Eric Engstrom Blue Highways

Fine Art Print Sale

2011-11-28T12:49:00.000-08:00

Give Original Fine Art Prints by Eric Engstrom this holiday season

I'm offering limited edition numbered and hand-signed high quality inkjet prints of my recent art at a substantial discount. The prints are matted in acid-free white mats backed by white illustration board, and are ready for framing in standard sizes. The prints are offered at a 33.3% discount from gallery/retail prices only until the end of the year.

11" x 14" image in 16" x 20" mat - gallery price $180 - now $120
8" x 10" image in 11" x 14" mat - gallery price $120 - now $80

Contact Eric at ericengstrom@comcast.net to get details and to order.
Also, check out http://architectsandartisans.com/index.php/2011/02/mixed-media-from-the-blue-highways/

New Mixed Media Small Works

2011-10-25T11:31:00.001-07:00

Recently I created a new group of mixed media small works and exhibited them at Gallery Route One in Point Reyes Station, California. By limiting the size of the pieces, I was able to experiment with a more painterly approach than normal. These pieces will serve as prototypes for a new group of mixed media works for a solo show at Gallery Route One that will run from February 24th through April 1, 2012.
The new works cover the same subjects I've used in the past - abandoned, re-purposed, or underutilized rural and urban vernacular buildings. From photographs taken on peripatetic drives on secondary roads across the USA and Canada, I've amassed a trove of pictures of buildings and landscapes that will serve as subject matter for many years to come. Because of health issues, I haven't taken as many road trips in the last year or two, so have gone back to older images to use as inspiration.
Enjoy the new work, and send me a note if you'd like to see more.

Mentors and Friends: Two Very Special Men

2011-05-04T14:33:00.000-07:00

Mentors and Friends: Two Remembrances
Each of us has many mentors who have guided and influenced us in life by their guidance, kindness, or excellence as people. Those people who shape us are few and far between - and I have been very lucky to have had two mentors and friends who recently passed away. They are sorely missed.

Jerry Allison FAIA - 1932 - 2011
I was working for Architects Hawaii in Honolulu in the mid 1970s when I became involved in photographing and writing for the monthly magazine produced for the Hawaii Chapter of the AIA, and I was introduced to Jerry Allison. I was immediately impressed with his drawing ability and storytelling talent, and how he could generate ideas from a small kernel of information - a quotation, a clipping from a magazine, a shard of pottery - they all fed his creativity and became the basis for his approach to design. He approached life with a playfulness that appeared in the architecture of exotic resorts that became his trademark. We often talked of the need for a strong story line in every endeavor undertaken - in a sense, a screenplay outlining the drama and character of the design. Jerry did lots of research to make sure that the resorts WATG designed were always "of the place" they were located. Whether in South Africa or South Asia and the Pacific, one always knew fabulous resort hotels designed by WATG belonged to the environment where they were sited.
We both moved from Hawaii to California in the late 70s - early 80s, and only got together every year or so - I was in the San Francisco Bay area, and he was in Newport Beach, and our paths didn't cross that often. In later years, we saw each other frequently at gatherings of Hospitality Design Magazine's Platinum Circle, an honor we both treasured and delighted in. When I think of Jerry it will always be how much fun he had telling the story with almost childlike delight, and what he did with it either as a sketch, a birdhouse, or a ceramic bowl. He had a great life, but I miss him.

Naokuni Arita 1941-2011
In 2002 I received a call at my office from Kobe, Japan from a representative of Mr. N. Arita, who had seen EDG's design for Wolfgang Puck's Spago restaurant at the Four Seasons Maui, looked us up on the web, and wanted us to design the concept for a new confectionery concept in Japan. He wanted to know whether I could be in Kobe the following week. I said that I was too busy, and would have to think about it. After doing some research on Mr. Arita and his Henri Charpentier and C3 concepts, and his company, Good Earth, my partner and I decided that we could set up a meeting with him "halfway" in Honolulu. I flew to Honolulu and met Mr. Arita for afternoon tea at the Halekulani Hotel, and through an interpreter began the process of getting to know each other. We then decided I should go to Japan to survey his existing shops, tea rooms, and restaurants and write a report on their competition with the idea of coming up with a new American concept. For the next two years our team led by Jennifer Johanson and Patrick O'Hare crossed the Pacific frequently, and ended up developing a prototype called "SUGAR". Unfortunately, the Japanese economic climate made it impossible to undertake the project, and none were built. However, EDG won a Hospitality Design Magazine Design Award for "Best Unbuilt Project" in 2005 and shared it with Mr. Arita.
Mr. Arita had exquisite taste and amazing design knowledge - his impressive white marble offices filled with mid-century furniture masterpieces and the full set of Vitra miniatures was a treat to behold and be part of. We both had a long standing appreciation for the work of Carlo Scarpa.
He treated us as VIPs, taking us to the best restaurants, letting us explore the unique retail landscape of Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo, and was receptive and always respectful of our designs. He loved all things modern, and beamed when he showed us his baby blue 1956 Lincoln Continental that he kept at the main baking facility. If you get to Japan, visit the Henry Charpentier Tea Room and Bar in a restored 1920s bank building in the Ginza. The elegant design of the pstries and cookies in an amazingly elegant modern space are worth a special trip. I learned a lot from Mr. Arita, enjoyed his company immensely, and am depply affected by his recent death.

Altered Books: Cranberry Red

2011-04-07T12:11:00.001-07:00

The Marin Museum of Contemporary Art will be exhibiting artist's altered books from April 26th through May 21st in their galleries at Hamilton Field in Novato, California. The exhibit is a benefit for Marin MOCA and their programs. My submission is shown above - a very personal response to the challenge of altering a book and making art from it.

Cranberry Red was a novel written by Plymouth, Massachusetts newspaperman Edward B. Garside, Jr. Ted Garside was a good friend of my father, and during my childhood served as an inspiration to me - he was a real writer, and that was one of the things I aspired to do. His biggest career accomplishment was to review books, especially histories and biographies, for the New York Times. He wrote a column of “things that interest me” for the Old Colony Memorial, a weekly published every Thursday.

Ted was like a kindly, rather reticent "uncle" with a dry sense of humor. The book critics savaged Cranberry Red, and my dad said that he never got over it. He tried to show what life was like for the Cape Verde islanders who provided the hard labor for growing cranberries. The large local Portuguese immigrant community in southeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod did not accept the Cape Verdeans.

They were dark-complexioned and their language was a distinct dialect. They were also ignored by the majority of the white population, and lived their lives in their own small communities surrounding the cranberry bogs. Garside had made many friends among the workers, and the book was sympathetic to their plight. But the tone of the times was not kind to an account of immigrant agricultural workers, especially dark-skinned.

Ted Garside’s book is no longer available and he never wrote another novel. However, the Cape Verdean population has assimilated into the population at large in the 70+ years since the book was written. The cranberry crop is still a major source of agricultural income for the area, and the distinctive "screen house" barns and bogs have survived, albeit in smaller numbers as development of new housing has encroached.

Home Town Notes

2011-04-05T15:42:00.000-07:00

Fairfax, California lies twenty-five miles north and west of San Francisco, bisected by the Marin County-wide east west thoroughfare Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. Located in the geographic center of Marin County, the town has approximately 7,500 residents, and for many years has been known for its political independence and laid-back qualities. The icon of the town's center is the 1948 art deco Fairfax Theater which has added screens over the years to become on of the county's top first-run movie houses.

Fairfax is home to many unique businesses including the oldest natural foods market in Marin, Good Earth Natural Foods. Currently occupying its second location in thirty years, the market will expand to a new facility twice its present size in October 2011. Other businesses include art galleries, music stores, a famous ice cream spot, bakeries, restaurants and great bars featuring live music. I've lived in Fairfax since 1978, and my children grew up here enjoying the small town ambiance and comfortable atmosphere. We chose Fairfax as a place to live not knowing much about it, and have come to love it.

To the west is Taylor State Park, San Geronimo Valley, and Point Reyes National Seashore with the wonderful coastal hamlets of Inverness and Point Reyes Station only 40 minutes away by car. We're close to San Rafael, the Marin County seat, and about 45 minutes from San Francisco. We are situated in a series on conjoined canyons with hills covered with native live oak, redwood, and other indigenous varieties of flora and fauna. It's truly a unique place, and I truly think of it as my "home town". Come visit us some time . . . .

In The Wine Country

2011-02-24T13:48:00.000-08:00

I'm very lucky to live less than an hour away from Northern California's Wine Country. The valleys of Sonoma and Napa produce some of the world's finest wines, and the planting of grapes has altered the natural landscape in myriad ways. One of my favorite areas is the Carneros District that spans the southern flanks of both Sonoma and Napa, bordered by San Pablo Bay. The wine produced by Bouchaine, Artesa, Etude and others ranges from chardonnay to especially wonderful pinot noir.

The landscape here is fascinating, with parallel rows of vines criss-crossing the rolling hills down to the bay. Different varietals require different row spacing and direction, so the patterns are like patchwork quilts. The winery buildings range from faux French castles to rustic redwood barns, and reflect many styles of vernacular and high style architecture.

Every season reveals different colors and patterns, from the heavy dark green leaves and grape bunches of harvest season to the pruned bare black trunks of winter to the bright green new growth of spring. Visiting wineries and enjoying the wines and surroundings is now a year round activity.

I've been working on a new series of Carneros images to be published by ArtBrokers, Inc. The three illustrated here will join an earlier work, Carneros Winery Barn in a series of four prints. My thanks to David Coyle for his art direction and collaboration in bringing these images to life.

Back on the road again - Kind of. . . . .

2011-02-16T17:23:00.000-08:00

It's been a year and a half since I sat down to write in my blog - during the fall of 2009 I spent three months in hospital and rehabilitation, and rejoined the artistic community about a year ago at this time. My life is very different now - because of chronic pain issues and a colostomy, my travel and endurance has been limited. I did manage a solo show in San Francisco at 555 California from January to March, and another at the Fairfax Library in April 2010.
I traveled to Rome and spent the month of June at my sister's home in my birthplace, Plymouth, Massachusetts, catching up with relatives and old friends. In July, I took part in Gallery Route One's Members' Show, and in August entered the Box Show, an annual fundraiser. My piece, The Blue Barn, was sold for the show's high bid of $700. I was elected Chair of the Artist Members and have spent much time and effort in that role.
In December and January I had my first solo exhibition in the Center Gallery, and exhibited 30 works, among them several new three-dimensional assemblages of vernacular buildings from around the country, selling a few. The response was very good, and I'm currently working on new pieces for the 2011 Members' Show at GRO. I've found much satisfaction in my involvement with the gallery - I've met many people who have become good friends, and I feel as if I'm contributing to something very worthwhile.
Through the help of my dear friend JoAnn Locktov, I was featured in three recent prominent design blogs:

Modenus.com: <http://www.modenus.com/blog/interiordesign/just-off-the-road-the-art-of-eric-engstrom> (Veronika Miller / Tim Bogan), Roaming By Design: <http://roamingbydesign.com/?p=1874>(Saxon Henry), and Architects+Artisans: <http://architectsandartisans.com/index.php/2011/02/mixed-media-from-the-blue-highways> (Mike Welton).

The response to all three blogs and to the show has been good. I feel as if my newish (3+) year career as a fine artist might at last be coming to some measure of success. Now I'm busy working on the "next step", contacting galleries and looking for new venues to show my work. Because of financial and health constraints, I'm traveling shorter distances, and have gone back to earlier images as the basis of new pieces. And I promise to write on my blog a bit more frequently.

Northern California Barns: Routes 1 and 128

2009-08-05T14:53:00.000-07:00

The coastal California Route 1 and State Route 128 wind through some of the loveliest seaside and rural country in America. The field grasses of late summer have turned light yellow, and wave in the light breezes, providing a contrast to the dark wood or red paint and corrugated zinc roofs on farm and ranch buildings. The barns in Sonoma and Mendocino are for the most part connected to dairy farms, while those in the picturesque Anderson Valley are split equally between dairy and vineyard/orchard uses. Most barns were built in the early part of the twentieth century, and some have fallen into disrepair as land use changes. They still provide a sense of agricultural and vernacular architectural history, however, and are an integral part of what makes the area so beautiful and so intriguing.

The Box Show

2009-07-20T12:35:00.001-07:00

Hangar, Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, New York

The annual Box Show will be on exhibit at Gallery Route One, 11101 State Highway One in Point Reyes Station, California from August 9th through September 13th. A public reception will be Sunday, August 9th from 3 pm to 5 pm at the Gallery. Each of the 100 artists invited to submit is provided with an unfinished pine box 7" x 14" x 5" with which to create an original art work. Please join us for this wonderful event!

The Box Show is the major fund-raiser each year for GRO's community outreach programs including Artists in The Schools and The Latino Photography Project. Visitors can submit bids on the art pieces in a silent auction format for the duration of the exhibit, and winners will be announced at the closing reception on Sunday, September 13th.

My piece, a mixed media construction, is titled "Hangar, Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, New York". Floyd Bennett Field was New York's original commercial airport, and many of the original 1930s hangars still remain. Some have been converted to new uses including a sports center, while others are abandoned and awaiting new uses. The site and buildings are now administered by the National Park Service.

New Mixed Media Art

2009-07-02T13:48:00.000-07:00

American Vernacular Landscapes Revisited
Recent media art is currently on display as part of the Gallery Route One Members' Show 2009 at the gallery, 11101 State Highway One, Point Reyes, California through the month of July. The images include new versions of previously created images as well as new views of Sausalito, California and Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Concrete Roads

2009-06-04T13:46:00.000-07:00

Driving on old Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, the old main two lane east-west artery from Point San Quentin to Point Reyes through Marin County, California I was struck by the fact that as a child, many of our weekend "rides" were taken over concrete roads. I clearly remember the pock-eta pock-eta sound and vibration that filtered through the car, and announced our progress through the landscape. The steady rhythm was both annoying and comforting, and I wonder if today's children experience this cause and effect experience. As a child I found the noise and vibration to be annoying when I was trying to read or draw in the back seat, but very comforting when I wanted to take a short nap. During my college years the annoying repeating sound and feel kept me awake on late night drives.

Most of the roads I've traveled lately only have small sections of exposed concrete ribbon with exposed expansion joints still remaining. Where a thin layer of asphalt or wet tar joint compound has been added, the joints still telegraph from underneath the layer, as shown in the photograph of an abandoned section of old Route 66 in Arizona above. In many cases, thick black asphalt has been poured over the concrete and the joints are eliminated. Somehow as our highways became interstates and freeways, something has been lost - a rhythmic reminder that we were actually making progress through time, space, and distance.

Las Vegas to Fairfax via back roads

2009-05-19T12:01:00.000-07:00

I recently drove north and then west from Las Vegas, Nevada to Fairfax, California on US95, US6, NV120, US395, and US50. The contrasts between the glitzy metropolis of Las Vegas and desert towns like Mercury, Beatty, Tonopah, Bishop and Basalt couldn't be more different. The desert is still impressive - from its wide open spaces and rugged mountains to its hardscrabble settlements. The wandering took me through former mining towns, failed agricultural developments, marginal roadside businesses, and delightful surprises. It's still early spring in the desert, with profuse wildflowers and plants that will be green for only a matter of days before turning brown.
The trip has inspired me to do a new mixed media series based on my photographs of the vernacular landscapes I passed through and experienced first hand. One of the most interesting and isolated places I visited was Bodie, California. On an unpaved road east of Highways US395 and CA270, Bodie is w a state historical park, kept in a state of "arrested decay". The town was an active mining center beginning in the 1880s with a poulation close to 10,000, and was occupied as recently as the late 1960s. Both gold and silver were mined by the Standard Mining Company until 1932, when the mill closed and most of the population left.
Driving these roads means stopping in the small towns to get gas and water even when the tank is half full - you never know when the next station will appear. Most of the stations between towns have been abandoned to the elements, and temperatures ranging from 0 degrees in winter to 115 in the summer means that the decay is rapid. It;s a fascinating journey that proves again and again how big our country is, and how diverse our landscapes are.

New Small Mixed Media

2009-04-09T12:05:00.000-07:00

A selection of new small mixed media art on canvas and panels by Eric Engstrom are being exhibited at the Annex, Gallery Route One, 11101 Highway One, Point Reyes Station, California through May 10th, 2009. GRO is open from 11am to 5pm daily except Tuesday, telephone: 415. 663 1347; website: www.galleryrouteone.org.

Using existing photographs of vernacular American buildings that have been converted to mixed media collage paintings, the exhibition focuses on underutilized small town buildings, their contextual presence in the landscape, and their transformation into to new cultural/artistic resources. The Hazen, Arkansas railroad depot is now a small local history museum, the railroad line having been abandoned many years before. Several North Adams, Massachusetts brick mill buildings have been creatively revitalized as the new Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MassMOCA), featuring edgy, avant-garde art exhibits.

The re-use of old buildings for new purposes is a way to preserve our heritage, as well as to recycle usable structures and supprt sustainable practices.

January 2009

2009-01-02T17:07:00.000-08:00

I'm exhibiting "Nick's Cove, Marshall, West Marin" at the Gallery Route One Annual Juried Show in Point Reyes from January 16th through February 16th. I'm really enjoying being an Artist Member of this 25-member organization of artists now celebrating its 25th anniversary - they are a terrific community-oriented group. The opening is Sunday afternoon, January 18th from 3 to 5 pm at 11101 Highway One in Point Reyes Station.

In other news, I've just returned from spending the holidays with friends and family "back east" in Massachusetts and New York City, where I added many new photographs, especially of Cape Cod under a blanket of snow and of old hangars at Floyd Bennett Field in the outer reaches of Brooklyn, New York.

2009 will hopefully be a great year for one and all - Happy New Year!

December Updates

2008-12-10T13:24:00.001-08:00

Vernacular America - a Solo Exhibition runs from December 30, 2008 to March 7th, 2009 at 550 California Street, San Francisco and features mixed media canvases from the "Barns" series.

Image: Thank You For Sharing Your Day, Railroad Tender, Ingomar, Montana, Mixed Media, 24 X 24, 2008

Other new exhibitions include the group show "Deuces Wild" from December 12th through January 11th and the Gallery Route One Annual Juried Show from January 16th through February 16th at Gallery Route One, Poin Reyes Station, California. GRO is a community based artists' organization that I recently joined as an artist member. Besides the successful gallery, they direct several community initiatives including La Vida Loca, The Latino Photography Project and Artists in The Schools. It's an honor to be awarded membership in this dynamic group.

I've recently completed work on a Folio of images from the Northern Plains series, adding historical and cultural information to the images. I'm currently working on developing the words and images into a book, and am also investigating the possibility of a television documentary series based on my cross-country trips. Life is very full and exciting,

2008-10-17T17:35:00.000-07:00

New Exhibit: 333 Bush Street, San Francisco

A new solo exhibition titled "Re-Imagining The Disappearing Landscape" is on display in the lobby at 333 Bush Street, San Francisco from October 20th through November 26th, 2008. The exhibit is open during normal business hours, and is being produced by Suzy Locke of Suzy R. Locke & Associates, Art Consultants.

The illustrated mixed-media piece is titled "Dr. Pierce's Barn, Old Route 99 East Near Orland, California"; the canvas is 40" high by 40" wide and is on display at 333 Bush Street.

In other news, Eric is now an exhibiting artist member of two Marin County arts organizations, Gallery Route One in Point Reyes Station and Artisans Gallery, Sausalito.

Two new pieces in the "Hawai'iana" series are now in preparation for publication in both booklet and folio form.

Views From the Road - Exhibitions

2008-09-04T19:20:00.000-07:00

San Francisco:
A new solo exhibition of my mixed-media art is running from September 8th through November 15th, 2008 at The Transamerica Pyramid Center, 505 Sansome Street (at Clay), San Francisco, California. The building is open to the public weekdays during normal business hours.

Produced by Jan Casey Bertrand of Casey & Associates 415. 834 2394 (www.caseyandassociatessf.com) the show features recent images of railroad cars, rural barns, and abandoned structures photographed from America's rural and secondary roads.

The imagery continues my exploration of the changing American landscape, with small towns that only now exist on old maps and in the memories of their former inhabitants.

Many of the Blue Highways, once the main routes between the small towns, are empty of traffic and life itself - forgotten by most. That aspect of our collective history needs to be reviewed, remembered and celebrated.

Sausalito:
An article by Leslie Harlib about the current exhibit at ArtBrokers,Inc. Gallery in Sausalito, California appeared in the Marin Independent Journal on September 4th, http://www.marinij.com/lifestyles/ci_10376056.

The show at ArtBrokers,Inc. Gallery 415. 332 2660 has been extended through mid-October 2008. Further information on the exhibit can be obtained from the Gallery's web site at www.artbrokersinc.com.

You may contact me at Eric Engstrom Fine Arts 415. 453 1647 or at ericengstrom@comcast.net.
All Images Copyright 2008 Eric Engstrom

Solo Exhibition At ArtBrokers Gallery in Sausalito, CA

2008-08-15T13:59:00.000-07:00

A solo exhibition of recent mixed media pieces titled Roadside Distractions by Eric Engstrom will run from August 22nd through September 21st 2008 at ArtBrokers Gallery, 2660 Bridgeway, Sausalito, CA (415 332 2660).

The opening reception will be held on Friday, September 22nd from 5 pm to 8 pm.

Featuring new views from America's secondary roads, the exhibition references commonplace vernacular buildings and ordinary landscapes converted to emphasize the extraordinary beauty in the details and images. Eric relives the classic American road trip and preserves moments in time through his images.

Born too late to go "On The Road" with Jack Keruoac but old enough to appreciate Easy Rider, and the writings of William Least Heat Moon, John Steinbeck, and Larry McMurtry, his visions of America also owe much to the photographs of Robert Frank and Michael Eastman.

Limited edition giclee art prints of Engstrom's work can be viewed and are available at www.artbrokersinc.com

U. S. Highways from the 1930s: Vanishing America

2008-05-26T16:33:00.000-07:00

William Least Heat Moon's book Blue Highways, published many years ago, celebrated the roads that appeared on early road maps as the main routes between big cities and small towns across America. Many of these main roads were consolidated into the Interstate system, bypassed, and abandoned during the 1960s. Truly the main streets of America, these mostly two-lane roads were often built adjacent to railroad right-of-ways, and went through the center of every town they passed through. Most were completed in the years before the second World War,, and some still survive as the major transportation arteries between smaller towns.

Some of my favorites include surviving sections of U.S. 30 through eastern Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois (The Lincoln Highway), U.S. Routes 20 and 20A in upstate New York from Albany to Buffalo, U.S. 12 through Wisconsin, Minnesota, and South Dakota (called the Yellowstone Route in some area and the Lewis & Clark Highway in others), old U.S. 550 from Durango through Ouray to Montrose, Colorado, and parts of "The Mother Road", and the remaining original sections of U. S. Route 66 from Chicago to southern California.

Many town centers in America's heartland have never recovered from being bypassed in the 1960s by the new Interstate system. Where the center of town was the engine that drove local businesses, there are abandoned stores, theaters, filling stations, railroad depots that have never re-opened, d by the ubiquitous chain stores, fast food restaurants, and convenience stores. Family owned highway motels have been abandoned to the "easy on, easy off" divided highway exits. Even the wonderful small-town coffee shops and diners where one could converse with locals about politics, the economy, or the weather have disappeared forever, replaced by Circle K and 7/11 stores that sell gas, snacks, bad coffee and microwaved "meals" to go

Another aspect of traveling the blue highways is to note the changes in agriculture and the disappearance of local grain elevators and the abandonment of family farms, replaced by massive corporate farms and processing facilities. Nowhere is this more noticeable than in the northern plains of South Dakota and Montana where brick two-story schools have been abandoned because of out-migration of the families they served. Roadside motels and filling stations have also been abandoned or reinvented as low-cost housing and repair shops that no longer sell gasoline.

Some of the most striking architectural survivors on the road are railroad stations, many with classical architectural themes, that now stand empty or are barely maintained as local museums only open a few hours a week. In the downtown centers, most of the "picture palaces" where Americans watched movies in the 30s and 40s are abandoned and empty. Some, like the Royal in Archer City, Texas, the setting for Peter Bogdanovich's film "The Last Picture Show" (written by Larry McMurtry) live on as places where special events are presented. Most, however stand empty, as do the drive-in theaters that dotted the landscape in the 1950s.

Most of my travels have concentrated on recording the abandonment of much that America stood for in the past - that sense of small town community, pride in local differences, and a sense of the past. By recording these vernacular buildings and landscapes, and recreating the images as multi-media artwork, I'm hoping to at the least make us aware of some of our history, and the culture that created the buildings and blue highways.

Eric Engstrom - May 27, 2008

"We photographers deal in things thatare continually vanishing, and when they have vanished, there is no contrivance that can bring them back again." - Henri Cartier-Bresson, Photographer, 1952

Notes from America's Blue Highways

2008-04-09T20:54:00.000-07:00

Two long trips back and forth across America along with several shorter trips on secondary highways that once served as the main connectors between cities are the inspiration for this blog. Over 18,000 miles of driving and over 1,000 photographs have served as the basis for the creation of unique digital and mixed-media artwork celebrating the vernacular architecture of rural and small town landscapes.

Written observations of changing the physical and cultural environment of towns no longer on the main roads, and the effects of development along the Interstate highway network are illustrated by both photographs and original artwork