This is part of WUWM’s “Fixing Stuff” series, in which reporter Lina Tran brings stories of people who fix things.
In an airy studio filled with light and ceramics, Bill Walker met the artist Janelle Gramling. The room was warm with the heat of a cooling kiln. Gramling pointed to a bare table; she needed a new one for teaching workshops. She had asked Walker — who operates under the moniker Lonesome Bill — to meet her to discuss making one for her.
“I’m just improvising with this folding table right now,” Gramling said.
The Milwaukee handyman, who is queer and trans, said getting things repaired and fabricated often means having a stranger in your home or personal space, which can be uncomfortable for some queer people. An artist himself, Walker is trying to change that by offering services for artists, queer renters and…