Isaiah Zagar earned an art degree from Pratt Institute in the early 1960’s, but the primary – and life-long – inspiration from his student days came from his visit to Clarence Schmidt’s House of Mirrors, a sprawling architectural assemblage in Woodstock, NY. Zagar, a ‘trained’ artist, has been unusually strongly influenced by the work of […]
Halloween provided Paula Fetterolf with an annual excuse to fill her front yard with a newly-themed display of her fancy. Among many others, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the 80’s rock band Poison, a whimsical fairyland of dolls and trashcan lid mushrooms, a mental asylum, King Tut’s tomb, a Hollywood Western saloon, a vampire […]
Frank Novel has saved many of his mother’s sketchbooks. Now deceased, Anna Novel was also a mental health patient, and her work helped inspire Frank to take up drawing. These work date from later in her life.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Frank and I enjoy getting together for Erie Seawolves AA minor league baseball games:
Frank brought one of his vintage notebooks to a minor league baseball for my between innings pleasure. Some quick cell-snaps:
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 […]
The February 23, 2020 issue of the Erie Times-News has a lead, plus full page spread on self-taught artist/sculptor Bill Brady.
Often self-taught ‘artists’ don’t think of themselves as, or like to be called ‘artists’. They may not produce any ‘for sale’ art objects, their work may be too personal, or it may be intended to carry religious messages from God (for which they accept no personal credit). Many think of themselves as being too unskilled […]
The non-doctrinaire, open-ended aesthetic of the early Modernist period also appeals to Bedford: artists such as Picasso and Gauguin, who embraced influences from nonwestern tribal cultures, or Van Gogh, who followed his own (deeply) inner course. In a similar vein, Bedford admires what he terms the “outsider ethos” of self-taught environment-builders who freely turn their inner passions into a public spectacle. Vanadu Gardens is not an imitation of an “outsider” environment, however: it is an authentic and resplendent result of the artist allowing his own passions to spread out all over!
Billy Shelton’s Free Admission Converted Flea Market Venue for Local Musicians. Several Groups Perform Sundays from Approx 1-4 PM, Jam Sessions on Thursdays from 6:00 PM til the Music Stops… Update: after a major fire in 2017, the current status of Billy’s is unknown.
Portraits of artists creators, and performers.
Art environments are typically made by by artists working outside the mainstream of contemporary art. Exposed to the weather and free for public viewing, the environments have little or no connection to the monetized art-object-based realm of galleries and museums. Often the ‘artists’ don’t think of themselves as, or like to be called ‘artists’, their […]
Often self-taught ‘artists’ don’t think of themselves as, or like to be called ‘artists’. They may not produce any ‘for sale’ art objects, their work may be too personal, or it may be intended to carry religious messages from God (for which they accept no personal credit). Many think of themselves as being too unskilled […]
Often self-taught ‘artists’ don’t think of themselves as, or like to be called ‘artists’. They may not produce any ‘for sale’ art objects, their work may be too personal, or it may be intended to carry religious messages from God (for which they accept no personal credit). Many think of themselves as being too unskilled […]