PC: John Michael Kohler Arts Center
In 1924, Wisconsin farmer Albert Zahn moved into a house he had built in Baileys Harbor and began filling it with carved birds, angels and wooden figures. He died in 1953; Louise had died three years earlier in 1950. As reported by Kohler Foundation, conservation work was carried out by Megan Thumm Mackey, a conservator based in Madison, Wisconsin.
His wife, Louise, painted the creations, turning their home into Bird’s Park, a local attraction that drew visitors for years. the house still stands and many of the carvings survive Although the original art environment has since been dismantled. The Kohler Foundation acquired numerous pieces, while the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan preserves a substantial collection and recreates elements of Zahn’s unusual home at its Art Preserve. By the early 1930s, the house and its grounds had become crowded with carved creatures. Birds appeared in groups and on structures around the property, creating an environment that was as much about their arrangement as the individual objects. Locals knew the place as Bird’s Park, and visitors came to see it while Zahn was still alive. The Kohler Foundation has acquired numerous works by Zahn through relatives and private collectors. The collection includes birds and other carved figures, a ship, a rooster weathervane, a bird tree and a rocking chair, alongside furniture and other objects. Their condition varied. Some needed substantial conservation, while others required little more than cleaning and minor stabilisation. Zahn’s work is preserved across collections rather than within the original setting alone. The Art Preserve’s reconstruction helps explain how the objects related to one another, while individual pieces document the details of his carving and Louise’s painting. Together, they offer a record of an art environment built gradually by a farmer and his wife in Door County.
Such work helped prepare pieces for continued care and public display, particularly where age or earlier conditions had left the wood and painted surfaces in need of attention.