Felder Responds (Reacts?) The Tacky Yard Art Winners
worth consideration, even if it is almost "too nice")... the Voodoo Stik is ominous, and i considered it, but then it's not home-made. and the Lone Ranger -- wow! unfortunately, i don't go for straightforward concrete or ceramic sculptures, unless they are duded up righteously... like Tim Rowley's "Friend Joey, the barebuns pepper boy". Rosemary Rizzo's outhouse flamingoes made the final cut, of COURSE, for their sheer tasteless setting (the toilet paper did the trick for me), and Alex Ross's garden assemblage, the Toilet Flamingo, was just GREAT fun! i sure wish there was a special award for the driftwood dragon.
but i guess if i had to choose -- and again, I'm the Judge, right? and my taste is important, right? i'd have to go with Friend Joey, the barebuns pepper boy. very tasteless, moved around, and all that. a real show-stopper for someone who sees this stuff all the time, all over the place.
folks, it's been a blast -- and i apologize to those of you whose entries didn't get a mention -- they all have special places in your gardens, your minds, and even your hearts. and those of your neighbors, too,...
my own garden includes a bathtub grotto studded with glass door knobs and mirrors (and a spotlight), several kinds of scarecrows (tin man, welded man, re-bar guy), seven bottle trees, several whirligigs, many concrete birds and pink flamingoes (signed on their butts by none other than don featherstone, their creator), blackened chicken feet from the voodoo museum in new orleans, gazing balls, iron posts (eleven feet tall) festooned with refrigerator magnets from all over the world, over a dozen planters made out of cut, inverted tires, welded metal creatures, and an entire garden of nothing but metal plant labels, in neat rows just like REAL horticulturists use... i realized a long time ago that no matter what i do, or don't do, or whatever style i choose, the neighbors will talk about me ANYway, so instead of trying to impress them, i just blow it out with me and my family and friends, and we laugh a lot from pure joy. nothing sinisters, nothing devious, just having fun. life is not too short, but it's REAL short,. have fun, and i'll see yours in the next contest, right?
felder (author of Scarecrows and Other Yard Folk, Storey Publishers)