Vollis Simpson (1919 - 31 May 2013) was an American "outsider" artist known for large kinetic sculptures known as "whirligigs" made from salvaged metal. He lived and worked in Lucama, North Carolina.
Video Vollis Simpson
Early life
Vollis Simpson was born in 1919 to a Osco and Emma Simpson of Spring Hill Township in Wilson County, North Carolina. According to The New York Times, he had eleven siblings.
The 1940 US Census shows Simpson living at home with his parents, two sisters (Hazell, four years older, Eldnir, five years younger), and a younger brother Darvell. His occupation is listed as "farming".
Simpson served in the US Army Air Corps during the Second World War in the Pacific Theatre. He demonstrated his intuitive engineering skills while stationed on Saipan in the Northern Marianas Islands, where he constructed a windmill out of parts from a junk B-29 Superfortress bomber to power a washing machine for his company. After the war, he founded a house-moving operation with his brothers to supplement the income from the family farm. He designed and built much of the heavy equipment they used to move houses, and ran a machine shop as well.
Maps Vollis Simpson
Art career
Simpson built a number of large whirligigs on his land in Lucama surrounding a pond across from his workshop. This was referred to by locals as "Acid Park" because of how the sculptures would reflect car headlights when people came out after dark.
Simpson was commissioned to create a whirligig for the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. The 55-foot-high whirligig was installed at the opening of the museum in November, 1995.
Simpson was commissioned to create whirligigs for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Four of his works were installed at the Olympic's Folk Art Park and remained there on permanent display.
Recognitions
The North Carolina House and Senate recognized Simpson's contributions and in June 2013 designated whirligigs as the official folk art of North Carolina.
The Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park has been created in nearby Wilson, NC to document, conserve, and display the large sculptures that were present on Simpson's land in Lucama. The park had its grand opening on November 2, 2017.
In 2004 the city of Wilson, North Carolina held its first annual Wilson Whirligig Festival. The festival was renamed in 2016 to the North Carolina Whirligig Festival, and is usually held the first full weekend of November.
Quotes
"[I've been a] farmhouse mover, electric welder, carpenter, the list goes on. If you don't try something, you don't learn anything. Common sense. You come across a lot of these people that know so damn much, sometimes you find out they're dumber than I am..."
References
General References
- Vollis Simpson Artist Dies At 94
External links
- American Visionary Art Museum - Our Visionaries
- Science Museum of Minnesota article on Simpson
- PBS Independent Lens 'Off The Map' article on Simpson
- Indy Week (Raleigh area) article on Simpson on his death
- Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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