Barney Smith – Toilet Seat Artist

 Barney Smith, a career plumber, saw beauty in toilet seats. He has an immense collection of toilet seat art in which he created almost every piece. His first toilet seat art was when he mounted his deer horns after he had been hunting with his father. “What, exactly, is his toilet seat art? It's part found object assemblage, part collage, part hand lettering and drawing.” Roadside Americana. At this point, “the opportunity is ripe for a museum to get off the pot, so to speak, and actually acquire this elaborate collection, as Barney is looking for a permanent home to display his unusual passion.” Charney (Observer). He wants the collection to be kept intact not sold off piecemeal. He mentions that a toilet seat manufacturer in Wisconsin known as Bemis wants to display his collection there.

At 96 years old he began his toilet seat art over 70 years ago. From a family of plumbers he continued the trade while working his toilet seats. One day he was at a plumbing supply house and saw all the toilet seats they were throwing away. He was allowed to take some if he kept the lid and threw out the rest. After showing the guy at the plumbing wholesaler the art he did on one of the seats he was allowed to take the rest of the lids. This began his blooming folk art career as he worked his proverbial day job. “Starting in the 17th century, with the rise of art galleries in the Netherlands, artists first began to hyper-specialize in their subject matter and medium, and create artworks on spec, not waiting only for commissions. So Barney’s highly-specific art form is part of a rich art historical tradition, as he himself is aware, referring to himself as an ‘American folk artist’.” Charney (Observer). Untrained as an artist Barney practices what some would call outsider art.

People could not fathom why he chose to do his folk art on toilet sets. When Smith was younger he did paint on canvas so he wasn’t new to art work. “Why am I doing it?” said Mr. Smith, who was in the middle of gluing Scrabble tiles to No. 1,006. “Because I wanted to stay busy and keep with my business. I was a plumber.” Fernandez (NYTimes). Art is personal and the medium chosen often is ground in the artists’ personal experience. Remember this expression when you throw away a toilet seat what’s one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

Smith is eager to show off his treasured collection by appointment only. His museum is located in a garage in his backyard in San Antonio, Texas. “He even encourages visitors to bring in their own toilet seats since he prolific enough to always be running out. If someone does bring in a seat that he ends up using, Smith will engrave the donator’s name on the seat so that future generations will know where it came from.” Murray (Atlas Obscura). Depending on complexity each toilet seat can take 20 hours to complete. He has created a seat for each state in America among our diverse subjects. “Each seat is individually numbered and tracked in a detailed notebook.” Shetler (Quirky Travel Guy). This collection is inventoried and ready for a museum.

 

Barney Smith Is Selling the Contents of His Toilet Seat Art Museum
Barney Smith's Toilet Seat Art Museum
Quirky Attraction: The Toilet Seat Art Museum
In Texas Tradition, Museums That Enshrine the Quirky
Barney Smith's Toilet Seat Art Museum

Our Peace, Our Passion

Our Peace, Our Passion is the new driving force on Earth Prime. With the advent of N.E.S.A.R.A. in America there is ample funding to pay the bills both personally and government wise. The new wealth creates opportunities that most in America did not have previously. People who now have money to live their dreams especially creativity wise are learning to live like first class citizens. There is a new surge in the arts where artists now have the funds to open their own studios, where current studio artists have a new clientele flush with money, where the old adage of the proverbial starving artist is an economic relic of the now defunct New World Order.

Our Peace, Our Passion extends to all the countries of Earth Prime. The global version of America’s N.E.S.A.R.A is G.E.S.A.R.A; the predominately poor countries now have a rebuilding of their infrastructures where sanitation, fresh water, electricity, etc. is becoming the new norm. The artists of these countries have money and resources to live decently. There is a new rebirth of art that allows the passion of the artist to come forth. An artistic passion previously tinted by poverty that forced them to sell their art dearly to companies who resold it to more affluent countries for much more.

With the advent of anti-gravity transportation the world has gotten smaller. More tourism with more wealth is flooding the world economy. More artists are going to fellow artists in more countries than in previous generations. You are more apt to find an artist selling his/her wares at a local flea market that lives thousands of miles away. These new artists seek new markets and patrons in person instead of via the internet.

The colleges that cater to the artists are offering more courses in more robust studios and classrooms. They are flush with funding that offers free education, better facilities, and specialized equipment. These neo-Renaissance age artists are the new celebrities of the post solar quantum world. Many artists eagerly and nervously await the impending Ascension to see how art is changed even further.