After receiving a basic education, at the age of 18 Emery Blagdon left school and spent the next 10 years on the road. In 1954 he inherited his uncle’s farm in Nebraska, where he began to work on assemblages that, except for occasional work on farms, formed his main activity. In his barn, he began to work on a fantastical project that combined chemistry, biology and physics – a Healing Machine that allegedly was capable of curing cancer and relieving pain. Blagdon believed that his objects made of steel and copper wire, found waste materials, and bottles filled with salts and tinctures were capable of capturing natural forces and transforming them into healing energy. Over his life, he created some 600 predominantly cascading assemblages and 80 paintings arranged in an installation intended to channel or ward off energy. Every now and then, Blagdon would illuminate these gigantic mechanisms using Christmas tree lights and colored light bulbs.