Wind Machine

*Wind Machine* is a kinetic sculpture — meaning it uses movement for artistic effect — created by North Carolina–born artist Vollis Simpson. It was commissioned and installed in 2002, prior to the 2003 opening of the North Carolina Museum of Art Park. Simpson was born in Wilson County, North Carolina, in 1919. While stationed in Saigon during World War II, Simpson began building small wind machines. The fascination he held for wind-powered devices never left him — and it was when he was nearing retirement as a repairman that Simpson began to build whimsical, dancing, and spinning whirligig sculptures from discarded vehicle parts, streetlights, and other castoff objects. Eventually, a variety of one-of-a-kind whirligigs decorated his farmland in Lucama, North Carolina. Locals discovered the art — and it wasn’t long before Simpson’s whirligigs became a tourist destination. Today the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park in downtown Wilson displays and preserves the artist’s collection — which still draws quite the crowd. The *Wind Machine* whirligig here at the Museum was made from various recycled metal parts including fan blades, bicycle rims, and industrial truck parts. It was painted in bright patriotic colors. Unfortunately, as with all outdoor sculptures, its colors faded, and the parts deteriorated over time due to prolonged exposure to the elements. Many of the fans had also stopped spinning. In 2016 *Wind Machine* was refurbished and reinstalled so it can spin with renewed gusto for visitors who happen across it near the Smokestack and Welcome Center. In fact one of the North Carolina Museum of Art’s conservators narrowly avoided getting hit by one of its spinning propellers during routine maintenance, when a sudden wind drift turned the sculpture and swung its spinning blade in her direction. It was a close call, and a reminder of the hard work and sometimes unseen dangers that go into maintaining and conserving the unique sculptures that call the Ann and Jim Goodnight Museum Park home.