John Michael Kohler Arts Center

08/24/2026

Currently on view, “When Threads Meet, They Speak” brings Bengali kantha, HMong-Miao paj ntaub, and Japanese boro textiles into conversation, exploring shared traditions of patchwork, care, creativity, and renewal across cultures and generations.

Curator Pachia Vang reflects on the impact in shaping the exhibition:

"One of the most exciting aspects of working within our collection was encountering an array of traditional textiles from different cultural groups across Asia. It felt like a treasure trove that gave us the opportunity to think deeply about their connections, a process that reinvigorated our commitment to their care and inspired this exhibition.

On display are examples that speak to their shared visual languages. The 10-foot-tall star is a Bengali kantha story cloth, illustrating scenes of heroic triumph and longing admiration amidst eye-catching creatures that teeter between myth and reality. Across from this masterpiece stands another: the Hundred-Bird Coat from the Hmu culture in China. Its rich blue colors highlight the widespread practice of indigo and batik, while its wax-drawn lines depict the mythological birth of humanity that arose from a butterfly, tree, and bird.

The show is curated to give viewers a chance to engage with both the magical and practical ways textiles fill our lives. It invites reflection on how our own stories can connect to one another and the pieces on display, which is what I think is special about textile art."

Learn more: www.jmkac.org/exhibitions/.

08/21/2026

Are you a licensed bartender in Sheboygan? 🍸

The Arts Center is looking to build a team of on-call independent contractor bartenders for special events, corporate events, weddings, and more!

✨ What’s in it for you?

Get paid for your time
Flexible, on-call event opportunities
All bar supplies provided

Interested in joining our team? Complete the form below to get started!
⟶ https://forms.gle/x3frW3MyKuMADAt36

08/20/2026

Don't miss your chance to experience Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis: Rock Fade (≈ 45 Billion Years) before it closes on August 30!

A line of stones, arranged from a massive boulder to a single grain of sand, invites reflection on deep time, human perception, and our relationship with the natural world. Simple in form yet expansive in meaning, the installation offers a powerful meditation on scale, change, and the passage of time.

Then, join us on Saturday, September 19, as the 79 stones begin their journey to their permanent home at the Art Preserve. Starting at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, a community procession—from the smallest stone carried by a child to the largest transported on a flatbed truck—will make its way to the Art Preserve.

Don't miss your chance to see the exhibition before it closes, and be part of its next chapter.

📸: (1-3) Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis: Rock Fade (≈ 45 Billion Years) installation view, 2026.

08/19/2026

Travel beyond your horizon with Wisconsin Art Destinations ✨

New T-shirt design! 🎨 Want one of your own? Visit 3 of 15 participating art museums across Wisconsin! Through November 15, check in at any 3 participating museums to earn a limited-edition, artist-designed T-shirt, while supplies last.

Learn more: www.wisconsinartdestinations.com/

08/18/2026

From the Arts Center to the Art Preserve, our washrooms are works of art themselves. ✨

Designed by artists and brought to life through Arts/Industry, JMKAC’s decades-long collaboration with Kohler Co., these spaces showcase the incredible possibilities that emerge when art, industry, and innovation come together.

Since 1974, Arts/Industry has invited artists from around the world to experiment with the materials, technologies, and facilities of Kohler Co., resulting in groundbreaking works that challenge how we think about everyday objects and environments.

Explore the stories behind these one-of-a-kind artist-designed washrooms through the JMKAC digital guide on Bloomberg Connects. 🎧Learn more: www.jmkac.org/digitalguide/



📸: (1) Detail of Beth Lipman's Wild Madder washroom installation at the Art Preserve, 2021. (2) Detail of Joy Feasley and Paul Swenbeck's Listen, the Snow Is Falling washroom installation at the Art Preserve, 2021. (3) Matt Nolen, The Social History of Architecture, 1999; vitreous china and glaze. John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection. (4) Casey O'Conner, Childhood Vitreous, 1999; vitreous china and glaze. John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection. (5) Cynthia Consentino, The Women's Room, 2005; vitreous china, stain, and glaze. John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection.(6) Carter Kustera, Tell Me Something I Don't Already Know (detail), 1999; vitreous china and glaze. John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection. (7) Ann Agee, Sheboygan Men's Room, 1999; vitreous china and glaze. John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection. (8) Detail of Michelle Grabner's Patterns and Practicalities washroom installation at the Art Preserve, 2021. (9) Merrill Mason, Filling and Emptying, 1999; cast iron, vitreous china, glaze, and chromogenic prints. John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection. (10) Ann Agee, Sheboygan Men's Room, 1999; vitreous china and glaze. John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection.

08/12/2026

Plot twist: art is an economic powerhouse. 🎨

We crunched the numbers from January–July 2026 and... wow.

$6.2 MILLION in local economic impact from visitors to the Arts Center and the Art Preserve. That’s a local economy buzzing.

And it’s not just repeat visitors. First-time visits are up 40%. New faces, new road trips, new moments to enter curiously.

✨ The Arts Center: 1 in 3 visitors traveled from out of state or nearby counties.

✨ The Art Preserve: More than HALF of visitors came from out of town, and nearly 3 in 4 stayed overnight. People aren’t just stopping by. They’re planning around it.

Turns out art doesn’t just move people emotionally. It moves people, period. Onto planes, into hotel rooms, and through the doors of local businesses along the way.

Here’s to more first timers, more overnight stays, and more proof that supporting the arts and community growth are the same story.

08/12/2026

Get ready to move tomorrow! 💃🕺 Come early so you don’t miss the dance lesson!

Dance instructor Sue Alby will warm you up for opener Cumbia Cachaca with a fun, lively Colombian-style cumbia dance lesson.

And the dancing doesn’t stop there! Sue will be back with us in December for more dance lessons. To learn more visit jmkac.org for details.

Arrive early, get ready to dance, have fun, and get into the cumbia spirit! 🎶

Let the music move you! Join us on Thursday, August 13 for Levitt AMP Sheboygan Music Series at City Green.

✨ 6:00 p.m. – Opener: Cumbia Cachaca
✨ 7:00 p.m. – Headliner: Plenazo Tribe

Bring friends, family, and your dancing shoes for a night of free live music, local food trucks, art-making activities for all ages, and a beverage tent.

Explore the full concert series schedule at jmkac.org. See you there!

08/11/2026

“I think of it as an expanded network, almost like a body.” —

Step inside Emily Endo: Estuary, an immersive installation where sculpture, glass, scent, and organic materials come together to explore the connections between bodies, environments, and systems of circulation.

Throughout the exhibition, Endo considers the ways natural systems move, connect, and transform. In Orchid Engine, a sculptural network that pumps scented fluid through its forms, the artist draws inspiration from plant life, water systems, and the rhythms of the natural world. Its fragrance combines orchid extracts, lichen, and geosmin, the molecule associated with the earthy scent released when rain meets dry soil, creating a sensory experience that evokes growth, humidity, and connection.

Experience Estuary at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center before it closes on August 30.

Plan your visit → www.jmkac.org

08/10/2026

Let the music move you! Join us on Thursday, August 13 for Levitt AMP Sheboygan Music Series at City Green.

✨ 6:00 p.m. – Opener: Cumbia Cachaca
✨ 7:00 p.m. – Headliner: Plenazo Tribe

Bring friends, family, and your dancing shoes for a night of free live music, local food trucks, art-making activities for all ages, and a beverage tent.

Explore the full concert series schedule at jmkac.org. See you there!