Milwaukee Public Museum

by Lazar Brkich

John Mickowski was born a century ago in Cheboygan, Michigan, into a family of Polish immigrants. As a young boy he moved to Milwaukee and settled in the heart of its Polish community. After service in France during World War I, he returned to Milwaukee and in 1919 married Theresa Jeka, a native of Jones Island. Through his wife and her family, who owned a successful fishing business, Mickowski became aware of the unique character of the Jones Islanders. Although the couple did not live on the island, Mickowski was to work there after becoming employed by the Milwaukee Sewage Commission, further involving him in the local life and lore. Many years later these connections would form the mainspring for his creativity. That this creativity took the form of woodcarving makes Mickowski a unique addition to the many recognized artists who actively sought out Jones Island as a picturesque subject for sketching and painting.

A Hobby Becomes a Passion

The turning point for Mickowski's creative life was his retirement in 1956 from his position as chief operating engineer. He now had the leisure to pursue his various interests, and tried his hand at photography, painting and woodcarving. It was to be the latter that totally absorbed his attention and his energy. In woodcarving he found not only a hobby but a passion, his own unique means of expression. In the two and one half decades following his retirement, he patiently and enthusiastically carved close to 200 figures, ranging in size from a few inches to some which were seven or eight feet high.

Using What's At Hand

Evidently responding to some inner voice, Mickowski began carving his figures from old utility poles, leaving them unpainted. His tools were quite simple - a jackknife, pocketknife, a few hand chisels, and a hatchet for the larger figures. His family indicates that he never paid for a piece of wood. He had known, after all, extreme poverty and deprivation as a child, and had lived through the Great Depression. A true recycler, he salvaged discarded pieces of wood - white pine, cedar, crab apple, maple, and once black walnut, a gift from his children - and turned them into conversational and decorative objects.

Mickowski took pride in finishing his figures with correct details. The artificial flowers, jewelry and adornments ! made from plastic, metal, pins, hair, wire, fur, leather, twine, glass beads, nails, fish hooks, fabrics or whatever else was readily available ! demonstrate his fine decorative style. He tried to be accurate in carving details and in painting aprons, dresses, hats and period hair styles.

Fishermen and Family Members

Mickowski was a hard working and gregarious man who took an active interest in local affairs. He served as treasurer of St. Stanislaus Catholic Church, and the many people with whom he came into contact through church and other affiliations became models for his carving. The activities of daily life, memories of the past, old photos and illustrations also offered models for his work. And although a few ideas for figures arose from his travels to historical sites well beyond Milwaukee, those were the exception rather than the rule.

Mickowski was not trained as an artist, and he never claimed to be one, but he was still able to translate his vision into wood in an artistic way, and at the same time transmit his values. He carved what interested him, what struck his fancy, and this more often than not was that which was nearest to him ! family members, friends, neighbors, and community.

The core of Mickowski's work consists of an impressive group of carvings inspired by his lifelong association with the fisherfolk of Jones Island. This community, named in 1854 after an American shipbuilder, was composed primarily of Polish and German immigrants. Working on Jones Island gave him an excellent opportunity to know personally many of its colorful characters, and to collect anecdotal material from its rich and legendary history. He created his figures to tell their story. There are Mrs. James Monroe Jones, wife of the man who gave the island its name; Julianna Konkol, the Fish Peddler; Captain Felix Struck, a legendary tavern-keeper; Uncle Joe, the organ grinder; Marsh Lilly; The Peddler; Dorota, the island witch; Jones Island Belle; Ferry Man; and Net Mender, modeled after his wife.

Another vital grouping of Mickowski's figures include his family members. Mickowski depicted them as they worked, chopping wood or fishing; as well as at leisure, visiting, dancing, running, playing, enjoying good music, beer and life. He often carved figures specifically as gifts. Commemorating golden wedding anniversaries was one of his favorites.

A True Folk Artist

Whatever materials and tools he used to create a form, his figures undoubtedly exude emotion and appear to be a celebration of family values, work and the pleasures of life despite its vagaries. Though he had a clever sense of humor, on the whole his figures wear expressly serious and stern faces. Grins and smiles are rare with the exception of his remarkable figure of the Fisherman with a big catch, and that powerful and subtly humorous couple on the occasion of their golden anniversary, titled "My Man." Indeed, all of Mickowski's many figures display a style that is very spontaneous and singularly his own.

A generous man, Mickowski never sold a piece of his work. He made them often specifically as gifts for family members and friends. In 1968 he personally donated three of his figures to the Milwaukee Public Museum - The Fishmonger, Captain Felix Struck, and My Man. In 1994 five smaller but extremely interesting pieces were donated by Mrs. Margie Malin. Dozens more have been loaned by various family members, children and grandchildren of John Mickowski, for a special exhibit appropriately placed in the Clinton E. Rose case at the entrance to the Museum's "Streets of Old Milwaukee." This exhibit will run from March 18 through November 5, 1995.

In viewing Mickowski's carvings one can hardly remain indifferent. Its freshness and immediacy, a quality of a true folk art, is surprising. His carving clearly arose innocently and spontaneously, without any pretensions to any kind of a place in the world of art. He found carving one of the few pleasures he enjoyed and could afford. Through carving, he re-created the world he knew and loved.