Raleigh newspaper surprise

Galen and I went out this morning and bought several copies of the Sunday Raleigh News & Observer after seeing Galen's photo in the Arts & Living section! We picked up a few copies at a nearby gas station and then headed to Starbucks to sit, relax and read.

Whirligigs in Wilson are making the news. The Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park received a $250,000 grant from The National Endowment for the Arts to refurbish the whirligigs and move them to a two-acre park in downtown Wilson.

Here is Galen working on the Christmas Tree whirligig. (The following photos are courtesy of The News & Observer.)

Below is the famed folk artist, Vollis Simpson.

Galen also made the front page of The Wilson Times earlier this week (photo with Vollis Simpson.)

Hubby is happy to be a part of the restoration of the whirligigs. The warehouse is located on the corner of Douglas and Barnes Streets and is open for visitors anytime Monday thru Friday. Large photographs of Vollis Simpson and the whirligigs taken by local photographer Burk Uzzle line the outside of the warehouse.

It's an exciting time for downtown Wilson, NC!

Cotton fields and whirligigs

Every year about this time you can drive the countryside here in the south and see beautiful white puffs of cotton.



As far as you can see, it's white like snow.

We had family visiting us from Pennsylvania (Galen's cousin and wife), so we took a drive in the country to see the cotton.

Of course, it's very common down here for out-of-towners to stop along the road and snip a cotton boll or two and take it with them. Just a couple of snips.

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We continued along, meandering the back roads until we came to the Vollis Simpson's "wHiRliGigs" ~ an attraction you must see if you're in Wilson County. Vollis is our local folkartist. His works are displayed locally and also at The North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC, The High Museum of Art in Atlanta, The Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, MD, and inner harbor.

We were fortunate that day to find him working in his shop.

He showed us his new piece and some other things he's been working on.

He left us go in the back part of the building to look at all of his other works.

Truly amazing!

And outside are these huge pieces.

He has more than 30 works erected on his property.

And would you believe they all come out of this small shop of his (below) nestled in the tall Carolina pines.

It was a beautiful fall day. The perfect day to do a bit of site seeing in the country.

Whirligig Festival

The annual fall Whirligig Festival was held in our town this past weekend. We had a beautiful day for it ~ temps in the mid 70's. Galen and I didn't have a booth this year (we just weren't quite ready for it), but we do plan on participating next year. The turn out was great!

The man in the photo below on the left is Vollis Simpson. He is the folk artist and the reason the festival got it's name. He makes whirligigs out of scrap metal, large and small. There are quite a few of his whirligigs around town.

Below was a whirligig contest where people made their own whirligigs out of anything metal.

There was art on the street.

Lots of crafts, tons of food and great entertainment.

This is the Art's Council where activities were held for the kids, and art could be viewed in the gallery.

Nearby is Hickory Grove Park. There are a few whirligigs here too!

We had a great day.

And I wanted to show you a painting I did of one of Vollis Simpson's whiligigs that stands at the library.

All the whirligigs are so colorful. That makes them so much more fun to paint!

Whirligig Art

We have a whirligig festival in our town of Wilson, NC, every year and it evolved from an artist by the name of Vollis Simpson who makes whirligigs out of scrap metal. My husband and I decided to sell some of our art this year in the festival. He does the wood crafts and I do the painting.

Our crafts are old-time Amish marble chasers, bird houses that look like birds, whirligig pinwheels, candle sticks, weathervanes, signs, and anything else we can think of to make. I am painting them in a folk art look.

The festival is the first week in November so we've been working like crazy. Lots to do, in fact I'm painting a marble chaser right now and two pinwheels. You may want to check out the festival news at http://www.wilsonnc.org/whirligig/. In fact, you might just want to come and check out our wares.