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Essex, Illinois: Jack Barker's Metal Menagerie (Gone)

RoadsideAmerica.com Team Field Report

Hours:
Jack died, sculptures dispersed, auctioned.
Status:
Gone

Jack Barker's Metal Menagerie.

Jack Barker's Metal Menagerie

A dense and varied variety of crazy metal creatures and characters created by junk art sculptor Jack Barker (1933-2012); was exhibited on his lawn.

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Jack Barker: Inspiration from Junk

Essex, Illinois - Jack Barker: Inspiration from Junk
Jack Barker's Metal Menagerie:

Jack Barker showed us some of his junk art sculptures and talked about his ideas.

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Visitor Tips and News About Jack Barker's Metal Menagerie

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May 16, 2012, RIP Jack Barker, Essex, Illinois.

Jack Barker (1933-2012)

Jack Barker was a Route 66 folk artist who got into sculpting by accident after he was laid off from his job at a nuclear plant. When we visited, shortly before he died on May 16, 2012, Jack was going strong, creating dinosaurs and animals out of metal and plastic junk and then bursting into song, accompanying himself on his accordion or Hammond electric organ. Jack told us that making folk art was a lot more fun than rebuilding old cars - another of his former jobs - because you could mess it up and no one would mind: it was still art. Most of Jack's sculptures were sold to collectors after he passed away, but some can still be seen around his hometown of Essex, Illinois.

[05/16/2022]

Barker's Knight.

Jack Barker Metal Art

Large metal sculptures of animals, bugs, people and more. Made of scrap metal items mostly -- some with moving parts.

[Karin V., 01/16/2010]

Jack Barker and Route 66 sculpture.

Jack Barker's Metal Art Sculptures

This is an update on Jack's metal art. I go there quite often, since he is my father-in-law, to photograph his art work.

[Karen Barker, 03/19/2009]

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