FOLIO
Words by Lorelei Belanger
“I’m RJ Higgins and I’m an artist, kind of by accident.”
In 2010, RJ Higgins had an ATV accident, fracturing C1, C2, C3 and bursting C4 vertebrae in his neck. He was paralyzed from the neck down with many people thinking he would be “fully paralyzed and driving a wheelchair with [his] chin.” Higgins started to slowly regain function and movement over time. He said every time he started to gain any kind of new movement, he would capitalize on it and work even harder.
Higgins was unable to return to his very physical job as an industrial mechanic. He also decided he needed to find a purpose in his life and something to do with his time, so he went back to school. He started going to classes but quickly realized he couldn’t take notes because he couldn’t write due to the lack of function in his hands. Prior to his accident, Higgins was right handed, which was damaged so significantly in the accident, it was virtually useless after the accident. He was able to steer his motorized wheelchair with his left hand, but “that was about it.”
He needed to fill his elective classes, so he signed up for a watercolor class, “I thought it would be easy because we all did watercolor in kindergarten and elementary school. I was really wrong. Watercolor is one of the hardest mediums in the world to do painting wise, in my opinion.” At his professor’s suggestion, he also enrolled in a drawing class. “And as it turns out,” Higgins said, “ I could actually draw and I could actually paint.” In addition to giving him a mental boost, the classes helped learn how to use his left hand, gaining motor control and dexterity. He stuck with art, and about five years later decided to try to teach himself how to weld left handed. “I went to Harbor Freight, bought the crappiest little welder I could find and just kept practicing. And eventually, I figured out that I could do it,” he said. And while he knows he could never get his welding certification, learning how to weld with his left hand gave him an outlet and a purpose.
Having purpose is important for everyone, according to Higgins. “If you don’t have purpose, you’re just wandering around aimlessly. You’re lost. So that was pretty impactful,” he added. Eventually, he started showing the pieces he was creating to people and his work started to gain traction, which began to give him opportunities to have pieces at local art galleries and markets.
Having a spinal cord injury, Higgins has dealt with many challenges throughout his career as an artist. One of the most frustrating, he said, is having only one hand to do things — and that comes with it own challenges, like spasticity. “Out of nowhere, it’ll be like a sudden surge of electricity and my hand will just jump.” But the most challenging part, he said, is not being
able to feel his hands, requiring him to look at his hands while he’s working. He also said exhaustion at the end of the day is a big struggle, “when you spend your whole day going, don’t squeeze too hard, trying to concentrate on making your hands do things, when you don’t know if it’s listening or not, it gets pretty fatiguing”.
From flamingos to pufferfish, Higgins’ portfolio includes anything ocean related you could think of. Growing up on the eastern shore of Maryland, he said you were either working on the water or on a farm, and although he did both, he said there is something about being out on the water that he just can’t describe.He started surfing when he turned 16 and immediately he was hooked. Being on the water, seeing the life in it fascinates him, so he has always been drawn to it.
His design process is unique, in that he doesn’t come up with ideas before finding materials or planning out his pieces. He lets the ideas and pieces find him, “I never really know what I’m going to make until I start grabbing stuff. I don’t sit around and draw up ideas. I don’t have journals or sketchbooks full of ideas. I will go grab pieces of wood or metal out of the pile and something about the piece, whether it be the shape or if it has a funny knot in the wood that looks like an eye, the way a piece of metal is bent or something as simple as the color of the metal”. A friend once brought him a couple of freon and helium tanks, he threw a bent piece of rebar over them and he instantly saw a flamingo neck and pink feathers. He is currently working on a school of eclectic fish, each fish is made with shapes of wood that he found in a pile. He said some will look weird, because they are made with weird shaped pieces of wood, which are his favorites since he “doesn’t have to make them look like anything, it’s unfettered creativity”.
As an artist, it can be tough to come up with new ideas, or hit creative blocks, but Higgins has an unique approach to dealing with this. He doesn’t struggle much with finding the idea, since the idea typically finds him, but he does get hung up on the next step sometimes. Instead of getting frustrated and sitting there stuck, he’ll place it in a prominent spot in his shop so he sees it as he passes by. “Have you ever seen the Lego movie? Where you see all of the little numbers and they show the master builders. That’s kind of how it is, where Ijust walk past things and see shapes and stuff and out of nowhere it’ll hit me”. He will sometimes turn pieces he isn’t proud of into something else, like a mermaid he’s been working on for two years for example, he’s made the upper torso out of metal three times but hasn’t liked any of them so, he puts it back up and keeps looking at it.
“I’ve learned, not just with artwork but with most things in life, you just settle down and don’t try to rush past it or force it. Everything kind of settles out where it needs to be. You just have to be patient.”
Another unique aspect of Higgins’ work is the source of his materials. All of his materials, with the exception of paints, stains, pigments and sealers, are reclaimed and recycled. The wood and metal he uses are brought to him by friends or followers. He has a friend, who owns an HVAC business, which is where most of the sheet metal for his projects comes from, he also brings him empty units and other components. Some of his followers from Steinhatchee brought him 12 satellite dishes recently. Another couple that follows him live on the river and collect driftwood while kayaking for Higgins. Frequently, friends and followers will message Higgins asking if he wants things they have or see others getting rid of.
If you’re looking to learn more about RJ Higgins’ story, or want to see his work in action, he posts his pieces in many different stages on Instagram and Facebook @artbyrjhiggins. He even shows what the pieces were before he turned them into incredible artwork. Or, checkout his website artbyrjhiggins.com. He is also at the St.Augustine Amphitheatre farmers market every Saturday.
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