WINSLOW — Tim West, 72, of Winslow thought he would be discovered as an important artist one day, but it would be after he had died.
"Now it looks like I'll get known before I die," West said.
"Maybe four out of 100 will understand my art," West said. "For those four, they will be led by whatever force to find me and my art."
Diana Michelle Hausum, 35, did find West and his art and was intrigued by the imaginative pieces.
Hausum, 35, who prefers to be known artistically as Diana Michelle, came across West's bicycle fence on a rural road outside Winslow three years ago as she was looking for picturesque scenes to photograph.
"I came across the fence made of old bicycles and met the artist who had created it," she said. "He then became my subject. What started out as an environmental portrait session turned into a documentary. I told his story by presenting his body, environment and his art."
Though the bicycle fence is gone now, the photographer was so enthused over West and his art that she traveled to her native Little Rock with the photographic documentary and garnered an exhibit at the M2 Gallery. The exhibition, titled "The Artist," will feature Hausum's photographic series of West, his original drawings and paintings and folk art pieces he has made of concrete, as well as sculptures made of a variety of found odds and ends items.
West said he first began making sculptured folk art pieces when a neighbor found pieces of concrete.
"I thought they were an eye-catching thing."
From that point he sculptured faces from concrete.
"I've got five sacks of cement in my car now, but I've been dragging my feet when it comes to getting them out," West said.
Hausum, a University of Arkansas student has a bachelor of science degree in biology and will be graduating this semester with a bachelor of arts degree with an emphasis on photography.
West said he went to the UA for two years then studied fine art at Southern Illinois University for four years, graduating with an master's in fine arts.
"They thought I was the kinda citizen who wouldn't fit in," he said.
West's free spirit didn't land him a career like many university graduates. He had odd jobs from time to time.
"I earned enough to survive on," he said.
Art has been his passion and has taken up most of his time.
"It's a long walk to an unknown destination," West said. "I have no idea what I am doing. I am ashamed of my obsession, and beauty is impossible to define accurately. Still, I guess I know what I'm doing and compare it with what I could have done.
"I understand art; I don't understand art," he continued. "Who needs all the answers - settle for a mystery. My work is created on impulse. Symbols and shapes take form without a clear path. Rhythm, repetition and design take shape as I fill my drawings and sculptures with my surroundings - trees, structures, bicycles. Life, eternity and death become my work."
West said one can look at nature and 90 percent of what you want to know about art is there.
"Look at other artists' work and the other 10 percent is there."
Even as a child, art was first and foremost.
"My mother said the first time I had a pencil I made triangles and drew animals. When I was a teenager I got into abstract art. By the time I was 18, I had a picture bought by the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York." And various other museums around the country accepted his art, too. "Some paid me, some just kept what I sent in."
When drawing, he works mostly with magic markers and pens.
Hausum on the other hand uses a camera to create art.
"My work depicts the soul of the forgotten, andI portray it in a new light.
"I focus on abandoned subjects, showing the beauty and neglect," Hausum said. "It is meant to bring life and force theviewer to conceptualize its dignity despite years of abandonment by recognizing the integrity of what still remains and how it has changed."
Hausum said she is glad she discovered West and his art. She has turned to public relations to get his work recognized.
"It's not easy doing public relations," she said. "Especially when most of the time is used visiting galleries and focusing on the art. I really think this will turn into something big," Hausum said, smiling.
"Diana has changed my life," West said. "She's complicated, and she sees a lot more than a lot of people."
West said things have changed since Hausum took an interest in him.
"I don't feel like me," the up-until-now reclusive artist said with a hint of concern about all the publicity he and his art has had lately. "I thought somebody might find meand my art before I died, but I didn't think about it much. Well, she found me and changed my life.
The two artists have been covered in the September issue of "ay" magazine, interviewed by a Little Rock television station and a Northwest Arkansas radio station within the last couple of weeks.
The opening reception for "The Artist" was Friday at the M2 Gallery in Little Rock. Hausum's photographs and West's art will be on display through Oct. 19 with an artist talk to be held at the gallery Oct. 9.
News, Pages 1, 7 on 09/27/2009