INSTALLATIONS
The Boren Sisters
The Boren Sisters were frontier women. They were strangely enough married to a pair of brothers. All were early settlers and founders of Seattle. Pull the rope and they do a curtsy. I created these cardboard and wood puppets for the Seattle Art Fair in 2018.
The Louvin Brothers
Ira and Charlie. Legends of Country Music. Their blood harmony chills the bones. And they’re from my parent’s hometown, Henager, Alabama. I made these cardboard and wood puppets for my one man show, “Invisible Ruler” at Joshua Liner Gallery in 2014. They were bought by a collector from my hometown,Chattanooga,TN. He then donated them to The Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, where, I’m proud to say, they’re on display.
Big Lectric Fan to Keep Me Cool While I Sleep
My first big installation-Big Lectric Fan to Keep Me Cool While I Sleep. I also call it The World’s Largest George Jones Head. He’s made of wood and very dense, beaded styrofoam. His eyes roll fretfully. Pull a rope and his mouth opens and whiskey breathe comes out. There’s an automated peep show inside his brain that you can see through a little hole in the back of his skull. It was a wonder. I was very honored to be chosen to do this at Rice University back in 2009.
Monitorium
This is my gothic story about the Civil War Ironclad, the U.S.S. Monitor. A big,dark room of interactive puppets, a puppet stage, sculptures and scale models built and exhibited at The Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art in 2017.
Halo Amok
An anagram of OKLAHOMA. Scrambled name for a Cubist scramble of cowboys,bulls and horses. They were mostly made of wood and creaked and groaned when you yanked the ropes to move them. This was a project for the Oklahoma City Museum of Art in 2013.
FOE
Starving, ragtag Confederate forces captured York, PA in 1863 on their way to Gettysburg. They wanted, shoes, food, whiskey and tobacco.This is my version of that event. As with most of my installations, it was built in a month using a crew of local hard working artists. Lots of wood, cardboard and styrofoam. Always with the rope pulling puppet animation. It was commissioned by York College in the freezing winter of 2014.
Wayne-O-Rama
My Chattanooga History Fun House, made and displayed in my hometown for a year, 2016-17. It featured puppet heads and sculptures of famous Chattanoogans, a huge plywood figure Chief Dragging Canoe, a black and white TV from my childhood as big as a small house and a fantastic Magic Lookout Mountain with a working Incline Railway and daily truck delivery. It was also a music and performance hall with many talented artists putting on shows. My love letter to the Dynamo of Dixie.
