Lonesome Bill: Artist, Handyman and Studio Assistant

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Image credit: Margaret Muza

Lonesome Bill Walker

Lonesome Bill Walker

“Lonesome” Bill Walker is a handyman and studio assistant specialized in helping queer and trans artists, renters, homeowners, small businesses and people with disabilities in Wisconsin navigate creative projects and manual labor needs. An artist himself, Walker recognizes how important it is for marginalized folks to feel seen, safe and understood in their own homes and workspaces, and thus offers services pertaining to maintenance and art practice.

Originally from central-coastal California, Lonesome Bill Walker grew up making art as a kid around the house with his brother, recalling, “We were in a no-TV house so we’d either be making a pit of mud in the back or drawing comics on butcher paper and doing collaborative art. I was in a youth arts collective as a teenager but was asked to leave because my art was too political (laughs).”

Walker lived in Portland in his late teens/early 20s, where art became far more accessible to him. “There would be art supplies on the corner,” he remembers. “I was a library kid, so I got a lot of my arts education through renting books and going to free days at galleries.”

Attending college in his late 20s, Walker graduated from UC-Santa Barbara with a degree in sociocultural linguistics. He studied the social implications around how language and vocabulary is used to either uplift or oppress people. Walker made friends with the head of the woodshop there, who would let him come work on unsanctioned art projects. “He got me a show at the gallery on campus even though I wasn’t even an art student,” Walker adds.

Queer Coded Characters

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Image credit: Lena Reynoso

"Cowboy Curtis" by Lonesome Bill

"Cowboy Curtis" by Lonesome Bill

While working as a studio artist at The Compound Gallery in Oakland, Walker had a solo exhibition that he based off of “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse”; he elaborates, “It was about how trans people find their own paths through trans and queer coded characters.”

Walker lived in Chicago for a bit before moving to Milwaukee in March 2022 where he became a studio artist at Var Gallery for a year. He currently shares a creative space with Janelle Gramling as part of a work trade; his next studio will be in partnership with local flower shop 414loral, starting in late January. “Milwaukee is the most community-oriented place I’ve ever lived,” Walker notes.

His art encompasses acrylic paint on wood, sculpture, fiber, prints (screen, digital, risograph), film, performance art and more. Walker’s work frequently incorporates irreverent imagery of consumer goods, queer identity and the social implications of censorship, all while embracing the ethos of absurdity, chaos and maximalism. “When I started tapping into what I really like making, I gravitated toward the idea of extreme pleasure as a person who only accesses cheap thrill, while also honoring the “yes, and” of things,” he explains.

Walker firmly believes that community support enhances the artistic experience. “I don’t think that art should be made in isolation,” he contends. “It quickly becomes obsolete that way because you’re just stuck in the echo chamber of your own brain.”

Performance Art

Periodically, Walker vends at local events and markets, often implementing performance art (“chaos magic”) into such situations. His merchandise includes various prints, wearables, stickers and quilted wall hangings. 

In one instance of performance art, “Evil Portraits by Evil Bill”, Walker dresses up as a devil and draws people as their “evil” selves. It has become a series in collaboration with To Hell and Back Vintage.

Walker curates Fruit Bowl, a recurring trans and queer-centered flea market, in coordination with the Falcon Flea market series held at Falcon Bowl in Riverwest. There have been two Fruit Bowls thus far with more planned for 2024.

In terms of being a handyman, Walker offers everything from interior painting to patching holes in the wall to landscaping to deep cleaning and more. As a studio assistant, Walker tackles a multitude of facets including (but not limited to) social media management, prep work, installing furniture and researching local opportunities. He may also be commissioned for design work such as logos and flyers.

Walker’s father is a contractor and builds houses so he grew up learning to use tools and be familiar with maintenance work. Because he found the industry to be heavily patriarchal and heteronormative, Walker felt inclined to fill the niche of providing handyman services to fellow queer and trans folks who do not always feel safe or comfortable when seeking such help.

“While there are a million things that could solve a problem, there’s nuances that we inherently require,” he asserts. “Like, there’s things that are standard height that short people like me can’t reach. Or there’s things that people who are wheelchair users can’t access. There’s also not always a lot of mentorship with these things, especially when you’re an adult. It’s the idea of me offering to do things that you either can’t do or don’t want to do, and you don’t need to tell me why. I’m just going to get it done.”

He is spending 2024 prioritizing studio assistant work for practicing artists. Although Walker is based in Milwaukee, he is willing to drive as far as Madison or Chicago to accommodate.

Lonesome Bill Walker has a show coming up at Tooth + Nail Studio on February 9 titled “Erotic City.” The exhibition addresses liberation through lenses of anti-censorship, community through creativity and sex positivity. Walker is holding workshops and classes in collaboration with Janelle Gramling throughout February and March to expand on the show’s themes. “It’s in the spirit of Prince and all his freak energy,” he describes it. “It’s something I’ve wanted to do anyway but is also a response to censorship I experienced earlier last year.”

He plans to do more performance art, expand Fruit Bowl, and finish a horror movie he’s working on in 2024.

Visit Lonesome Bill Walker’s website at lonesomebill.com to view his work or get in touch. Follow him on Instagram @lonesome.drift.er (art account) and @lonesomehandyman (handyman/studio assistant account).