As a kid, John Payne was never satisfied with keeping his toys in tact. He wanted to figure out what made them work from the inside out, and enjoyed taking them apart and putting them back together again. During his junior year in college, while getting a degree in business, John discovered his creative abilities when he began painting. It wasn't until he was fired from his first position in customer service at an electronics company that he fully realized his calling as an artist. His career began in Atlanta, experimenting with installations in large warehouse shows. Later, he began defining his personal aesthetic working with large steel stick figures. After moving to Chicago in the nineties, John started visiting the Field Museum with his young children. The dinosaur fossils especially fascinated John and his kids. In turn, he became inspired to look into whatever opportunities that travelling exhibitions might offer. Upon setting the goal of making a travelling show that would appeal to both children and adults, he began teaching himself as much paleontology as he needed to know to make life-like moving dinosaurs. It wouldn't take long for John to fuse his aptitude for mechanics with his artistic sensibilities to fabricate the first kinetosaur, a six foot long Velociraptor that worked like a marionette.   From the Field Museum of Chicago to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, John Payne's work has thrilled children and adults alike with the wonder of dinosaurs and the marvel of his constructions. John currently works and lives in Asheville, NC, with his wife Chris, daughter Lydia, and son Trevor. You can read more about John's professional history on the Professional Info page, where you can download a resumé, and browse press articles.
©2002 John Payne Studios