{{Short description|Scrap metal sculpture in Wisconsin}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{for|the theme park in Pleasant Grove, Utah|Evermore Park}} thumb|Panoramic of Dr. Evermor's Forevertron thumb|Forevertron's Power Source thumb|Forevertron Bridge thumb|Bird Symphony's Bass Section thumb|Loudspeaker bird '''''Dr. Evermor's Forevertron''''' is the 2nd largest scrap metal sculpture in the world (after Gary Greff's ''Geese In Flight''), standing 50 ft. (15,2 m.) high and 120 ft. (36,5 m.) wide, and weighing 300 tons.<ref name="PBS, Forevertron" >{{cite news |url=https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/offthemap/html/travelogue_artist_2.htm?true |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070309034839/http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/offthemap/html/travelogue_artist_2.htm?true |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 9, 2007 |title=The Forevertron |work=PBS, On The Road }}</ref> Built in the 1980s, it is housed in Dr. Evermor's Art Park on Highway 12, in the town of Sumpter, in Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States.
The sculpture incorporates two Thomas Edison dynamos from the 1880s, lightning rods, high-voltage components from 1920s power plants, scrap from the nearby Badger Army Ammunition Plant, and the decontamination chamber from the Apollo 11 spacecraft.<ref name="Umberger, 2007" >{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3CdgUwZBNwIC&q=sublime+spaces+and+visionary+worlds |title=Sublime Spaces and Visionary Worlds: Built Environments of Vernacular Artists |author=Leslie Umberger |publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |year=2007 |isbn=9781568987286 |ref=Umberger, 2007 }}</ref> Its creator, Tom Every (1938 - 2020),<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.secretsofthecity.com/magazine/reporting/rakish-angle/mysteries-dr-evermores-forevertron |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081219152816/http://www.secretsofthecity.com/magazine/reporting/rakish-angle/mysteries-dr-evermores-forevertron |url-status=usurped |archive-date=December 19, 2008 |journal=The Rake Magazine |title=The Mysteries of Dr. Evermore's Forevertron |date=2006-01-25 |accessdate=2009-09-21 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.smallmuseumfolkart.org/artists/dr-evermor-tom-every/ |title = Dr. Evermor (Tom Every) - Small Museum of Folk Art}}</ref> was born in Brooklyn, Wisconsin and was a demolition expert who spent decades collecting antique machinery for the sculpture and the surrounding fiction that justifies it. According to Every, Dr. Evermor was a Victorian inventor who designed the Forevertron to launch himself, "into the heavens on a magnetic lightning force beam." The Forevertron, despite its size and weight, was designed to be relocatable to a different site—the sculpture is built in sections that are connected by bolts and pins.<ref name="Umberger, 2007" />
In addition to the Forevertron itself, the sculpture includes a tea house gazebo from which Every says: "Queen Victoria and Prince Albert may observe the launching of Dr. Evermor; it also includes a giant telescope where skeptics may observe the ascent." Dr. Evermor's art park is home to a large number of other sculptures, many of which relate to the Forevertron, such as the ''Celestial Listening Ear'' and the ''Overlord Master Control Tower''. Other large-scale sculptures include gigantic insects (the ''Juicer Bug'' and ''Arachna Artie''), the ''Epicurean'' bellows-driven barbecue train, ''The Dragon'', and ''The UFO''. The most numerous sculptures are the ''Bird Band and Orchestra'' which includes nearly 70 birds ranging from the size of a child to twenty feet tall, all made from scrap industrial parts, geological survey markers, knives, loudspeakers, springs, and musical instruments, among other salvaged materials.<ref name="Umberger, 2007" />
Every related that he took pride in allowing the original materials to remain unaltered as much as possible, using their original forms in new juxtapositions to create his aesthetic. Although Every has now died, the sculpture park may be toured free of charge (donations are encouraged) and may be accessed directly from Highway 12. Every also created much of the installation art for the House on the Rock, including the world's largest carousel.<ref name="Umberger, 2007" />
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.uncharted101.com/forevertron-the-mythic-obsession-of-dr-evermores-kinetic-architecture/ Forevertron: The Mythic Obsession of Dr. Evermore’s Kinetic Architecture -uncharted101] *{{cite web |url=http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2239 |title=Forevertron |author=Field Review Team |publisher=roadsideamerica.com }} *[http://www.kqed.org/arts/programs/writersblock/profile.jsp?essid=23932 Author Anisse-Marie Gross reads her essay "Forevertron"] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070311002912/http://wired-vig.wired.com/news/roadtrip/riverroad/0,2704,65168,00.html An Artist's Junkyard of Dreams] - Article from Wired magazine's Great River Road series. *[https://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=madmanitou Video diaries of the park] - A walk-through of the park in nine unedited videos. *{{cite web |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250124174510/https://www.angelfire.com/planet/dr_evermor/index.html |title=LuLu Fry's first-hand experience at '''Dr. Evermor's''' ''fantastical'' '''Forevertron''' just south of Baraboo, WI }} *[https://books.google.com/books/about/Sublime_Spaces_and_Visionary_Worlds.html?id=3CdgUwZBNwIC Sublime Spaces and Visionary Worlds: Built Environments of Vernacular Artists]
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Category:Visionary environments in the United States Category:Steampunk Category:Outdoor sculptures in Wisconsin Category:Buildings and structures in Sauk County, Wisconsin Category:Tourist attractions in Sauk County, Wisconsin Category:1980s sculptures Category:Sculpture gardens, trails and parks in the United States Category:Roadside attractions in Wisconsin