Archives

Brady 3

As a young boy in the 1950’s, Bill Brady’s severe dyslexia was little understood. At home, he learned metalworking alongside his father, an accomplished blacksmith, but after the ninth grade, Bill was counseled to give up schooling, and he dropped-out to take a series of menial jobs. While living in New England, he would supplement […]

Billy Brady 2

As a young boy in the 1950’s, Bill Brady’s severe dyslexia was little understood. At home, he learned metalworking alongside his father, an accomplished blacksmith, but after the ninth grade, Bill was counseled to give up schooling, and he dropped-out to take a series of menial jobs. While living in New England, he would supplement […]

Bill Brady 1

As a young boy in the 1950’s, Bill Brady’s severe dyslexia was little understood. At home, he learned metalworking alongside his father, an accomplished blacksmith, but after the ninth grade, Bill was counseled to give up schooling, and he dropped-out to take a series of menial jobs. While living in New England, he would supplement […]

William Brady Jr.

In 1963, Philadelphia steelworker William Brady Sr. moved his family to northwestern Pennsylvania to take a superintendent position at Universal-Cyclops Steel in Titusville, Pa.  Bill Sr. was an accomplished artisan who spent most of his free time crafting decorative works in his fully equipped blacksmithing shop. Born in 1943, Bill Jr.’s severe dyslexia was un-recognized […]

Wince paintings and details

In 1988 Charles Wince purchased a 2 ½-story “fixer-upper” house in a then rundown Columbus neighborhood.  In retrospect, it was lucky that there were no fine interior architectural details to preserve, and Wince’s distinctly personal transformation of his home (whose surroundings have evolved into a much more fashionable and expensive neighborhood) continues to the present […]

Liggett 4

Retired from the Navy and Air Force, MT Liggett returned to his hometown of Mullinville, Kansas and built numerous provocative sculptures and signs satirizing local and national politicians, the government, the mainstream media, hypocrites, and former wives.  Some of his ‘totems’ honored friends, former lovers, and a surprise daughter who came to visit as an […]

Robertson part 7 Cross Symbolism

(quotations on this page are of Isaiah Robertson’s words) The 25 foot cross Prophet Isaiah built in his driveway was a gift to the community: offering physical and spiritual healing, as well as a final chance for redemption ahead of the imminent Second Coming – to occur at the brink of Niagara Falls on Goat […]

Henry Hall 1

Henry Hall made numerous Mardi Gras costumes, model floats, and found-object sculptures.  He also drew, made spray paintings from custom stencils, and decorated his yard with beads, party hats, and objects from around his neighborhood.  He proudly recalled his U. S. Army service (1953-5), having a traveling dance troupe and running a dance studio in […]

Roy Smith 1

Roy Smith lives in Royville without electricity or plumbing.  During the day he charges solar lights for nighttime use inside the van where he sleeps.   In the 1990’s Roy was featured on the television news program 20/20, and he won a racial bias law suite against the police department (in a different Colorado county).  […]

Frank Novel 3

Frank and I enjoy getting together for Erie Seawolves AA minor league baseball games:

Frank Novel 2

Frank brought one of his vintage notebooks to a minor league baseball for my between innings pleasure.  Some quick cell-snaps:    

Frank Novel 1

Frank Novel (Noo´-vel) is a mental health outpatient who lives in a low income apartment building in downtown Erie, Pennsylvania.  He keeps a sizable collection of vintage LP’s in his small apartment and is especially partial to ’60’s and 70’s pop rock.  Since the 1970’s, he has drawn almost daily in sketchbooks – sometimes making […]

Robertson part 6 House and Yard Symbols

(quotations on this page are of Isaiah Robertson’s words) The myriad of colorful designs make an overwhelming first impression that may seem decorative, but reminiscent of stained-glass church windows, Prophet Isaiah’s home site is filled with abstractly-stylized biblical references and symbolic messages. The colors and details would change, but the broad designs and meanings remained […]

Juanita Leonard 2

Juanita Leonard sells her work at local art shows, or directly out of her immersive, colorful art environment of a home. Ms. Juanita welcomes visitors to her ever-changing home and grounds, and she may be contacted through her Facebook page (see “External Resources” below map).

Juanita Leonard 1

Next to her home in about 2005, Juanita Leonard built and decorated a small church where she, a licensed minister, holds Sunday services for a small congregation.  At the beginning of her ministry, she dressed in “white swaddling” and for around forty days carried a large bamboo cross along the rural Louisiana highway in front […]

Twiss part 1 Tabernacle

In 2017, Jeremy Twiss, then employed as a cook at the adjacent Sweetness_7 Cafe, had no previous painting experience or art training, but Prish Moran, the owner, was impressed by some recent figure drawings, and she encouraged him to take on what turned-out to be the year-long project of single-handedly painting the interior of the […]

Melvin Gould

Pulsing flashes of sunlight from the westbound service road of I-80 approaching Cheyenne, Wyoming signal that Mel Gould’s exit (#370) is coming up. He purposely left the spinning silver duct pipe mounted atop his quonset hut workshop unpainted: on clear days a driver’s peripheral vision is likely to be caught by the stroboscopic sunbursts. A […]

Thompson part 3 contributed paintings

This is a gallery of painting reproductions that were either sent by William Thompson to me, or were found randomly on the internet.  Mr. Thompson requested that the following biblical text – “a true description of Heaven” and central to an understanding of his work – be included: Revelation 21-22 King James Version Revelation 21 […]