I didn't know that Kenneth Starr was a green-eyed, orange-gold half-insect/half-mammal until I saw M. T. Liggett's sculpture at the
Grassroots Art Center in Lucas, Kansas. And when I did, first I laughed, and then I thought, "Of course!" Here I had been dully classifying him in the more generic categories of
Time and Money Wasters or
People Never to Invite to Dinner. He still goes into the same broad classifications, but now "Kenneth W. Starr" is irrevocably and comically linked to this shiny fantasy.
Lucas is full of playful art, by turns bizarre, grotesque, sentimental, painstaking, and just silly:
Bad puns: "American Fork Art" in the grassy space next door:
And the "Garden of Eatin" exhibited at the Deeble house:
Back inside the center, art from stuff found at Westlake Park by John Woods:
Carrie Nation on Roller Skates:
And lots of metal whimsy: John Scott's piece shows that, artistically at least, sometimes a fish can need a bicycle.
I love Jim Dickerson's flat metallic dog and the Gold Big Head on Wheels next to -- can that be asparagus? If so, I didn't notice it there, and I'm probably just making up the asparagus. But it wouldn't seem out of place.
Bob Mix's King of the Lawnmower (again, my title, not the artist's):
Inez Marshall's carved limestone pieces:
The motorcycle wheel is meticulously detailed:
Herman Divers's soda can tab creations:
The hat looks wearable.
Mri-Pilar's re-interpretations of the Barbie:
The "Rebarbs," as they are called, are so plentiful that they have taken over most of the Deeble house. There's so much to take in we didn't even make it to
Eric Abraham's Flying Pig Studio and Gallery or
The Worlds Largest Things Travelling Roadside Attraction and Museum ("the world's largest collection of the world's smallest versions of the world's largest things").
We were already exhilarated enough. Coming back to the Grassroots Art Center from the Deeble house, my father was moved to wrap a soda can around his foot and click at every step. He learned how to do that eighty some years ago. "The whole town will be talking about you," the tour guide told him, which just goes to show that even in the midst of all the splendor of Lucas, familiarity breeds boredom.
