In this episode of “What’s up? with Michael Clish” Michael interviews Ann Engelman, the president of the “Friends of Lorine Niedecker,” a nonprofit group in Fort Atkinson.
While Niedecker’s poetry has long been represented within the community through both indoor and outdoor public art, recently, a third outdoor mural, featuring Niedecker’s work has been painted in the city’s downtown.
Engelman talks about the public art and shares some history about Niedecker’s life. Niedecker was born on Blackhawk Island, graduated from the Fort Atkinson High School in 1922, and while, after her second marriage, she traveled frequently, she lived a good deal of her life near and was highly influenced by the Rock River.
She began publishing poetry in the 1930s, and five volumes of her poetry were published before her death. Niedecker suffered a stroke in December of 1970. She died on New Year’s Eve. A Wisconsin State Historical Society historical plaque is located at the site of her Blackhawk Island home.
Engelman shares much more about Niedecker, the Friends of Lorine Niedecker group, its dedication to her work and memory, and the importance of Niedecker’s work and its literary contribution to American poetry.
Correction: Amy Lutzke, Assistant Director at the Dwight Foster Public Library, notes that the mural painted at the Fort Atkinson Middle School and seen behind Michael Clish and Friends of Lorine Niedecker President Ann Engelman was painted by Erika Koivunen of ACME Ironworks and painter Amy Zaremba, who worked to create a mural and recycled metal sculpture in the main hallway of the middle school. A reference to middle school mural painters made during the interview within the video is incorrect. Fort Atkinson Online regrets the error.
Click on the arrow above to view Fort Atkinson Online’s latest edition of “What’s up? with Michael Clish.” This episode, our last of this year, features an interview with Ann Engelman, the president of The Friends of Lorine Niedecker. The nonprofit group works to maintain Niedecker’s poetry and legacy as a focal point in Fort Atkinson. A third outdoor mural featuring Niedecker’s poetry, which was facilitated by the group, was completed this year.
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