Sunday, November 22, 2009

Rocks and Glass at the Rudolph Grotto

Green glass against red rocks reading Grotto Gardens
Each time I traverse Wisconsin, I discover another folk art environment I didn't know about. This time it was the Rudolph Grotto Garden in Rudolph, not too far west of Steven's Point.

Jesus falls the second time, station of the cross
It was built beginning in 1928 by the parish priest. It includes the stations of the cross, which in late November were adorned with flowering cabbages.

Orange, pink and green square tiles in a harlequin pattern
Much of the grotto is rough red stone shaped into mounds, bridges and other outcroppings. My favorite parts were the tile work here and there.

Assemblage of tile and shells with the words In Memoriam
This memorial mosaic combines tile and seashells.

Red, yellow and green quartered cross
Detail of the cross shape on the memorial.

Multi-colored green, red, yellow and white glass chunks embedded into the red rocks
Crazy glass embedded into the stone.

Mosaic tile sundial
This sundial is part way up the large stone mound that houses the Grotto's Wonder Cave (which was closed for the season).

Geometric tile arrangement
More tile detail combined with the red rocks.

From the looks of the plant labels lovingly maintained throughout the garden, it appears as though the grotto would be an even better place to visit during the growing season.

(See my past post about the Glass Grotto in Cataract, Wisconsin.)

3 comments:

Ms Sparrow said...

There is a similar grotto built by a priest in West Bend IA. It has stones and stuff from all over the world. I was in high school when I went there but I remember it well.

Daughter Number Three said...

Ms. Sparrow, I did visit the West Bend grotto about six months before I morphed into Daughter Number Three. I will look and see if I have any decent photos of it to share!

The Radium Girls said...

I love this article ❤️