Finally another gypsy wagon….

We had a few free days between Tuscaloosa and Baton Rouge. We were going to visit the Natchez Trace Scenic Parkway but found a Society for Creative Anacronism “war”, was being held in Mississippi, and it was right on our route. It is called the Gulf War and is one of the SCA’s largest and longest events. 

As well as being a place to fight with sword or arrow, the SCA events are places to learn about crafts of the time. We took classes in fiber and metal arts (Peter made a Viking safety pin and Donna made a cloak), wood fired cooking, and bardic lore.

We have traveled about 35,000 miles and have not seen another gypsy wagon on the road. When we pull into campgrounds the rangers and hosts stare. We always ask, “Do you get many gypsy wagons at your park?” Only once or twice have we heard…”We had one that looked like that once.” There was one other gypsy wagon at the war. It was made by Ken and Betty Brand. Here are a few pictures.

We did not come prepared to dress in costume, so had to throw something together.

Here we are saying goodbye to the war....

Wandering Book Artists in Alabama

“You are doing what I have always wanted to do.”

“You are living my dream.”

“Can I have your life?”

Parked under the raining pink magnolia blossoms in Tuscaloosa, AL

We hear this sort of thing almost every day. Living your dream is nice work if you can get it. We are grateful for this opportunity to see the country traveling in our gypsy wagon. But, we want you to let you know that traveling as wandering book artists has its challenges too. Like yesterday morning, we were at Cloe's Cup Coffee shop using the internet, so engrossed in the mundane but necessary work we do every day on our computers (setting up the next stop on down the road, confirming workshop details, and sorting out the always challenging “where can we park the truck and gypsy wagon,”) that we forgot we were in a two-hour parking space and came out to find we had gotten a parking ticket. Darn. The good news was that it happened in Tuscaloosa where parking tickets are only  $15.

Office work at the cafe

On the first Thursday of the month there is an art walk in the quaint town of Northport, Alabama, just across the river from Tuscaloosa. Wandering around we found “The Southern Letterpress,”  new enterprise that is the result of Jessica Peterson and Bridget Elmer dreaming, risking, and working hard. The shop opened a few months ago in a "shotgun" building (it is about 6 feet wide and 100 feet long and used to be a gun repair shop). During the “Art Walk” visitors were invited to print a poem on the Vandercook press. The poet, Samuel Gray, was there, and he gave us an impromptu reading of the poem! Jessica does job printing, artful printing and sells letterpress printed cards and broadsides in the Northport shop, while Bridget works out of another branch of the shop in Saint Petersburg, Florida. We felt a real kinship to them running a business out of such a tiny little space.

The Southern Letterpress

From the back of the shop

Entranced by the colors in this mosaic at the Kentuck art plaza, Northport

In Tuscaloosa we talked to the letterpress and papermaking classes at the “Crimson Tide” University of Alabama. It is one of the few universities in the country that offer a MFA degree in Book Arts. We could see that the current students in the program are focused and hard working. Clearly that is a tradition here, as we have been impressed by the number of UA graduates that we have met teaching book arts teachers at other universities in the south. Those UA graduates are living their dream, sharing the book arts with their students. Hopefully they also find time to continue making their books too. Good job UA Book Arts!

Peter at the mini Hollander “cocktail” beater, before adding the red rags to make some “crimson tide” pulp in the parking lot at the U.

And another oops: Chewing into a cheese cube at the reception after his talk at Emory University Peter broke a bit of tooth off his molar and so had to find a dentist in a strange town. No big deal, but we’re showing you this just in case you think that wandering book artists somehow escape all the tribulations of life…..

Gypsy Wagon meets Quirky Primitive

One thing about traveling around the country in a gypsy wagon is that gypsy wagons are like "art magnets" and we sure have been lucky to meet some incredible and creative artists on this trip. For example, in Atlanta we parked beside the home and studio of Julie Newton and Raymondo Vaughn. Julie is best known as a book artist and Raymondo a metal worker and their work is categorized as “Quirky Primitive.” 

The mosaic in their kitchen

At first glance quirky primitive art can appear simply fun and whimsical, but closer inspection reveals layers of meaning that are deep and sometimes dark as well. We want to share two short videos made by Jacob Snowden about Raymondo's art and life. Chalk tells about his work. Angel + Mermaid shares a more personal story. 

The gypsy wagon angel over Raymondo's art work.

Thinking about those two videos, I am reminded that when I find art is good or successful for me, it is usually pleasing at the first glance but doesn’t stop there. The longer I look, the more I enjoy it and the more I start to imagine I can understand the intention of the artist and where they are leading me and what they are sharing through their creation. 

As book artists we work in a medium that abounds with opportunity for depth. A book is not two dimensional, it has layers, both physical and conceptual:  There are almost endless choices for text, endless ways of illustrating and binding, multifold possibilities available in the choice of type faces, colors, papers, threads... These choices and options all lead to the possibility of creating a very rich and engaging art work.

As I type Peter is teaching a book binding class at Emory University Library in Atlanta, GA. The binding is one we developed for our book, Song of Creation, using pop-ups and layers of accordions. It’s pretty fun to introduce folks to structures that are new for them, thus adding to their stash of binding options.

Current and future great book artists at Emory University

Along with sharing book arts with folks, we are playing music too. Yesterday we gathered with people from the class Peter taught last fall at the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina. We played and sang for hours at a funky fun tea house called “Dr. Bombay’s Underground Tea Party.” Peter will be teaching uke again in 2014, so you too can have this much fun!

Uke playing at the teahouse

This photo is especially for my son-in-law Toby. This is the cool collection of skateboards in Raymondo's living room. Many more vintage boards line the walls of other rooms.

When we finish teaching this workshop we will be heading west. Our first stop will be Birmingham, Alabama for a short visit with Vamp and Tramp Booksellers, who represent our work and the work of many other book artists.

And now a final look at the Quirky Primitive:

The Low Key Hideaway, a quirky primitive bottle-walled bar in Cedar Key

bottle wall detail

The bottle wall in the garden at the Low Key, Cedar Key

Good bye to Florida and Georgia.
This is the view out the window at our campsite in Cedar Key, Florida.

What’s a Wayzgoose?

Donna writing this blog post

On Saturday February 23, 2013, the Tampa Letterpress Group had their inaugural Wayzgoose. What's a wayzgoose you ask? It is where lots of bookish enthusiasts get together for demonstrations of the crafts and machinery that are involved in the making of a book. The wayzgoose was held at the University of Tampa's book arts lab. They were casting metal type using old monotype and linotype and intertype and ludlow machines. They were showing letterpress printing using Vandercooks, C & Ps, and old hand presses. There were book binding, paste paper and papermaking demos. Peter gave the papermaking demo. There was already a video posted on youtube about the wayzgoose, and Peter's demonstration is featured about halfway through. Here is a link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X9fPfpbI74&feature=youtu.be

We had our books on display in the book arts center’s library, and the letterpress books especially received oohs and ahhs. Folks also enjoyed the book earrings (now being made by our daughter Suzanne)! Lots of folks at the wayzgoose were wondering where to get the book jewelry after we left and we promised to give them a link to Suzanne's book jewelry web site, so here is the link: http://www.bookearrings.com/

Earlier this week we taught a class where participants made a book and then we gave a lecture, all at the Jaffe Center at Florida State University in Boca Raton. The class was full of earnest and excited book artists, but here were a few bored looking students who must have been required to attend the lecture. Sorry. But, how bad can it be to listen to a lecture that includes a ukulele player playing book arts folk songs?

We crossed Florida east to west on a 2-lane drive that went past oranges and palms. At one point we passed a bunch of folks riding horses.

We spent time in a campground in an area they call the hammock, where the trees are so thick the light hardly reaches the ground. The campers need to light up their sites and some used some very "different" kinds of lights. 

 

We arrived in Tampa on Friday. We DID have permission to park in the dirt lot next to the book arts studio, but we were startled awake at midnight by some tough-talking campus police. I love listening to Peter talk his way into their hearts by explaining that, “You have to have a gypsy wagon if you are a book artist traveling around the country showing your work….”

The sea green water and gentle waves of the Gulf shore welcomed us on our rest day. We swam in the warmish water and walked on the white sand beach among throngs of local families as well as tourists at St. Pete’s Beach.

The awesome Florida hospitality continued last night with a al fresco dinner with Carl Nudi in Bradenton. 72 degrees at dinner time is just perfect, don’t you think?

It's Always Summer in Florida

That’s what we thought was true. But when we arrived back in Florida, they were having a cold snap. The first night was 36 degrees, much colder than home!

As you might remember, we flew home in December for the winter holidays, and stayed in California through the middle of February so that we could participate in the CODEX book fair held in Berkeley, California. For those of you who did not get to go, there were 180 private presses and book artists showing their work over four days of book fair. CODEX is in its fourth year and is probably the best display of the art of the book in the world.

Our table at CODEX 2013

As “typical” wandering book artists, we did not pay much attention to the calendar when we made our return plane reservations, so were not aware that we were returning on a holiday weekend. The good news was that meant we did not have to go right back to work. After rescuing the gypsy wagon from the pavement and chain link graveyard of a storage unit parking lot near Orlando were off wandering again!

We spent the rest of the holiday weekend in the palm and pine forests of Wekiwa Springs State Park. We walked the mile-long path to the springs one afternoon to go swimming in the crystal clear 70-degree spring water.

Wekiwa Spring swimming hole

Donna adding more decorative painting while at the campground

Our assigned campsite was right next to a very PINK vintage Scotty trailer, the first other colorful vehicle we have seen in a state or national park. 

It was exciting to find another camper who believe in bringing more color into the traveling RV world.

Interior glamour!

As we pulled in, the owner of the pink trailer (she dressed all in pink and used only pink camping gear) said almost the same thing, “It’s so nice to know I’m not the only one.” Sometimes its nice to get a little confirmation, being on the leading edge of a trend! The Pink Lady called what she was doing “glamping”. (Glamorous Camping).

We have a busy itinerary planned for ourselves and that means we might see you as we drive across the southern United States on our way home. In the next few weeks we will give a class at the Jaffe Center in Boca Raton, participate in the Florida Wayzgoose in Tampa, lecture to a class at UF in Tallahassee, open one of our Cannery Row books in a can opening ceremony at Emory University, be part of a self made ukulele happening at Dr Bombay's Underwater Tea Party in Atlanta, make paper at the University of Alabama, visit Gorda, Alabama and more. We hope we will be crossing your paths and that you will be able to join us for one of these events. If not, we hope you will continue to join us on your computer by reading our blog posts. If you want to get an email notice when we make a blog post, just let us know and we will add you to the list.

The Open Caravan at University of Central Florida, Orlando