Driftwood Charlie and his Folk Art Stone Carvings

Postcard of Driftwood Charlie and his stone carvings.  No Date.  Collection Dull Tool Dim Bulb.

  Photos of his work cribbed from Seymour Rosen and Spaces.

Folk Art and Photography books and affordable ebooks by Jim Linderman available HERE

Gay Aquatic Review and Mike Duffy Miniature Sideshow Carnival At the Circus in Black and White

I've done thirty or more "at the circus in black and white" posts here over the years, but this one is most curious.  The snapshot appears to show a MINIATURE circus.  Small period signs announce the performers.  A tiny "Cotton Club" stage and show.  The snapshot reverse reads "Mike Duffy and nephew on horse.  Carnival Midway front and background".  No date, but 1930 to 1950 I presume.  I have no idea what the "Gay Aquatic Revue" is.  

Original snapshot photograph of miniature Duffy Circus Collection Dull Tool Dim Bulb 

Antique American Folk Art Wood Carving Miniatures

Antique American Folk Art Wood Carving Miniatures.  1" to 2" tall.  
Collection Dull Tool Dim Bulb

WW2 Folk Art "Winged Angel" Trench Art drawn on a Pillowcase Love during Wartime

World War Two Folk Art "Winged Angel" Trench Art drawn on a Pillowcase.  Northeastern United States c. 1945.  Framed behind plexiglass with screws.  Collection Jim Linderman.  Courtesy Natalie Curley Antiques. "Love during Wartime" is a continuing series on Dull Tool Dim Bulb.

Vintage Handmade Child's Miniature Cook Book Drawn by Hand Folk Art

A Vintage Handmade Child's Miniature Cook Book Drawn by Hand.  4" x 6" with hand written recipes and some clipped from magazines of the time.  Circa 1940 - 1945.  Drawings and instructions by Carol Birkett with help from her friend Patty.  22 pages.  Collection Jim Linderman

Vernacular photograph of an Anonymous Folk Art Carver

Vernacular photograph of an Anonymous Folk Art Carver. This photograph is not signed and has no identification of the maker. Looks to be fine work. I'm showing a detail, but there isn't much information cropped. This backyard rocker (rain or shine?) should have the work seen. In the folk art world, an artist often becomes recognized decades later in photos.  Scanned images online often work as well as printed ones in newspapers, but if any of the following here knows the work? He was working when JFK was facing down a Ruskie, it appears.

Backyard photograph of an anonymous folk art carver, no location, circa 1965?
Collection Dull Tool Dim Bulb / Jim Linderman

Scenes from a Texas Immersion Baptism Vernacular photographs 1927 San Antonio

Scenes from a Texas Immersion Baptism. Each stamped on reverse 1927 San Antonio.  Photographer Carl D. Newton.  Collection Jim Linderman

19th Century Folk Art Painting of ripe grapes

19th Century Folk Art watercolor of ripe grapes.
Anonymous Collection Jim Linderman
(See also the book Eccentric Folk Art Drawing of the 19th and 20th Centuries)

African-American Folk Art Sand Sculpture from the New Jersey Shore Pair of Snapshots c. 1915

 

A pair of vernacular snapshots of a sand sculptor at work near the turn of 19th century. The location is likely Ashbury Park or Atlantic City. There were several skilled sand builders working the New Jersey Shore around 1915. I suspect this is either Jas. J. Taylor (who was known for his depictions of Cupid) or Lorenz Harris. Harris was apparently an African-American artist and one of several who displayed their work for tips. This boardwalk tradition was eventually banned from the beaches in 1944. Postcards of the era (both real photo postcards and more widely sold printed versions) were common. This pair are among the few actual snapshots which have turned up. More information on the art and artists is found HERE in the magazine of the American Folk Art Museum. Note monkey gazing at his reflection in a mirror!

African-American Folk Art Sand Sculpture from the New Jersey Shore Pair of Snapshots c. 1915
Collection Jim Linderman courtesy Invisible Commute.

Georgia Folk Artist R. A. Miller paints a Snake. Outsider Art

Georgia Folk Artist R. A. Miller paints a Snake.
Original Photo Jim Linderman c. 1995

Handmade Folk Art Ventriloquist Vent Figure

Freckles the Vent.  Composite materials over wood frame.  Circa 1960.  Collection Dull Tool Dim Bulb.  Books and Affordable Ebooks by the author HERE.

Time and Death Pair of salvaged Fraternal Society Paintings from a Banner

 Time and Death.  Pair of salvaged Fraternal Society Paintings from a Banner.  Likely early 20th century.  Oil Paint on Linen.  Signed as M. K. Mengle.  Collection Dull Tool Dim Bulb

 

Antique Folk Art Drawing 19th Century Primitive Therorem Urn with Flowers Pennsylvania

Antique Folk Art Drawing 19th Century Naive Therorem Urn with Flowers. Pennsylvania origin.  Pencil on Paper. Signed Job Wagner dated 1883.  6" x 7".  
Collection Dull Tool Dim Bulb

Duckwalking man Vintage photograph

A duck walking man.  
Original Snapshot no date (c. 1935?)  
Missouri Lee Jellum Photo Shop.
Collection Dull Tool Dim Bulb

Folk Art Postage Stamp Collage (detail) Spinning Wheel circa 1910

Postage stamp collage (detail) circa 1910.  Hand-drawn ink features and early 20th Century postage stamps on postcard size card.  Collection Dull Tool Dim Bulb.  See also the book "Eccentric Folk Art Drawings of the 19th and 20th Centuries" for several similar examples of the craft. 

Vintage Amateur Original Drawings for Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazine

Vintage Amateur Original Drawings for Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazine submitted by a boy.  Famous Monsters was started in 1958 and ran until 1983 with 191 issues.  Later, a revival from 1993 brought it back and it continues today.  These drawings were submitted for publication in a "submitted by fans" section of the magazine.  While I do not know if any were printed, the editor Forrest J. Ackerman kept this collection for decades in his private collection until passing.  There are some 50 drawings which reveal a young talent under the spell of prominent monsters (and monster films) of the 1950s and 1960s.

Collection Jim Linderman / Dull Tool Dim Bulb

Antique Folk Art Jesus Drawing 19th century Collection Jim Linderman

Antique Folk Art Drawing of Jesus 19th century   Pencil on paper dated 1882
Collection Jim Linderman

Vintage Folk Art Birdhouse with Galvanized Steel Roof

Vintage Folk Art Birdhouse with Galvanized Steel Roof, a metal perch and a leather belt.  Circa 1950 Collection Dull Tool Dim Bulb.

Postage Stamp Folk Art Collage World's Fair 1939

Folk Art collage made of postage stamps, c. 1939.
Collection Jim Linderman 

19th Century Folk Art Train Drawing Forty Miles an Hour

19th Century Folk Art Train Drawing goes Forty Miles an Hour.  Edward Brown, 1883.
Courtesy Curley Antiques. 

Three Big Bears Antique Folk Art Bear Masks

Three Big Bears  Antique Folk Art Bear Masks.   Height 16" - 18"
Collection Dull Tool Dim Bulb / Jim Linderman

Portrait of a Dummy Original snapshot c. 1960 Handmade Ventriloquist Folk Art Figure

Portrait of a Dummy  Original snapshot c. 1960 Handmade Ventriloquist Folk Art Figure
Collection Jim Linderman

Reefer Madness Comics by Craig Yoe and Steven Thompson A smoking good review!

Reefer Madness Comics is hilarious!  Craig Yoe and Steven Thompson have pulled together over 200 pages of rare comic book parables from the 1940s and 1950s in full color!  Plus a few later "public safety" comic book warnings to the nation's youth.  This in the era of Jefferson Beauregard Sessions the Third, our miniature porcine "law and order" top gun.  He won't get the joke, and he wouldn't understand the value or humor of these vintage "don't do it" publications.  Full of horror stories and comic book illustrator's attempts to show the effects of the first toke on Satan's Cigarettes. Dreamy!  That is, until they are hooked.   

I write this on 4/20 day.  Another year of celebration and mourning for the 1,522,579 who were arrested for stinkweed in the United States last year.  84% were arrested for possession only.  This while 22 states have lenient marijuana laws and others have medical licenses for those who need treatment.  How about this?  200,000 students have lost their federal financial aid eligibility because of drug convictions.  Local police budgets benefit, of course.

Want to set a kid out on his future in the job market with a drug conviction?  That is like recruiting for the cartels.  

Reefer Madness Comics includes an informed historical essay and some twenty full stories from the past for (currently) $13.59 on Amazon. You will not regret the purchase.  This book is hilarious, and your friends caught up in the dope menace will think so too.    

Craig Yoe is HERE.
 
Reefer Madness Comics on Amazon is HERE

A Folk Art Carved Parsnip! Ephemeral Folk Art

A Folk Art Carved Parsnip!  From "American Scenery Lake George Views Stereoview card
Lamson and Smith Photographers. 19th Century.  Collection Jim Linderman
Thanks to Invisible Commute.

Vernacular Architecture Folk Art Environment Unknown Location Vintage Snapshot

Location Unknown.  Snapshot collection Jim Linderman

Antique Folk Art Room Mural Cabinet Card Photograph

Antique Folk Art Room Mural Cabinet Card Photograph.  Likely in or near Merrimac, MA.  Original photograph by "View Photographer" C. E  Sawyer circa 1880.  
Collection Jim Linderman