He painted Port, taught its students

Frank Braun is perhaps best known as a longtime art teacher at Port Washington High School who helped students learn about the beauty and history of art and how to create art that reflected them.   

But his legacy goes beyond the students he helped mold. Braun was also a talented artist, and a large part of his legacy will go on display next month.

More than 50 of his paintings, many of them featuring scenes of Port and the surrounding area, will be sold during the Frank Braun Legacy Auction from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 30, at the Van Ells-Schanen American Legion Post 82 Hall in Port Washington.

The paintings include pieces of various genres and media and different styles of art, from representational to abstract and landscapes to collages — labeled on the back with the common and Latin names of the fish, flowers and fauna in the piece.

“Every stage of his painting life is reflected,” his daughter Leslie Braun said.

For years, she said, she kept much of her dad’s art in storage, but it’s time to give the paintings a new life with people who will appreciate them.

“I know my dad would want them to be shown,” she said. “I’ve got the pieces I want and my boys (Christopher and Charlie) have what they want.”

Braun, who died at age 84 in 2012, was a Milwaukee native who always wanted to be an artist, his daughter said.

But it wasn’t an easy path, she said. His mother was against the idea, telling him it was a waste of time.

“My grandpa said, ‘You let him be who he wants to be,’” she said.

But first, in 1944, Braun joined the Navy at age 17. He was stationed in California and was put to work interviewing soldiers who had gone AWOL, trying to find out why and then help them, his daughter said.

After he completed his service, Braun returned to Milwaukee, where he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

He met his wife Elizabeth “Betty” while in school, and the couple moved to Lowell, Ind., where Braun got his first teaching job. They later moved to Clintonville and in 1958 to Port Washington.

“He never wanted to leave Port Washington,” his daughter said. “He loved Port Washington, and a lot of his artwork reflects that.”

Braun taught at Port High for 32 years, retiring in 1990.

“As a kid growing up, I had no idea how he touched students,” his daughter said.

Jane Jacque, who is helping organize the auction, was one of Braun’s students and said he was known for encouraging his pupils.

“If you tried, he gave you credit,” she said. “He encouraged you to do things your way. He didn’t put students in a box; he let them decide who they were. I think he was just interested in kids.”

“He got people to really believe in themselves,” Leslie added.

Jacque noted that when they started publicizing the auction online, former students began reaching out with memories of Braun.

“I have a rewarding career in an art museum and I credit Mr. Braun for teaching some art history in his art classes,” Andrea Roemhild Selbig wrote. “He encouraged me in a way few other teachers did. He took a lot of abuse from students, but he was always a special teacher for me.”

Photographer Jim Buivid said Braun was important in his life, writing, “Art has a special place in my life and he certainly encouraged exploration and creativity.”

While most people may know Braun from his teaching, he was also a working artist. He did works for commission, painted the mural at the Harborview hotel pool and at the Hampton Inn in Milwaukee and he exhibited at gallery shows and art festivals.

One special painting Braun did was of the Eagle Bluff lighthouse in Door County, his daughter said. A friend of Port resident Rick Smith bought land in Egg Harbor for a military museum and reached out to representatives of the Soviet Union to obtain a T34-85T tank. In exchange, Smith asked Braun to do the painting.

On Oct. 24, 1991, a ceremony was held at the Port of Milwaukee where the tank and painting were exchanged.

“It was all based on peace and friendship,” Leslie said, noting the tank is at the Indiana Military Museum but the whereabouts of the painting are unknown. A video of the ceremony will be played during the auction.

Braun also made his own Christmas cards, and one series his daughter particularly recalls was the “12 Days of Christmas.”

“People collected them,” she said. “They looked forward to getting them each year.”

She said she has all but two of them  — day two’s turtle doves, and day five’s golden rings.

For years, Braun painted in a studio in the basement of his house on Woodland Avenue and displayed his works in his living room.

When the Wilson House restaurant opened in downtown Port, it became his gallery, she said. He exhibited and sold his artwork there and became friends with those frequenting the eatery.

Braun’s favorite medium was oils, his daughter said, adding he didn’t limit himself to painting. He also created sculptures and made jewelry, expanding his horizons as an artist each time.

Leslie said that the auction is being held at the American Legion Hall to commemorate her father’s years in the military, and 50% of the proceeds of the sale will support the Legion’s programs.

“He never felt he was worthy of being recognized as a veteran because he wasn’t deployed,” Leslie said. “But he always had a special place in his heart for veterans.”