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Ruth DeYoung Kohler Timeline

The history of the Arts Center is inextricably linked to Ruth’s personal history—she was the guiding force for over fifty years. Important events in Ruth’s life and career are marked in blue, while significant events and milestones in the Arts Center’s history are indicated in brown.

Born to Herbert V. Kohler, Sr. and Ruth DeYoung Kohler

Courtesy of Kohler Archives.

October 24, 1941

Studies at University of Hamburg, Germany

The Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin), July 31, 1961, page 8

1961

Ruth and her father in the Swiss Alps

Ruth DeYoung Kohler and Herbert Vollrath Kohler, Sr., 1963. Photo courtesy of Kohler Archives.

1963

Invited to submit art to the Arts Center’s first exhibition, Paper ’68

The puppet, made entirely of paper, is the work of Ruth Kohler. The Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin), November 20, 1967, page 20

1968

Appointed Assistant Director of John Michael Kohler Arts Center

The Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin), July 19, 1968, page 15

1968

Capital campaign to build first Arts Center expansion launches

The Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin), August 22, 1968, page 4

1968

Visits Fred Smith’s Wisconsin Concrete Park and Rock Garden Tavern in Philips, Wisconsin

Fred Smith with Lincoln-Todd Monument, Wisconsin Concrete Park, (site view, c. 1962), Phillips, WI, 1948–64. Photo: Robert Amft, courtesy of Robert Amft Archive, Friends of Fred Smith, Inc.

1969

First Summer Theatre season

Summer Theatre, "The Fantasticks." Photo courtesy of Jon Doll.

1970

Appointed Director of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center

The Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin), March 20, 1972, page 3

1972

Appointed by Governor Patrick Lucey to serve on newly formed Wisconsin Arts Board

The Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin), December 4, 1973, page 7

1973

The Plastic Earth opens—one of the largest contemporary ceramics exhibitions in the United States

The Plastic Earth installation view at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, 1973.

1973

Elected for a three-year term on the Beloit College Board of Trustees

The Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin), June 10, 1978, page 4

1978

Visits Herman Rusch’s Prairie Moon Sculpture Garden in Cochrane, Wisconsin

Herman Rusch, Prairie Moon Sculpture Garden and Museum (site view, This for the Birds and Arches, 2006), Cochrane, WI, 1952–79. Photo: Michelle (Shelly) R. Nooyen.

1979

Footlights performance series is launched

The Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin), September 20, 1982, page 15

1982

Visits the Milwaukee home of artist Eugene Von Bruenchenhein

Marie Von Bruenchenhein, Ruth DeYoung Kohler, and Phil Martin of the Wisconsin Arts Board at the Von Bruenchenhein home, not long after Eugene Von Bruenchenhein's death in 1983. Photo: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via USA TODAY NETWORK.

1983

Arts Center becomes a collecting institution with the acquisition of works from Eugene Von Bruenchenhein’s estate

Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, untitled (bone chair), c. 1965–70; fowl bones, paint, glue; 7 x 4 1/8 x 4 1/8 in. John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection. Photo: Rich Maciejewski, 2016.

1983

Awarded honorary doctorate in humane letters, Lakeland College, Sheboygan, Wisconsin

The Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin), May 16, 1984, page 13

1984

Voyages, the Arts Center’s first themed exhibition series, opens

Voyages installation view at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, 1986.

1986

Named a fellow at Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, Madison, Wisconsin

The Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin), October 21, 1989, page 7

1989

Named Honorary Member of the Council, National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts

The Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin), April 29, 1990, page 22

1990

Arts Center commissions six artists to transform the restrooms into works of art

Matt Nolen, The Social History of Architecture (detail, west wing men's washroom), 1999; vitreous china and glaze. John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection. Photo courtesy of John Michael Kohler Arts Center.

1995

Over 150 sculptures from Nek Chand’s Rock Garden of Chandigarh gifted to the Arts Center by Kohler Foundation, Inc.

Nek Chand at the Rock Garden (site view, 1994), Chandigarh, India, 1965–2015. Photo: Maggie Jones Maizels, courtesy of Raw Vision.

1996

Presented with Wisconsin’s Governor’s Award for the Arts

The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin), November 21, 1997, page 41

1997

Receives a Visionaries! award from the American Craft Museum

The Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin), October 17, 1999, page 25

1999

Arts Center expansion is completed

Birds-eye view of the Arts Center Building and Grounds with the sculpture Keepsake by Patrick Dougherty, July 2001

1999

Receives 2003 Visionary Leadership Award from Intuit

Left to right: Ruth Kohler of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center accepting Intuit’s 2003 Visionary Leadership Award from Intuit President Cleo Wilson and board member Lisa Stone.

2003

Awarded honorary doctorate from University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh

The Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin), May 8, 2005, page 22

2005

Sublime Spaces & Visionary Worlds exhibition begins and catalogue is published

Sublime Spaces and Visionary Worlds: Built Environments of Vernacular Artists (2007) book cover

2007

First Big Sheboygan Shebang performed before a sold-out crowd

The Big Sheboygan Shebang, August 14, 2009.

2009

Receives honorary doctorate from Alverno College

Alverno College, Doctorate of Arts and Letters Honorary Degree Recipient Ruth DeYoung Kohler, May 19, 2012.
2012

40th anniversary of the Arts/Industry program

Arts/Industry 40th Anniversary Bash, June, 2014.

2014

Steps away from directorship of Arts Center and named director emerita

The Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin), February 5, 2016, page A1

2016

Three artist-created washrooms are commissioned for the Art Preserve

Detail of Joy Feasley and Paul Swenbeck's Listen, the Snow Is Falling washroom installation at the Art Preserve, 2021.

2018

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