World's Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things — Erika Nelson
Artist-built Environment | Sculptures | Private property -- Visible from the street
Don’t be fooled by the sideshow barker appeal of her love for giant things (or the length of the title of her creation.) Not only is Erika a maker of the utmost, she also contributes her talents working with the Kohler Foundation restoring iconic artist-built environments from the Garden of Eden and Miller’s Park in her home town of Lucas to Pasaquan in Georgia. She has served on the board of directors at the Garden of Eden, and tirelessly works to secure grants to ensure the site will stand for generations to come.
From her website:
Erika Nelson is a visionary artist, educator and one of America’s foremost experts and speakers on the World’s Largest Things. She is a national researcher and speaker on Grassroots Art environments, Roadside Attractions and Architecture, and the World’s Largest Things. Nelson is also the founder and curator of a unique and innovative traveling roadside attraction and museum called “The World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things.”
Nelson, formerly in network broadcasting, is now an artist, curator, speaker and educator that has exhibited her work nationwide and is in collections worldwide. Nelson is a guest lecturer and educator on college campuses, and has volunteered her many skills in aiding art and cultural centers nationwide in developing and executing events across the country. In addition to traveling to communities with her own unique traveling museum, Erika Nelson is a consultant to cities and Chambers of Commerce seeking to create their own “World’s Largest Thing” or roadside attraction to increase tourism, marketing and economic development for their community.
Special Accomplishments
Through her travels, she has written a Graduate thesis titled "Driving Around Looking at Big Things While Thinking About Spam", prepared a full meal utilizing foil and her automobile’s radiator and heat manifold, stood on a sideshow performer lying on a bed of nails with a genuine Kansas Cowboy at the last functioning "10-in-1" sideshow in Coney Island, found out what "The Thing" is in southern Arizona, drunk free ice water at Wall Drug, eaten Rocky Mountain Oysters, bought a Genuine Walnut Bowl from somewhere along I-70, seen Rock City, and been stuck in a traffic jam in Branson in front of Yakov Smirnof.
If you REALLY want to know it all, you can download and read the ever-expanding, academically correct curriculum vitae, a complete account of the exploits and exhalations of the founder of WLT, Inc.
From Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations:
Think about it. Using a van that once belonged to the Anderson County Senior Center, Erika travels the country visiting World's Largests of all kinds. Then she creates, sometimes on the spot, the World's Smallest Version of that attraction, and adds it to the display cases in said vehicle. Then she heads on to another - that is, when she's not writing her Next Exit newsletter or helping out with things in Lucas, where she now lives just a block down from the Garden of Eden.
Plus, Erika actually cited one of our shows as documentation for her master's thesis in something or other. We're honored, and we can't wait to see the World's Smallest Version of the World's Largest Ball of Videotape somewhere down the road!!!
A "Zippy the Pinhead" comic strip location.
Credit: World’s Largest Things http://www.worldslargestthings.com/aboutus.htm
Creator: Erika Nelson: 1962-
Creation date: 2002-prssent
214 South Main
Lucas, KS
785-525-6377
http://www.worldslargestthings.com
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On DVD
Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations, "Back to the Breadbasket", 2004.
Books:
"Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations Coast to Coast Travel-o-Pedia" by Randy Mason, et. al., Kansas City Star Books, 2009.
"The World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things" by Erika Nelson, published in 2018 by Press Syndication Group.
"Weird Kansas: Your Travel Guide to Kansas's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets" by Patti DeLano and Julie Hill (2005)
"Kansas Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff" by Pam Grout (2008)
Magazine Articles:
"The World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things" by Ann Friedman, published in the October 2019 issue of Smithsonian Magazine.
"Erika Nelson: Collector of the Colossal" by Shana Ting Lipton, published in the March 2019 issue of American Craft Magazine.
"The World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things" by Jillian Steinhauer, published in the August 2018 issue of Hyperallergic.
"Going Small: Erika Nelson's World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things" by Stacy Chandler, American Craft (July 2019)
"Erika Nelson's World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things" by Mike Parker, Roadside Magazine (October 2018)
"Artist Erika Nelson Celebrates Roadside Attractions With Miniature Models" by Jim Farber, Smithsonian Magazine (May 2018)
Websites:
"World's Largest Things" (https://www.worldslargestthings.com/) is Erika Nelson's official website, which includes information about her artwork, installations, and travels. CV: http://www.worldslargestthings.com/resume/Cv.pdf
"Erika Nelson: Roadside Attractions" (https://www.npr.org/2013/05/17/184598899/erika-nelson-roadside-attractions) is an article about Nelson's work, published on NPR's website in 2013.
"Meet Erika Nelson: Artist, Educator and Author" (https://www.kansascommerce.gov/blog/meet-erika-nelson-artist-educator-and-author/) is an article about Nelson's work, published on the Kansas Department of Commerce website in 2019.
"A life-size sculpture of the largest cow ever" (https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worlds-largest-collection-of-worlds-smallest-versions-of-worlds-largest-things) is an article about Nelson's work, published on the Atlas Obscura website in 2018.
Erika Nelson's website: https://www.erikanelson.com/ The
World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things website: https://worldslargestthings.com/
Kansas Sampler Foundation: https://www.kansassampler.org/
Roadside America: https://www.roadsideamerica.com/
