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Borrego Springs, CA

Friday, October 19, 2012

Whirligigs!!

After a relaxing time at the Wilson Public Rose Garden yesterday morning, I set out to learn about the famous whirligigs of Vollis Simpson.  Little did I know that it was going to be quite an adventure.  I started out by programing Jack-in-the-box to take me to Wiggins Mill Road in Lucama, NC.  I was looking for Simpson’s farm where he constructed and erected these giant whirligigs.

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Since all I had was the name of the road, I drove it from one end towards the other looking for the farm.  Because of their size, it was obvious when to stop.  There were lots of no trespassing signs, so I just parked on the side of the road and was immediately greeted by this beautiful black cat.  It was very friendly and really impeded my walking as it wove it’s way in and out between my feet.

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The whirligigs really are monstrous in size!  I had to walk along the road, and the vines and shrubs had grown well over my head.  I could really only get a look at the tops of these structures.

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Vollis Simpson started building these after his retirement in 1985.  He wanted to do further investigation of his windmill experiments that he had done on Saipan during WWII when he was stationed there with the Army Air Corps.  While there, he designed and built a windmill to power a washing machine.

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He’s now 93 years old, but still works in his shop daily on the farm by the field containing his creations.  I was hoping he would be there when I was, as I had heard that he enjoyed talking to visitors.  He wasn’t, so I didn’t get a chance to get close up with the whirligigs.  He has had to lock the area off because of vandals.  You can guess my reaction to that information.  What are people thinking?

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Finding his farm was only half of the adventure for the day.  Afterwards I returned to a warehouse in Wilson where about 25 of his wind-powered structures are being dismantled, cleaned, repaired, and conserved to be exhibited in a special Whirligig Park that will be erected in the middle of Wilson.

IMG_0911As I entered the warehouse, this gentleman offered to give me a personal tour of the restoration work.  He is a retired gentleman that works here three days a week, and it was more than evident that he loves his work.  To say that he is a wealth of knowledge about each individual whirligig and about Simpson himself is an understatement.

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Some of these sculptures are being restored while others are being reproduced so the originals can be exhibited as is in a planned museum of folk art.  Above is an example of a bicycle rider that will be reproduced to form part of a much larger structure.  The original will go to the museum.  Exact patterns are made from the original so that Vollis’ original folk talent is preserved.

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For parts, Simpson recycled and repurposed just about anything he could get his hands on from metal wine glasses to other industrial surplus.  Just about every part of every sculpture moves with the slightest breeze.  The complexity of his designs is just mind boggling.

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Can you see how some of these parts look lit up?  Well that’s because almost every part of each whirligig was covered with painstakingly attached small segments of old reflective road signs.  I just can’t imagine the time involved in cutting each of those reflectors into pieces as small as two inches and attaching them to just about every square inch of the whirligigs.  Just look carefully at that star that the guide is steadying for me about four pictures up.  The reflective effect was only appreciated by folks driving by the farm at night with the car headlights on.  It went from a dark night to something akin to Riverview Amusement Park in Chicago in an instant for those folks.  Truly amazing.

The whirligigs of Vollis Simpson will surely be the highlight for me of my time in Wilson, NC.  I really feel lucky to have experienced both the farm and the tour of the restoration warehouse.  If you can get here anytime in the next year, I would suggest you visit both while they’re still available.  Many of the whirligigs that I saw in their original state on the farm will be removed in the next year or so.  And at 93, who knows how long Vollis Simpson will still be with us.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

20 comments:

  1. Very interesting. Glad they are preserving them while still allowing people to see them.

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  2. I love seeing Mother Nature at work, but also love seeing what we mortals do with our creative talents... these whirligigs are wonderful... sort of like a Rube Goldberg concoction using found material. I'd LOVE to visit this place. Thanks so much for sharing!

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  3. This is amazing! I love to see the work of artists.....and especially when their work is recognized before the artist dies~!

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  4. Some people are so creative - his work is wonderful. It must have been amazing to see these creations in person. :)

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  5. Looks like a wind farm as designed by Congress...

    This is weird, my dad was stationed on Saipan with the Army Air Corps during WWII and has talked often about a guy who made a wind poweded washing machine.

    Small world? I'll have to run that name by my dad and see if it rings a bell (no pun intended).

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  6. The cat knew you were an animal lover :)

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  7. I love finding treasures like these in our travels. What a marvelous, creative way for Mr. Simpson to share his love and his art with us. Fantastic.

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  8. Fascinating. To bad they will b gone by the time we get that far East.

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  9. Truly fascinating, and how ingenious of him to use recycled materials in his creations.

    That black cat looks like our cat Phoebe.

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  10. Oh what fun to see these and some lit up too.

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  11. Great use of recycled materials, I like the added touch of the reflectors.

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  12. What a neat place. You are always finding such great of the beaten track things to see. I enjoyed this post!

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  13. Wonderful! That would have been such a treat to meet Mr. Simpson. What a talented man. Hard to believe he didn't start this park until after he retired. So glad to see that there are those that want to keep the park up and going.

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  14. Judy you do find the most wonderful things. Thus is just amazing. How do you do this?? Sure wish the artist had been at home. I'm very glad they are preserving these. I need to see if we can get over there soon

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  15. What amazing contraptions..and what an amazing man...He should have been an Engineer.

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    1. After the war, he designed and built heavy equipment for moving houses and opened a repair shop in a rural crossroads community in eastern North Carolina.

      That sounds kind of like an Engineer to me. The design and building of the Whirligigs seems to require a lot of engineering also. I don't understand "He should have been an Engineer." He IS an Engineer!

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  16. Lucky you to find this interesting place to visit! Wish I coulda tagged along. Enjoyed seeing it via YOU! Thanx.

    Nickie

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