The Man Behind the 'Gigs

The Man Behind the 'Gigs. . , Born in 1919 to a farming family with twelve children, young Vollis Simpson helped his father supplement the family income by moving houses. More attracted to the farm machinery than to tending crops. Vollis learned to service the tractors, bailers, threshers, pumps and implements that defined a working farm., Simpson retired in his sixties and, using some of the same rigs he had developed for moving houses, began constructing enormous whimsical windmills in his yard. They did not resemble the weather vanes and handcrafted whirligigs that are seen locally on houses, fence posts and barns. Over the years, more giant windmills began to rise in Simpson's field. Outsiders began calling them whirligigs, but he clung to his preferred term, windmills., Artistic Recognition , As word began to spread of Simpson's gargantuan windmills, people from across the region, and the nation, dropped regularly. The art world began to take notice and recognize his "outsider" folk art. Simpson's whirligigs were installed in various locations around Wilson. One whirligig was installed at the North Carolina Museum of Art; another four were installed in downtown Atlanta to herald the 1996 Olympics. Baltimore's Museum of American Visionary Art commissioned its own 55' high whirligig, voted as that city's most beloved outdoor cultural landmark. Vollis Simpson creations have been exhibited widely, including at the Folk Art Museum in New York City and at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum in Williamsburg, VA. In June 2013, the North Carolina House and Senate recognized Simpson's contributions and designated Simpson's Whirligigs as the official folk art of North Carolina.