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North Platte, NE Healing Machines - Emery Blagdon c. 1907-1985 Environment

Information: Born in the small town of Callaway, Blagdon spent most of his life on the sandhill plains of Nebraska. In the late 1950s he began to build a large device designed to channel the electrical currents of the earth and employ them to heal arthritis, cancer, and perhaps other ailments. Using various types of wire, aluminum foil, waxed paper, beads, paints, and various elemental substances, Blagdon made hundreds of individual elements for what he called his Healing Machine, and rearranged them frequently according to his perceived flow of energy. After the artist’s death in 1986, his estate was auctioned off, and, remarkably, all of the works in his work shed and those that comprised the Healing Machine itself were purchased by individuals who wanted the work to remain together. Today, the works that comprised the Healing Machine, some 400 individual components, are part of the Arts Center’s Collection. Cleaned and preserved, the Healing Machine makes its debut at the Arts Center as part of the SUBLIME SPACES & VISIONARY WORLDS: Built Environments of Vernacular Artists exhibition series, in 2007. John Michael Kohler Arts Center

	Reference / Links:
	Kohler Foundation Nebraska Arts Council Cavin Morris Gallery Rense.com Interesting Ideas
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Bibliography: "20th Century American Folk, Self Taught, and Outsider Art" by Betty-Carol Sellen, Cynthia J. Johnson, Neal-Schuman Publishers, New York, 1993. "Self-Made Worlds: Visionary Environments" by Roger Manley and Mark Sloan, Aperture, New York, 1997. "Self Taught, Outsider, and Folk Art—A guide to American Artists, Locations and Resources" by Betty-Carol Sellen with Cynthia J. Johnson, 2000. "American Self-Taught Art: An Illustrated Analysis of 20th Century Artists and Trends with 1,319 Capsule Biographies" by Florence Laffal and Julius Laffal, 2003. "Sublime Spaces & Visionary Worlds: Built Environments of Vernacular Artists," by Leslie Umberger, Erika Doss, Ruth DeYoung Kohler, Lisa Stone, and Jane Bianco, published by John Michael Kohler Arts Center and Princeton Architectural Press, 2007.

Credit: Nebraska Art Council

	Emery Blagdon, Untitled (Chandelier), Steel wire, copper wire, tin foil, 19 x 16.5 x 16.5", c. 1956 - 1984. Credit: Nebraska Art Council
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