Friday, September 11, 2009

Digital Pictures from a digital camera from False Proof opening night











Thanks to curator Cable Griffith, I was allowed my own entire room at the Kirkland Arts Center and I filled it up. These are pictures of it! Thanks to everyone who showed up!

Saturday, September 05, 2009

Sights and Sounds of the Deep: In Search Of The Elliot Bay Sea Creature with Drew Christie ©1985





I am under strict orders not to divulge any internet images from the False Proof show at Kirkland Arts Center, but I am uploading an unaired documentary by PBS from 1985 about my and Ben's exploits searching for the Elliot Bay Sea Creature.
Watch here

Monday, August 31, 2009

False Proof at the Kirkland Arts Center


I will be participating in a group show at the Kirkland Arts Center called False Proof(curated by Cable Griffith). The people at City Arts were nice and put this painted linocut I did for the show on the cover of the magazine. The opening night will be September 10th and it will be up until October. I have created an entire room full of ephemera, skeletons, creatures, teeth, records, books, maps, listening devices, film, projections, slides, transparencies, cameras, prints, posters, charts, graphs, illustrations, paintings, harpoons, scrimshaw, pipes, instruments and possibly a short documentary all about my search for and obsession with the Elliot Bay Sea Beast. Or the Devilfish of the Northwest. Or the Creature Science Forgot.
Kirkland Arts Center is at 620 Market Street Kirkland, WA

Monday, August 10, 2009

Goodbye Mike Seeger



I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Seeger and seeing him perform. He was an extraordinarily sweet man with a great handshake.
Mike Seeger (August 15, 1933 – August 7, 2009) was an American folk musician and folklorist. He was a distinctive singer and an accomplished musician who played autoharp, banjo, fiddle, dulcimer, guitar, mouth harp, mandolin, and dobro. Seeger, a half-brother of Pete Seeger, produced more than 30 documentary recordings, and performed in more than 40 other recordings. He desired to make known the caretakers of culture that inspired and taught him. He was also a founding member of The New Lost City Ramblers.
Some great albums of his are:
Music From True Vine (Mercury Records 1972)
available to download here(it has never been issued on cd)
Early Southern Guitar Sounds (Smithsonian Folkways, 2007) available to buy here
Southern Banjo Sounds (Smithsonian Folkways 1998)
Second Annual Farewell Reunion (Mercury Records, 1973)
Not that I care much at all for or about Robert Zimmerman, here is a quote from him pertaining to Mike:
"He was the supreme archetype [of the folk musician]. He could push a stake through Dracula's black heart. He was the romantic, egalitarian and revolutionary type all at once."
—Bob Dylan

Goodbye Arlo Christie



He was poisoned by the Chinese and survived. He was my roommate for 16 years. He slept in my bed when I was gone. He would only sleep with a pillow. He liked steak and chicken. He hated vegetables. He hated Fourth Of July. He had good taste.
Arlo Christie (1993-2009)

Friday, August 07, 2009

Driftwood House


Inspired by a couple of photographs from one of the books by Lloyd Kahn. I can't remember which book it was in though. I think it was either Home Work or Shelter.
Lloyd's Blog: http://lloydkahn-ongoing.blogspot.com/
and heres a NYT article: http://www.shelterpub.com/_lloyd/nyt_interview.html

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Norstein/Svankmajer


Yuri Norstein or Yuri Norshtein (born September 15, 1941) is an award-winning Russian animator best known for his animated shorts, Hedgehog in the Fog and Tale of Tales. Since 1981 he has been working on a feature film called The Overcoat, based on the short story by Nikolai Gogol of the same name.
Jan Švankmajer (born 4 September 1934, Prague) is a Czech surrealist artist. His work spans several media. He is known for his surreal animations and features, which have greatly influenced other artists such as Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, The Brothers Quay and many others.

Friday, July 24, 2009

The Tuning Of The Celestial Octochord


The Anthology of American Folk Music is a six-album compilation released in 1952 by Folkways Records (catalogue FP 251, FP 252, and FP 253), comprising eighty-four American folk, blues and country music recordings that were originally issued from 1927 to 1932.
Each of the three two-record sets carried the same cover art, a Theodore de Bry etching of an instrument Smith referred to as the "Celestial Monochord," taken from a mystical treatise by scientist/alchemist Robert Fludd.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Homemade Gourd Banjer




Neck was made out of the leg of an old broken chair, the pot is made out of a gourd my mom gave me, canvas is stretched over that, whittled down violin tuning pegs are used ($1.00 each) and fishing and weed whacker line are the strings.

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Show at Victrola Coffee on 15th




Music will be provided by the Gullywhumpers who will be playing Woody Guthrie style Americana and Old Tyme Music. There might even be a spoons player by the name of Ian Peepcoat.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Medieval Water Systems


This demon guy in the clouds is the medieval Mulholland.
William Mulholland was a water-services engineer in Southern California.
He was born in Belfast, Ireland and immigrated to New York City in the 1870s. Mulholland worked as a miner in Arizona Territory before moving to the city that would build his reputation, Los Angeles. He was fictionalized in the best movie ever made...Chinatown. written by robert towne, directed by roman polanski, produced by robert evans, starring jack nicholson and faye dunaway and john huston, soundtrack by jerry goldsmith. 1974.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Isle Of The Dead


Inspired by a fantasy book cover which was inspired by a painting(s) by Arnold Böcklin. It was believed to be inspired by the actual Greek island Pondikonissi. This painting, along with the Argentinian Science Fiction book Morel's Invention or The Invention Of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares (1940) were the inspiration for on eof my favorite films The Piano Tuner Of Earthquakes by the Quay Brothers.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Sir John Falstaff's Royal Lute (Leading To The Isle Of Dogs, Just South Of The West India Docks)


Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare as a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V. A fat, vainglorious, and cowardly knight, Falstaff leads the apparently wayward Prince Hal into trouble, but he is ultimately repudiated after Hal becomes king.

Monday, May 11, 2009

We Fell Asleep Singing Nearer My God To Thee And Awoke Shipwrecked Atop These Trees


"Nearer, My God, to Thee" is a 19th century Christian hymn based loosely on Genesis 28:11-19.
It is most famous as the alleged last song the band on RMS Titanic played before the ship sank.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

United States of AIG


Timothy Franz Geithner (born August 18, 1961), is the 75th and current United States Secretary of the Treasury, serving under President Barack Obama. He was previously the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Hello Central


Sam "Lightnin’" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 — January 30, 1982) was a country blues guitarist, from Houston, Texas. His distinctive fingerstyle playing often included playing, in effect, bass, rhythm, lead, percussion, and vocals, all at the same time.

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Great Seattle Fire 1889

June 6th 1889: A guy was boiling glue over sawdust drenched in kerosene in a wood building in a city made of wood with log fire hydrants and a fire chief who was in San Francisco at a Fire Fighting Convention.

Fire, Fire, I Heard The Cry


"Fire, fire," I heard the cry, from every breeze that passes by;
All the world was one sad cry of pity.
Strong men in anguish prayed, calling loud to heaven for aid,
While the fire in ruin was layin' ol' Seattle was a beautiful city.

Thursday, April 02, 2009

The Secret Society Of The Antlers


According to the book Drawing Shadows To Stone: The Photography of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, 1897-1902 (purchased at the Enumclaw Indian Bookstore), "A cedar bark neck ring was a mark of membership in one of the Kwakwaka'waka secret societies."

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Professor Jack's Patriotic Gallery


Inspired by the book Tattoo by Albert Parry © 1930. I found the book at the Olympia Goodwill. Excerpt featuring Professor Jack:
"It is useless to make a trip to New York's South Street. There the tattooing pursuit is as dead as the two other ancient trades of that street: the making and selling of sails, and the carving of ships' figureheads. Professor Jack was the last permanent artist in this section; no one knows where he is now." (p. 54)

Friday, March 20, 2009

Mustache Town on Stilts


Printed at the Montford Press with handset type
Typeface: P.T. Barnum
Printed on: Vandercook Press

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Sunday, March 15, 2009

The Birth Of The KGB



Originally inspired by the book KGB and the artwork of the late Russian outsider artist Alexander Lobanov. (In particular, the wreath and guns imagery)
However, the one with the AK-47's is too large to fit in the scanner.