67: Spiraling metal and wood: James Payne’s public sculptures

I stumbled onto James Payne on Reddit.com, where he asked folks in my town if they’d go check on, and take measurements of, a big piece of public art he’d loaned to the city a few years ago. 

I know that art! I’ve gotta talk to this guy! 

And he agreed. 

I got to ask Payne about his art sensibilities, how he got entranced by big sculptures, and the moment spirals grabbed his attention. 

If all went as planned, I went out at the end of May to spend an hour or two meeting Payne in person and watching a team slowly dismantle his sculpture for relocation to Colorado. And if all went as planned, Payne has continued to garner new opportunities to make and showcase more big, big art. 

You can find the most up-to-date online gallery of Payne’s art at bxiie.com. You can see the installation before it was taken down in Olathe, Kan., at that website titled “Isolation/Wood, Steel/2021.” 

He’s in IT today, but some day Payne would like to be a full-time artist. I’d like to see that too. In the meantime, we’ll all take what we can get from him …