Sculpted muffler figures represent one of the great roadside folk arts, but 2D representations of exhaust pipes and related auto parts are often just as imaginative. The ominous figure from the former E&T Mufflers in Chicago is the greatest example of art on a shop sign I’ve even seen in the wild. Here’s that one again, another image from the same location, and a bunch of other delightful renderings from the underside. Back to Muffler People: The Last American Folk Art.
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Walks to the Paradise Garden: A Lowdown Southern Odyssey, by Jonathan Williams, photos by Roger Manley & Guy Mendes. Institute 193, Lexington Kentucky and New York, 352 pages, 100 color images and 80 black and white , 2019. ISBN: 978-1732848207. Hardcover, $45. It’s a shame this book wasn’t published as intended in the 1990s. Not only would its author have still been alive, but so would most of the artists he encountered on his travels across the back roads of the South. Inspired by William Least Heat-Moon’s Blue Highways, Jonathan Williams, poet, publisher and lover of the vernacular, undertook a series of
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Calling muffler people “the last American folk art” may be a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much. If you accept a fairly rigorous definition of folk art, much of what is called folk — whether art, music, or craft — isn’t. That is, it’s not made by artists working from within a communal creative context, artists whose roots are in local or regional traditions more than in mass culture or eccentric visions. To say that Bob Dylan was never an actual folk singer or Howard Finster a folk artist does not diminish their talent or even their authenticity
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The Puako site, which is only a few miles from Waikoloa, has nearly 4,000 documented petroglyphs, some likely to be at least 800 years old. There are some fantastic groupings of anthropomorphic figures here. Some carvings have been lost to construction and fire-fighting activities, and the whole site is set within a dense forest of invasive kiawe trees. Some of the surviving carvings have been damaged by human activities, in some cases vandalism, but also by being loved too much. Taking rubbings or making casts harms the petroglyphs. But the site is still a remarkably concentrated instance of human creative
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The Pu`u Loa petroglyph site is in a more-or-less middle-of-nowhere section of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. It was a popular destination, however, over the hundreds of years when its 23,000+ carvings were being created, and it remains deservedly so today for visitors to the park. The site is especially rich in cupules, where umbilical cord stumps were placed to ensure health and long life for babies. It appears many family members made the trek to this location to perform that ritual. Much of the information on this and my other Hawaii pages is from the highly recommend Spirit of Place:
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Hawaiian petroglyphs are rich in symbols, with a tremendous concentration at Waikoloa. Circles predominate, some in conjunction with cupules, some concentric, and some stopping short of completion. One theory holds that circles recorded a circumambulation of the island, with multiple circles indicating the number of people in the group. But the certainty of that account seems a bit shaky. More dependable, it seems, is the narrative of cupules being the repository for umbilical cords. Much of the information on this and my other Hawaii pages is from the highly recommend Spirit of Place: Petroglyphs of Hawaii, by Georgia Lee and
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The field of petroglyphs at Waikoloa is a survivor of intense development all around it — resorts, condos, golf courses, shopping malls, and more. The vistas remain impressive, however. Much of the information on this and my other Hawaii pages is from the highly recommend Spirit of Place: Petroglyphs of Hawaii, by Georgia Lee and Edward Stasack. It seems to be the most authoritative account of what we know about the carvings, and the difficulties of knowing what we know. The extensive data it lays out reflects an impressive amount of research, and the authors also appreciate the aesthetic impact
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Within decades of the first known contact with Europeans, in 1778, the Hawaiian language gained letters. For a brief period while petroglyphs were still a living art, letters, words, and sometimes dates were added to the great aggregation of carvings at Waikoloa. Much of the information on this and my other Hawaii pages is from the highly recommend Spirit of Place: Petroglyphs of Hawaii, by Georgia Lee and Edward Stasack. It seems to be the most authoritative account of what we know about the carvings, and the difficulties of knowing what we know. The extensive data it lays out reflects
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An ancient survivor amidst golf courses, condominiums, resorts, and shopping centers, the Waikoloa petroglyph site runs alongside the King’s Highway, itself based on an ancient trail. Ancient carvings in a setting like this are not likely to survive unscathed, and large quantities of them have been destroyed by construction activities. At least a few thousand persist, however. Note that the stick figures are believed to be older than the triangle-bodied figures. Two of these carvings (the second and the last below) can be dated to after 1778, the time of the first known contact with Europeans, led by Captain James
Continue readingFred Smith’s Wisconsin Concrete Park, the fabulous art environment in Phillips, Wisconsin, circa 1997 and 2007. There is plenty to be said about Smith and his creations. For more information, visit its Spaces archive page or the Friends of Fred Smith site. Back to Wisconsin: The Roadside Genius State.
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