Sharing a few more photos I found scanning.
There are two micro stories in Scrap: Salvaging a Family about the May 13, 1980 tornado in Kalamazoo, Michigan (pp 90-92 in paperback). It’s sort of a transition period in the book where I am now an adult, albeit young, whereas what had come before in the book was focused on coming-of-age. It’s also foreshadowed by an earlier scene of being a kid in the basement during a tornado warning. Scrap is comprised of three parts, and the tornado is the end of part I.
I mention how my father bought up storefronts that nobody else seemed to want and tried to fix them up just enough to rent them as he had little money to invest in remodelling. I describe a wooden “canvas” hanging on the wall of my father’s store:
What I think is that he makes something usable that wasn’t. He doesn’t have the money to make them beautiful. But every once in a while, he recognizes something that is. Inside the luggage store, he’s hung a board that a painter used to clean his brushes. He calls it his Jackson Pollack (sic).
Weirdly, even though I remember looking up the correct spelling of the artist’s name, I still misspelled it in the book. For some reason, I want it to be spelled Pollack instead of Pollock. Maybe it’s because for all its interesting details it’s still a fake. (If you read Scrap you might realize why the theme of “fake” resonates with me).
Dad’s “Jackson Pollock” on the wall
Here are a couple of photos of the tornado that day.
Gilmore Brothers department store–the entire back wall of the 5 story building was blown off
ISB Bank building–all the windows were blown out
Your dad was creative in his own style.
Kate, he really was very creative in a weird way!
Sometimes “accidental” art is beautiful and compelling. It’s cool your father recognized it.
Yeah, he liked stuff like that. His idol was Alexander Calder. That’s why he started making his folk art out of scrap metal.
Did you know there’s a Calder museum now in Philadelphia? It opened last year.
Oh wow, my father would have LOVED that!!!
There are works from three generations of Calders in Philadelphia. I know I’ve mentioned it in some “Musings.”
That is really amazing. So wonderful to have such a “home base” for the work.
Yes, it’s cool.
I love the bit about the “Jackson Pollock”!
Thanks, Liz!
You’re welcome, Luanne!
I think that is a very unique way to be creative.
And I was just “blown away” by the photo of the tornado damage.
Oh yeah, it was bad. I think it was so extreme because it hit a downtown. Took out all the 100 year old trees in the park (town square) that had sheltered Abraham Lincoln when he visited.
So sad to see that kind of destruction.
Those tornado photos are amazing. I like the Pollock story
Thanks, John. My father took those photos. It was amazing how downtown Kalamazoo was hit like that.
I remember you mentioning the “artwork” in the book. Fun to see a photo. That’s quite the tornado damage! There’s a building here in Durango similar to your last photo, but only 4 stories. It sticks out like a sore thumb in the historic downtown.
It was really awful, Eilene. So the building in Durango–was it from a tornado or some other reason the windows are out?
No, I just meant the architecture style! Sorry for the confusion.
Oh, that hideous mid-century style!
Your dad was one of a kind!! An original. He wasn’t even like his twin.
Those photos are treasures. Keep them coming!
Yeah, he definitely was. Haha, there are so many of this pix! I have to be restrained boring people!
Not bored!
🙂
Those photos are chilling. The only tornado I’ve “experienced” is the one in The Wizard of Oz!
I remember very clearly the stories about the basement and your dad’s collections and constructions.
Scary!