Projects in Kansas
Background
From 2010 to 2016 I made 7 consecutive trips to Lucas, Kansas. Each year I did at least one carving in or near the Lucas area. Lucas is a small town with a Grassroots Art Center and the highly visited Garden of Eden. Tourism helps Lucas survive, and I'm happy to contribute. You can get a card at the Grass Roots Art Center with seven of my Post Rock carvings and their locations. It's like going on a scavenger hunt. Some are in town and some are on K232, the Post Rock Scenic Byway.
Style
The posts usually talk to me and tell me what's inside. I approach things differently when I'm carving in Kansas. When I'm there it's the people who speak to me, metaphorically that is. The character and integrity of the farming folks is impressive.
We all can learn a great deal about common courtesy from the good people of Lucas, Kansas.
Process
The posts usually talk to me and tell me what's inside. I approach things differently when I'm carving in Kansas. When I'm there it's the people who speak to me, metaphorically that is. I have found the character and integrity of the farming folks to be refreshingly impressive. We could all learn a lot about common courtesy from the people in Lucas, Kansas.
Capturing Lucas, Kansas Through FRED's Lens
The first year I just expected to pass through and leave a face carved in a fencepost, but the folks I met at the Lucas Grassroots Art Center got their hooks in me and I stuck around.
Larry Hickman gave me permission to park my camper on an abandoned homestead where he kept his bulls.
My camper is just out of sight, behind an electric fence that kept the bulls in. In the middle of the night they'd
The next year I was offered a 35' trailer at the home of Richard and Kay Mettlen, so I carved their daughter into another Post Rock along K232.
The next year they outfitted a room in the back of their shop especially for me, with an LA Kings banner on the wall, and all.
For the next few years they put me up in one of their new hunting cabins.
They treated me like family, and are possibly the fines
Each morning, at about 9am, Richard Mettlen and I would join a group of farmers for coffee at the K18 Diner. They had all been up since daybreak for an early breakfast before heading out to work their land. It was coffee only, and they kept topping off the cups, still only a buck each.
One morning with a table full of farmers I told them I wanted to carve one of them, and asked who the most notewo
FREDSROCKART.COM's Creative World: Where Imagination Meets Reality
Larry Hickman was the local councilman and arranged for me to get a commission to carve Bob Dole for the Russel County Courthouse, as then were adding a new wing to be named after the local politician.
Part of my preparation was to read up on Bod Dole's life and career. He was an outstanding person who dedicated his life to helping his fellow man. It was my honor to create his likeness.
Kay Mettlen was the grand matron of a large family and was a grandmother several times over.
Over the years I did a few of my carvings in a covered space beside their shop.
She would come out to visit and show me pictures on her phone. One photo was of her grandson taking a leak in the bushes and it seemed like an appropriate subject for a carving.
The Mettlen's had a jolly sense of humor that spil
Another carving along K232 is called "The Singing Cowboy", after the local farmer who's name has slipped my mind.
I chose this fencepost because the location allowed for good visibility in both directions and had a safe place to pull off the road.
When I asked whose property it was, they told me was "The Singing Cowboy", a rancher who would show up in town with a guitar over his shoulder and would j