Grassroots Art Tour Part III, The Deeble House

The Grassroots Art Tour in Lucas, Kansas does not stop with the Grassroots Art Center and its exquisitely eclectic courtyard. The tour also includes the Florence Deeble Home and Rock Garden a few blocks away. Just one look at the outside tells you this is no ordinary house.
I wish I had captured the sparkle from all those CDs better.

It all began with Florence Deeble who loved rocks and was inspired by S.P. Dinsmore's earlier work nearby. She began her garden in her 50s and continued working on it throughout the rest of her life. The garden consists of pathways and little vignettes or scenic recreations such as Mount Rushmore (above).Ms. Deeble used pre-made statuary, concrete, salvaged materials, and interesting rocks she found to form and decorate her garden.

The more interesting part of the story came after Florence Deeble's death. In 2002, Mri-Pilar began using the garage as her workshop and displaying her artwork inside the house.

I love this funky garage. (The fence isn't really hot pink, that's just the reflection bouncing off the side of the garage.)

Mri-Pilar specializes in art from recycled materials--especially dolls. Her line of remade Barbies is cleverly named ReBarb (or REBARB or Rebarb, I'm not sure which is correct).

Now, my Jo is a funny girl. She swears that dolls creep her out--except for Leanna's dolls. Leanna is my brother's wife and she makes purposely creepy and bizarre dolls in much the same way Mri-Pilar does. I thought Jo would like this doll below, so I took a picture of it for her. Apparently I've missed something. According to Jo this doll is not cool, it is super-creepy, and not in a good way.I don't get it. What do you think? Creepy? Cool? Other?

Doll art is not my thing, but I thought the next two pieces were interesting.

This is probably my favorite piece that was on display. You can see a better photo of it here. I think it is supposed to be like a sun dial with the baby in the bone cradleboard as a gnomon.Quirky yet clever. It seems to be a variation on two of Mri-Pilar's themes: Rebarbs and Unclocks. The Unclocks are pieces which somewhat resemble clocks but do not tell time.
I think the photo above has some of her Unclocks in it.

All the walls inside the house are covered in this metallic stuff and then crammed full of art. It is not the easiest thing to photograph, and it's a little overwhelming as you're not sure where to start or when you've seen everything.

I thought this piece was very ingenious as well. It's called "Motherboard".
Get it? Motherboard? Well, I was amused.

This was an interesting little grouping.

I also took this last photo for Jo. It's simply an old bathroom in the house where some of the artist's materials for future projects are being stored.
Jo did not think it was funny. I almost had it blown up poster size for her birthday. She's probably glad I didn't get around to it though. Even though I don't find most dolls particularly creepy, this scene is a little unnerving.

You can see more of Mri-Pilar's work here.