“Art Colony Began in ’22” from the March 22, 1962 Door County Advocate
Art Colony Began in ’22
By MARY ARENS
The Arens Art Colony at Idlewild, Sturgeon Bay, a Summer School of Music and Drama, was established by Ludolph Arens and his wife, Mary Marguerite Arens in 1922.
Beginning as a small venture the school grew into an ambitious and artistic undertaking enrolling 20 pupils for two 4-week sessions of daily study and supervised recreation. Students came from Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota.
The faculty included in addition to Professor and Mrs. Arens Miss Irene Jenkins of Menominee, Mich. Guest teachers through various summers included Professor Rudolph Reiner of Chicago and Baileys Harbor; Gilbert Stansell of Scottville, Mich., and Esther Larsen Rasmussen of Kalamazoo, Mich.
After Professor Arens’ death in 1947 Mary Arens conducted the Colony successfully for four summer seasons with the assistance of Professor Walther Pfitzner of Minneapolis. Mrs. Adolph Roegner of Milwaukee and Miss Irene Jenkins of Menominee, Mich. In 1952 the high water of Green Bay Sawyer Harbor destroyed the main dormitory of the school built on Sawyer Harbor and to the regret of many parents and students the school was closed.
During the years Professor Arens was founder and director of the Polyphonia Society of Green Bay, forerunner of the present Symphonette and Symphony, and the orchestra gave summer concerts in Door county. Three concerts during successive seasons were given under the auspices of the late Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Ryan of Appleton and Door county at their beautiful home ‘The Junipers’ in Fish Creek (destroyed by fire in 1961). With the cooperation of the late Nick Haines, an ardent lover of good music, the orchestra presented concerts at The Pines Hotel at Idlewild and through the enthusiastic support of Mr. Bertschinger played also at the Alpine resort in Egg Harbor.
Mary Marguerite Arens in her capacity as Drama Teacher and Reader of Green Bay has appeared a number of times through the years for the Sturgeon Bay Woman’s club and the Algoma Woman’s club. For her first program she was the house guest of the Smiths at the old Smith home on Third Avenue and gave her program at Leathem Smith lodge.
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive