WILSON, N.C. – The eccentric vision of a self-taught North Carolina artist famed for his whimsical, wind-powered whirligigs is getting an overhaul that's as much about engineering as it is about art.

Wilson artist Vollis Simpson is gone, but his fanciful creations survive. Simpson created dozens of "whirligigs" - large-scale moving sculptures that use materials such as road signs, bicycle parts ...

(This is the ninth story by this journalist in an occasional series revealing “Hidden America” — worthy travel destinations unknown by most Americans.) Vollis Simpson was a character. He was a North ...

Wilson is known for the whirligigs, large kinetic sculptures made by Vollis Simpson. They spin all year long, like a windmill, but it's not as effortless as it might seem. Dedicated conservationists ...

RALEIGH, N.C. Where others saw trash, Vollis Simpson saw whimsical, wind-powered whirligigs, creations with hundreds of moving parts that turned and twirled. The whirligigs were made from recycled ...

The year was 1989. Charlie Gaddy was still anchoring the evening news. I was a young TV reporter trying to make my mark. And Vollis Simpson wasn’t even famous yet. A WRAL viewer called from Wilson and ...

A new one-of-a-kind park held it's grand opening Thursday and it features dozens of works from one of North Carolina's most famous folk artists. Hundreds of people were in attendance for the grand ...

For more than 20 years, Peter Gelker has been creating whirligigs. As a child Gelker – now a physician, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst – watched his father build the spinning objects. In his spare ...