TRAVELING IN A TINY HOME THAT IS REALLY AN ARTISTS' BOOK ON WHEELS

Peter and Donna Thomas have been making fine press and artist's books for over 40 years. When they started, as craftspeople at Renaissance Faires, they fell in love with the graceful beauty of "gypsy wagon" caravans that other vendors had made to sleep in or use as booths for selling their wares. In 2009 Peter and Donna built their own tiny home on wheels, designed after a typical late 19th century Redding Wagon. This blog documents their trips around the country, taken to sell their artists' books, teach book arts workshops, and talk about making books as art; as well as to seek out and experience the beauty of the many different landscapes found across the USA.

Peter and Donna started their business in 1977 and made their first book in 1978, so from 2017-18 are traveling to celebrate 40 years of making books with shows in a dozen libraries across the country. See the schedule on the side bar to find if they are coming to a town near you....

Follow the Wandering Book Artists on Facebook and Instagram!
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Click here to see a digital exhibit of all the books Peter and Donna have made since 1977.


Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Two Gypsy wagons are better than one.


Remember how we made a pilgrimage to Muir’s boyhood home and then to all the Muir sites at the University of Wisconsin? Well, yesterday we made a pilgrimage to East Troy and spent the day visiting with Jim and Loi of www.gypsytrailersusa.com.

We first contacted Jim about 5 years ago when we saw his web site, and when we found his home was only 20 miles outside of Milwaukee we realized it would be possible to visit on this trip. Jim and Loi are artists and Jim is definitely an outsider artist. I think in this case pictures will speak louder than words so let us show you his wagon and his home. By the way Jims wagon is for sale for $8900 (he has $11,000 in receipts for materials and did all the labor himself). Check out his web site.

at 7:01 AM

1 comment:

Kathryn said...

Beautiful! So nice that your wagon could spend some time with a friend. Now my Book Wagon misses you even more. He hasn't had a friend spend the night since you left Pocatello.

August 3, 2010 at 3:49 PM

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