Morphing Metal et al: Sculptor rarely meets a piece of stuff he doesn't like

MOCKSVILLE -- Dempsy Calhoun has a weakness for puns. And bowling balls. And any other salvaged item that catches his eye.

That's why the Mocksville sculptor has ended up making a work titled "Queen Chamomile Checks the Royal Coughers and Suggests Medication," a womanly figure made out of recycled copper, brass, bronze, nickel, silver, with a bowling ball for a head and a salvaged porch column for a body.

Calhoun, 62, is one of the approximately 130 artists who will fill Benton Convention Center during the 46th annual Piedmont Craftsmen Fair next weekend.

The annual fair, which will open Friday with a preview party and will end Sunday evening, is open to Piedmont Craftsmen's members. Members, mostly from the Southeast, will be showing their work, including photography, printing, fiber, woodworking, jewelery and ceramics.

Calhoun, a North Carolina native who has been involved with Piedmont Craftsmen since 1971, is the kind of artist who doesn't work in just one medium. He lets his creativity wander, and wander and wander, even up the walls of a bathroom in his Mocksville house and gallery, formerly painted generic builder's white but now covered in elaborate, colorful sketches of trees and vines, a bestial-looking eye here and a sly, toothy grin there. They're pro-

gressive doodlings that started one day when he spontaneously picked up a colored pencil and started drawing near the shower.

Colored pencil is a favorite tool of Calhoun's -- he has even merged with his sculptures made out of more traditional media, such as stone and metal. It's an unlikely combination, but the pencils add splashes of color to the slick copper and brass fronds sticking out of a smooth river rock, or on found objects like tall fiberglass fins (wind turbine blades in a past life) that look like bulky surfboards.

Calhoun will bring several sculptures to Piedmont Craftsmen, including "Queen Chamomile"; "The Transport of Stolen Kisses," a sleek copper boat suspended on a stand and carrying a cargo of carved lips; and a series of tabletop metal bells with flared lips that look like flower petals. One is made from an old oxygen tank.

"I'm a big recycler and scavenger. I love to go to yard sales, junk shops, (find) trash along the highway. Metal can always be reused," he said. Other objects have to get his attention, and when they have it, he can't resist them. "It has to have a lyrical curve, the right gesture and texture."

Among his commissioned pieces are a giant rusty spike for Weaver Cooke Construction in Greensboro, sculptures at the N.C. Zoo in Asheboro and Temple Emmanuel in Winston-Salem, and façade and entrance metalwork for the Habitat Restore in Winston-Salem.

Calhoun's work is undeniably influenced by organic forms and whimsy -- think Maurice Sendak crossed with Dr. Suess -- but as far as the greater meaning behind each piece, he's happy to have you decide that for yourself. "It's an open-ended question. And I can't answer that for you. So what I'm hoping to do is stimulate a little more questioning."

This year's fair will include members demonstrating paper-pulp painting, wheel throwing (pottery), rug hooking and other skills, and talks on craft in the 21st century and a walking tour led by Jean McLaughlin, the director of the Penland School of Craft, a national center for craft education located in the Blue Ridge Mountains. "A lot of our members have studied at Penland or taught at Penland," said Deb Britton, the fair's manager.

This year's fair is also built around "6 Days in November," a marketing campaign highlighting Winston-Salem's arts-and-crafts heritage and "slow consumption," Britton said, something she likens to the Slow Food movement. The fair "gives you an opportunity to connect with the maker," she said.

"I think we're so overwhelmed and bombarded by stuff that means little or nothing to us. I think given what has happened in the economy, people are taking a deep breath and saying, ‘Why am I acquiring all these things?'"

That means that although plenty of Piedmont Craftsmen will have large, expensive pieces, there will be more affordable works, too.

Many of Calhoun's sculptures cost thousands of dollars -- "Transport of Stolen Kisses" is $7,200, and two bells he had in his gallery last week started at $1,500 -- but he will bring along switch plates, small hooks, paperweights and metal leaves that start at $15.

Other artists will have such small pieces as jewelry and coffee mugs in the $20-to-$30 range, Britton said, "which is more than you'd spend for mass-produced mugs at Target, but then again there is that connection to the maker."

lgiovanelli@wsjournal.com | 727-7302