Johnson County man turns peanuts into political art

GREENWOOD, Ind. (WISH) - Terry Border's work is making a splash on an international level. Now the Greenwood man is taking on politics.

Border, a Ball State University graduate and professional photographer by trade, has developed a worldwide following for his wire sculptures. Most recently, the GOP race for the presidential nomination sparked his imagination.

"Right now, I'm working on a story about peanuts," Border said from his workbench on the second floor of his home. "I follow politics a lot, even though it upsets me sometimes."

Border has worked with everything from marshmallows to Cheetos to potato chips and cupcake liners for many of his images. But for the politicians, he's using peanut shells.

"I found a quiet peanut for Ron Paul,” he explained.

For Newt Gingrich, he added white hair to peanuts to represent for both him and his wife, Callista. But he didn’t stop there. He looked for a smaller peanut to represent a child, and then
he had the picture: Callista and Newt Gingrich and a child working as a janitor – a reference to a controversial statement Gingrich made along the campaign trail.

Using meticulous lighting, he snapped the picture himself in a spare bedroom next to his workbench.

Border has a complete archive of all the images he's created on his website, Bent Objects .

Of his political series, one of the funniest is the three fans of Rick Santorum.

"Because they're fans of Rick Santorum,” he explained, “they put chastity belts on themselves, to show how much they are behind his social issues."

It takes Border about a half day to get the characters just right.

He uses common household objects for all of his sculptures. In the case of Mitt Romney, he abandoned the traditional peanut shell.

"I made Mitt out of a Styrofoam peanut,” Border said. “He doesn't seem real, to a certain extent."

And he didn't leave out President Barak Obama.

"I've got some little short black hair, and I tried to put it in his hair style. I did add ears - this is the first peanut I've added ears to.,” Border said. “He's getting ready for the 2012 election, kind of fixing the HOPE sign back there, It's been kind of falling apart. It's worse for wear."

People all over the world love his humor. Movie reviewer Roger Ebert calls his work brilliant.

Border has published two books. His greeting cards are sold at Target. Soon, some of his images will be in puzzle form and in a 2013 calendar.

But his real dream is to appear on fellow Hoosier David Letterman's show.

"I'd love that, but I'm not counting on it," Border said.