Art gallery finds Funky Folks

No one had ever called Jay Hammond an artist before.

The disabled Marine veteran took a saw to some wood scraps a decade ago when he decided to make toys for his grandchildren. From there his hobby grew.

A few months ago, a neighbor ventured into Hammond's Olivehurst garage and took a look at the whirligigs and stoic figurines he'd created.

"We had no idea what he was doing in there," said Lily Noonan, curator of the "Funky Folks" exhibit at the Yuba-Sutter Regional Arts Council Gallery in Marysville — and Hammond's neighbor.

"We could hear hammering and a buzz saw going from across the street," she said. "Turns out he carves these crazy figurines and paints them. They're just wild."

"Folk Art" was the term she used to describe the finished pieces she saw.

Four of Hammond's creations are on display now as part of the new exhibit.

Noonan said a previously scheduled youth art exhibit fell through two weeks ago, and the arts council decided to feature a dozen local artists, "that just don't fit in with a lot of categories."

Only a few have shown their work at the gallery before.

Among those currently represented are painter Mark Fox, who makes use of the Internet to showcase his work and has been exhibited in several offbeat venues in Sacramento, and Paul Boehmke, who works with fused glass.

"It's really overwhelming to be recognized for something that I love doing," said Hammond, 66, of his own role in the YCRAC exhibit.

He thought Noonan was joking when she told him to go online and see how he stacked up against similar artists whose work, she said, commanded decent sums of money.

After looking at the sites Noonan suggested, Hammond had to admit his work showed at least as much detail and imagination.

It was a revelation. The longtime Olivehurst resident's beginnings are a far cry from anything he usually associates with artistry.

Hammond was born the youngest of 18 children, and had been the only one born in a hospital.

"The others were born in dugouts and sod houses," he said. Most worked farms in Nebraska, and a few moved to California. An older brother, "kind of more or less raised me."

He lived in Yuba City as a small boy, then moved with his brother to Napa County just a month before the 1955 flood.

There, he made it to the 11th grade, then quit school for the U.S. Marines. He earned his GED while in the service, did a tour in Vietnam, and came out with a badly injured knee.

It was the start of a series of health problems which ultimately led to his having to quit his job running the Rod and Gun Club at Beale Air Force Base.

"I didn't know what to do," he said of his confinement to a wheelchair, and of the boredom that set in as a result. "I couldn't even get down the river to go fishing anymore."

Creating scenes, objects and people out of wood scraps seemed to help fill the void. Now he spends several hours a day engineering carousels and other unusual wind-driven contraptions.

Hammond is the kind of artist that Noonan said she most favors.

"I appreciate the fine, high art style," she said, "but I love to find someone like this with no art pedigree. The person doesn't necessarily know why they're creating — they just start doing it."

The process, and the result, "is raw and fascinating," she said.

An artists reception for "Funky Folks" will be held Feb. 4 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. and is free to the public.

The exhibit, available for viewing Tuesday-Saturday, is also is free to the public, and runs through Feb.12.

Contact reporter Nancy Pasternack at 749-4712.