But his art will live on — some as part of private collections, others on public display. Two of his 8-foot-tall bird sculptures sit outside in a garden near the entrance of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, whose collection also includes a transcribed interview with Every from 2005.

“He is super complicated,” said Laura Bickford, the center’s associate curator . “I think, like a lot of other environment builders in our collection, what they had to say in a lot of ways and what they needed to say was not able to be contained in the normal bounds of what we think of as art. It was really an entire way of remaking the world.”

After suffering a series of strokes, Every spent the final years of his life in Maplewood of Sauk Prairie, where he continued to draw and design. He had an infection in November and his health had gradually declined, Kottler said. Because of his condition, Kottler; her brother, Thayer; sister, Treasure Hoffmann; and their mother, Eleanor, were allowed to visit Every on Sunday. He died sometime early Monday, Kottler said.

Every will be buried during a private ceremony in the Rock County hamlet of Cooksville, where Thayer has a shop and where Every would weld. A celebration of life will be set at a later date.