The Sculptures of Tom Every

It's a snowy day in Minnesota, so I thought I'd put up a few pictures taken a few summers ago.

If you're ever near Baraboo, Wisconsin, take a side trip to see the amazing sculptures of Tom Every, better known as Dr. Evermor -- the greatest living environment builder (at least in Wisconsin, which is known for its environment builders).


Dr. Evermor is best known for this massive sculpture, The Forevertron. Built from found and salvaged parts as disparate as scrap metal and parts of Apollo 11, the Forevertron was steam punk before that had even entered anyone's vocabulary.

The book Sublime Spaces & Visionary Worlds (published by the John Michael Kohler Arts Center) said of it, "the Forevertron looks like a merry-go-round gone mad: a science fiction fantasy seemingly come to life from the pages of Jules Verne or H.G. Wells; a gigantic octopussian object that the artist describes as a 'soul-transformative device' " (page 345).


The Forevertron includes this tower Tea House, where royalty would sit to watch as Dr. Evermor perpetuated himself through the heavens.


Surrounding the Forevertron are dozens or even hundreds of bird sculptures, making up a single work that Every calls the Bird Band.


The Cello Birds are one part of the Bird Band.


The sculptor in repose on the day of our visit. Every was recovering from a stroke at the time of our visit, and I'm not sure how he's been doing more recently. I hope he's well.

_______________

A book called A Mythic Obsession: The World of Dr. Evermor came out last spring, collecting conversations between Every and the book's author, Tom Kupsch, and including quite a number of photos. A significant portion of it is viewable on Google Books.