University of Pennsylvania

ScholarlyCommons Theses (Historic Preservation)

Graduate Program in Historic Preservation

1996

Fixing Dreams: Preserving America's Folk Art Environments Jay Laurence Platt University of Pennsylvania

Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses Part of the Historic Preservation and Conservation Commons Platt, Jay Laurence, "Fixing Dreams: Preserving America's Folk Art Environments" (1996). Theses (Historic Preservation). 375. http://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/375

Copyright note: Penn School of Design permits distribution and display of this student work by University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Suggested Citation: Platt, Jay Laurence (1996). Fixing Dreams: Preserving America's Folk Art Environments. (Masters Thesis). University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. http://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/375 For more information, please contact [email protected].

Fixing Dreams: Preserving America's Folk Art Environments Disciplines

Historic Preservation and Conservation Comments

Copyright note: Penn School of Design permits distribution and display of this student work by University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Suggested Citation: Platt, Jay Laurence (1996). Fixing Dreams: Preserving America's Folk Art Environments. (Masters Thesis). University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

This thesis or dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/375

UNIVERSITY^ PENNSYL\^^NL\

UBKARIES

FIXING

DREAMS

PRESERVING AMERICA'S FOLK ART ENVIRONMENTS

Jay Laurence

Piatt

A THESIS in

Historic Preservation

Presented to the Faculties Partial Fulfillment of the

of the University of

Requirements

Pennsylvania

for the

Degree

in

of

MASTER OF SCIENCE 1996

A(ML Reader

rvisor

David G. De Long Professor of Architecture

Christa Wilmanns-Wells

Lecturer

Graduate Group Chair Frank G. Matero

i

Associate Professor of Architecture

in

Historic Preservation

tTMvLBsrrr

iJBRABISS

CONTENTS

Illustrations

iji

Acknowledgments I.

II.

III.

IV.

The Folk

Art

The Study

iv

Environment

of Folk Art

Environments

1

15

Recognizing and Assessing Folk Art Environments

28

Preserving Folk Art Environments

42

Notes

57

Appendix: Sites and Organizations

63

Bibliography

65

ILLUSTRATIONS

Illustration

Page

(Uncredited photographs by author)

1.

Salvation Mountain, Niland, Ca.

1

2.

Coral Castle, Homestead,

2

Fla.

3.

Land of the Pasaquan, Buena

4.

Concrete Park,

Phillips,

[James Pierce] Vista,

Ga. [James Pierce]

4

Wise. [John Beardsley]

8

5.

Totem Pole

6.

Bottle Village, Simi Valley, Ca.

7.

Watts Towers, Los Angeles, Ca. [James Pierce]

20

8.

House

22

9.

Decorated Trailer Home, Truth or Consequences, N.M.

Park, Foyil, Okla.

of Mirrors,

9

[James Pierce]

10

Woodstock, N.Y. [Gregg Blasdel]

10.

Home

11.

Wooden Garden,

12.

Watts Towers with Scaffolding

13.

Old Trapper's Lodge, Sun Valley, Ca. [James Pierce]

14.

Old Trapper's Sculptures

15.

Salvation Mountain, Niland, Ca.

39

of 'The Flower Man", Houston, Tex.

39

Eureka, Ca. [James Pierce]

in

New

40 51

Setting,

Woodland

Hills,

53 Ca.

53 54

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This paper

and

dedicated to the makers of folk

is

inspiration

makes

and head-scratching wonder

the task of preserving their works

dedication to include those of folk art environments

I

would

like to

will

who

happily

was

De Long, my

let

to both the

invaluable.

me rummage

offering their

in

but

it

is

is

The joy

future.

boundless. This alone

also daunting. Therefore,

thesis advisor,

infinite

through

its

to Beth

I

extend

this

and Christa Wilmanns-Wells, my

Many thanks go

own

to

Seymour Rosen,

vast knowledge of the subject

I

must thank Leonard

and Louis Lee, builder of Lee's Oriental Garden, whose

me

is

-

Secor of the Orange Show Foundation, who

archive for a couple of days. Finally,

for interviews with

to the world.

patience.

archive and his

Thanks are also due

making time

works

and

SPACES

Knight, creator of Salvation Mountain,

graciousness

vital,

provoke

take up the challenge and work to ensure that the beguiling power

thesis reader, for their gentle guidance

his help

environments - past, present, and

continue to be experienced by our successors.

thank both David

who gave me access

art

that their creations

far

surpassed by

their

graciousness

in

I.

THE FOLK ART ENVIRONMENT

/

will

make

the

poems

of materials, for

I

think they are to

be the most

spiritual

poems

Whitman, Starting from Paumanok

Poems

of materials, transformed from things at-hand into things from

as dreams.

fragile

In

the California desert, Leonard Knight

technicolored mountain dedicated

adobe and donated

paint,

Knight

to the proposition that

is

'God

deep

inside,

improbable and

single-handedly building a

is

Love'.

Using straw-reinforced

is

besting nature with his reworking of a

low desert

bluff into

what he

Salvation Mountain. [Figure

calls

This

1]

huge, hallucinatory work rises above the desert floor

mirage,

it is

like

a primary-colored

emblazoned

with

sculpted and painted quotations from the

New Testament

relief

as well as bas

representations of flower-

bedecked meadows,

waterfalls,

and

an as-yet unfinished wave-strewn lake.

The continued existence

gigantic artistic non sequitur

of this

is

currently threatened, not so much by

the infrequent rains that could

all

away as by

would

like to

wash

it

state agencies that

see the

entire site bulldozed

'

^^°"^^?st5^v^5V3

compound, using blocks

weigh several tons apiece.

his creations

and await

Edward Leedskalnin. Coral

his idealized love's return.

seeing his love again. Since then what after the nine ton gate that could

2.

is

now

be turned on

Castle,

Homestead,

Leedskalnin died

called Coral Castle (he called

its

in

it

pivot with the lightest touch)

Florida.

1951 without ever

Rock Gate Park has become a minor

tourist attraction.

issue

-

Unlike Salvation Mountain,

even stood

it

fast against Hurricane

its

continued preservation

Andrew which devastated

Based upon the descriptions above and even upon have

little in

common. The

relation to their environs,

their

use of materials,

it

in

1992.

two sites seem

to

and

their locations

impact upon visitors are quite different yet the sites are linked

with hundreds of others throughout the country that

Many

the area around

further examination, these

intention of their creators, their

and

an

for the present, not

is,

some observers

call folk art

environments.

of these sites are recognized as important artworks that stand as testament to the power of

individual initiative

and the indomitable urge

merely unrecognized;

all

of

Many

to create.

others remain undiscovered or

them have been dismissed by some as

level of exaltation or disdain, these

environments are

all

Regardless of

"junk".

their

endangered by the forces of

potentially

development, neglect, poverty, and ignorance. While these are the forces that threaten most

elements of our

built

environment, their impact on folk environments can be especially severe as

these sites are often rather

and tend

to quickly

succumb

to

such destructive

Salvation Mountain and Coral Castle represent the extremes of the durability of folk art

forces.

environment with the

The purpose States

fragile creations

latter

being the exception and the former the

of this discussion

become more

is

to

suggest that the

rule.

historic preservation

movement

by becoming

most

familiar with their special needs, preservationists

This has been proven

effective advocates.

in

a

number

nationwide awareness of the sites and the problems they face

examples are maintained sites not

of

them

because

in

folk art

that otherwise might

be

lost.

environments are unique

other countries^

-

but

because the

tools

common

have the chance

the United

By learning

involved with the fate of this country's folk art environments.

recognize these sites despite their idiosyncrasies, coming to understand their

in

to

bonds, and

be among

of individual situations but

to this country

their

a

help ensure that important

will

The focus

to

herein

is

solely

on American

- there are probably hundreds

and techniques

of the

American preservation

movement

are specific to this country's

political

and

social climate

and are not necessarily

internationally transferable.

The

relatively

secure fate of Coral Castle

is

a

rarity in this

country; environments tend to face a

wide variety of problems which make them

difficult to

interest in saving them.

be successfully capitalized upon,

If

this interest is to

preserve though there

these environments and the preservation efforts that have been years.

to

Such study

will

made on

is

it

their behalf

(or

expression, but

until

power-

quite recently, they

perhaps more as decorators, arrange) objects

museums and

to study

over the

from the needless

creativity

they are sources of joy and wonder,

awe and mystery, amusement and sadness, beauty and ugliness. They share artistic

a growing

is critical

too often their fate.

Folk art environments have a tremendous amount of

forms of

now

enable the establishment of a framework that can help guide future efforts

save the best examples of these often misunderstood landmarks of

destruction that

is

galleries

is

not alone

in failing

to

in

this

power with

have been shunned by those who place

the art world's pantheon.

embrace environments

The world

or reaching out to

of

them

only tentatively; academia, government agencies, and the general public can also be faulted

important sites are lost to neglect and ignorance.

These

sites

part landscape design

and work

to

assure

Part of the problem

their

is

suffer

because

of

and thus have trouble

it.

They are

finding

one

when

- be they rock gardens, concrete

towers, bottle houses, sculptural ensembles or wildly decorated front yards

between many cracks and

all

- are works

that

part architecture, part sculpture,

discipline that will claim

them as

fall

and its

own

continued existence.

that

environments are inherently

difficult to define.

that lead to this difficulty include the fact that their forms

regionally or culturally specific,

and they are

built for

Some

of the qualities

and materials vary widely, they are not

as many reasons as there are environment-

makers. With such variation between exist

between

sites

sites,

it

is difficult

at first to

understand exactly what

such as Salvation Mountain and Coral Castle.

experience of various

sites,

accompanied by research

between them are perceived.

an attempt

In

to

It

is

only through the actual

into their origins, that the

overcome these

links

common

links

an inclusive and usable

difficulties,

has been developed by Seymour Rosen, who has studied environments at length and

definition

founded the

first

group dedicated

to their preservation:

Folk art environments are handmade, personal places containing large-scale sculptural

and/or architectural structures

These environments

built

by self-taught

usually contain a

artists generally

component

of

during their later years.

accumulated objects, often those

discarded by the larger society, which have been transformed and juxtaposed

ways. The spaces are almost always associated with the creator's

have developed without formal

amount to

of

components or

in

plans.

scale.

The

Owing

sites tend to

home

in

unorthodox

or business

be immobile and monumental

less allegiance to popular art traditions

personal and cultural experiences and availability of materials, the

artists

and in

and more

are motivated by

a need for personal satisfaction rather than by a desire to produce anything marketable or to

who

gain notoriety.

Most

age

and represent a substantial and sustained commitment of time and energy.^

to old age,

Developing a

sites

definition for

in this

environments

be established between diverse characteristics.

The

proposed

to date;

definition

is

its

definition

elements

displayed by

country have been developed by people

its

is

a

sites without

tricky

be analyzed

in

in

middle

business because a compelling linkage must

overwhelming

above, though long and a will

are

bit

their strikingly individual

unwieldy,

greater detail

applicability to the following four

small sample of America's major folk art environments.

in

is

the most successful

Chapter

3.

The

utility

of this

environments which represent a

Though these

site differ

widely

in

terms of

their

appearance, construction method,

location,

and message, the above

definition applies to

each of them.

St.

EOM's Land

of the

Pasaquan

(generally referred to simply as "Pasaquan") stands as

the most improbable and mysterious of plot of rural

Georgia pineland by Eddie

all

folk

Owen

environments." [Figure

Martin,

visionary experience. Martin's self-beatification

is

but

away from an abusive home (where Pasaquan would in

New York City where he

gambling, and

later

by

who dubbed

one element later rise) at

age

3.

house, at

age

St.

he

called

EOM

was

St.

built

EOM

on a cleared

after

life.

a

Running

fourteen, Martin

in

of

ended up

drag revues, dealing

pot,

fortunes and reading tea leaves. His visions led to the development

of a personal religion that blended Pre-Columbian, Native American,

beliefs that

It

of his colorful

supported himself by hustling, performing

telling

3]

himself

one

St.

EOM. Land of Pasaquan, Buena

Pasaquoyanism. After the death of

returned to Georgia and began building

forty-nine until his death

in

1986.

Vista,

his

and

oriental

Georgia.

mother and the inheritance of her

Pasaquan which he worked on from 1957

He

created an amazing grouping of brightly painted and geometrically decorated temples and

pagoda-like buildings which are highlighted with scalloped

tin

gingerbread

Connecting these

trim.

are a series of cement-covered masonry walls with scalloped tops that are mounted by undulating

The

sculpted snakes.

walls possess the

well as bas-relief torsos

up

into

to truly step into

with associations, disappears

private world.

see

is

in

EOM

built

this society that

I

Pasaquan

world-at-large

is

one

in

did

so purely on

is

itself

site

To wander

a powerful place

enveloped by the coherent vision of

one man's

"...have somethin' to identify with, 'cause there's nothin'

to,

God."^

his

South,

rural

feel.

own

own

emulate. Here

EOM

terms.

solipsistic

I

had rejected

The sense universe

is

can be

this

that

in

my own

place early

EOM

chose

palpable to

in

world, with

his

life,

to retreat

Pasaquan's

I

my

when

from the

visitors.

It

most powerful and poignant environments.

Pasaquan represents an extreme artists

and one

spirit of

order to create his

of America's

another world; the

identify with or desire to

temples and designs and the

he came back, he

the buildings as

and faces and totem-pole flanked gateways. These walls break the

a series of outdoor rooms that have a ceremonial and processional

through these spaces filled

same geometric mandala designs as

of the folk environment-as-personal statement.

discussed here, while creating very personal spaces, are more responsive

of the world around them.

An example

Wisconsin.^ [Figure 4]

1950 Smith, age

In

house and the tavern he had

built of local

crippled by a stroke, Smith had with colorful shards of glass

of this

filled

- many

is

found

sixty-four,

in

in

to

began

his

stone fourteen years

environment on the

earlier.

of the

and

Fred Smith's Concrete Park

reflective

in Phillips,

site of his

By 1964, when he was

three acres of land with 203 concrete sculptures covered

of

which conveniently

came from

his tavern next door.

sculptures represent persons and scenes from local history (for example

double-wedding from early

Most

The

a notoriously drunken

the century) as well as figures from folklore (Paul Bunyan) and

popular culture (the Lone Ranger's

Silver).

These are

all

grouped

in

various ensembles and

Fred Smith. Concrete Park.

4.

are linked by their

Smith welcomed the

fish,

common

visitors.

materials, technique,

Smith's park bears

Upper Midwest. Roadside

"colossi"

in

and placement

some

relation to

every part of the country, there

is

tales, but materials

a park-like setting to which

a building tradition found throughout of things

- dot

such as locally-prized

the region's landscape.

a preponderance of them

in

Minnesota and

a Paul Bunyan statue and an ensemble piece

depicting a giant muskellunge being dragged by draft horses

tall

in

being especially popular)

Wisconsin.^ The Concrete Park's inclusion of

myth and

Wisconsin.

- monumental sculptures

produce, and legends (Paul Bunyan

Though found

Phillips,

tie

the site to this regional interest

in

and technique used by Smith, along with the consistency and

extent of his vision, place his environment squarely within the focus of this discussion.

Where

the Concrete Park

is filled

Galloway's Totem Pole Park

with whimsical tributes to the lives

in Foyil,

and legends

built

its

region,

Ed

Oklahoma, carries a broader, more serious message.®

[Figure 5] This collection of concrete structures and sculptures that Galloway, a

fiddle-maker by trade,

of

between 1937 and 1962 (when he died

at

woodworker and

age eighty-two) stands as a

tribute to the

The

site is

American

Indian, particularly those

dominated by a

local

resisted the forced settlement of their lands.

sixty-foot high concrete "totem pole" that rises

the world's symbolic support of scrap metal

who

in tribal

from the back of a

turtle,

cosmology.^ This structure was molded around an armature

and

sandstone which were

scavenged by Galloway. More reminiscent of a strangely

foreshortened limbless tree than a traditional

is

totem pole, the structure

covered with painted busts of

Indians

varying

in

well as totemic

fish,

tribal

dress as

symbols such as

salamanders, and arrow

heads. The pole nine-foot

tall

is

crowned with

standing figures

representing the chiefs of the four tribes (Apache, Sioux,

Nez Perce,

and Comanche) which Galloway believed put up the best fight

against westward expansion.

5.

Ed

Galloway.

Totem Pole

Park. Foyil,

Oklahoma

Other elements of the environment, including an eleven-sided 'Fiddle House', theme. The Totem Pole Park represents a type of environment that artists beliefs

Grandma

and values;

in

other cases, these

Prisbrey's Bottle Village [Figure 6]

more obscure and

hidden,

if

is

sites

is

reflect the

same

overtly expressive of the

can be much more inscrutable.

an example of an environment where meaning

indeed any meaning

was intended

by the

artist

is

(Prisbrey covered a

Tressa 'Grandma' Prisbrey. Bottle

6.

door

at the site with small signs bearing

Mean -

Let

Us Figure

It

Village,

Simi Valley, California.

aphorisms one of which reads, "Don't

Out For Ourselves").^"

Built in

what

is

now

Tell

Us What

We

Simi Valley, California, this

environment consists of thirteen structures with walls made completely of coursed bottles of varying colors arranged

made

in

different patterns.

also of bottles and a host of unusual building materials such as fluorescent tubes,

headlights,

ostensibly

and

electrical insulators

built to

fill

each structure

she was

in

the rest of the

site.

The

first

house Tressa 'Grandma' Prisbrey's enormous

and mounted pencils (most accounts build,

Various shrines, planters, walkways, and fountains

different

from

its

report a total of 17,000); obviously inspired,

predecessors. Prisbrey began work

her mid-fifties and kept building

until

the early 1970s

in

from

1982. Of the sites described thus

its

interiors rather than

its

exterior.

far,

Prisbrey's

From

is

in

was arranged

she continued

the mid-1950s

until illness

the only one that

inside, the walls provide

is

forced her to

move

best experienced

a luminous, colorful

background for the various tableaux arranged by Prisbrey from her collection of dolls, figurines.

10

to

when

when she stopped because she

had run out of room, though she stayed on, tending her creation,

on

structure on the site

collection of artistically

and bric-a-brac which she embellished with everything from sequins one

of the

most overwhelming

materials; like

immense

The

all

folk art

major environments

dedication of

its

environments

it

in

In

some observers Patterson,

They are

built

who

in

every state.

has

certainly

traditional Southerners,"

climate,

appeared

to

its,

and

that they tend to

"...mild climate,

work

share a is

ethic

last

- from

it

that, "At

decade. ..."^^ The reasons he

is still

spirits."^^

to

taken seriously by most

The

While art

[in

it

is

region's

made

for

the 1950s], and the possible that these

environments

in

every corner

focus on their universality rather than on the

some areas may have more environments

build

California.

adding

also mentioned. Similar claims are

and free

more important

motivation for and meaning of

who

Deep South and

the Puritanical Northeast to the frozen Midwest, the rainy Northwest to the

wind-whipped Plains - makes

the artists

large

There are regional pockets

"spirit of self-sufficiency."^"

boosters of regionalism are onto something, the existence of folk

possibility that

known environments -

the availability of wide open spaces

state's traditional attractiveness to pioneers

of the country

and suburban

to qualify this assertion by

be the case over the

which allows year round work,

California, with

rural,

studies Southern environments, claims that, "No other region contains such

cites for this include the fact that, "the Protestant

warm

'^

environments, notably the

find particularly rich in

an amazing wealth of them as the south." He goes on rate, this

urban,

in

folk art

in

by people of diverse backgrounds for equally

and minor - with examples found

small, major

that

Tom

^^

the United States, there are over four hundred

and

its

stands as a testament to the powerful creativity and

foregoing examples display just a segment of the range of expression encountered

diverse reasons.

is

maker.

settings throughout the world.

The

Bottle Village

terms of the density and variety of

environments. These sites know no boundaries; they are found

any

to pop-tops.

them

clearly

many

choose

per capita than another.

of these folk art environments

to

express themselves

11

in

may seem

a very public

obscure, but

way - these

sites

can be considered tell

to

be examples of uncommissioned public

or allows imaginative viewers to create their own.

The

finest

to take their places alongside the artworks and elements of the

preserved

It

in

the

name

in

context, 'environment')

the use of the word

is

who use

'folk'.

art includes

environment' (and

used throughout

Those who oppose

believe that the word implies a

them, folk

'folk art

communal

items such as

for "untrained"

this

quilts,

own shade

introduction to a

name

for

"no one,

and

'outsider'

can

all

1974

exhibit

on

fill

"folk"

seems,

will

ever be able to

all

-

the void

controversy over

and

folklorists,

by untrained

artists

refer to the

"art"

or "art environment".

same

it

artists

to (though rarely

made

'visionary', 'grassroots', 'self-

works. ^^

environments complained

name

some

environment'

and idiosyncratic

awarded

them."^^ The most recent book on the subject, published

it

'folk

'naive' paintings

of both tradition-based

be used alongside

folk art

variations

handed down through the generations.^® To

Some, heeding the claim on

of meaning, but ultimately they

cultural heritage.

Others, often from the art community, use "folk" as a

by) tradition-bound artists, use a variety of terms to

taught', 'intuitive',

and

discussion despite

duck decoys, and

and include the work

within the "folk art" rubric."

its

environment that are routinely

use, primarily anthropologists

tradition,

traditional representational formats.

synonym

its

story to

environments should be allowed

built

of maintaining a physical link with our artistic

should be noted here that the label

and,

Each example has a

art.

The author

that, "...we

in

accurately."^" Clearly,

Each has

its

of the

have no adequate

1995, similarly holds that,

two decades of debate have

not been able to resolve this issue.

As

the preservationist's

too involved

in

first

responsibility

is

to the sites

themselves,

it

becomes

the preferred term herein because

was coined by members environments^^ and

of the

is still

it

first

has the most currency

pointless to get

art

environment"

is

for preservationists.

Interestingly,

it

the semantic morass that has developed around them. "Folk

nationwide organization dedicated to preserving

used by them

after

more than a decade

12

of watching the popularity of

other terms

and many its

wax and wane.

of those that are

use

Its

to

designate the sites that are

on various state and

local registries is also a

use here. Rather than worrying about using an inadequate

debate surrounding the genre's terminology.

come

which may

into

The

title,

is

it

We must be prepared

general use, even those that are only

adequately encompass

on the National Register

listed

compelling argument for

important to follow the

be fluent with new terms

to

professional preservationist can expect to play an increasingly important role

of preserving folk art

becomes more

environments as more attention

widely recognized. This paper

is

is

and

paid to these sites

some

intended to provide

knowledge

of

such

mentioned within

Because

sites should

this

in

order to

of the preservation focus of this discussion,

automatically limits the

of sites to

site that contribute to its

documented

preservationist

will

it

importance

little

previous

The environments reasons.

possibilities for several

sites included

in

their

the process

have received some

other fields (and often both). This

facilitates

sites included

have

an understanding of the

designation as a folk art environment and of that site's role

in

many cases

that the sampling of sites discussed here

that are

decisions.

choose from. Also, most of the

an important consideration as

community. After reviewing, and

examples

most

community or from scholars

number

visited by the author,

aspects of a

The

make educated

paper were selected from the hundreds of

attention from the preservation

been

have

in

of the basic

information regarding environments and their preservation that a person with

its

so long as they

partially successful,

the rich diversity of folk art environments.^^

exploring, scores of environments,

does not deviate

elsewhere or

significantly

have been discovered

in

it

appears

from the range of the

field.

generally encounter folk art environments individually

-

often as the

provider of a site's preservation plan or conservation treatment, or as an arbiter of funding or

paper

designed

to provide a

macro-to-

historic designation requests.

The remainder

micro view of environments

order to help the preservationist understand aspects of a site

in

of this

is

in

ranging from

its

development

of interest

some

cultural context to

in folk

of which turn out to be

its

specific preservation needs.

Chapter 2 focuses on the

environments. Various approaches to their study are explored,

more

fruitful

than others. Chapter 3 provides an in-depth analysis of

the various elements which contribute to the designation of a site as a

'folk art

environment' and

then goes on to suggest certain of the qualities that these sites can possess which

seem more

significant than others (while

of significance).

Finally,

acknowledging the problems inherent

in

Chapter 4 explores the preservation movement's unique

protection of environments

and

details

some

of the efforts that

it

has made on

make some

the designation

suitability for

their behalf.

the

II.

THE STUDY OF FOLK ART ENVIRONMENTS

Tracing the historical development of the folk art environnnent

is difficult

Almost without

at best.

exception, the creators of these places work without knowledge of each other's creations and

outside the framework of any

communal

tradition that could

be construed

to

connect them. There

are occasional examples of environment-makers being inspired to begin their work after seeing

another environment, but results

in

street or

by,

this is

apparently a rare situation.^ Generally, this form of inspiration

down

rather minor environments such as those that are occasionally discovered

in

the neighborhood of major ones.

though not necessarily similar

to,

In

most cases these are probably

None

the neighboring work.

the

directly inspired

of these small "flower bed"

environments have been discovered, however, which take on the qualities and importance of the majority of the

sites,

The

works discussed here.^

what might the best approach

lack of overt causal links

If it is

to studying the history of folk art

between

sites

alone as purely idiosyncratic expression. several environments.

It

not possible to trace patterns of influence between

In

has

led

1979 a

claimed to document an

catalogue's essays suggest that the artists

some

to

suggest that individual works stand

British art exhibit entitled

"art

and the person who coined the

work on

their

own,

for

themselves,

without precedent or tradition."^

its

They know nothing

it.

beflagged

of the trends

artists turn not just

be enclosed

in

from the world of

the radiant space of his

art but

own

from the world

creativity.

15

It

is

Many

itself:

to

and galleries.

are social

He goes on

of the

"They seem

museums and smart contemporary

prefer the rule of the imagination to the strictures of officialdom.""

these

The

outside

Roger Cardinal, curator

They work to no commission, without links or debts to the establishment. all

all

"outsider" label, wrote of the exhibit's artists:

for the fun of

snobberies of the cultural centre, with

Outsiders included

discussed therein were isolated from

influences and that their work sprang full-blown from their heads. exhibit

environments be?

misfits;

to claim that

"The Outsider thus loves

a self-sufficient domain. While the

to

world outside

may be

alien

and unmanageable,

Statements such as these may be true

been

much

institutionalized for

or

all

for

this

world within

a very few

autistic or

is

reliable

schizophrenic artists

do not apply

of their lives, but they

and accommodating."^

any of the

to

who have artists

discussed here. While these people are often viewed as eccentric by those around them, they are still

no more or less beholden

folk art

around them than anyone

to the world

environments are inevitably responsive

unavoidable

birthright of

members

any

of

to

society.

They are

not,

no single

is

historic thread,

no precedent and

creators together - environments are

truly

who make

each

If

is

It

correct to suggest that

these environments or their

tradition, tying

personal creations.

culturally responsive, but not directly linked to

artists

however, typically aware of the

past or contemporaneous activity of their fellow environment-makers. there

The

else.

precedents and traditions that are the

environments are

folk art

other, are there

broader patterns that can help

explain their development?

No one knows when examples

them

is

that

rooted

form, as

it

we have in

whom

the

that, "All

first folk

human need

human

to

activities

for

environments were

goes back

to the earliest

it

is

which

we

in

ways

known cave

that

The

that give

is

history to the present.

make

One

observer sees

folk art

Franz

values."^

The

(at least in hindsight)

paintings. At this basic level, folk art

and environments as

beauty, or meaning, or perhaps just connections

evolving]."^ This impulse

not surprising.

them aesthetic

can be evaluated

environments can be placed on a continuum of human expression that runs

attempt to

earliest extant

expression often takes a

this

values

attribute aesthetic

may assume forms

built.

clear that the impulse to create

outward expression. That

desire to manipulate the environment

aesthetically

art

date to the nineteenth-century, but

a basic

does with environments,

Boas found

human

or by

[in

has undoubtedly been with us as a species

directly

from pre-

reflections of, "...the

a society that for

is

a long time.

constantly

Certain parallels can be found between of built expression, both ancient

that flourished

compared

to

many

environments discussed here and other forms

of the

and modern. The Mississippian people's mound-building

between present-day Georgia and

Illinois

between A.D. 700 and 1000 can be

Leonard Knight's sculpting of the landscape

and other neighboring

tribes along the coasts of today's

have long embellished

their buildings with sculptural

formal resemblance to

many

as the one at Bomarzo or the improbability of

folk art

Vancouver

environments.^ Likewise,

Villa Medici's in Pratolino,

urban Barcelona reminding one of both the Palais ideal

suburban Los Angeles.

influence, exists

all

drawing from a creative wellspring that if

any

sites that

are aware of today. is

linkage, either

do possess leads one

We

we would now

do have reason

is

British

Columbia,

in

Renaissance gardens, such

finds the

work

of Antonio

Gaudi

France, and the Watts Towers

environments, these resemblances

terms of communal

between the examples above and the environments

similarities they

never know

Italian

in rural

historic lineage for folk art

No

and

KwakiutI,

can evoke the otherworldliness and

in

For the purpose of developing an

Island

The

elements and painted motifs that bear great

in

Whatever

at Salvation Mountain.®

modern environments.'" A more recent example

are ultimately superficial, however.

tradition

tradition or direct

that are reminiscent of them.

to speculate that the creators of these places are

neither culturally nor temporally specific.

We may

define as folk art environments predate those that

to believe, though, that the creative

we

impulse behind them

timeless and universal.

Wherever and whenever they are of, their

communities.

rationale,

of others.

it

is still

No

matter

built,

how

environments are sure

For most environments,

be known

personal the meaning or form of a

knowingly placed before the public and this

passersby comment on the work, the

to

is

by,

site

and become a

and

in

spite of

part

its

subject to the scrutiny and judgment

represents the extent of the discourse. Neighbors and

artist's

family

17

and friends do the same. Reaction may range

from ecstatic

to hostile, but

surroundings. This

was

it

generally does not extend far beyond the site's immediate

especially true thirty years

ago when

completely unrecognized as a groupable phenomenon

that

Prior to their characterization as a related group, only a

recognition which, for the

by

artists, critics,

most

part,

and scholars gave them

Folk art environments received their Ideal in Hauterives (near Lyon),

built

came

environments were

The as

as important

sites.

had received any widespread

sites

their first validation

nudge

first

few

the art world.

for their preservation

toward the present concern

was

came from

folk art

extended beyond individual

attention given to these sites

"art"

and set them on the path

cultural artifacts.

into the spotlight

when a French

to the attention of the Surrealists.

by Ferdinand Cheval between 1879 and 1912. While on

his

site,

the Palais

This amazing structure

rounds as the postman of

and at the several local villages, Cheval stumbled over a stone that he described as "so bizarre

same

time so picturesque" that he kept

it

and began

to collect tens of

thousands more

like

it.'^

With only cement, wire, and these stones he went on to build the fantastic agglomeration of grottoes, temples, columns,

and fountains

that

remains today one of the most elaborate and

important environments anywhere. The importance of the Palais Ideal

from

its

discovery

in

1931 by Andre Breton

who

found that

notions of automatism and "convulsive beauty" that he surrealist

movement. ^^ Breton went on

viewed as an

power

artistic

for this discussion

this local oddity

was

confirmed

stems

many

of the

developing as theoretician of the

to include the site in several of his

works

in

which

it

was

representation of the unconscious and an example of the transformative

of the imagination.

Though they used the

their theories of creativity, the Surrealists

Palais to their

brought the

site to

a

own ends as evidence

new

level of attention.

favoring

They helped

high-level creative output establish the awareness that expressions such as the Palais represent

rather than simply being the whimsical diversions of naive countryfolk.

generally less elaborate, environments

lone voice.

in

The existence

of other,

France and elsewhere proved that Cheval's was not a

^^

18

As

American

with the Palais Ideal,

little is

known about

folk art

their early history.

environments

Two

sites are

to

be

either destroyed, so

undiscovered. More research, mixed with a extent,

and

variety of early

documentation of early

newspaper

to

have surrounded

the century, a Florida

of luck,

lot

Kansas home

his

woman

in

to

to

have been

sites

may

turn

Bliss"

power

environments. their

It

was

not

until

much

importance as cultural

historiography of folk art environments

understanding of

Academics and

why so many

artists in

later

was

draw

to

still

becomes

location,

a scant amount of reported by an 1870

empty

tin

cans, and other

became

the most

some

to

is

who

built

now synonymous

true

reach a broader audience,

fruitful

approach

for gaining

an

the United States took longer than their French counterparts to recognize

the Watts Towers

his palais.

is

of these sites are believed to be worthy of preservation.

in

The

Los Angeles. [Figure

product of one man's thirty-three years of labor - the

immigrant,

said,

apparent. For this reason, tracing the

first site

7]

to receive

any national

critical

This soaring group of mosaic-

encrusted towers and other structures formed from a latticework of concrete arcs and rings

complete

late

support the printing of

attention to themselves; this

when these began

artifacts

the importance of their native folk art environments. attention

or an earlier, period

called "Queenie" created a 'boneyard' of animal (and,

postcards.'^ Obviously, these two sites had the

however, that

during the last half

campaigns against waste."^" Sometime

tourist attraction to

of

was

with "buffalo skulls,

his tireless

this,

years - very

up information about the

but, at present, only

human) bones which became a popular enough

all

from

built

be unrecognizable, or

A "Father

has been uncovered.

assorted trash items [that he] collected in

decayed as

American environments

sites

known

Any other

of the nineteenth century but neither remain today.

can be presumed

lay in relative obscurity for

same amount

of time

The towers were created between 1921 and 1954 by them next

to his

house

with urban poverty

and

in

it

is

the

took Cheval to

Sam

Rodia^®,

an

Italian

the quiet working-class neighborhood of Watts that

social unrest.

19

Throughout most

of their period of construction, the

Watts Towers remained unknown

neighbors and to commuters on the Big Red Car trains

as they passed by on

commute

ail

but

its

could watch the spires gradually rise

their daily

or out of downtown.

in

somewhat

This status changed

1

who

to

951 when

in

the Los Angeles-

,

based journal Arts & Architecture published an

article that

considered the towers as an

-

artwork

the earliest

known

consideration of an American

environment as such." Being

Los Angeles, the next step was a film; in

1952 a

use

student

produced a documentary on the towers

that,

with Rodia

work,

is

through

and shots

him

at

much

of

of

the source of

the information that

is

"...superior to

genius..

."^^

all

I

In

Sam

7.

known

about Rodia's work methods and towers' importance.

i

interviews

it

Rodia.

his thoughts

Watts Towers. Los Angeles. California.

on the towers.^® Europeans also recognized the

her 1953 book Follies and Grottos, Barbara Jones held the towers to be,

but the finest work of the eighteenth century

[in

Europe]. ...Rodillas

None of these works had a wide impact, however, and the towers were

[sic] is

still

a

known

to

a relative few art world cognoscenti. This status changed

unsafe and ordered

in 1

959 when the

their demolition.

city of

The

Los Angeles declared that the Watts Towers were

story of the battle to preserve the towers

20

will

be

briefly

related

in

Chapter

here

4,

Simon Rodia's Towers

justify their

engineer called a

who were more work as

Buckminster

important to look at the fallout from the

site.

They

To

this

was

Fuller,

Philip

for the first time.

most important,

Beginning

in

folk art

the 1960s,

in

site

of

to rectify this situation.

A

who had group,

SPACES

founded folk art

been involved

in 1

in

a nationwide audience, albeit a for

fairly

many, the

museums and

galleries

began

to react

an opening up of the rather entrenched, institutions.^^

1961 exhibit at the

Museum

of

The like

Towers

the fight to save

that

them and

ivory

in

tower was seen as

Rodia's.

Modern

of the Watts Towers.^^

of Art featured an exhibit on the

recently

but a highly important

group of experts - which included

presence of concrete towers

Assemblage" included several photographs

County Museum

of authorities

remains the most widely known, and

academically-oriented practices of the majority of arts

were made

to

of the art-world of

to the social protest of the period by calling for

undemocratic and unresponsive

list

city's

America.

some members

to the

on

Johnson, Carl Sandburg, Clement Greenberg, and

Today, the

environment

its

art,

for

garner significant

anything more than what the

generated by the Committee and

Kenneth Clark,

to

end, they put together a high-powered

James Johnson Sweeney - brought the Watts Towers educated one,

would have

than willing to suggest not only that the towers were publicity

The Committee

fight.

local aficionados intent

quickly recognized that they

stance that Rodia's creation

"pile of junk."^°

The

well.

is

Watts was formed by a small group of

in

preventing the loss of the

support to

it

Slowly, attempts

Art entitled "The Art

1962, the Los Angeles

was curated by Seymour Rosen," later

went on

to

found a preservation

(Saving and Preserving Arts and Cultural Environments). This non-profit group,

of 978, continues to function as one of the nation's most vocal advocates on behalf

environments.

Artists too

began

to

environments, that

pay attention

to

forms of expression, such as the newly-appreciated

had previously been unknown or marginalized. Allen Kaprow, an

21

artist

who

was

a main instigator/auteur of the Happenings of the early-to-mid

monumental environment created by Clarence Schmidt

House

of

IVlirrors

that at

its

peak was seven

materials,

it

consisted of

all

was a

New

built

York. Schmidt's

between 1948 and 1971,

[Figure 8] Built primarily from discarded building to

be an elaborate

pile of

various sized windows. Inside

8.

971 but the ,

complexity.

Clarence Schmidt. House of Mirrors [destroyed], Woodstocl