This is a wee bit of fandom.
My friend, JP of Neighborhood in Oak Cliff took this photo last night of one of my all time favorite artists, Dirk Fowler.
Here's the deal.....we have had the wonderful opportunity to visit and meet many great artists in addition to seeing a butt load of great art out there from artists whom I've never met but enjoyed their work.
So, what makes Mr. Fowler so special is what I was pondering this morning.
When I am around Dirk and his sweet wife Carol, I get giddy like I'm standing with a rockstar.
Dirk is bottom line the real deal. The man has wit and an incredible eye for putting shit together like no one else I have ever encountered. His use of color and images to alter the use or meaning of those things to become something else, always makes a bold statement, makes me smile, and continues to surprise the hell out of me.
Dirk has a modern simplistic style which always reminds me of something my friend Carl Block said years ago about Tim Kerr's artwork (in the background) - "He uses the minimum strokes to get the maximum results". This idea of styling even reminds me of Lubbock where Dirk and Carol live. Look at all of the greatness that fits this idea which come out of the vast minimum landscape of West Texas.
Dirk has captured that landscape and lassoed it up with his personal wit. That's what makes it work so well.
This man has spent his entire life doing what moves him. I love music.
The other day I was in one of my favorite colorful places, the Waxahachie post office and was standing in line between an older lady with a marvelous cane topped with a folk art horse head carving and a bearded fellow with beautiful tattoos. The line can be long and move slow at our post office, but when everyone else is starting to squirm and grumble, I'm always pretty happy to be in the middle of folks I don't know who share my town. So, as the older lady started telling the young woman in front of her that she was old and could do whatever she wanted and stay up all night, I turned to the tattooed fellow and started conversation. I have a fondness for great tattoo artwork and am a little studied on some of the great artists and shops out there, so I asked him who did his classic nice work.
"A guy in Kansas City. I fly him in. He has sponsored some of my bands European tours."
Well that wasn't the answer I expected so I trudged on to continue my interview....band?
He told me a name, that I thought....hmmm Metal? And although I hate the question, "What kind of music is your band?" "Heavy", was his answer.
"So like Norwegian Death Metal?"
"No, just heavy."
We continued our small chit chat and I knew by then that he was somebody.
I raced home to look up his band and made it though hardly 30 seconds of the youtube video and read the lengthy wikipedia on his band, realizing that they are considered "Christian Metal Core" and the complete opposite of Norwegian Death Metal.
Throughout the day, I laughed at myself for my assumptions and continued to enjoy his kind replies without ever really telling me anything. He was doing what moved him for sure.
This is a photo of our dear talented friend, Margaret Sullivan. She makes incredible jewelry, lives on a working ranch, and has dedicated her life to both. Both would be considered a craft and skill gained through years of work and wisdom. I often think about what is takes to do the best job you can do in doing whatever you do. I believe that is the key to happiness and contentment. I recently read a letter response by Robert Ryan to a young tattoo artist inquiring about entering the field of tattooing and was struck just how his response seem to fit any life path, career choice, or sincere endeavor. Not to mention that Robert is a great highly revered artist and obviously wise and thoughtful. Enjoy.....
"Hello greetings and may this find you well. In my personal opinion
You have to humble yourself and learn the basic skill of tattooing before you try to apply your own style to this craft . A good teacher will instill a strong foundation in basic tattooing. This can mean what ever is popular at the shop and to meet the demands of the clientele. You must learn the history and the mechanics of the craft as well as the psychology of the customers and the dynamics of the tattooer to client relationship. There should be a level of ethics taught as well. This can sometimes mean 2 to 3 years as an unpaid apprentice if you are actually accepted by a quality teacher . This is an initiation process and should be viewed as part of the path and done with humility and happily with service to the shop, the teacher and most importantly to tattooing .This craft is infested with cavalier egocentric johnny come lately’s and money hungry teachers who churn out apprenticeships without any concern for the state of tattooing. To me these are vile people and have no real place in the craft.
If you are sincere , respectful, patient and most importantly have love for tattooing you will find your way and it will take very good care of you .
Good Luck
Robert Ryan"
As we look back on 2016 we are so excited about all of our travels, great finds, meeting some wonderful people and going to some amazing places. This piece is one of the great finds and a wonderful person we met in 2016. Prince Zaar is his name. He comes from Cameroon. He turned his back on the royal life and moved to Texas to study criminal justice and dedicate his work of "trianglerism". This work is truly mind blowing and that is just what it is meant to be. It is about balance and so much more. We are excited to exhibit his work here in Waxahachie and take a few pieces with us to New York in January at the Outsider Art Fair.
Some days I really miss Arlen McMillan. Years back, Arlen was always walking through downtown Waxahachie. We became friends and he would stop, rest, get a cold drink, or share lunch with us. He grew up in Waxahachie and lived in the family home on the east side of town.. Arlen made a meager living digging and selling bottles. He had no electricity or running water. He lived a simple life and was a happy fella, except for the occasional troubled teenagers stealing from him. We were always inspired by his choice of simple yet happy living. I know there were comforts he may have desired, but what he lacked, he made up for in the joys of discovery. One day Arlen visited and brought us a beautiful hand colored military photo of his Father. He said he wanted us to keep it for safe keeping, but we knew it was a treasured gift to us for he never mentioned it again. We have the most beautiful huge tretagonal amethyst crystal he brought us which he dug up from the creek running through Waxahachie. Years later after Arlen's visits became less frequent as he aged and then stopped all together, I looked up the crystal and it's power. Supposed to bring the best of luck. Thank you Arlen.
We treasure the memory of your friendship and your inspiration to keep it simple and find happiness in discovery.
Esther is coming to town soon and she and I will be doing a back and forth song and dance sort of thing at the Amon Carter Museum of Art in Fort Worth on the evening of Thursday, February 25th. We are gonna show some pictures and talk back and forth about art, inspirations, personal histories, and flying saucers.
We met Esther and her husband Mark about 10-15+ years ago.....and we just love and admire them so much. They have a can do attitude and go getter drive that just does not stop. I can not imagine anything they can't accomplish. They are living more than 24 hour days and still seem to master working to live and not living to work. They both are inspirations to me every day. In thinking about asking Esther questions, it is hard to know where to start and how far I can take it within our 45 minutes time slot. She and I never have any trouble talking and laughing. Should be a good time....
We start 2016 excited about so many things. Obviously i got caught up in life and it's goings ons from about mid-August through the end of last year and have not taken time to spit out any wisdoms.
This past year we started working with several new artists whom we are really excited about in 2016 - Rich Cali (above image) is such an amazing fella - go getter. We love his spirit, the way he looks at things, his easy going personality, his beautiful rendering talent & style, and his sweet wife Autumn. Julie Murphy is another fun, tango loving, great sense of humor gal who we met through Martha Rich & Esther Pearl Watson. Her drawings of made up TV shows and other worlds make us smile and belong part of Webb Gallery. Robert Adale Davis creates these obsessive sewn pieces which make beautiful tactile sculptures of clothing and mandalas from found thread and found objects. Along with the art of other artists whom are already part of the Webb Gallery family, our nearly daily finds of antique elements, a few artists we will be introducing this year and the release of Bruce Lee & Lynne Adele's book launches our year off rocket style - full speed ahead.
Look for us at the Outsider Art Fair this January, plan to come see our fraternal exhibit prior to Feb 14th and put our next exhibit opening Feb 28th on your calendar. Check out our upcoming exhibits page for more events. Please join us for the ride.
WOOLDRIDGE FIGURES
We just returned from our annual escape the heat, go see something new, get inspired, and antique hunting trip. This year we saw many new to us amazing sights. This being one of them in Mayfield KY. Colonel Wooldridge had a vision of his tomb and monuments to honor the people and things he loved in the late 1800's. His marble statue was carved in Italy and the other stone ones all in the US. His Mother is directly to his side, a carving of him on his favorite horse and sisters are behind him. His brothers are beside him and his 2 favorite hunting dogs share the space with a deer and a fox.
We have known about this for quite some time from the famous Hemphill collection book, but finally getting to see it in person was breathtaking. The love Wooldridge had for his family, pets, and the outdoors is beautiful and the carvings themselves all masterpieces of artwork. I am so glad this is maintained and is available for view.
It may have taken us a while to get there, but I see many future returns.
Many of you out there know we have 2 boston terriers and many of you have met them. Daisy and Dexter are two rescues who are our world. It is a constant clown show around here with them. Dexter was abandoned at a fancy boarding facility when he was 1 yr. He is the best dog we have ever had and in many ways smarter than us. We have had him for 6 years now. Daisy was a breeder and we are certain she made the cutest puppies ever, but when she got heartworms, her owners gave her up. Through bad food or inbreeding, or both, she hardly has teeth enough to anyone to know how old she is. Probably about 4-5. We have had her a couple of years now. They are so different just like people. I was watching them play today and thought about a dinner party we attended this weekend. It was thrown by the most thoughtful fun folks who wanted to bring together some of their friends of the "art world". It ended up being one of the craziest of gatherings of all different folks who all had strong varying opinions and passions. It was not a sleeper.
Just like Daisy and Dexter to me, life can be an everyday clown show if you let it.
One of my favorite parts of doing what we do is when you get to spread out a bunch of great art and stand with the maker in amazement.
We are setting off working this week on our new exhibit. Paintings by Dan Phillips and Rich Cali. Yes they know each other but i wouldn't say well and it's amazing how their work works so well together. Like they exist on the same mental wavelength plane whether they knew each other or not.
For us, we have the benefit of not only knowing their work well, but each of them well too. Not only do they exist on a visual similar plane, but both have an easy going way of being. Funny how that goes. We are excited to show their work together and get these two under the same roof. Definitely worthy of celebration.
This is our booth at the Outsider Art Fair in NY this weekend. We have never set up there but have attended as visitors just about every year. We are excited this year to share Texas and our taste. I was due to have already been in the city and would have helped Bruce with the install, but was delayed due to the snow storm there this week. Looks like Bruce did it just fine and totally captured a tiny Webb Gallery in our small booth. We obviously seek to overwhelm and share in a impactful way.
So...as it is 75 degrees in Texas, lord knows if i packed correctly for the left over snow, puddles, and really cold weather, but as always....it will be an adventure and damn we love the adventures.
We took this great portrait of Jimmy Lee Sudduth and Rev BF Perkins at the Kentuck festival about 1990. Both were such sweet artists who loved what they did and why they did it. They taught us about why you do what you do and to do what you love.
We have memories of Jimmy Lee Sudduth and his dog Toto (actually I believe there was a lineage of 3 over the years, but all named Toto). Jimmy Lee had a smile like no other smile I have ever seen or felt. It was bigger and brighter than life itself. He loved to sing and play the harmonica. He so enjoyed the attention and visits that his art brought him.
Rev BF Perkins was a little more of a reserved man who built a small church in on a beautiful hill. His artwork blended his love and convictions on religion, patriotism, and the state of the world and man. He told us that he had performed the ceremony of marriage for George Jones and Nancy Sepulvado in his church. A fact he was proud of.
Both men wore their pride well and exuded their love for life and their visitors.
We would drive to see them both often for our dose of realness and positive spirit in human nature, not to mention their sweetness and talents which always amazed us.
We miss them greatly, but they live on with us everyday whether in memories or their artwork.
For all you who have visited the gallery, you have met these 2 - Daisy and Dexter. This is how they roll and thus how we roll. Dexter is bossy and lets his needs be known. Daisy just wants to be the best dog in the world and get all of the attention. They are both happy-go-lucky and have the luckiest of a dog's life.
We are have the luckiest of people's lives and we appreciate everything we were brought, given and dealt in 2014. We are so thankful for the many folks who visited the gallery this year, kind thoughts and words, purchases to support us and many artists, new friends, old friends, and the many good times.
We love what we do everyday and are excited for the many plans we already have in the works for 2015. Please stay on the bus.
I look forward to the state fair every year. I usually get a season pass and go a few times slowly make my way through the entire offerings of the year.
I start first with a visit to the fletcher's corny dogs, a visit to Big Tex and then on to the art and crafts/collections exhibition building. Each year i am amazed what gets included and probably excluded from the exhibits.
One year Bruce and I entered collections...Bruce books and me - a few of my choice vomitclocks (as i refer to those sllghtly hideous resin and rock clocks i collect. I got a third place ribbon. I spent the entire fair season trying to locate the first and sceond place clocks. There was no novelty clock division, simply clocks. Finally i gave up and emailed the judging department telling them I proudly received third prize, but there was no first or second. The reply was...."yes, sometimes the judges just do that." That meaning give me a third because they did not take my clock collection seriously. Of course this was all back when a collection was 3. Now you only must enter 2 as a collection. I have not entered since the 3rd and the collection number rule change, but I have dreamed of paying for every friend i have to enter 2 of my vomitclocks in the clock division. I still could not be prouder of my displayed every day third ribbon.
Our Summer here in Texas and afar has been wonderful!
We seem to travel all of the time for going places, meeting people, seeing things, and collecting stuff is our life.
We do a couple of huge trip every year primarily to some of favorite places in the East Coast and back in our van filling it with memories and great finds along the way.
We just returned from one of those journeys to upstate NY and the Hudson Valley.
We visited some of our favorite haunts and friends in St. Louis, Columbus, Lilydale, Utica, Hudson, Pomona, and Reading PA. All stops full of specialness, great finds, and new friends.
This photo is of our old friend Aarne Anton (who has American Primitive Gallery in NY) and the artist Ted Ludwiczak. We have always loved Ted's stone carved faces and have wanted to meet him for years. He was no less than we imagined and much more.... We are excited to have brought a few of his pieces back to the gallery to keep his sweet memory with us.
I love this Ike portrait. We visited Ike last week. It is always a joy, as ike is a dresser. Always got some style going on with an interesting combo of clothing articles. This day he was wearing red shiny polyester track pants, plaid shirt, this vest from some past hotel clerk, and always a liberal amount of Brut cologne. We take Ike art supply shopping at the Jerry's Art-a-rama and he is like a kid in a candy store. When we stack up a couple of pads of paper, his reply is "we could get another". If we ask him if he likes something or wants a certain thing his reply is..."you could say that." It is the best in non-commited- won't hurt anyone's feelings comments.
Working on the web site today and adding some info and art about Rev. JL Hunter. It is important to include Rev Hunter and his work in our list of artists, which I am bit by bit getting up on our site. But including Rev Hunter is like including the beautiful pearl you found in that best oyster ever on your best vacation.
We met Rev Hunter and his dear wife Ruby back in 1989 through a friend who saw through our taste that we would enjoy them and his art work. He was the first real deal folk artist we had ever met. Up until that time, we had a junk/antique shop in an old barber shop where we offered all kinds of oddness and handmade objects which we found in our travels.
Rev Hunter's work was a natural fit and we were charged in getting to know and talk to someone who made the kind of stuff we were looking for. Knowing Rev Hunter struck us out in a life and love of life that we will forever hold dear.
Rev. Hunter and Ruby both have long since passed, but their memory holds so much for us in love and example. When they were living there were many years we would visit them every Monday, take lunch, hear our own condensed version of Rev. Hunter's Sunday sermon, have wonderful discussions, see what Rev. Hunter had been creating, and nearly always purchasing and taking home a piece of his artwork.
This photo is one I have always loved. It is from one of their "homecoming" celebrations at their church, True LIght Baptist Church in South Dallas. We were always invited and hosted as some sort of celebrity friends of the Hunters. It was always a special day where the Hunters showed off their congregation and how they were admired and loved in their church. In turn they showed us and our love for them off to their congregation. It was truly a special day overflowing with happiness all the way around.
We got to see our friend, Bill Daniel's "Who is Bozo Texino" documentary last week. We've known Bill many years, seen the making of this great film, and enjoyed many versions over the years. Bill is currently on a tour with another friend, musician Ralph White. Both are a great pair for traveling and doing their thing. Easy going fellas just doing and enjoying life. Bill is a photographer first and foremost. We got to know him years back in the Dallas Punk Rock scene. He was at every show snapping photos. Years later he lived by the Dallas train tracks and fell in love with train car markings by hobo, tramps, and train workers. He fell hard for the mystery of the makers of the recurring imagery and set out to match maker with marks. The documentary was and is still a labor of love for Bill. It is something that will live forever in product, tale, and work. It's Bill's thing. I realized as i enjoyed it once again with it's slight changes and altercations that the film is Bill.
Ralph White is the same kind of musican. His banjo, guitar, and kalimba songs have a rhythm all their own. His confidence in playing is spectacular. The combo is beautiful and fully represents the person and life of Ralph.
We all got to do our own thing. You can try all sorts of things, but they all filter out in the end and what sticks and lasts is your thing.
Saturday started out like most Saturdays for us....a visit to our local famers markets where we buy produce from our friends, talk of the town, and keep Daisy and Dexter wrangled. We opened the gallery at our regular 1 o'clock and had several interesting folks through the door. Then came our old friend Susie. She and her husband own a well-known recording studio outside of town and they have supported the gallery for many years. She brought in friends who were visiting her and by God, it was Ramblin Jack Elliott and his friend Rick. Rick is traveling and road managing Jack on a small tour and his gig in this area feel through, so he was visiting and enjoying the day with Susie. Susie knows our sensibilities and knew we would enjoy Jack .
Ramblin Jack had been on our minds many times in the last year....first when we were visiting one of very favorite letter press guys, Dirk Fowler in Lubbock and asked him who he wanted to make a poster for and if he had ever contacted someone just to make them a poster....Ramblin Jack Elliott was the answer. Then when visiting Tulsa this year we spent time at the Woody Guthrie museum and saw some beautiful photos of Rambling Jack and Woody. We have talked many times of their friendship and how we would love to have Ramblin Jack perform at the gallery. Little did we know life would bring us a private performance. Love life.
Ike Morgan coined this term to us years ago. I can't tell you how many times we have used or passed the wisdom on to others. We recently returned from a big buying trip across the Northeast and back. Howard's in Massachusetts is one of the big examples of how it works. The choices are many and for a Texan and a 10.99 fresh lobster roll ! Seriously! So, next time you can't decide which thing to order or which item to buy...get them all. Treat yourself - don't cheat yourself.