You’ve seen the ‘Art House Treehouse’ on Dalrymple. Here’s what it looks like inside.

“If you look behind the barn, you’ll see a lot of our found objects in a pile,” Podolsky said. “People often leave things for us.”

The “us” here references Podolsky and his co-worker in this ongoing project, James Domingue, who often does a lot of the climbing to hang and arrange the higher pieces. Domingue also welds and pieces together the exterior metal works.

Still, there’s more to this project than Podolsky’s creative quest. He also hopes to inspire others.

“I hope that when people come into my house, it will encourage them to explore their inner child through artistic expression,” he said. “I believe all of us have a natural inclination to create, but we often lose that as we get older. I want to help them hold on to their natural creativity and encourage them.”

Podolsky pauses for a moment to think back to his childhood visits to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, where he’d stare into the dioramas. Perhaps they helped inspire his installations.

“But those displays were behind glass,” he said. “Mine aren’t.”

Besides, his Art House Treehouse is much more than a museum.

“It’s a living, breathing art installation,” Podolsky said. “It’s what I live in, and it’s all around me. I want this to be a supportive space without judgment. I became a doctor, but this space gave me a chance to live a second childhood.”

Visitors sometimes tell Podolsky that they’re going to rededicate themselves to their own artistic endeavors after experiencing his world.

“I have a sign in my garden that says, ‘Bloom where you are planted,'” he said. “I transplanted myself here from Philadelphia, and I bloomed here. It’s a process, and you have to go with your intuition. My motto is, ‘Make art, not war.'”

Podolsky stays true to his motto, making flowers out of the metal that others would use to make war machines — flowers that bloom where they’re planted.

Eble says there’s great value in art like Podolsky’s.