Niels Nielsen
Gonzo engineer, artist
Art by Niels Nielsen
Vehicular Art
While his two children were small, Niels carried on a family tradition by building them large outdoor play structures shaped like airplanes. After constructing four different toy airplanes and then extensively reworking them as his kids grew, he decided to build play structures for himself in the form of motorized art vehicles that he could use for transportation.
Click HERE for photos, videos, and written descriptions of his vehicular art projects.
Western Arts & Crafts
In recent years, Niels has travelled extensively in the American Southwest and during that time he developed an interest in western-themed art. He is entirely self-taught. His assemblage pieces are constructed entirely from found objects and recycled and repurposed materials including barbed wire, twine, denim, aluminum, pewter, horse shoes, cowboy boot leather, Mexican coins, rope, and bullet casings.
Click HERE to see a sampling of his western art.
Amps
When Niels first started learning to play bass in 1970, he had no money for amplifiers or speakers- and so he had to build his own, using scrap lumber form his father’s cabinet shop and bits of electronic gear scrounged from garage sales and junk stores. Over 45 years later, he is still at it.
Click HERE to see examples of his amplifier creations.
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Basses & Guitars
Niels has been an electric bass player since 1970 and played in a number of working rock bands while in college and while working in high tech. During that time he also built, repaired, and customized electric guitars, basses, tube amps, and PA systems for himself and his friends. Today he constructs boutique amplifiers and unique electric and acoustic basses under the Nielsen Kill-O-Watt brand and teaches others how to do this as founder and chief organizer of the Corvallis Vacuum Tube Collective.
Click HERE to see examples of his bass and guitar projects.
What About Those Fezzes?
Miscellaneous Bits & Pieces
Niels began making fezzes as party favors for his friends in the early nineties. These days he makes a batch of them roughly once a year to equip newly-initiated members of the Corvallis Vacuum Tube Collective. Each fez is hand-made by gluing fake leopardskin to a conical form cut and glued from double-strength pendaflex file folder cardboard. High-school graduation tassels from thrift shops and garage sales are then added. Recent editions of the fez have small vacuum tubes mounted in place of the tassels. Each fez is signed and dated by Niels and he records the particulars of its construction and its eventual disposition in a special notebook. To date, he has made and given away over 175 fezzes.
Click HERE to see more fezzes and the Corvallis Vacuum Tube Collective
Tube Heads
Here you'll find other works by Niels that he's created over the years as he explores different art styles.
Click HERE to see the Bits & Pieces Gallery.
Niels is a founder and chief organizer of the Corvallis Vacuum Tube Collective.
Click HERE to learn more about the Corvallis Vacuum Tube Collective.