Ron Lessman's Light Art at Truckhenge On a recent road trip I visited Ron Lessman’s Truckhenge in Topeka, Kansas. It is an Art Park that was once a farm that he inherited from his pioneer ancestors. Once you enter the creative vortex of Truckhenge, the famous line from the Wizard of Oz comes to mind, “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” Truckhenge also includes Boathenge, Beer Bottle City, chain saw art projects, recycled art and a number of scattered eclectic art installations. Ron lives in a Quonset hut on the property with his wife Linda who collects baskets. Peacocks run free and beautiful in this imaginative atmosphere. Ron has found prehistoric animal bones on his farm. Ron uses house paints for his canvases of aliens, spirits and a myriad of otherworldly subject matter. Some of his messages are banner style paintings that read “Justice 4 All” and an uplifted truck that bears the message “Rise Up.” The hood of one truck reads “Memorial for Liberty. Rome didn’t kill Jesus bureaucracy did.” Over the years Ron Lessman has had legal battles with the local health and zoning officials who didn’t like the “debris” on his property. He was told to “pick up the trucks” so he came up with the idea to anchor the trucks with tons of concrete and raise part of them up in the air. The wonderful outcome of these county conflicts is that Truckhenge and an outsider artist were born.