Travelers to Wisconsin discover a tremendous heritage of art traditions including sacred grottoes, yard environments, and enticing pri-vate spaces. In the land of the cheesehead, a giant fiberglass muskie, a statue of E.T., and scrap metal dinosaurs beckon from the roadside.

From 1991 to 2000, Don Krug and Ann Parker traveled throughout Wisconsin's urban areas, small towns, and rural communities, talking with artists who created outside the mainstream of university and museum art worlds. Some of the individuals profiled in this book have begun to receive recognition as artists far...