By Katie Scarvey
kscarvey@salisburypost.com
John Morehead loves to find things. He frequents auctions, yard sales and thrift shops, and he’s not averse to a little dumpster diving now and then.
What he’s looking for he calls junk, but it’s not really, because Morehead transforms it with his vision. And after he’s finished, it’s junk no longer.
“Just finding stuff is about half the fun,” says Morehead, who lives with his family in Faith.
Pieces of a ceiling fan, parts of a camera, a shoehorn, an old saw, the leaves of a steamer, a wooden ice cream paddle ó they’re all likely to wind up as part of Morehead’s fish art. Not surprisingly, people who know him often refer to him as “the ultimate recycler.”
Morehead’s not quite sure why it’s fish that have captured his imagination recently, but he’s made dozens of fantastical denizens of the deep.
Some of them are designed to hang, but most of them, as Morehead says, laughing, are “off the wall” ó like the Mick Jagger fish, which features a prominent tongue made out of a shoehorn.
He’s used a real hammer in his hammerhead shark piece. The hooks of a coatrack mimic the whiskery barbels of a catfish on another piece.
Although about 95 percent of his art is fish-themed, Morehead isn’t a fisherman.
“I don’t even own a rod and reel,” he admits.
He doesn’t attempt to be exact, he says; that is, he doesn’t worry about scale (no pun intended) or whether the fins are placed in an anatomically correct way. His main aim is just to give each fish a distinctive personality.
It all started when Morehead ó who has worked at Freightliner for the past 13 years ó made a fish sculpture as a gift for friends who had a lake house.
“They loved it, and other people liked it, too” he said.
So he thought he’d make some more.
His wife Ruthie urged him to enter an art contest at Wooden Stone Gallery, and Morehead was one of three winners.
These days, people have taken to giving Morehead interesting things that they suspect he’d like to use for his art.
Bob Paolino, for example, gave him a bowling pin, and Morehead created a fish with it.
One of his favorites is a piece made for his son, who is a Salisbury police officer.
For that one, he used handcuffs as the side fins and placed a blue light on top.
Morehead donated one of his creations to be raffled off to raise money for Piedmont Players’ new children’s theatre.
The raffle took place during the run of “Barnum,” when show-goers visited a side show that featured Morehead’s half-elephant, half-fish ó Ella-Fish Gerald ó which was won by Shirley Fau. Morehead was part of the cast of the musical “Barnum” and also appeared in PPT’s “Little Shop of Horrors” more than 20 years ago.
Appropriately enough, Morehead created his Ella-Fish with material salvaged from the Friendly Cue pool hall, which is being transformed into the new children’s theater. He used woodwork, electrical conduit and bottle caps found on the premises.
As one can tell by “Ella-Fish Gerald,” Morehead has fun playing with words. Perhaps he got that gene from his mother, Dr. Martha Morehead, who used to be head of the English department at Catawba College.
In a piece called “Florida Keys,” the fins are constructed of house keys, and the words “Florida Keys” are spelled using the keys of a typewriter. Morehead had to ponder the title for a bit, since he only had one typewriter and he couldn’t repeat any letters.
Morehead figures he’s probably made about 60 of his piscean creations. At least several dozen are on display and available for purchase at The Wooden Stone Gallery, 106 S. Main St. Many of them are perched on a bench. The bench, which he constructed from wood, is completely covered with license plates from around the country.
It’s quite a stunning piece of pop art ó and took many hours to make, Morehead says, probably around 80.
He’s also made some striking American flag sculptures that incorporate found objects.
Most of his time these days, however, is devoted to fish.
“The fish really got to be fun,” he says. “It’s not something I get tired of.”
After work, Morehead works on his art in his basement, which is “pretty well my domain,” he says.
Some of his pieces he can finish in an evening; others may take several weeks.
Morehead says that he’s always been making something. It seems pretty clear that the urge to create is a part of who he is.
“I have made things just because I could,” he says.
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There will be a show of Morehead’s work at the Wooden Stone Gallery from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Jan. 9. Morehead will be available to talk about his art, and blues artist Bob Paolino will perform. The public is invited. Call 704-212-5243 for more information.