Eric Abraham's Flying Pig Studio

Our day just got more and more interesting.  We stopped at the Flying Pig Studio and met Eric Abraham who is from Denver, Colorado.  The main medium that Eric uses in his art is Porcelain with lusters but he also does work in stained glass and paper.  He is a very talented artist as far as we are concerned.  He was also very happy to talk to us about his art and his projects and offered us a tour of his studio which is also his home during the months he spends in Kansas.

Window of Flying Pig Studio

Information About Eric

He does absolutely unique and beautiful work in porcelain.  I was thinking that he could make funeral urns and have another avenue of revenue.  I think they could be designed after the interests of the deceased.  I should have said something to him about it.

He said that he has sold several unique pedestal sink and mirror sets for homes in Colorado.  I can't imagine cleaning it but it is certainly artistic and too beautiful to wash your hands in.  I suppose whoever buys this type of thing has servants and lots of insurance!

The pieces above and below are a 
combination of porcelain and paper art.

The next post will be on the Bowl Plaza that is being constructed right now.  Eric has created the inside of the bowl.  He said it is blue water being flushed and is full of items that have been flushed down the stool - like fish, alligators, money, glasses, socks, etc. etc.  

Here is a picture of Eric and the bottom of the bowl.

More of Eric's porcelain creations.

This is Eric's kitchen.  I loved all the vintage kitchen appliances and he uses them!  The refrigerator has a chiller on top of the unit.  

I'm not sure what medium this is but it is one of his pieces.  His mother was also an artist and I think she had her studio in Santa Fe.  She painted old furniture and he had several pieces of her work in his studio.  His father was also an artist and he had a few of his paintings in his studio.  You can learn more about Eric at his website:  www.ericabraham.net.

Garden of Isis, Lucas, Kansas

Our next stop was stepping inside the Garden of Isis which houses the grassroots art of Mri-Pilar.  She has used the Florence Deeble house to display her art since 2002.  It is a kind of culture shock to walk into the house as all the walls as lined with tin foil.  There is a glare wherever there is a light source like a window!

Mri-Pilar is from Lawrence, Kansas and she makes her art from discarded doll bodies, toys, kitchen utensils or any other throw-aways that she feels she can make into art.

This recycled toilet seat makes an interesting statement!

As you can see, she uses a lot of Barbie doll parts in her art.  And, actually, as we were looking at her art, it really kind of grew on me.  It isn't something I would want in my house, but I can see it being displayed in other homes or businesses!  

Our guide told us that she was offered quite a bit of money for this piece of art which is displayed on the front porch, but she refused the offer.  We were told that Mri-Pilar just returned from an art show of her work in New York City.  I think it would go over well in New York.

Florence Deeble Rock Garden

Our Guide from the Grassroots Art Center took us over to see the Florence Deeble Rock Garden.  Florence was influenced by S. P. Dinsmore and watched him construct the Garden of Eden.  So she decided to use rocks that she brought back from her travels to build a very unusual garden.  She started building her artistic creations when she was 50 and she continued creating until she was almost 100 years old.  Her earlier efforts were a lot better and more artistic.  She was showing her age in the ones from her later years.
 

Her front porch, however, the artwork 
here belong to someone else.

I think you can tell that this creation was 
made after a trip to South Dakota!

This creation was after a trip to Capital 
Reef National Park in Utah.

This creation was after a trip to Oak 
Creek Canyon in Arizona.

I'm not sure where this creation was inspired but it kind of reminds us of the Rocky Mountains.  I'm sure our guide told us but without writing it down at that moment, the words are lost!

Our guide told us that the yard was always full of blooming flowers when Florence was alive and so it isn't nearly as pretty as it used to be.  Also, the colors in her art have faded some.

After looking at Grassroot artists' creations today, I've decided that my Mom would have made a great Grassroots artist.  I probably should have kept some of her sculptures and other art.  I don't know if they would consider her a grassroots artist or not because she didn't have her art work take over her whole place and she didn't have a yard to display it in! I will say that her sculpting work was better than Florence's in my opinion!

The house itself if now used by another grassroots artist, Mri-Pilar.  The next post will continue with her art.

Grassroots Art Center

The Grassroots Art Center, Lucas, Kansas

Our next stop for the day was the Grassroots Art Center in Lucas.  It is quite a compilation of stuff.   The woman who gave us the tour of the gallery explained that they try hard to protect the work of these artists because many times the art has not seemed like art to their heirs.  She said that in one case recently, they went to take a look at an artist's yard the day after his funeral and already all his art had been taken to the junk yard.  They spent time in the junk yard and had set up some of this guy's art in a large safe in the building.  On this one, I was with the relatives of the deceased.  It really looked like a mess of junk and I sure woudn't want to live next door to someone whose whole yard was full of junk hanging from everywhere!  However, to each his own, I guess.  Other grassroot artists displays were really interesting and unique and I would have been happy to take home a few pieces if I had a place to display them!

Artist:  Ed Root

Limestone Fencepost Carving by Fred Whitman

The courtyard exhibit of several walls of stone from the area is a tribute to the architectural work of stone masons in the area from 1870-1920.

Artist:  Ernie Pot - (barbed wire art)

Artist:  Robert Fredericks

Robert Frederick's art is for sale at the center.  He calls himself a "Contemporary Whimsy Bottle Folk Artist".  He has bottles that range from a quart to three gallons in size and he places very detailed figures inside.  He also probably pleases his neighbors as they say he has a huge outdoor concrete yard environment.

Artist:  Warren Homer Chambers

Artist:  Ernie Pot - (barbed wire art)

Artist:  M. T. Liggett

Several of Mr. Liggett's sculptures are on the road outside of Lucas.  His art is sometimes not too popular because he often comments on current event and assigns the name of a real person to his art.  He started building scrap metal totem poles in 1989 after he retired from the Air Force.  I'd like to visit his home some time to see his displays.  It is on Highway 54 east of Dodge City. 

Artist:  David Gustafson, Topeka, Kansas

I really loved the work of David Gustafson from Topeka.  This wire woman was made from small 1" pieces of wire.  She was three dimensional and looked like a shadow.  

Artist:  David Gustafson, Topeka, Kansas

Artist:  Herman Divers - made out of pull tabs.

The pull-tabs are the old-fashioned ones that were available in the 1970's. Each can tab had an extension on it that could be wrapped/bent to secure it onto the next tab.

Artist:  Herman Divers

The full-size motocycle was created out of 179,200 pull-tabs. These were pull-tabs of the 1970's - the ones that were a lot more sturdy.  He bent or wrapped each pull tab to the next and did not use any glue or reinforcements to make these life-sized art pieces.

Artist:  Inez Marshall

Inez Marshall is now deceased.  She started carving Kansas limestone in the late 1930's while she was recuperating from a broken back.  I think I would have really enjoyed her work if she hadn't painted it.  There were some pieces of work that she didn't finish that I really liked but once she painted them, they just didn't appeal to me as much

Artist:  Adolph Hanneman

After we left the Art Center our guide took us to another part of the tour.  The home of Florence Deeble.

If you decide to take a tour of this Grassroots Art Center make sure you have the time because the woman who gives the guided tours will really give you a tour and I think we were with her for over an hour.  We really enjoyed it but we didn't plan on spending that much time there.  And, some of the art wasn't too our taste.  I didn't take pictures if I didn't like it!!