Bill died in September of 2017.
For the next 20 months, we cleared out 200 tons of scrap, both ferrous and non-ferrous and 27 tons of garbage. Dozens of tools and hundreds of treasures went to people all over the state and even as far north as British Columbia.
Bill’s energy and vision are everywhere here at Pelington Village: the beams, electrical outlets, storage trailers, steel posts, salvaged wood on the ceilings and walls, and doors made from the sides of one of our old garbage trucks. The very idea of preserving these spaces to support local blue collar businesses was Bill’s. Even though one can feel his energy as you walk around, I wanted to preserve something of his love of collecting. And, oh did he love collecting!!
The walls of Bill’s old shop were filled to the ceiling with densely organized pieces of steel. Most of it went away, but we saved one 4’ x 4’ section—filled with metal shorts, 4”-10” long pieces of steel — waiting for just the right idea of what to do with it. We had many brainstorm sessions; ideas arose, were played with for a while and ultimately rejected.
Then one day we were talking with some of the Village’s metal artists and the idea arose for each of them to create a small metal sculpture using as much or as little of the metal shorts that they wanted to. We collectively have named these sculptures.
HOMAGE TO THE DENSIFIER—BILL WIGINTON
I’m hoping that these beautiful creations will live up in my garden which was built by Bill and me over the last 15 years.
A HUGE THANK YOU to the artists for their creations.
- Dan Haskett of Haskett Works
- Paloma Newton of Vintage Technology
- Henry Romano of Jump Ship Workshop
You can read about the open house and see close-up images of all the sculptures on on this post.
Much love to all,
Sooz
