The strip of land that runs along Lake Michigan from the entrance to Jackson Harbor at 64th Street, behind La Rabida Hospital, then down to 67th Street is home to more than 1,000 rock carvings. Those carvings, some dating to the 1930s, are on limestone blocks that once formed a revetment protecting park and beach from the lake. The beach is gone as is most of the revetment’s structural integrity. Where it isn’t a jumbled pile of large blocks, it’s a line of rocks now mostly under water. Lower lake levels in 2025 and 2026 brought many carvings out of
Continue readingCategory: Vernacular Art
The Art of Street Food – Update
The era of Washington, D.C., hot dog wagons featuring hand-painted signs is nearly over. These colorful trucks and trailers once lined the National Mall, which stretches from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol and is home to most of the Smithsonian museums. But these days there are fewer trucks, and photographic imagery has replaced the old painted signage. In other words, like most art environments, this one is disappearing. There are a few remnants, however, as seen in 2026 images below. And you can see this portable, spontaneous art environment in its glory days here.
Continue readingMargaret’s Grocery
If you took the cutoff from Highway 61 into Vicksburg, Mississippi, and had need of 1. sundries 2. spiritual uplift or 3. a powerful folk-art environment, you could stop at Margaret’s Grocery. The Rev. H.D. Dennis, who encased the country store inside and out with his sculpture and fantastic architecture, would preach you a personal sermon while his wife Margaret stood ready to meet your earthly needs. These pictures are from 1995. The site decayed after the couple’s passing, but rehab is happening under the auspices of the Mississippi Folk Art Foundation and its director, Suzi Altman. You can learn
Continue readingQ.J. Stephenson’s Earth Museum/Occoneechee Trapper’s Lodge
Q.J. Stephenson’s Earth Museum/Occoneechee Trapper’s Lodge in Garysburg, North Carolina, was on my list of places to visit for years. Finally made it early one morning in September 2025. It’s a sweet little spot whose story you can read at Spaces Archives.
Continue readingUnsealed: The Art of the Bottle Cap Book
(This page contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.) $35.00 Dive into the eccentric world of 20th century bottle-cap sculpture. Description Discarded caps from beer and soda containers inspired a quintessentially 20th century folk craft as creative individuals strung millions of them into baskets, figures, buildings, animals, chains, furniture and other shapes. This book features more than 200 examples of this mostly unintentional but artistically impactful sculpture. Additional information Weight 13.5 oz Dimensions 8.5 x 11 Publisher interestingideas.com (May 30 2025) Pages 95 Illustrations 228 ISBN-13 979-8218711412
Continue readingLakefront Carvings Walking Tours – 2025
I’m giving four walking tours of Chicago’s fabulous lakefront rock carvings over the summer of 2025:
Continue readingSome New Creations at the Point
A visit to Promontory Point this week turned up a number of impressive new rock carvings, and a few old ones I hadn’t noticed before. Kudos to @CosmoTeocal for the first one. These are just so many more reasons that the Point’s limestone must be preserved.
Continue readingThe La Rabida South Gallery
Several of the Chicago lakefront’s most magnificent rock carvings reside on the stones south of La Rabida Hospital near 65th Street and the lake. For the last several years many of these carvings were inaccessible or invisible under the water. But with the lake’s level having fallen in the last few years they are now mostly visible (as of spring 2025). These 200 or so carvings, I believe, are the last large group that remained to be documented as part of my Lakefront Anonymous project. Here are highlights from this group. There are many more carvings around La Rabida hospital.
Continue readingMexican Roadside Art
Roadside art from Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, where hand-painted signage can still be found in quantity, and some from Mexico City as well.
Continue readingThe Montrose Strip
Montrose Avenue in Chicago has been home to a wonderful collection of artworks, displayed as signs by the many shops that line it. Sadly, much of the artwork featured below has disappeared, usually along with the businesses advertised, though here and there Montrose still boasts some fine roadside imagery. Back to The Western Avenue Art Gallery
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