OWEGO, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) – An Owego artist is sharing her love of oddities, novelties, illusions and mechanical gadgetry.

Chris Knickerbocker, owner of Old Souls Home, has a new exhibition titled “The Odditorium of Self-Made Freaks.”

Knickerbocker creates assemblage art using found objects in a whimsical and quirky manner.
For this show inside the Cloud Croft Schoolhouse, she has created a number of mechanical side show characters including a Bearded Lady and Doctor Pearly Whites.

Visitors can scan a QR code to access an audio description of each in the style of a carnival barker. Knickerbocker says she became interested in side-show freaks when she was in high school and saw Priscilla the Monkey Girl at a county fair.

“To be different, and have people look at you differently. Maybe ridicule you. Those things have happened to me because people describe me as a little quirky. But I embrace it and so did she. That’s what started the whole concept of kind of having a side show, dime museum, freak show exhibit,” said Knickerbocker.

All of the artwork is for sale.
The show is free thanks to support from the New York State Council on the Arts. Cloud Croft is located at 1003 Sanford Road in Owego.

The show has one more weekend to go and is open tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday from noon until 4 p.m. On Saturday, there will be an appearance by Philadelphia-based magician and mentalist Lindsey Noel.

Knickerbocker is also planning a creative retreat over Halloween weekend at the Belva Lockwood Inn.

For more information, go to oldsoulshome.net.