W e d n e s d ay,
Visitors to the Garden Door, a public garden at the UW Peninsular Agricultural Research Station in Sturgeon Bay, examined spring flowers. Bordering the far northern edge
of the garden between evergreens is a wence designed and built by Gail Elsholz of Algoma.
Not a wall,
not a fence,
but a ‘wence’
Kewaunee County artist crafts
flowing pieces from cedar
A
LGOMA — In a
region of reputable
and accomplished
artists and craftspeople,
intriguing artwork on
a large scale is appear-
ing throughout Door and
Kewaunee counties.
An Illinois transplant
with family roots in
Kewaunee County, Gail
Elsholz is the innovative
designer behind creations
made with cedar that have
become the focal points of
public and private gardens
and businesses.
Until she had con-
structed several outdoor
works of art with her sig-
nature imprint of flowing
wood, her final product
didn’t even have a name.
A friend, Karin Over-
beck of Sturgeon Bay,
wanted some artwork done
for her yard that would last
at least 10 years.
“She came up with the
word ‘wence,’ meaning it
wasn’t a fence and it wasn’t
a wall,” Elsholz said. “A
wence isn’t something that
stands alone but blends in
with the surroundings.”
Elsholz admitted she
didn’t have a grand plan to
A collection of wences lines the driveway at Gail Elsholz’ home near Algoma.
M ay 2 6 , 2 010
If I get it right they are singing. There is
happiness to them.
construct outdoor artwork
after moving from Chi-
cago, where she worked at
Harris Bank.
In Door County she
worked for a landscaper,
where the idea of trans-
forming wood into art may
have been hatched while
she experimented with tree
roots to hold cross pieces
of a fence together.
“It’s tickling the wood
into doing what you want
it to,” Elsholz said. “If
you want to make some-
thing like this, it’s very
different than going to the
lumberyard.”
Plus, it’s labor intensive
and normally requires a
tough slog into the woods
to gather cedar to makes
If you put a top on a wence it becomes an arbor, said Gail Elsholz, left, who visited
with Susan Connor, co-owner of the Flying Pig, an art gallery and green space attrac-
tion near Algoma.
— Gail Elsholz
two anchor poles in place.
“You have to have some
structure to keep things
from falling apart,” she
said. “Then you start out
posts, branches and other with the stuff in between.”
pieces that form the What guides her next
artwork. isn’t that easy to articu-
Branches come with late, she said, because to
lots of other branches and her a perfectly constructed
twigs that all must be taken wence is music to her ears.
off and hauled to the work “To me they sing,” she
site, she said. said. “If I get it right they
“You lay the pieces of are singing. There is hap-
wood all over the place piness to them. The style
because you have no idea in it has to have a flow and
on earth what this is going unexpected turns.”
to look like at all,” she In constructing the
said. wence’s interior, she looks
Wood piles are scat- for branches that have Gail Elsholz signs her artwork with a tile embedded in a
tered across the yard at her bends in them, but she cedar branch.
home on the shore of Lake often uses some persuasion
Michigan. to shape a branch. sudden it lets you do that. olz’ wence fits into the
“I don’t throw anything “If you lean on it enough There’s no pattern. It’s like relaxing surroundings.
away because all of a sud- to give it pressure without what’s in your heart and Susan Connor and
den it fits somewhere,” she splitting you can make the what the wood will give Robyn Mulvane own the
said. wood do what you want you. I don’t put a piece up Flying Pig. The center-
Her art starts with putting it to,” she said. “All of a if it doesn’t flow. We don’t piece is the gallery made to
just screw things together. resemble an old feed mill.
There is a reason for every “We knew we were
piece.” doing something differ-
Elsholz consulted books ent in the Door Peninsula,”
on rustic furniture but con- Connor said. “But Gail
cluded that the art form Elsholz is a creative soul.
required too many tools Her artwork is all over.”
she didn’t have. While Elsholz’ major
Before she made wences, projects are finished, she
Elsholz crafted trellises said several pieces at her
and arbors in addition to home are still works in
turning out China painting progress because that’s
and mosaics. where her wences took off.
Her major wence produc- “I started with a struc-
tions are found at the UW ture in my backyard,”
Peninsular Agricultural she said. “There’s some-
Research Station, where thing working with wood
the Door County Master and not just two-by-fours.
Gardeners designed and Working with wood, I
maintain an educational make it do something it
garden. didn’t do before.”
A wence crafted by And how does she know
Elsholz frames the north when a piece is done?
side of the garden and “You just know. It would
forms a unique backdrop be like if you knew when
for a native grass garden. you are finished with a
Two wences with a top song or with poetry. You
make an arbor, Elsholz just know,” she said. “I get
said about the artwork she to branches singing the
created for the Flying Pig way I want them. Then it’s
on Highway 42 south of done.”
Algoma. Judy Brown can be
The art gallery and gar- reached at jlbrown@vbe.
dens cover 15 acres. Elsh- com.
Story and photos by Judy Brown