MENUWeekly Column
Each week a small segment of Vernon County history is published in the county papers.
For the week of 3/22/2026
by Kristen Parrott, curator
Have you ever heard of the Painted Forest? That’s the name of a mural on the interior walls of the Modern Woodmen of America hall in Valton, Sauk County, southeast of Hillsboro. The mural was painted by a German immigrant, Ernest Hüpeden, in 1898-9. Recently a researcher found a notice in a Vernon County Censor newspaper from April 1895, a few years earlier, indicating that Hüpeden was living in Cashton at that time, and was visiting Ontario.
The researcher would like more information about Hüpeden’s time in Cashton and Ontario. Ernest Hüpeden was known for painting murals both on the insides and outsides of buildings, and for painting portraits and landscapes on plates and bottles. You can learn more about him at Painted Forest. If you have any information about Hüpeden living and working in and around Vernon County (other than his time in Valton), please contact us at 608-637-7396, or museum@vernoncountyhistory.org.
This is the last week of the “Good Earth – Deep Roots” art show, and the silent auction of art that accompanies it. The history center is open daily 11AM to 4PM for the duration of the show, which ends on Thursday, March 26. You are welcome to tour the art show and also visit the regular museum exhibits upstairs.
There are nine pieces of artwork in the show, mainly landscapes. They are all part of the museum’s permanent collections and were created by regional artists. Each piece is labelled with the piece’s title and the name of the artist and brief information about the artist and the artwork. An exhibit guide provides additional information about the art and its creators, including photos, newspaper articles, and biographies. The guide also includes the “personal responses” that were written and presented by local people for the exhibit opening, each response exploring ideas or memories evoked by the artwork.
Complementing the art show are an art silent auction and an art sale, again with artwork created by local artists. The art sale includes prints, cards, and illustrated books. 22 pieces are available in the silent auction, all with a local theme, including matted art, framed art, and illustrated books. The silent auction can be viewed in person or on the Vernon County Historical Society’s Facebook page, and bids may be placed in person or by phone, daily 11AM to 4PM. Bidding ends at 4PM on March 26.
Visitors enjoy the art show at the Vernon County Museum and History Center.
For the week of 3/15/2026
by Bridget Van Beckum, assistant curator
The art show “Good Earth – Deep Roots” is officially open at the Vernon County Museum and History Center! If you haven’t stopped by to see it yet, it’s not too late – the show will run until Thursday, March 26. This is the first time the museum is hosting an art show, and also a rare opportunity to visit the museum outside of our usual winter hours. We are currently open every day of the week, from 11 AM to 4 PM, until the art show ends.
“Good Earth – Deep Roots” features nine works of art from the museum’s collections, selected by guest curator Nathan Popp. These pieces – all landscapes in some shape or form – feature local connections beyond artist or subject matter. While most of them were either made by local artists or depict particular places in the area, they also have an additional, less expected layer of meaning for the people of Vernon County. We’ve invited several people from the community to prepare short essays responding to each work of art, detailing their reactions to them through personal stories, memories, or anecdotes.
A typical art show will display pieces primarily for the appreciation and interpretation of the art itself. But, as a history museum, we couldn’t resist putting our own spin on the idea! Exhibit guides that include these local people’s responses, as well as some extra background information on the artists, are available for all who visit the art show. We hope that this approach will add a new perspective to the show, one that relates to what a history museum is and does: combining physical objects with the stories and memories of individual people, in order to capture a more complete picture of life in Vernon County.
In addition to the art on display, there is also a silent auction, featuring work from local artists such as Ken Stark, Gordon Glass, Patsy Alderson, Karen Innis, John Craig, Kathy Fairchild, Christine Myhr, and Susan Reed. If that wasn’t enough art for you, there’s more! We also have pieces for sale by Gordon Glass, Jerry Riness, Dot Werth, and Nancy Bicknell. The silent auction will run throughout the duration of the art show.
Be sure to visit our Facebook page to see photos of all the art included in the auction. If you want to check the current bid or place a new bid, you can either stop by the museum in person or give us a call at (608)637-7396 any day of the week from 11 AM to 4 PM. Bidding will close when the art show closes, at 4 PM on March 26, and winners will be contacted shortly afterward to arrange a time to come and pick up their art.
This is a unique and exciting time for the museum. You won’t be able to find an art show like this anywhere else, so don’t miss your chance to see it before it closes! Thursday, March 26 will be your last chance to browse the silent auction, read the exhibit guide, and view these rarely-seen works of art.
Bear River Scene (c.1895), by local artist Mabel Treseder.
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