A Folk or Junk Art Creation
It was pretty cool to check my email while we were in California and see that Joanne O'Sullivan, the author of the "101 Places to See" book (among others), had written to me! She found our blog and really liked what we had been doing.
She also let me know she has a new blog herself that talks about other great things to see and do with your kids. Check out her blog at http://thewanderlists.com/ !!!
Thomas has a "thing" for creating sculptures. He especially likes using found objects (a.k.a. "junk") to build things. He's been doing this for years. One of the 101 Places that we thought we'd check out while in Los Angeles were the Watts Towers.
While David didn't object, I think he wondered where I was navigating us in this part of Los Angeles. It was a different place for the boys to see after being spoiled by San Diego, San Juan Capistrano, and the beautiful beaches. Watts is definitely different than those locations.
The Watts towers were built by an Italian immigrant, Simon Rodia, over 33 years. He finished the 17 interconnected structures in 1954. They became a National Landmark in 1990.
The structures are made from steel, mortar, procelain, tile, and glass. They are one of nine folk art sites in the National Registry of Historic Places in the U.S.
They are mentioned or discussed in countless books, tv shows, songs, and movies from "Sanford and Son" to the video game "Grand Theft Auto".
Thomas took most of the shots on this page.
From the Book:
#44 - A Folk or Junk Art Creation
One person's trash is another person's treasure. Some really interesting people devote their whole lives to piecing together what others call junk to make indescribable artistic statements. They're not trained artists: they use bits of whatever - bottles, cans, broken glass, scrap metal - for art supplies. It's not the kind of stuff you usually see in a museum: a sky-piercing cathedral of bicycle parts, a painted concrete fantasy world, acres and acres of spinning whiligig contraptions. You won't believe it until you see it, and you may even be inspired to create some amazing art of your own.
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