Rising Stars: Meet Phrederick Ferguson of Atlanta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Phrederick Ferguson.

Hi Phrederick, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Mister Ferguson is… How should I begin? The beginning is a long time ago. At least the first beginning. The fourth beginning is probably best.

Mister Ferguson was discovered in a drawer, in a cabinet, in a boiler room, in the basement of a warehouse in Atlanta, Georgia that had once been used as a tank factory during World War II. It was a simple memo on one of those carbon copy papers. “Transaction 197502” from Main Supply. “ATTN: MR FERGUSON”

Mister Ferguson was long gone from the warehouse. It had been converted to artist spaces, light industry, Maker spaces, music studios, etc. Do you remember the scene in Avengers: Infinity War where Ant-Man stumbles out of the Quantum Realm? That was filmed maybe 100 feet away. Ant-Man would stumble out to the exterior of Mister Ferguson’s old stomping grounds.

After getting out through a scrap of paper, Mister Ferguson went to re-inventing himself. It was time to explore art and science. Get a little weird. Make a cloak out of thrift store stuffed animals. Disassemble dolls and put them back together in fun ways. Reskin Halloween toys as teddy bears. Dissolve gold from computer parts with household chemicals. Get new rules made at his shared workshop due to questionable methods of cleaning roadkill. Make armor out of street signs and soda tabs. Make machetes out of construction equipment. Take apart microwaves to make high voltage art. You know, the usual.

Maybe Mister Ferguson was the last incarnation of something ancient and forgotten; Amon-Set, the Egyptian God of mistakes. Something that did not really exist. Not a trickster and not evil. Amon-Set was created by accident in an attempt to give Set back his place of honor or by a cleric who had forgotten that Set had fallen out of favor or a gust of wind that caused a scribe to misplace a stroke. Maybe all of the above. Maybe none of it. In the ways that gods exist only when they are worshiped, Amon-Set came about, either in antiquity or only in my mind.

Maybe he is a whisper of something incomprehensible from the beyond. A cosmic idea beyond comprehension. A sound of a voice made only on the inhale.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One day this world will end. Long before that day, all the memories of our work will be ground to dust under the tectonic activity of the planet.

I will never get to see it happen.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I work in whatever medium I have access to. My largest body of work has been in concrete. Before that it was wood. Before that it was dolls and toys. Before that it was clay. Currently I’m working in leather and textiles.

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Likes: time, space, access to material and tools.

Dislike: demotivation, eating, sleeping

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @somethingsaurus
• Youtube: @phrederikferguson2404