Page 22 - South Mississippi Living - March, 2024

ARTS
story by Lynn Lofton photos courtesy of John Walrod
The Art of John Walrod
For assemblage artist John Walrod the old saying that one’s man trash is another man’s treasure is true. He takes others’ castoffs and creates interesting pieces of art.
“My art form is a bit unusual, not a typical fine arts category. I use old found objects, such as toasters, beer cans, radios, furniture, and car parts, to make 3D sculptures,” he says. “I call it ‘3D assemblage art’, though it is sometimes referred to as ‘found object art’ or ‘3D mixed media’.”
The aesthetic or style of his assemblage work is usually referred to as ‘steampunk’ because of the use of Victorian age materials and techniques combined with science and nature themes.
An engineering graduate of Mississippi State, Walrod worked on the Coast as a design engineer for almost 40 years, building advanced sensor and instrumentation systems for the military.
John Walrod.
Twenty years ago he started building furniture pieces using second hand material found at yard sales. Then 12 years ago he started experimenting with art pieces made from wood, metal, and glass objects.
“I have always enjoyed science, math, science fiction, antiques, and history, and was inspired by steampunk art books that had been recently published,” he explains. “I had also seen some remarkable assemblage artworks by Pass Christian artist Spencer Gray and Bay St. Louis artist Vicki Niolet.”
Those observations inspired him to go into his workshop and start playing around with old saw blades, rusty fan housings, springs, mirrors, broken wooden rulers, and other
22 | March 2024
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objects that might normally be discarded.
“Vicki, a prominent artist and gallery owner in Bay St. Louis,
invited me to bring some works to a steampunk-themed art