You’re never too old to play with toys. That’s the lesson I learned standing next to an 8-foot banana made entirely of plastic dolls, space aliens and rebar. I had tripped to visit off-the-grid artist Terry “Tunes” Parks, 72, who created his own Texas-style island of misfit toys just north of Liberty Hill, outside Austin.
At first, I wasn’t sure if I was headed in the right direction. Then I saw a fence line covered in sun-bleached Barbie dolls. This was the place. I wandered into Parks’ yard, which doubles as his public gallery. Dozens of sculptures cover the space, each comprising hundreds of tiny toys organized into larger-than-life shapes—guitars, pyramids and even an Easter Island head. Dolls commingled with gardening tools hang from tree branches. It might have been terrifying if it wasn’t so playful.
Parks started creating around 2010, after he was diagnosed with cancer and doctors told him he didn’t have much time to live. The art served as therapy, helping him make his recovery while working tirelessly beside his brother Scott. Both are self-admitted music nuts, which explains why most of the art pieces are inspired by Texas artists like Willie Nelson, Frank Zappa and psychedelic pioneers the 13th Floor Elevators.
Every week, visitors and the local mission resale shop bring Parks—a member of Pedernales Electric Cooperative—boxes of unwanted toys that sit and wait for him to turn them into something bigger than the sum of their doll parts.
Parks’ art isn’t commissioned by highfalutin patrons and doesn’t exist to fill big-city galleries. Instead, the sculptures serve a higher purpose: making us smile, scratch our heads and remember when we played with toys too.
