“Gone Not Fargotten”: More Graveshelters

In the last three or four months, I’ve been able to document a few graveshelters:

Friendship Baptist in Brookwood AL:
Graveshelter, Friendship Baptist Church, Brookwood AL

Graveshelter, Friendship Baptist Church, Brookwood AL

Graveshelter, Friendship Baptist Church, Brookwood AL

Graveshelter, Friendship Baptist Church, Brookwood AL

Bear Creek Baptist in Pine Apple, Alabama:

Bear Creek Baptist Church, Pine Apple AL

Bear Creek Baptist Church, Pine Apple AL

Bear Creek Baptist Church, Pine Apple AL

Bear Creek Baptist Church, Pine Apple AL

Bear Creek Baptist Church, Pine Apple AL

Bear Creek Baptist Church, Pine Apple AL

Bear Creek Baptist Church, Pine Apple AL

Hopewell Methodist nearby has a graveshelter and the monuments for Hank Williams Sr’s family

Hopewell Methodist Church, Pine Apple AL

Hopewell Methodist Church, Pine Apple AL

Hopewell Methodist Church, Pine Apple AL

Hopewell Methodist Church, Pine Apple AL

Hopewell Methodist Church, Pine Apple AL

A reminder that my goal is to document all the graveshelters of Alabama; if you know of one, please contact me here. Thank you! xoxo!

This Week’s Various

Larry Harris’ map to art environments in Europe has been published, and it was made with the very generous help of one of my other friends, Henk Van Es. PS if you’re not on Larry Harris’ holiday card list, you want to be.


Joseph Stella, Purrissima, High Museum of Art, Atlanta GA

Purrissima is in the High’s permanent collection. From a visit last year

Joseph Stella: Visionary Nature opens at the High on February 24


Participating artists in the Outsider Art Fair New York March 2-5 special ‘We Are Birds‘ curated space:
William Edmondson, Beverly Buchanan, Minnie Evans, and Bill Traylor


Dairy Queen, Andalusia AL

Dairy Queen in Andalusia AL, from a 2020 visit

The Great Texification of Dairy Queen at Texas Monthly

…and yes, I once lived in a town in Texas with the only restaurant being a Dairy Queen.


A 3-D model of Salvation Mountain


The Hometown That Drew Jimmy Carter Back Keeps Vigil at the NYT:

“I think he’s America’s Gandhi,” he said. “We need him.”


Super Random:

Barbie’s Dreamhouse through the decades at dezeen
Party with Lightning Bug by Oak Tree at storySouth
The Archdiocese of New Orleans has released a list of fish fry events at Catholic churches around New Orleans
This wedding cake pavilion by artist Joana Vasconcelos
Nathalie Miebach’s sculptures
The 1830 Cedars Plantation in Natchez is on the market at $3M. Save $1M by choosing 1836 Devereaux instead.


The owners of Hopson Plantation in Mississippi are retiring and it’s for sale

from a 2016 visit

Hopson Plantation, Shack Up Inn, Clarksdale MS

Hopson Plantation, Shack Up Inn, Clarksdale MS

Hopson Plantation, Shack Up Inn, Clarksdale MS

Hopson Plantation, Shack Up Inn, Clarksdale MS

Hopson Plantation, Shack Up Inn, Clarksdale MS


Photographer Robert LeBlanc will have a solo exhibit at Fahey/Klein in LA for his images from serpent-handling churches in West Virginia. From the press release:

“This is a sympathetic insight into a tradition more maligned than understood. This is their story and a view of a faith that many believe is fated to be abandoned. However, any obituary for this tradition is but foolish speculation. The obituary will never be written. Core photographs in GLORYLAND, focus upon Chris Wolford and his church. The picture of a rattlesnake on Chris’s bible during a homecoming is prophetic. Mark 16:17-18 clearly states that “And these signs shall follow them that believe…(Mark 16:17)”

“Gloryland” runs January 24 – 28 with a reception and book signing Friday, Jan 27


Rick Rojas’ article in the NYT: An Ailing Arkansas City Elected an 18-Year-Old Mayor to Turn Things Around

The shoe factory closed and the supermarket pulled out. So did neighbors whose old homes were now falling apart, overtaken by weeds and trees. Likewise, the best students at Earle High School often left for college and decided their hometown did not have enough to lure them back.

Jaylen Smith, 18, could have left, too. Instead, when he graduated from high school last spring he resolved to stay put in Earle, a small city surrounded by farmland in the Arkansas Delta, where his family has lived for generations.

He’s taking online classes at ASU and paraphrased a verse from Habakkuk: “write a vision, make it plain.”


The Eudora Welty Digital Archives is up at the MDAH


William Edmondson, Eagle, 1935, Houston Museum of Fine Art

William Edmondson’s 1950 Eagle, from a visit to the Houston Museum of Fine Art in 2021

Through May 14, the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture in Knoxville will have 12 sculptures on view with their “The Sculptures of William Edmondson: Tombstones, Garden Ornaments and Stonework” exhibition in partnership with Cheekwood Estate & Gardens.


Ted Degener: At Home with Artists at Intuit January 19 – September 4, 2023. From the site:

Ted Degener (American, b. 1948) has spent more than 50 years road-tripping across the United States seeking encounters with the makers of art environments—artists who transformed personal spaces like homes, gardens and studios into continually evolving, site-specific and life-encompassing works of art. Degener’s pursuit was set in motion in 1970 after he learned about Simon Rodia’s Watts Towers in Los Angeles, inspiring his first cross-country road trip. This initial trip sparked a fascination that resulted in Degener photographing more than 400 artists in and with their work, in addition to roadside attractions, eccentric festivals and other American cultural activities. To this day, he continues to travel the country to photograph the art and life of artists.

Among the pics Intuit shows are his visits to Dr Charles Smith’s other home in Illinois, Rev George Kornegay’s place in Brent AL, LV Hull’s home in Kosciusko MS, and in their winter publication, he mentions Margaret’s Grocery.


L.V. Hull's Home, 2009, Kosciusko MS

A visit to L.V. Hull’s home in 2009

Margaret's Grocery, Vicksburg MS

Margaret’s Grocery, from a 2011 visit

Speaking of, Suzi Altman, who’s been restoring Margaret’s Grocery, has been doing some painting, so it should be looking much more vivid soon. I gave a few years ago; the GoFundMe to restore the site is up currently too.


Vidalia Onions

Whole Foods, 2013

Will Harris of White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia wants people to know — he’s been a celebrated supplier of grass-fed beef & other products at Whole Foods — that Amazon is Amazon-ing Whole Foods, and he’s not supplying them any more.


Jewboy Burgers, Austin TX

Jewboy Burgers, from a 2021 visit

Can’t even say how much we all love Jewboy Burgers in Austin, and so happy to see Mo in Texas Monthly


In Turkey there are the ice cream guys and in Corpus Christi, there’s popcorn guy
😉 – Céline Dion</a> </section> </blockquote> <script async src=”https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js”></script&gt;

@oanderle This was totaly awesome! 😃 #oanderle #popcornguy #movie #cctx #thepopcornguy #popcorn #avatar2 #corpuschristitx #corpuschristi ♬ My Heart Will Go On (Love Theme from “Titanic”) – Céline Dion


xoxo!
Ginger

Elvis Elvis Elvis

We had THE most fun earlier this month at an Elvis tribute artist show. OMG. We first saw this performer, Terry Padgett, at a holiday event at The Club, then I looked to see where he’d be performing just a couple of weeks ago, and found him at a restaurant that has all kinds of performers (heavy on the gospel side) in rural Walker County, Alabama. We had just the best cheesy fun before and I was all about doing something like this again.

The Club, Birmingham AL

at The Club, December 2022

I mean we laughed, we sang…it was just sweet and funny. I’ll put some random Elvis pics at the bottom of this post, but first, this performance in Walker County:

Elvis Tribute Artist, Terry Padgett

Haaaa I was “scarfed” by Elvis and we both look crazy goofy in this pic!

Elvis and Me haaaaaa!

Just the best, sweetest fun. We laughed so hard! Okay, now let’s really talk Elvis. I’m not a huge fan, but he certainly occupies a certain amount of space and respect in my consciousness as a southerner who started out small and captured the attention of the world. Okay, I do love some Elvis.

We’ve been to Tupelo to the Birthplace Museum; his home:

Elvis' Home, Tupelo MS

Inside Elvis' Home, Tupelo MS

Inside Elvis' Home, Tupelo MS

The museum’s chapel:

Chapel, Elvis Presley Birthplace and Museum, Tupelo MS

Tupelo Hardware, where Gladys famously bought her son his first guitar:

Tupelo Hardware Company, Tupelo MS

…and the story isn’t exactly as many people know it:

Tupelo Hardware, Tupelo MS

Johnnie’s in Tupelo, where Elvis would frequent (and they have an Elvis booth):

Slugburgers from Johnnie's in Tupelo, MS

Slugburgers from Johnnie's in Tupelo, MS

Graceland:

Graceland, Memphis TN

Graceland, Memphis TN

Graceland, Memphis TN

The Arcade in Memphis, where you can still order a peanut butter and banana sandwich, just as he did

The Arcade, Memphis TN

The Arcade, Memphis TN

The Arcade, Memphis TN

And LAWD, Graceland Too in Holly Springs, Mississippi, where Leslie and I toured/survived, and Paul MacLeod gave me a membership card

Graceland Too, Holly Springs MS

Graceland Too, June 2014

Graceland Too, Holly Springs MS

Graceland Too, Holly Springs MS

Graceland Too, Holly Springs MS

Graceland Too, Holly Springs MS

Elvis in Israel:

Elvis Diner, Jerusalem

Elvis Diner, Jerusalem

Elvis Diner, Jerusalem

Elvis Diner, Jerusalem

Elvis Diner, Jerusalem

Elvis Diner, Jerusalem

A Ned Berry Elvis face jug:

Ned Berry

Stereo Jack’s in Cambridge MA:

Stereo Jack's, Cambridge MA

Stereo Jack's, Cambridge MA

Clyde Broadway’s Trinity at the Ogden:

Clyde Broadway. Elvis, Jesus, and Robert E. Lee, Ogden Museum

At Square Books in Oxford:

Square Books, Oxford MS

Pink Palace Family of Museums, Memphis TN

A 1991 Howard Finster of Elvis in Army Uniform at the High

Howard Finster, High Museum Atlanta

Elvis at Corky’s in Memphis

Corky's BBQ, Memphis TN

Elayne Goodman’s Altar to Elvis at the Ogden

Elayne Goodman, Altar to Elvis at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans

My fave, from the Isabelle de Borchgrave: Fashioing Art from Paper exhibit at Dixon Garden & Gallery in Memphis, from a visit in 2017

Isabelle de Borchgrave: Fashioning Art from Paper at Dixon Garden & Gallery, Memphis TN

Isabelle de Borchgrave: Fashioning Art from Paper at Dixon Garden & Gallery, Memphis TN

Isabelle de Borchgrave: Fashioning Art from Paper at Dixon Garden & Gallery, Memphis TN