Wednesday, June 16, 2004 11:21 AM CDT
Lincoln statues created from ‘all-nature art'
By BOB FALLSTROM, Staff Writer
"The Railsplitter," Abraham Lincoln with ax in hand, is folk artist John Matheny's newest creation.
Matheny takes the prickly balls from sweet gum trees and turns them into one-of-a-kind statues.
His depiction of Abraham Lincoln on a horse as the circuit rider was unveiled a year ago during Taylorville's Garden Walk. As a lawyer, Lincoln traveled to central Illinois courthouses on horseback.
"The Railsplitter," as well as busts of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln and a garden fairy, will be on display for the first time in storefront windows of Dukes Office Supply, at the southeast corner of the Taylorville Square, during the "Echoes of England" Garden Walk on Saturday.
Matheny, 72, is an Air Force veteran and was an engineer for 40 years in Springfield for the state of Illinois. He began the gum ball art about 10 years ago after fashioning statues from pine cones.
He has a basement full of pine cone art, including Woody Woodpecker, Santa Claus, birds, eagles, owls and Bugs Bunny.
In 2001, Matheny won a Taylorville scarecrow contest with a Lincoln figure made from gum balls. He was a repeat winner in 2002 with another Lincoln figure.
The emphasis will be on Lincoln when part one of an outdoor mural, "Abraham Lincoln's Windows on the World," will be unveiled at 1 p.m. Saturday
The artwork includes an arched door painted by Gary DeCourcey of Taylorville and two paintings by Cindy Adams, a Taylorville Junior High School art teacher. The paintings are the first of 10 to be created, reflecting Lincoln's life and times.
The unveiling will be by Richard Norton Smith, executive director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield.
The Garden Walk hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call 824-2194.
"My son, John, supplies the gum balls," Matheny said. "This is all-nature art. I take the stuff nobody wants and come up with an artistic display."
He uses Liquid Nails adhesive to glue the gum balls together.
"This is a poor man's hobby."
Contact Bob Fallstrom at bfallstrom@herald-review.com or 421-7981.
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