In The Window

Posted by ginger On Monday, June 29, 2009

In downtown Greensboro, there is a shop called 'Alabama Home Respiratory' - and these two vignettes make up their window display:





Yeah. Av knows a couple of people who used to be on the radio in B'ham. Back when the Seniors tour had their local golf tournament at Greystone, they would take their mannequin called "Zelda" and dress her up. They would put her on a lounge chair in the yard - which was right next to the golf course - and unless you actually got close, you'd have thought it was just a woman sitting out there watching the golf tournament.

Reminds me of Dottie in Starkville.

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Bergdorf Goodman's 5th Avenue and 58th Street in NYC is - from just last week through July 20 - using pieces from the American Visionary Art Museum in their windows.

Part of the Batimore Sun article reads:

There will be a window filled with wooden critters sculpted by Clyde Jones (including a pink horse and a turquoise dog), another filled with Devon Smith's robot family (including a robot dog). There will be a display of the jaw-droppingly intricate line drawings of Ted Gordon, whose faces are drawn without pen ever leaving paper, and a window devoted to the "Aliens vs. Angels" chess set crafted by Lyle Estill.

"I think this exhibit will be a delight that is very tasty in the palate of New Yorkers," says Rebecca Hoffberger, AVAM's founder and director, who will be in New York for the display's opening on Friday. While acknowledging that New Yorkers are "a tough bunch to impress," Hoffberger has no doubt they'll like what they see staring back at them from the Bergdorf Goodman windows.

I looked on Flickr to see if anyone had put pictures up yet of the new displays and found this one.

Missionary Mary Proctor

Posted by ginger On Friday, June 26, 2009

Wednesday's Tallahassee Democrat ran a story about Missionary Mary Proctor having her home and studio vulnerable to being lost due to a $5000 debt to her landlord.


These are some of her pieces that I've taken pics of from different art festivals:



A portion of the article reads:
“I haven’t been able to go to shows, because people just aren’t supporting as much as they used to,” Proctor said.

Proctor said she’s made about $8,000 to $10,000 a year within the last years, but she remembers a time when she averaged almost twice as much.

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“I’m a minister through art, and tell me how many ministers aren’t needed,” Proctor said. “I’m a visionary because I use my paintings to show people how to live and have inner peace in these times of chaos. I’m in trouble now and I need help from the community.”

Proctor will have an art sale Saturday at her studio located at 3919 Woodville Highway, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

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They say that you can reach her at her also at missionarymary ---AT--- comcast ...dot... net

Her official website is here, and although it's very most likely best to purchase directly from her at this time, she's also represented (and you can see more pics of her work) here, here, here, and here.

American Artisan Festival

Posted by ginger On Thursday, June 25, 2009

This past weekend, we went to the American Artisan Festival in Nashville. This was the first time we had ever been, and some of the artists there were completely new to us - like these pieces by Linda and Rick Bachman from Aurora, Colorado:

This one above is called "High Noon" and his eyes shift from left to right as well as the target at his tummy.

"Grandfather" clock:

"Mark Twang":

This *gorgeous* pottery is by Amelia Stamps:

If she exhibits at this festival again next year, I'll have to get at least a couple of pieces.

These are all bottle/wine stoppers made from vintage doorknobs, pool balls, faucet handles (and more) by Knobstoppers:

This vintage flatware chandelier was made by their 'sister' company, Cake Vintage Table & Home:
When I saw that chandelier, I was thinking "wait - I've seen something vaguely similar in my Wisteria catalog...".

If you go to the Cake website, take a look at the really pretty linens. I have some burlap that I've been planning to print with a chandelier stencil that I have, and what they do is hand-screened with kitchen designs. I've also been planning to make a banner with my burlap and use some really ornate lettering - I'll probably post that project next week.

Oh! And if you click on 'limited edition vintage', guess what they're selling? Vintage French sacks (remember talking about how expensive those are?).

Next is Holden McCurry's art. This is one of the prayer towers I have of his - I got it because it reminded me of First Presbyterian in Port Gibson with the hand at the top of the steeple:


Inside each of the towers is a little slip of paper, which is meant for the owner to write his/her prayer or wishes:

Here's the church:
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

The hand in more detail:
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

...and after I bought the prayer tower from Holden a couple of years ago, we found a church in Alabama that also has a hand at the top of a steeple - the 1839 Mooresville Brick Church:

Closer view:

So anyway - Holden had a great selection with him at the festival:
They're just fantastic. I'd love to have 20 of them and put them everywhere.


One of his new projects is making these 'journey boats':
He has a selection of them here.


We took pictures with the boys at Dale Rogers' metal sculptures (his work is *amazing* - there are pieces at his website that he didn't bring and are just crazy-good). Love the giant dog with the bone cutout:
Right now, Dale is doing 'The Big Dog Show' which is the largest solo sculpture exhibition in New England.

Loved this festival and can't wait to talk with some of my artistic friends about showing next year!

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The next huge-huge art festival we're thinking about going to is in July at the Southern Highland Craft Guild 62nd Annual Craft Fair in Asheville. The list of exhibitors is here.

...then there's the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market (we won't make that, maybe next year...), Folk Fest in August, Atlanta Arts Festival and Monte Sano Art Show in September, Bluff Park and Kentuck in October...

National Sacred Harp Convention

Posted by ginger On Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Late last week, the National Sacred Harp Convention was at a church just south of B'ham, so I took the boys to the singing (if you're not familiar with the name, but saw the movie Cold Mountain and remember the music from it - that's sacred harp).
Beautiful! I took a small-small movie, too:




At last year's convention:



This was from the first Sacred Harp singing I'd ever been to - a couple of years ago in Montgomery at the Archives building. *Oh* it was the most beautiful singing I'd ever heard...and since I uploaded it to YouTube, it's had over 10k hits:


There's also an excellent documentary about Shape Note called Awake, My Soul.

Pie Lab

Posted by ginger On Monday, June 22, 2009

One of the main things we wanted to see in Greensboro was Pie Lab - there were signs downtown for it:




Here it is! Could it be any...cuter?




...and what's really genius is the sign, which can be reconfigured to spell out different words:

See how it's done, with bolts and washers and...um...what's that other thing called...oh I don't know all my hardware-y words. You probably know what those other things are, though. Wing nuts maybe?:

There was a nice article that came out about Pie Lab just late last week, after we were there - part of it reads:

PieLab, the newest eatery to open in Greensboro, Alabama, would be a familiar space to creatives who frequent their local cafes. It's a place you can order a slice of Chocolate Bourbon Pecan pie, maybe some lemonade or coffee, read a book, sketch a picture, review the day's headlines with your neighbors. Except PieLab is not really a cafe, it's a space created by fourteen designers as part of the design-for-good movement Project M, hoping to draw the community in to a neutral space for conversation and connections. And of course, because of one very obvious reason: Who doesn't like pie?

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Bielenberg was inspired in part by architect Samuel Mockbee's Rural Studio, a program where architecture students built homes and public buildings for impoverished residents in rural Alabama. Bielenberg's connection to the cause was so strong that after visiting Mockbee's home base in Hale County, he decided to locate Project M there on a more permanent basis as M Lab, building upon its gravitational pull that attracts designers and architects who want to do good.

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The entire article is here. Gorgeous interior pics are here.

Greensboro, Alabama

Posted by ginger On Saturday, June 20, 2009

Coming into Greensboro, we found the Hale County Animal Shelter that the Rural Studio designed/built:


In town, Mustang Oil is an...well, an institution. When the NY Times came to town, they even mentioned it as one of their "places to eat" in their "On the Path of Walker Evans" piece from April.

They wrote: Mustang Oil (2205 West Main Street, Greensboro; 334-624-9301) offers a local menu. Fried catfish with two sides, including fried okra or baked beans, is $8.99. Grilled catfish is $12.99. Diners can fill up their gas tank after dinner at one of the two pumps.

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Someone had a dinosaur in their front yard:

This is my favorite building downtown:

...so of course I had to get a pic of Shug walking in front:

In 2005 I took this pic of the building when it was this blue color:
Drug Store, Greensboro AL

Rural Studio's HERO Knowledge Cafe:

Downtown:

Ah, like this old Allstate lettering:

2 Bruthas Music Shop:

This is the Dorothy Wilson home, built/designed by the Rural Studio in 1996:

I'm going to have to look up this house:

Next: Pie Lab!

On The Way To Greensboro

Posted by ginger On Friday, June 19, 2009

These are just a few pics on the way to Greensboro:


Rather than put up scarecrows, the people that had this garden hung up clothes on hangers:


I think this was on County Road 38, I think near Sawyerville. The sign at the top reads "Apostolic Faith Church of Jesus Christ Temple". It was just very simple and beautiful and had kudzu growing all around it.

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