A hinda-what?

Although Sheboygan County is rich in Dutch and German heritage, the ancient Dutch folk art of hindeloopen has been almost forgotten. But thanks to a grant designed to educate the community about the folk art and train another artist in the long-lost skill, hindeloopens are returning to the area.

Examples of the artwork will be on display at the Oostburg Public Library, Nov. 5-30, with an opening celebration 6:30 to 8 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 5, where apprentice Rita Harmeling of Oostburg and her mentor, Mona Kochendorfer, will be available to answer questions.

The roots of Dutch hindeloopen folk painting go back hundreds of years to a time when people in the small town of Hindeloopen, the Netherlands, embellished their homes and ships with beautiful woodcarvings. During the winter months, the landlocked sea merchants worked on perfecting their carving skills and began to tint the carvings in the late 17th century.

Early in the 18th century, the motifs used in the woodcarvings were imitated with paint on uncarved wood. Other early painting imitated porcelain that was brought to The Netherlands from the Far East. The painting was done on walls, furniture and decorative pieces such as bowls and traveling cases called "buttes" (bootahs). Many of the motifs had religious significance. These are hindeloopens.

"The painting is to look like it was carved," Harmeling explained. "I would paint a light color and middle color and darker color, like a shadow, to be reminded of the wood carving."

Examples of Dutch folk painting were brought to Wisconsin by immigrants who arrived from the mid to late 19th century.

"Art forms are a great historical document of feelings and expressions in that they are different than the written word," said Harmeling, who began training under Kochendorfer earlier this year.

"Mona is just awesome, just awe-inspiring," said Harmeling. "She presents at national conventions and stuff. She told me it would take 20 hours a week for at least a year before I'd be good enough to do it before I could teach it, or be so knowledgeable about it. It's not a fast process."

Kochendorfer, from Kenosha, is master artist and teacher of hindeloopen folk painting. She was awarded a grant by the Wisconsin Arts Board that allowed her to find an apprentice and pass along her knowledge.

Fifteen Wisconsin artists were awarded similar grants from the Wisconsin Art Board, 13 of which were for Native-American art. The apprenticeship project is supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the state of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.

"I thought it was something so special that someone in Sheboygan County got chose to do this. Sheboygan has something to offer," Harmeling said. "I'm proud to live here and proud of my heritage."

"We will have eight pieces on display. It takes between 20 and 100 hours per piece, but part of that is because I am an apprentice, so I have to do a lot of studying before I make a stroke to make sure I'm using the right coloring and do a stroke well enough. It's very labor intensive, from getting the original wood piece, then sanding it down so that it's like the skin on a baby's butt," said Harmeling.

"I hope that they will discover that there is such a thing as Dutch folk painting," said Kochendorfer, a former teacher of art in Wisconsin public schools and technical colleges. She has studied hindeloopen in the U.S. and in The Netherlands. Her work has been included in national folk art exhibits, internationally read publications and was featured in a book she wrote for Plaid Enterprises.

The duo hopes that visitors Nov. 5 will bring original pieces of hindeloopen art that they may have from their ancestors in order to help others gain a greater appreciation for the art.

"We would love people to bring in samples of hindeloopen," Harmeling said. "There are so many immigrants that came from that area. We hope someone would bring an actual piece from that era."

To learn more about the history of hindeloopen and its painting styles, contact Mona Kochendorfer, 5007 31st St., Kenosha, WI 53144, mkochendorfer@wi.rr.com.