Monday, June 27, 2005

Way Out Ten

Ten Things About Outside Artists

1. Aw Boon Haw -- the Tiger Balm gardens inspired the dragon wall in my third JH novel.

2. Ferdinand Cheval -- a must-see if you're in this part of France.

3. S.P. Dinsmoor -- he liked his creation so much he had himself entombed in it.

4. Ed Leedskalnin -- I lived about thirty minutes from this most of my life, and yet never visited it until 1996. It reminded me of the moai on Easter Island -- mysterious, inexplicable, wonderfully creepy.

5. Simon Rodia -- a little more info about the Watts Towers can be found here.

6. Ed Root -- some of his work was saved, but the rest is at the bottom of Lake Wilson.

7. Herman Rusch -- efforts are being made to save this outsider artist's sculpture garden.

8. Clarence Schmidt -- I first saw the House of Mirrors in a 1968 issue of Art in America, which I picked up at the library book sale. I was reminded of it again when I read Douglas Clegg's Harrow novels. Schmidt was supposedly harmless, but I got a very nasty vibe simply from seeing photos of this place.

9. James Tellen -- buried some of his early work in his yard.

10. Father Mathias Wernerus -- inspiration for a character in an upcoming Darkyn novel.

1 comment:

  1. RE: Clarence Schmidt

    Do you still have that '68 issue of Art in America? I'd be VERY interested in seeing a scan, photocopy, etc., since I actually used to live near Clarence in the mid- '60's and visited his "Silver Forest" and "House of Mirrors" many times. He was quite harmeless, and VERY Bohemian!

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