Public Sculpture – an intuitive perspective

I have posted six different posts about the “Stealth Public Sculpture In Milwaukee County’s Lake Park!” starting in unbelievably, 2021. They have moved and morphed and engaged me constantly over that period. I have linked all of the posts below if you want to review their history as much as I have been able to gather.

In the post just prior to this, I posted that the sculptor works under the alias of McMo. We learned that from a comment eventually posted on my very first stealth sculpture post. But McMo to my knowledge has been quiet recently and I thought all of his work had been removed late last fall, even the grande dame on private property just north of Villa Terrace Museum (see post #1 for photos).

And early this year into spring Milwaukee County was particularly aggressive in removing brush and dead trees along Lincoln Memorial Drive. So I thought an era had ended.

But then one day while heading home from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, late in the 2025 2026 Spring semester, a small stand alone piece appeared just south Colectivo Coffee where Athena’s Necklace had stood for a number of years (see the Stealth Public Sculpture In Milwaukee County’s Lake Park! McMo link below for a photo). I was very happy to see a work appear there again and I really fell in love with it. It had smaller appendages, more egg like, smaller in scale, smoother in texture, similar to his earlier work. Maybe six such eggs skewered on rods again and supported by a round or oval concrete base sitting on the bare ground. I expected it to last a while in situ, so I didn’t rush to get a photo…sadly.

But it was replaced by a large, long, bright, very energetic piece that plays back to McMo’s strength. Formed washed concrete or stone against rusting steel rods embedded and embracing a dead and collapsed tree trunk and waving in the air for all of us to admire. A perfect amalgam of man-made collapsing structure wedded with the end of life phase of the natural environment.

I am suspecting that this play has run…so I have included Fini? in the title. But it has been a marvelous experience viewing and documenting these works.

If you go to visit this incredibly beautiful work of art, please please please, be respectful of the work and the environment.

I think I know of one other piece but it is at a private residence. So I just smile and nod whenever I pass that way.

And the other links are here:

Stealth Public Sculpture In Milwaukee County’s Lake Park!

Stealth Public Sculpture In Milwaukee County’s Lake Park! Part 2

Stealth Public Sculpture In Milwaukee County’s Lake Park! Part 3: It’s Alive!

Stealth Public Sculpture In Milwaukee County’s Lake Park! Part 4: New Sculpture and Some Disappearing Acts

Stealth Public Sculpture In Milwaukee County’s Lake Park! Part 5: One New Sculpture and Two Disappearing Acts

Stealth Public Sculpture In Milwaukee County’s Lake Park! And The Sculptor Is? McMo

I have documented a number of pop up sculptures in Lake Park and environs over the years and every time I travel on Lincoln Memorial Drive, I search them out and treat them as landmarks on my journeys. But I hadn’t really traveled that route since the spring semester at UW-Milwaukee ended…but when I headed back that way after a visit to Shorewood, I was amazed to see a new sculpture. Now I am pretty confident that it wasn’t there during the Harley Davidson Homecoming Weekend, July 25 – 28th, 2023. But there it was last Thursday in a new spot just about a 100 yards south of Colectivo Coffee at the Lakefront (1701 N Lincoln Memorial Drive).

It is a classic work in the series using man made and manipulated elements of concrete impaled on steel rod and once again embedded into a fallen tree trunk.

and again, I apologize for the washed out look. I tend to visit in mid-day and the strong sun contributes to a very washed out look and of course the material is very reflective.

But in the meantime, it appears that two of our past examples have been removed. The first one was just north of the tennis courts (north of Colectivo) in the area that older boomers would know as the alternate site. I searched for it on foot thinking that it may have gotten overgrown, but I think that it is gone. Here is a photo from the archive.

and this one along the bottom of the bluff just immediately south of the gardens at Villa Terrace.

Some of the elements from the missing pieces may have been repurposed in the new stealth sculpture. It’s hard to tell but they are very similar in shape and size…and it would make sense to reuse them.

and as always: and if you know who the artist is, I’d like to talk with them. They can remain anonymous if that’s their wish. Or if you see more around town, I’d like to be able to document them…so let me know about them, please: contactaip@anintuitiveperspective.com

AND NOTE: this is the fifth in a series, so please search for stealth and enjoy them all.

Tag: Public Sculpture

Stealth Public Sculpture In Milwaukee County’s Lake Park! Fini?

Stealth Public Sculpture In Milwaukee County’s Lake Park! Part 5: One New Sculpture and Two Disappearing Acts