Local artists pay cardboard homage to Wayne White
One astounding fact about the creation of Wayne-O-Rama—the wildly imaginative and immersive tribute to local history designed by Chattanooga native Wayne White—is that over 300 volunteers shared their varied talents to help make it a reality.
Some recognized White from his Emmy-winning work on the television show Pee-wee’s Playhouse or the inspiring documentary Beauty Is Embarrassing about his remarkable career, while others just wanted to lend a hand with a rare and captivating project that playfully merges art and history.
The art exhibition entitled “Cardboard Coverall Dreams,” opening August 4 and running until August 28 at errSpace inside the Palace Picture House, brings together work from 13 of the volunteer artists with the common theme of how they were inspired by White.
The idea for the exhibition came from Atlanta artists David Gabbard and Amy Royale last November on Wayne-O-Rama’s opening day, after pulling an all-nighter with some of Wayne-O-Rama’s most dedicated volunteers.
“While working at Wayne-O-Rama, we all got to know each other; we created connections and friendships that have become priceless,” said Royale, an award-winning multi-disciplinary artist whose work focuses on social ideals and norms.
“Before Wayne-O-Rama I had been in a bad art rut, barely making work, and full of self-doubt,” said Royale. “After the first weekend working at Wayne-O-Rama, I was so artistically charged that ideas just started flowing. What was even more exciting was the more I worked with Wayne, the more confident I felt.”
“After the opening, we wanted to do something to celebrate the companionships created from being artists and give a thank you to Wayne,” said Gabbard, who creates fabric sculptures based on objects from his childhood.
“Artistically the past two years have been the most productive for me and have pushed me to pursue a career in art,” said Gabbard, who had a solo show in February and has been picked up for gallery representation. “Thanks to my time working with Wayne White and Wayne-O-Rama, I realize that can be a reality and not just a dream.”
Similarly, Chattanoogan Jason Doan had a personal transformation a year ago, giving up a stable information technology job to concentrate on being a working artist.
“It’s been amazing and terrifying,” said Doan, who drew from his earliest childhood memories for his piece in the exhibition, entitled “Milo,” calling its story “the perfect vehicle to relate the impact of Wayne-O-Rama and Wayne on my artistic journey.”
“Knowing Wayne has literally changed my life,” said Stephen Michael Haas, who traveled from Harrisburg, Pa. to work on Wayne-O-Rama for several weeks, calling the experience part of his education.“It’s better schooling than art school, and it’s cheaper,” said Haas, whose contribution to the exhibition is a mural.
“It’s me standing at the top of Lookout Mountain, and Wayne is the big general—a reference to the previous show I helped him on—but it’s pretty much saying Wayne has helped me climb my own mountain.”Savoring a challenge, Chattanooga artist Matthew Dutton appreciated the creativity and problem-solving skills of Wayne-O-Rama volunteers.
“Lots of intuitive engineering fatefully fell in place to get the initial Wayne-O-Rama machine oscillating,” said Dutton, whose piece for the exhibition is a collaborative sculpture, “the world’s largest Wayne White puppet.”
“I learned that when enough people come together, even in Chattanooga, great things can happen,” said Dutton. “This proof of concept has inspired me to seek more large-scale group art projects.”
“I know that giving over your vision to be executed by other people can be daunting, and it takes a lot of trust, faith and honesty when it’s not where it needs to be,” said Atlanta artist Megan Hovany, who works as a set designer and scenic painter for television and theater. “It was very cool to see Wayne’s gears turning in that way, navigating the ship, understanding that he was both very specific in his vision yet open to surprises.”
“My piece is a visual representation of the influence of cartoons and rock iconography on my young brain,” said Hovany. “Wayne’s work was heavy-hitting in that sense—the anthropomorphic furniture in Pee-wee’s Playhouse, the warped perspectives, the exaggerated gestures—it all got into my young mind and became a part of my artistic DNA.”
“One of the things I love most about Wayne’s work is that he doesn’t just make art, he creates entire worlds that you want to step into,” said Chattanooga artist James Bruneau. “I’m kind of trying to do that with my piece for the show.”
“I’m illustrating a fairly literal take on the idea of Wayne’s insanity seeping into Chattanooga,” said Bruneau. “Doing something ‘safe’ for this show didn’t seem appropriate.”