Roadside Art Archives - Page 5 of 11

March 21, 2020 Bill Swislow

Petroglyphs: The Words At Waikoloa

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

March 21, 2020 Bill Swislow

Petroglyphs: The Figure Carvings At Waikoloa

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

January 5, 2020 Bill Swislow

Fred Smith’s Wisconsin Concrete Park: Two Visits

Fred 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.

Vintage matchbook cover art from the New Deal Diner, Springfield, MA

February 1, 2019 Bill Swislow

Classic Diners — A Gallery

The art of vintage diners, via their promotional matchbooks, plus a smattering of little grills. I like the contrast between clip-art images and custom renderings. Meanwhile, hop over to John Baeder’s site for his spectacular renditions of matchcover diners, including the Yankee Flyer. Matchbooks

Portraits from signs for Frank's West Side Auto Parts Chicago

April 24, 2018 Bill Swislow

Auto Parts Art Gallery, and Vicinity

Frank’s West Side Auto Parts, at Kedzie Avenue and 30th Street, is an art gallery unto itself. Plus, there are other great signs in its vicinity, including more auto parts art and other examples of vernacular creativity.

October 21, 2017 Bill Swislow

A Denver Roadside Art Gallery: Creativity Abundant

Denver streets were lined with some real beauties when these pictures of roadside art were taken earlier in the decade. Also two nice places from Colorado Springs. Whether in muffler men or murals, vernacular creativity abounds.

Mukwa-Motel-Farmers-Retirement-Home.-Wisconsin-Highway-54-west-of-New-London-on-the-northern-edge-of-the-Mukwa-State-Wildlife-Area.-Before-1995

October 14, 2017 Bill Swislow

Mukwa Motel Vernacular Environment

The Mukwa Motel/Farmers Retirement Home is a vernacular art environment on Wisconsin Highway 54 west of New London. It’s on the northern edge of the Mukwa State Wildlife Area and was photographed before 1995. An artful bit of rural humor built by farmer John Kraske shortly before his retirement. According to the Post-Crescent newspaper, he assembled the site in 1991, two years before he retired from farming. Kraske, who died at 96 in 2016, told the paper in 2001, “It’s just something some crazy farmer did who didn’t have anything better to do with his time.” “Every year or so

September 22, 2017 Bill Swislow

Grotto of the Redemption — Redemptive Greatness

Father Paul Dobberstein’s Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend, Iowa, is on the way to nowhere, but the right way to go: It’s one of the most spectacular places in the world. Dobberstein was a parish priest with a vision, and the decades he spent fulfilling that vision paid off. For that we should be grateful not only to Dobberstein, but to the parishioners who tolerated and supported his obsession, which in turn helped spark similarly over-the-top constructions all over the upper Midwest. The grotto includes a number of mini-grottos and fountains as well as an avenue lined with

Father-Paul-Dobbersteins-Fays-Fountain-Humboldt-Iowa.-1918-restored-2011

September 22, 2017 Bill Swislow

Fay’s Fountain — Vernacular in the Park

Another Iowa vernacular masterpiece built by Father Paul Dobberstein, creator of the Grotto of the Redemption. Dobberstein was commissioned to built this memorial, officially called the Liberty Fountain, in honor of Fay Hessian, a young girl who died from tuberculosis in 1912. The fountain was dedicated in 1918 and restored in 2011. It sits in a park in Humboldt, Iowa, with organic shapes and encrustations that make it unlike any city park fountain I’ve ever seen. Back to the Grotto of the Redemption

Father-Paul-Dobbersteins-war-memorial-Old-Rolfe-Iowa

September 22, 2017 Bill Swislow

Dobberstein’s War Memorial: Charity To All

If Paul Dobberstein’s Grotto of the Redemption is out of the way, his War Memorial is nearly inaccessible. You have to follow gravel roads to what used to be the site of a town called Rolfe to find this modest structure sitting in the middle of a small grassy field. Back to the Grotto of the Redemption