Visionary Surrealism at the Pike Place Market

Seattle artist Jon Strongbow has published a new book showcasing his fellow artists who sell their work at the Pike Place Market.  The artists he presents are part of  "an ongoing grass roots art movement that could be designated as Magic Realism, or Visionary Surrealism, or what is now called Low Brow Art or Pop Surrealism in some circles. It begins back in the 1970's when the Market started allowing artists and craftspeople to participate in the market, which had previously been dominated by farmers and flower growers."

Some of the artists included are Tim Winstrom, Paul Sloan, Dharmic Engineers, Rob Schouten, Ray Pelley, Milo Duke, Winston Haycock, Kim Drew, Melanie Reed, Mark Holter, Blake Klazmer, Craig Anderson, Aaron Murphy, Dave Ryan, Robert Williams, Jesse Link, Alex Achaval, Sally Simmons, Kevin Darras, David Gould, Graham Callen, Rob D'Arc, and Scott Alberts.

Visionary Surrealism at the Pike Place Market is available to purchase here.

We also carry books of Jon Strongbow's own work.  His detailed black and white line drawings of Seattle cityscapes juxtapose realistic architectural renderings with scenes embracing indigenous cultures from all over the planet, including extinct and endangered species. Though he didn't set out to record the city's changing landscape, these drawings also inadvertently document the disappearing places of Seattle.

Coming up: Group Collage at Magmafest

When: Sunday, March 1, 2015 - 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM 

 

Where: Hollow Earth Radio,  2018 East Union Street,  Seattle, WA 98122
 

Cost: Free

 
Get your creative juices flowing like lava and join Pistil Books for the making of a wall-sized community collage during the Magmafest Warm Up event at Hollow Earth. The collage will be on the wall at throughout the month. Cut-up materials and supplies provided.

There will also be Magma soup, bread from http://grandcentralbakery.com/, & popcorn (donations for food gratefully accepted).

While you are creating & eating, enjoy Stand-up Showcase. Hosted by Forrest Baum, known in deep time as Hollow Earth’s OG DJ Prismatic. Toe-tapper, pun-cracker, yum-snacker, non-hacker, lunch-packer extraordinaire.

Urgent Crier

We recently came across this altered book in a box of books at a sale.  The cover of the book has a square carefully cut out, not going all the way through the boards, but a partial excision preserving the original interior pastedown endpapers when opened, thus creating a frame for the artist's assemblage. 

The small format book measures 5 1/2"w x 6", and the title is Urgent Crier by French poet Andre Benedetto, published by Robert Morel Publisher, 1966.

The text is in French and the theme of the six poems inside is the horrors perpetuated by humanity: racism, torture, war, and death.

The assemblage shows a tiny figure floating above a circuit board, bracketed by wooden half-circles, attached to the board with yellow yarn.

I often document ephemera found in books, and book owners often leave signs of themselves (signatures, inscriptions, notes, marginalia, coffee rings) but here is an example of a book deliberately physically transformed into art by a previous owner.

Lucky 2013

Another year, another Pistil Books Collage Calendar!  This year's calendar is hot off the presses and features artwork by Amy, Sean, and Nathan, made from old books and ephemera.  The artwork reflects its sources, of course, and we had a lot of old art auction catalogs, as well as broken discarded library books and other books that have been damaged in some way.  Sean favors a 1950's male nudist book called Mountain Men that had pages removed by its previous owner, no doubt for pin-up purposes.  Nathan mentioned that he hopes there won't be too much nudity for his mom...

Our calendars also have literary birthdays, holidays, and moon phases, with plenty of room for penciling in important appointments.

True Anatomy

From our Etsy shop:

True Anatomy - A Visual Chart of the Actual Workings of the Human Mind

A colorful 5 1/2"w x 8 1/2"h multi-layered chart of of the true workings of the mysterious human mind. See into the subconscious where speed boats, roasted turkeys, light bulbs, hammers, death cap mushrooms, toads, tractors, and small squirrels influence your dreams and actions. The human psyche revealed in this surreal collage made from cutting up books!

Pistil on Etsy

After a hiatus of several years, we have again started selling some items on Etsy.com, the selling site for crafts and vintage items.  Here we are selling our recycled journals made from old library books, vintage children's books, and collage cards which feature collage art made by Sean and I the old fashioned way - scissors, Exacto knife, glue stick and.... cutting up old books.  The cards are a mere $3.

I must say I like the way the Etsy storefront shows the thumbnail photos of our books and cards - quite the colorful array.  In the future we will be adding more cards - including block printed cards, and possibly some original collage artwork and assemblages.