Artist seeks home for 'Junk Man Walking'

Kristen Hankla
The Post and Courier

Ron Dixon stands with his sculpture made of materials found behind downtown Charleston stores.

Wanted: a few cubic feet of space for a statue made of recycled materials.

"I don't care where they put him, as long as somebody takes him and puts him up," said artist Ron Dixon.

Dixon created "Junk Man Walking" using items discarded by King Street businesses. Metal tubing of various colors and sizes, presumably from clothing racks, make up the statue's torso, legs, arms and fingers. An aluminum head is topped off with the one item that wasn't trash — the dinner plate Dixon used during his 16 years as a Scoutmaster.

After assembling the pieces with bolts in his apartment at Ansonborough House, Dixon placed the statue in the Society Street building's garden.

He got a lot of positive feedback, he said. Passersby, including people from Arizona and Wyoming, stopped to have their photographs taken with "Junk Man Walking."

But after about four months, the statue was removed from the garden and placed in a maintenance room, Dixon said.

Now his artwork stands in his living room, tipping his dinner plate hat to Dixon.

Dixon doesn't mind sharing his space with the statue, but would rather it go in someone's garden, or at an art center or a statue area, anywhere it can be shown off, he said.

Inside his apartment are other works of art created with items Dixon has found or reused. A boat made of popsicle sticks. A monk carved from a 2-by-4, holding a crucifix that Dixon picked up from the sidewalk. A carved hummingbird hovering over a flower made with a ponytail holder.

"We have a lot of materials just being wasted, thrown away," Dixon said.

In addition to visual art, the retired social worker writes poetry and has published a book, "You Have Every Right to Be Happy, What's Stopping You?"

"Heavenly Father's given me so much talent it's unbelievable," Dixon said with a smile. "I just never found anything I can't do."

Reach Kristen Hankla at 937-5548 or khankla@postandcourier.com.