Raleigh artist with ALS seeks partner to finish artwork

Mignon Tucker’s Raleigh yard is full of proof that discarded objects can become art. Old bottles hang as windchimes, broken hubcaps have been painted into flowers, and now ALS has made it harder for Tucker to finish the next piece on her own, so she is looking for a creative partner who can help bring it to completion.

Tucker recently learned she has ALS, and the disease appears to be moving quickly. Her speech has been affected, and the physical demands of making art have changed along with it, shifting the work from a solo process to one that may need another set of hands. The goal is not simply to preserve an unfinished project, but to finish it in a way that still reflects Tucker’s own vision.

Tucker has been an artist her whole life, and the objects she works with tell a story about attention and reuse. She has built a body of work from what other people might overlook, turning everyday castoffs into something with color and movement. That same instinct has shaped her public life in Raleigh. In 2024, she was identified as a 62-year-old woman who had spent years fighting illegal dumping in her neighborhood, and another report described her collecting one or two garbage bags of trash a day while walking in west Raleigh.

That history makes this latest chapter especially local. Tucker has long treated the city as both a canvas and a shared responsibility, whether she was cleaning up litter near Western Boulevard or Hillsborough Street or building art from what she found. Now, ALS has interrupted the mechanics of that work, even as the ideas remain. For an artist whose practice depends on touch, arranging, painting and assembling, a collaborator is not a luxury. It is the bridge between vision and completion.

ALS is a rare progressive motor neuron disease, and most cases have no known cause. Symptoms can vary widely from person to person, and the average survival time after diagnosis is about three years, though many people live longer. Researchers are still working to identify risk factors and possible causes, and support resources are available in North Carolina for people living with ALS and their families. For Raleigh artists with experience in assemblage, found-object work or other hands-on media, Tucker’s search points to a specific role: someone who can help with the physical steps while following her lead, so the final piece remains hers in every way that matters.