Don Shull
Don Shullwas born in a barn in Mt. Pulaski, Illinois, in 1934. Don grew up on a farm and, after graduating high school in 1952, he took a job in Lincoln, Illinois delivering furniture. He met his wife Sandy and they eloped on July 14th 1954, the hottest day in Illinois history. They started a family and raised four children.
Around 1990, Don and Sandy began collecting folk art while traveling from Illinois to visit their son Randy in North Carolina. Don was suddenly compelled to connect his mechanical skills with his imagination and sense of humour in his own work, setting up a wood shop in the garage and “puttering,” as his wife calls it. From 1992-1995, he became obsessed with whirligigs. These mechanical wind-powered sculptures are, together, a self-portrait of Don Shull: he made them alone, for himself and from himself. Don carved and animated his daily tasks, his hobbies, his natural environment and his absurd and beautiful take on the world around him.
In the late 1990s, the whirligigs were put away in the attic as Don immersed himself in making more detailed figurative carvings — a body of work that continues to grow to this day. Typically made of basswood, most of these are hollow, functional coin banks with creative slots. Don has carved runners, workers, nude women, and seated men passing gas. Famous faces including Albert Einstein, the Obamas, and Paris Hilton also make carved appearances.
