John Michael Kohler Arts Center

The John Michael Kohler Arts Center (JMKAC) is nationally acclaimed visual and performing arts complex in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. ​JMKAC’s mission is to generate a creative exchange between artists and the community. Central to its mission is promoting an understanding and appreciation of the work of self-taught and contemporary artists through original exhibitions, commissioned works of art, performing arts programming, community arts initiatives, and publications.

JMKAC has two museum locations with free admission and parking. The original Arts Center is devoted to innovative explorations in contemporary art, and features rotating contemporary art exhibitions and performances, classes and workshops, family friendly events, an on-site cafe, a gift shop, and a hands-on art studio. The recently opened Art Preserve—located three miles away—is the first museum of its kind dedicated to the preservation of artist-built environments, which involve an individual significantly transforming their surroundings into an exceptional, multifacted work of art. An experimental space designed to house the Arts Center’s collection of over thirty-five artist-built environments, the Art Preserve showcases artists from its permanent collection including Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, Mary Nohl, and Lenore Tawney, among others. More than a building, the Art Preserve is a platform for ongoing explorations and investigations into these environments, their makers, and JMKAC’s role as their institutional steward. 

Founded in 1967, JMKAC promotes the understanding and appreciation of the work of self-taught and contemporary artists. It has earned a worldwide reputation for preserving, studying, and exhibiting artist-built environments.