Even though Elmer’s teeming forest of bottle trees stands alongside one of those desolate stretches of old Route 66 between Barstow and San Bernadino, he says it doesn’t have much to do with the famous roadway.
When you see one of Vollis Simpson’s whirligigs adorning the front lawn of a museum, you know it’s no ordinary place. This is indeed the mecca for those who appreciate work by self-taught, outsider or visionary artists.
In 1920, when Bert Vaughn started work on his Desert View Tower, people motoring across the mountains that jut up out here near the Mexican border inevitably needed a place to stop and cool down.
Despite being a California State Landmark, this folk art environment was dismantled. Luckily, some of the pieces were saved and can be seen in the California Route 66 Museum: “Hula Ville – Twentieth Century Folk Art”.
This jaw-dropping sculpture park is located on the the South Dakota Drift Prairie, with more than fifty industrial art sculptures. All created by Wayne Porter with scrap metal, old farm equipment, or railroad tie plates.
Taught wood carving by his father at age 13, Sulton Rogers’ fanciful figures were based on folks he met in his travels and animals inspired by his dreams. He worked for a number of years in Syracuse NY before he moved back to his hometown of Oxford.
Second Chances: Folk Art Made from Recycled Remnants Now on View at SFO SAN FRANCISCO — Folk art made from recycled remnants demonstrates the adaptive nature of traditional crafts and the resourcefulness of artisans around the world. In the absence of new or customary materials, craftspeople turn…
Jack Barker c. 1934 333 North Merchant Street (shop is around the corner) Essex, ILJust six miles off Old Route 66 in Essex, Illinois, is the garage of Jack Barker, and his hundreds of welded sculptures. This energetic and fun-loving 75-year old is one big…
A little fuzzy at first, but he is great! Here is the second half:
Whew – yesterday we moved all of the rest of the art from my house (102 pieces in all) and also from Mike Murphy’s house. Luckily, it was one of those freak February days that was 65 and sunny. Last week the art came in…