Delphos ? James Penquite, aka “The Byrdman,” is a 19th-century man trapped in a 21st-century world.

Modern communication devices have little meaning for the 58-year-old Penquite, who lives on a small farm in rural Delphos. He has no home telephone, cell phone or fax machine, and he won’t go near a computer, much less send e-mails or use the Internet.

The only effective method of communication is the old-fashioned way – by posted letter, to which Penquite replies with a handwritten one, sealed in a homemade envelope. And don’t even talk to him about television, which he said he hasn’t watched with any regularity since the 1970s.

What Penquite does instead is retreat to his workshop in a converted ramshackle garage at the rear of his property, which is stacked with rusted oil and brake drums, door hinges and knobs, faucet handles, window frames, split wood, table legs, stove tops, license plates, metal lampshades, tin sheeting and burned-out fuses.

It may look like an explosion of junk, but to Penquite, it’s the raw material of art. Penquite takes all this scrap material and molds it into yard art, primarily birdhouses he then sells to collectors at art shows, festivals and flea markets.

‘Junk art’

His nickname, “Byrdman,” is a tribute to the popular 1960s folk group “The Byrds.” Penquite’s unique birdhouses, made with rusty tin roofs, creaky doorknobs, hinges and faucets and scrap wood, sit on cut telephone poles and bases made from brake and oil drums and sell anywhere from $25 to $1,500, depending on the size.

“I really started making art out of junk because it’s the best way to cut overhead,” he said. Penquite also makes custom clocks, benches, mailboxes and outhouses out of scrap pieces.

Although Penquite has been an artist most of his life, only in the last five years has he pursued his art on a full-time basis.

Familiar sights

Penquite and his old truck have become familiar sights in Salina, where his yard art has many supporters. Salina resident Karen Greene bought so much of Penquite’s art that she said she virtually supported him for 18 months.

“And I gave a lot of it back to him so he would have stock to sell at the (Smoky Hill) River Festival,” said Greene, who owned dozens of birdhouses, several custom benches, two outhouses and an airplane made out of a rusty Hoover vacuum cleaner.

“Jim’s creative but eccentric – definitely a square peg in a round-hole world,” she said. “People are always finding things or bring stuff to him, saying, ‘Jim Penquite can make something out of this.'”

‘Borderline genius’

Salina resident Ann Headrick said she is a great admirer of anyone who can take what most people would consider junk and make art out of it. “I’ve seen other people try to do what he does and can’t,” said Headrick, who bought several pieces from Penquite at the Salina flea market.

“I don’t think there’s enough appreciation for people who can do art like that, to look at something and say, ‘This will make a great piece of sculpture.’ He may be somewhat of a madman, but he’s also a borderline genius.”

Penquite would like to see his artwork continue to circulate around the United States, especially on the East and West coasts where he said yard art is in high demand, “especially from Kansas.”

Penquite continues to fill his home with piles of junk and spare parts, then waits for artistic inspiration to strike – no matter how long it may take.

“I have stuff that’s been lying around for 20 years, but I know where everything is,” he said. “So when I get a good idea, I expect things to be in the same place I left them.”