Kenosha Pierhead Lighthouse Sunrise

by Scott Olsen

Title

Kenosha Pierhead Lighthouse Sunrise

Artist

Scott Olsen

Medium

Photograph - Photographs

Description

In June 2008, Kenosha Pierhead Lighthouse, deemed excess by the Coast Guard, was offered at no cost to eligible entities, including federal, state and local agencies, non-profit corporations, educational agencies, or community development organizations. After no qualified group stepped forward to assume responsibility for the lighthouse, it was placed on the General Services Administration auction website starting on October 18, 2010. Since the fifty-foot-tall cylindrical tower offers no living space and a potential owner would have to obtain a lease from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which owns the pier, it is not too surprising that the minimum bid of $10,000 was not received before the auction closed on December 2.A second auction for Kenosha Pierhead Lighthouse started on May 25, 2011 with a starting bid of $5,000. A bid for this amount was placed on June 17, and the auction closed on July 15 with a winning bid of $17,000. Five bidders participated in the auction, and the winner of the auction was John Burhani, a local artist. Burhani, who fished off the pier as a kid and learned to sail in Kenosha Harbor, felt the lighthouse would be the perfect space for his studio. After the interior of the tower was renovated during the spring of 2012, the lighthouse was opened on select days so the public can view Burhan’s work, which features marine scenes and sailboats. John Burhani passed away in 2015 at the age of forty-nine, following a courageous battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Heather McGee, John’s wife, decided to create an artist in residence program at the lighthouse to honor her husband and keep his vision of the space alive. In 2017, four artists transformed the pierhead lighthouse into a creative art studio that attracted more than 700 visitors over a two-month period. “I am thrilled with the caliber of talent the participants have had and the positive interactions between the public and the residents,” lighthouse owner Heather McGee said. “I am eager to continue and grow this program, and 2018 is shaping up to have more artists and more opportunities for our community members to experience art in its many forms.”

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October 22nd, 2020

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