'More than a pretty picture book' looks at Door Peninsula's overlooked people, places
FISH CREEK - Yes, Kevin O'Donnell's new book about the Peninsula contains lots of photographs of people and places in and around Door County. More than 140 photos, in fact.
But the subjects of the photos in "Behind the Door: Profiles of a Peninsula" aren't the typical subjects one expects to find in a Door County photo book.
Plus, they're not set just in Door County but across the entire Peninsula, meaning there's a little bit of representation for Kewaunee and far northern Brown counties.
And they're accompanied by 29 essays O'Donnell wrote that are matched with the photos.
Which is what O'Donnell aimed for when he started working on the book seven years ago.
"Behind the Door" was self-published by O'Donnell's Glenham Publishing on May 21, and people can check out the result of his large-format, 184-page effort at the official launch of the book Wednesday, June 26 at Write On, Door County, with signed copies for sale, wine and cheese, selected photos on display and readings by O'Donnell.
The Door County resident worked as an engineer in the pharmaceutical industry until retiring in 2018; a book he wrote for the industry won an international Book of the Year award and continues to be used by schools and as a guidebook to vaccine management. His photographs have been featured in publications including Wisconsin’s Great Waterways calendars and the Door County GO Guide, and he had a solo exhibit of 45 of his photos, mostly from Door County, in a Chicago gallery.
His 37 years in the pharma industry led to extensive international travel and kindled his interest in the traditions, cultures and history of the places he visited. That's what he said he's trying to capture for the Peninsula in the photos and essays of his new book.
To do so, O'Donnell said he strived to find people and places off the beaten path – "get off (State) 42 and 57 and travel the byways," he said – that reflected those cultures and histories. As he wrote in the preface to the book, "I mined the obscure rather than the obvious in order to suggest and share with visitors, and others, that there is more to the peninsula than bearded goats on a sod roof, weekend festivals, and fish boils."
He also pointed out that "the peninsula" geographically doesn't start when one gets north of Sturgeon Bay but instead includes portions of Kewaunee and Brown counties, so he wanted to have those areas represented in the book to giver readers a fuller picture of "the peninsula." For example, he feels Southern Door County is especially underrepresented when people talk about the region and its role in local culture and history.
"It's more substantial than just a picture book," O'Donnell said in an interview with the Advocate. "I wanted to create something that, one, was more than just a pretty picture book, and two, was about the entire Peninsula, not just Door County. My intention was to create a book about the Peninsula with regards to the things that maybe most visitors, and even some residents, don't see."
O'Donnell said he started the project with a list of subject ideas, but those sometimes changed organically as he learned more about his originally planned subjects or learned more about various people and places on the Peninsula.
"When I went into this project, I had the idea for it to to be more about people," O'Donnell said, "the five- and six-generation year-rounders with the family farms, the commercial fishermen."
Then, several places and things came into consideration as well. For example, O'Donnell said he happened to look up one day when in the Sturgeon Bay post office and saw a large, 4-by-14-foot mural on the wall above the entrance to the office. He stared at it for a while, and when the postal worker behind the counter asked if he needed anything, he asked her if she knew anything about the painting. Which she didn't.
Turns out the mural is titled “Fruits of Sturgeon Bay," painted in 1940 by Milwaukee-based artist Santos Zingale for one of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal programs to hire modern artists to create art for public spaces. Zingale was a well-known social realism painter in the day, so the mural is a noteworthy work of art, and O'Donnell highlighted it in his book.
"There've been folks who've lived in Door County for years but have never seen that painting," O"Donnell said.
It's people, places and things like that, that O'Donnell said he's trying to spotlight. The people, places and things that make the Peninsula what it really is,
"This book, I hope, captures with great affection," he wrote in the preface, "a glimpse into the work we embrace, the winters we endure, the nights we marvel, the environment we steward, the traditions we value, the history we cherish, the stories we tell, and the lives we live behind the Door."
FYI
The wine-and-cheese reception and launch for Kevin O’Donnell’s "Behind the Door: Profiles of a Peninsula" takes place from 4 to 6 p.m. June 26 at Write On, Door County, 4210 Juddville Road, Fish Creek. O’Donnell will talk about the making of the book and read excerpts from his essays, and photos from the book will be on display. Autographed limited-edition presentation copies of the book and standard editions will be available for sale, with a portion of the proceeds supporting Write On programs.
O'Donnell also will sign copies of the book from 10 a.m. to noon July 6, at Novel Bay Booksellers, 44 N. Third Ave., Sturgeon Bay, one of a handful of Door County shops that are carrying the book.
The book can be ordered from O'Donnell's website, kevinodonnell.photography. It also is available at Novel Bay Booksellers in Sturgeon Bay; The Belgian Delight Restaurant & Gifts, Brussels; Door County Maritime Museum, Sturgeon Bay, and its Cana Island Lighthouse Museum in Baileys Harbor and Death’s Door Museum in Gills Rock; Kick Ash Coffee, Ellison Bay; O’Meara’s Irish House, Fish Creek; The Ridges Sanctuary, Baileys Harbor; and Yardstick Books, Algoma.
Contact Christopher Clough at 920-562-8900 or [email protected].
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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Door County's overlooked, people, places focus of photo, essay book
