Wisconsin Concrete Park, Phillips

The Wisconsin Concrete Park is a sculpture park located along Wisconsin Highway 13 in the town of Phillips, Wisconsin. The park includes over 200 folk art sculptures built with concrete and decorated with glass bottles and other found objects. Fred Smith, who ran the Rock Garden Tavern on the property, began building the sculptures in 1948 after retiring from his career as a lumberjack. Smith, who lacked any formal artistic education, initially built two-dimensional bas relief plaques and eventually transitioned to constructing his larger sculptures. Smith continued building sculptures until 1964, when a stroke forced him to stop working. Smith claimed that the sculptures "came to naturally" and that "nobody knows why I made these sculptures, even me." ()