-Bird Coat from the Hmu culture in China. Its rich blue colors highlight the widespread practice of indigo and batik, while its wax-drawn lines depict the mythological birth of humanity that arose from a butterfly, tree, and bird.

The show is curated to give viewers a chance to engage with both the magical and practical ways textiles fill our lives. It invites reflection on how our own stories can connect to one another and the pieces on display, which is what I think is special about textile art."

Learn more: www.jmkac.org/exhibitions/.

Are you a licensed bartender in Sheboygan? 🍸The Arts Center is looking to build a team of on-call independent contractor...
08/21/2026

Are you a licensed bartender in Sheboygan? 🍸

The Arts Center is looking to build a team of on-call independent contractor bartenders for special events, corporate events, weddings, and more!

✨ What’s in it for you?

Get paid for your time
Flexible, on-call event opportunities
All bar supplies provided

Interested in joining our team? Complete the form below to get started!
⟶ https://forms.gle/x3frW3MyKuMADAt36

Don't miss your chance to experience Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis: Rock Fade (≈ 45 Billion Years) before it cl...
08/20/2026

Don't miss your chance to experience Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis: Rock Fade (≈ 45 Billion Years) before it closes on August 30!

A line of stones, arranged from a massive boulder to a single grain of sand, invites reflection on deep time, human perception, and our relationship with the natural world. Simple in form yet expansive in meaning, the installation offers a powerful meditation on scale, change, and the passage of time.

Then, join us on Saturday, September 19, as the 79 stones begin their journey to their permanent home at the Art Preserve. Starting at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, a community procession—from the smallest stone carried by a child to the largest transported on a flatbed truck—will make its way to the Art Preserve.

Don't miss your chance to see the exhibition before it closes, and be part of its next chapter.

📸: (1-3) Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis: Rock Fade (≈ 45 Billion Years) installation view, 2026.

Travel beyond your horizon with Wisconsin Art Destinations ✨New T-shirt design! 🎨 Want one of your own? Visit 3 of 15 pa...
08/19/2026

Travel beyond your horizon with Wisconsin Art Destinations ✨

New T-shirt design! 🎨 Want one of your own? Visit 3 of 15 participating art museums across Wisconsin! Through November 15, check in at any 3 participating museums to earn a limited-edition, artist-designed T-shirt, while supplies last.

Learn more: www.wisconsinartdestinations.com/

From the Arts Center to the Art Preserve, our washrooms are works of art themselves. ✨Designed by artists and brought to...
08/18/2026

From the Arts Center to the Art Preserve, our washrooms are works of art themselves. ✨

Designed by artists and brought to life through Arts/Industry, JMKAC’s decades-long collaboration with Kohler Co., these spaces showcase the incredible possibilities that emerge when art, industry, and innovation come together.

Since 1974, Arts/Industry has invited artists from around the world to experiment with the materials, technologies, and facilities of Kohler Co., resulting in groundbreaking works that challenge how we think about everyday objects and environments.

Explore the stories behind these one-of-a-kind artist-designed washrooms through the JMKAC digital guide on Bloomberg Connects. 🎧Learn more: www.jmkac.org/digitalguide/



📸: (1) Detail of Beth Lipman's Wild Madder washroom installation at the Art Preserve, 2021. (2) Detail of Joy Feasley and Paul Swenbeck's Listen, the Snow Is Falling washroom installation at the Art Preserve, 2021. (3) Matt Nolen, The Social History of Architecture, 1999; vitreous china and glaze. John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection. (4) Casey O'Conner, Childhood Vitreous, 1999; vitreous china and glaze. John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection. (5) Cynthia Consentino, The Women's Room, 2005; vitreous china, stain, and glaze. John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection.(6) Carter Kustera, Tell Me Something I Don't Already Know (detail), 1999; vitreous china and glaze. John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection. (7) Ann Agee, Sheboygan Men's Room, 1999; vitreous china and glaze. John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection. (8) Detail of Michelle Grabner's Patterns and Practicalities washroom installation at the Art Preserve, 2021. (9) Merrill Mason, Filling and Emptying, 1999; cast iron, vitreous china, glaze, and chromogenic prints. John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection. (10) Ann Agee, Sheboygan Men's Room, 1999; vitreous china and glaze. John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection.

Address

608 New York Avenue
Sheboygan, WI
53081

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 8pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm
Sunday 10am - 4pm

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(920) 458-6144

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