James Marks (b. 1978) is a Southern outsider artist based in Shreveport, LA., who twists and wraps wire to make images, usually in the form of human figures.

Holding wire in his hands is how James navigates the world. Everywhere he goes he takes a small canvas bag filled with cutters, pliers, spools of wire, and even pipe cleaners.

James is autistic and his way of stimming is by manipulating wire. Many of the small wire sketches he quickly bends into shape eventually become larger pieces.

As a self-taught artist, James has worked with wire for more than 40 years. In 2022, the National Endowment for the Arts funded his innovative project "You as a Wire Hero." Marks has taught the art of wire sculpture for 20 years throughout his community and at the Renzi Education and Art Center.

His sculpture—"Oscar Joseph” is in the permanent collection of the Shreveport Regional Arts Council.

The brightly colored work is a tribute to James' maternal grandfather. He taught James how to feed and identify birds, along with the pleasures of bird watching.

“This is the real me, holed up somewhere with a bag of wire (or pipe cleaners in this photo). Twisting and wrapping wire lets me feel ok with myself. Some people call what’s going on with me ‘autism’ and twisting wire ‘stimming.’ Either way making sculptures is a shortcut to feeling comfortable—especially out in public.

“I give my wirepeople out like gifts, sometimes directly to someone I know or want to get to know. Sometimes I leave them out like breadcrumbs—in forgotten or overlooked spots that catch my eye. I want to think that my ‘children’ will go on to be part of interesting stories. You just raise them right and send them out in to the world.”

“About twenty years ago my friends Mary Bigelow and Matt Hazelton started a band that went on to become Dirtfoot. They wrote a song about me with this in the chorus—‘pretty little wirebird, pretty little wirebird, pretty little wirebird—from me to your voice.’ I’ve just kept that with me over the years. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a song written about their art.”