By Kathy Madigan
At 5 p.m. Oct. 27, the doors of Global View Gallery & Shop will close forever and southwestern Wisconsin will lose its real connection to the arts and crafts of Asia that have been present for over 40 years in the Town of Clyde.
No more visiting monks from India and Nepal making sand mandalas — starting and ending each day with prayers and singing, then ritually sweeping the sand into a container that is poured into the Wisconsin River at the Lone Rock landing with more prayers and flowers. No more festivals celebrating Tibet, or India, or Indonesia. No more visiting craftspeople from India, Nepal, Indonesia and Pakistan. No more slide shows of Marion Nelson’s spectacular travels. No more stories and explanations by Marion, Susan Ahrens-Arendt and Kjerstin Bell about the artists who created the teak/bamboo/tree root/mahogany furniture, clothing and the tapestries. Or the baskets, pots, wood carvings and boxes, painted masks, Wayang Golak puppets, jewelry, lost wax process metal figures, ancestor and religious objects all hand selected by Marion. No more field trips to Global View by students from Lone Rock, Highland and Spring Green who took handmade treasures back to their classrooms.
These things are disappearing from the formerly packed floors of the shop as customers and friends have come this summer to take one more beautiful artifact, one more memory of Marion and her stories back to their homes. To those of us who work there each day the shop looks emptier than in previous times as objects disappear, but other items now stand out that perhaps weren’t seen in the past.
Since Global View’s founder, Marion Nelson, died Jan. 2, 2018, her estate has operated Global View for the last two seasons. But now it is time for the estate to sell the last of the Global View products, and also sell the 40 acres that are shared with the Mahayana Dharma Foundation and are home to the barn/ shop, two-car garage and Mahayana Dharma Center house.
For me, personally, as the personal representative of the estate, this last adventure with Global View and the Willow Gold farm has been bittersweet. Many may know that Marion Nelson was my seventh-grade English teacher back in Naperville, Illinois. I would go over to the Nelsons’ house and drink tea made by Marion’s husband, Duane, and sit and talk, solving world problems, as Marion painted in her studio. I lost track of Marion after college when I moved to the East Coast. I reconnected with her after my sister sent me an article about Global View. Marion remembered me when I called; I went to visit her in 1995 with my friends and she offered me a job. I moved out to the farm in 1998 as the shop manager.
Although Duane worked with friends and family for years to build the barn’s upper floors, some of my favorite memories were helping him in the summer of 1998 to clean and stain beautiful red oak floors that were laid by Amish carpenters, and climbing up stepladders to the upper floors to put books on the shelves, using only flashlights, as there were no lights up there yet. On Labor Day weekend 1998, Marion’s Global View expanded into the multi-level shop as we know it today and was opened to the public.
We don’t know what is next for this unique property, but we know there has been a lot of interest, as the property is listed with Sue Pforr at First Weber in Spring Green. Maybe there will be a new business, maybe a new family will move into Clyde and make this their home. What we do know is that this land and this barn are special and will always hold memories for those of us who have lived and worked here.
IF YOU GO
What: Global View Gallery & Shop Close-Out Sale
When: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursdays-Sundays through Oct. 27, 2019
Where: 6593 Clyde Rd.,
Spring Green, WI 53588,
(608) 583-5311.
Take County Road C due west past Taliesin at the intersection of Highway 23 and C, and keep going until you reach Clyde Road. Turn left, continue for about a half mile and Global View will be on your left.
WANTED:
HOMES FOR GV CATS
By the end of the month, homes are still needed for around 18 cats, members of a friendly mostly feral colony Marion Nelson had been feeding for many, many years. More than 35 have been rehomed since Marion’s death in January 2018.
To adopt one of Global View’s feral cats, some of whom are pictured below, call (608) 583-5311 or email globalviewartisans@gmail.com.
I lost track of Marion after college when I moved to the East Coast. I reconnected with her after my sister sent me an article about Global View. Marion remembered me when I called; I went to visit her in 1995 with my friends and she offered me a job. I moved out to the farm in 1998 as the shop manager.
Although Duane worked with friends and family for years to build the barn’s upper floors, some of my favorite memories were helping him in the summer of 1998 to clean and stain beautiful red oak floors that were laid by Amish carpenters, and climbing up stepladders to the upper floors to put books on the shelves, using only flashlights, as there were no lights up there yet. On Labor Day weekend 1998, Marion’s Global View expanded into the multi-level shop as we know it today and was opened to the public.
We don’t know what is next for this unique property, but we know there has been a lot of interest, as the property is listed with Sue Pforr at First Weber in Spring Green. Maybe there will be a new business, maybe a new family will move into Clyde and make this their home. What we do know is that this land and this barn are special and will always hold memories for those of us who have lived and worked here.
Our current staff of Susan Ahrens-Arendt, Kjerstin Bell and Jing Hinolan, along with volunteer help from Fanou Walton, Corinne Lyon and I are ready to help you find that last “something special” to take home before the doors close. Discounts are at 50 percent with a few items excluded starting Oct. 1 and will escalate all month. All sales are final. There are no more returns accepted. The Gallery & Shop is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. Please come and help us empty our beautiful space.
These last two years I have had help from so many people: Susan and Dave Arendt, Kjerstin, Dr. Yangbum Gyal, Richard Brander and Jing, Don Gasser, Susan Lind, Corinne Lyon, Bryan and Fanou Walton and all our neighbors in Clyde, Julia Lambert, Sara and Erik Flesch at Voice of the River Valley, Alan and Jamie Holter at the Dodgeville Veterinary Service, friends in Spring Green and Dodgeville, American Players Theatre people, Kim Hammer handling our Facebook page, frequent customers near and far who keep coming back, and all the nameless people, both paid and volunteer, who gave their time and talents into making Global View a success these past two seasons. I will be forever grateful.
Letting go of Marion, Global View and Willow Gold is a Buddhist lesson in impermanence. I am ready to let go.
I have one huge concern: 18 or so outdoor cats still need to be rehomed. Marion had been feeding this colony of friendly mostly feral black and white cats for many, many years. The Dodgeville Veterinary Service has been enormously helpful in providing veterinary care and finding homes for more than 35 cats since Marion died. I’d like to give a shout out to Don, our resident caretaker, who has been feeding them since then. Please help us find homes for them as our doors close at the end of October and sadly we will not be in a position to provide them with food and housing.
Kathy Madigan has served as the Global View Gallery & Shop manager/bookkeeper since 1998 and personal representative of Marion Nelson’s estate since 2018. She can be reached at kmadigan@mhtc.net.