The Answer My Friend
October 24, 2012 6:59 PM   Subscribe

Whirligigs are whimsical, wind-driven expressions of American folk art that first appeared in this country nearly 200 years ago. Traditional designs depict common characters and activities of early American rural life, from farmers milking cows to lumbermen chopping wood. Here are some highlights of the ninth annual Whirligig & Weathervane Festival in Shelburne Nova Scotia, September 2008.

The only mention of whirligigs on M-F was this old post about Vollis Simpson's whirligig installation
posted by growabrain (9 comments total) 18 users marked this as a favorite
 
Your link under "farmers milking cows" is actually "kick in the pants". Which, BTW, has some awesome jaw harp playing going on in the accompanying audio (the song is "Sally Gooden", and if anyone knows who that is and where that recording is from, please let us know!).
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:10 PM on October 24, 2012


Aaaah!! Not in the abdobem!
posted by pompomtom at 7:20 PM on October 24, 2012


So - are there any doggystyle whirligigs?
posted by symbioid at 7:31 PM on October 24, 2012


Thanks for this. There's something so charming about these.
posted by Bartonius at 7:34 PM on October 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


The one with the poor lion tamer amazes me. I would never have been able to invent the mechanism by which his head slips out of the lion's jaws and jumps back onto his neck.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 8:13 PM on October 24, 2012


Gems like this are why I love MetaFilter. I would favorite this a hundred times if I could, over and over until the wind died down.
posted by not_on_display at 8:36 PM on October 24, 2012 [2 favorites]


Whee! Whirligigs!
posted by tingting at 8:40 PM on October 24, 2012


Came across this one of an automaton while exploring the videos related to one of the links. Doesn't run on wind, but still... Amazing. (Check out the system of weirdly-shaped wooden cams that gives it all those different movements!)
posted by Bartonius at 9:24 PM on October 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


Not as clever mechanically, but completely bats in their own special way, T. R. Reed (a. k. a. Fred Lane, of “French Toast Man” fame) makes whirligigs at his Creachter Kinetics Studios.
posted by scruss at 4:39 AM on October 25, 2012 [1 favorite]


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