Art thread.

[irezumi]

Haven't seen a dedicated all-around art thread, and Hogg couldn't think of one either.

Tattoo-related or not.

Stuff you've done or stuff you like.

Hobo Nickels:

Appalachian History » Hobo Nickels

Coin collectors today consider the hobo nickel a numismatic treasure, a tribute to long- forgotten folk artists who often literally carved for their supper. The Buffalo nickel debuted in 1913, but it wasn’t until the Great Depression struck that hobo nickel carving reached its peak. During this period, buffalo nickels were the most common nickels in circulation.

The sudden scarcity of jobs in the early 1930s forced a huge number of men to hit the road. Certainly some coins were carved to fill the idle hours. More importantly, a ‘knight of the road,’ with no regular source of income, could take one of these plentiful coins and turn it into a folk art piece, which could in turn be sold or traded for small favors such as a meal or shelter for a night.

In a community of generally anonymous drifters, two carvers rose to prominence among hobo nickel creators. Bertram ‘Bert’ Wiegand was born in 1880 and carved from 1913 to 1949. He signed his coins by removing L I and Y from L I B E R T Y, leaving only B E R T. He tutored the man coin collectors consider the giant of hobo nickel carving: George Washington ‘Bo’ Hughes (born between 1895 and 1900 in Theo, Mississippi). Bert met the young teenager in a jungle, or hobo camp, along the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio railroad line, and Bo’s first nickels appeared two years later, in 1915. Bo carved till about 1980, when he was last seen by his friend of 40 years, Williard Chisolm, in a Florida camp.

Life as a hobo took its toll: the rigorous manual labor Bo undertook to survive during the money-tight, poverty-ridden 30s rendered his hands stiff and permanently damaged. Frequent beatings by ruthless detectives prowling railroads (where many hobos resided) in search of freeloaders and thieves compounded his dexterity impairment.

Nevertheless, devoted to his craft, Bo worked through the pain and frustrating impediments throughout the 1940s and into the 1950s, but in 1957, while he was working on a nickel, his chisel suddenly slipped and struck his hand. The injury forced the once-great hobo nickel engraver to resort to a haphazard punching method. Bo continued his work, but with less frequency and diminished quality, and as America moved into the post-war era genuine hobo nickels became a thing of the past.

The U.S. Mint ceased striking Buffalo nickels in 1938.

Skull Nickels:

Skull Nickels | Colossal

A number of Hobo Nickel artists etched away the flesh of the subject to reveal these awesomely macabre skulls.

[Kev]

There is-it has a vague title and it's under Tattoo 101:

http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/tattoo-101/185-how-about-art-show.html

[irezumi]

There is-it has a vague title and it's under Tattoo 101:

http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/tattoo-101/185-how-about-art-show.html

title is mis-leading.

if that is a thread to post your own artwork, then lets narrow this one down to 'stuff other people did that i think is interesting, tattoo related or not'

does that work better?

[Ursula]

those nickels are amazing! I saw some of them the other day on Strike Gently.

[Avery Taylor]

I love those nickels.

[hogg]

@irezumi with the knowledge jewel! That entire post was incredible, but this coin was particularly facemelting:

[JAllen]

Page O' Freed

gotta love a dude that has possums for pets

[irezumi]

Dale Chihuly

saw this last one at the Victoria Albert in London; and a few others at the BMA. So incredible.

[JAllen]

i saw the chihuly exhibit when it came through dayton back in 99/00, that shit is crazy.

in the hills of north georgia, there's a great little place called paradise gardens that was the home of howard finster. its a real treat to check out.

The Official Homepage Of* Howard Finster

he did real american folk art

[irezumi]

That Mona Lisa is rad. I live in Georgia too, but where he is might as well be the other side of the world.

[JAllen]

@irezumi where are you at in georgia?

[IAS]

I have seen the 7th down, I believe it is on display at the Indianapolis Children's Museum, very impressive in person. thanks for sharing!

I dont know how to show which picture, it was the blown glass post

[kylegrey]

Tattoo related -Henry Lewis and Masami Teraoka

Masami Teraoka

[Deb Yarian]

I lived in Georgia in the 80s and got to see a lot of Howard Finster's work.

Loved it

[irezumi]

@irezumi where are you at in georgia?

Savannah; about 6 hrs or so from Summerville.

[JAllen]

Savannah; about 6 hrs or so from Summerville.

at least there is cool shit in savannah too. that's not a bad drive but for sure you'd want to plan to hit some other places like helen, anna ruby falls in the Chattahoochee National Forest, and dahlonega (sp). then swing back through atlanta and check out the high museum of art for the grainger mckoy exhibit

High Museum

[irezumi]

(^this piece is bigger, but I can't find a complete shot of it)

Items collected & composed by Bobby Puleo

Photos by Angela Bootwright

[JAllen]

i found this site the other day by accident, cool stuff

CoffinQuilts.com - Home of Mary Kenyon's Tattoo quilts! The original Tattoo quilt!

oh and dave sparks is from dayton and does some great folk art...i've got a james traficant bed pan that is great .

http://sherocksproductions.webs.com/davesparks.htm

[smiling.politely]

I recall reading an interview in Skateboarder magazine a few years back where Bobby Puleo discussed his interest (or, possibly, obsession) with collecting things, and that he may try to display them. Good to see he put that mild bit of insanity to use.

[irezumi]

I feel like we'll see his house on an episode of Hoarders when he's 70 yrs old he'll have rooms full of post-it notes and playing cards.

in the article i got these from he says he also collects other stuff, and the hardest to find are hand-written directions. i wonder why.

[max thomas]

here's some work from two of my favorite artists that don't tattoo.

Vania Zouravliov:

Takato Yamamoto:

[JAllen]

Jennifer Maestre

and pencil tip sculpture done by dalton ghetti

Pencil Tip Micro Sculptures By Dalton Ghetti:: Kidrobot's Blog, The KRonikle

[kylegrey]

The comic art of Frank Brunner -

[irezumi]

I've seen those pencil lead carvings before (so cool!) but have'nt seen Maestre's work before. good find!

[irezumi]

Stefan Strumbel