You too should go out of your way to experience these wonderful people and their art.
When web surfing for odd places to visit Harry came across the website for Butch Anthony's Museum of Wonder in Seale, Alabama. The descriptions were intriguing enough for us to plan our route so that we would be in the vicinity. We are so glad that we did. Upon arriving we found the ramshackle museum building and first met John Henry Towney outside his log cabin. John Henry directed us to drive further down the road and find Butch at his home which we did.
Butch is of indeterminate age, tall and lanky, handsome. His personality can be described as gentle and unassuming. He open the door to the Museum and let us wander about. It is jammed packed with all kinds of curiosities. Taxidermy which Butch began doing at a very young age. His own art genre which he calls "interwangled". He takes a photograph or work of art and draws on top of it. Frequently, he draws the outlines of skeletons. There are the bleached bones of the animals have lived and died nearby. Jars filled with all varieties of objects. Amazing works of art created from found objects. To Butch nothing is junk. Here is a little introductory video we found.
Butch Anthony's Museum of Wonder from Etsy on Vimeo.
And, here are our photos of the Museum of Wonder
Jeffrey Thrope has written a very nice article about Butch and his Museum in Garden & Gun Magazine. In the same magazine, Robert Rausch has also created a beautiful slide show Rausch's photos are much better than ours. Us Northerners must just marvel at for Garden & Gun's juxtaposition of subject matter.
After we had purchased one delightful object we drove a short distance down the road and followed a sign that read - Drive thru art gallery. This area is actually the site of a "Doo-nanny" that Butch hosts once a year. There is food, folks art and performances. As a lead in to "visiting" the drive through art gallery, here is a video that I found about the a recent Doo-Nanny at the gallery.
Ala-fuckin'-bama from Gideon E on Vimeo.
The structures used for this event line a road in the woods. I got out and walked snapping photos as I went. There was something magical to see from every viewpoint. All made from found objects.
Nearby was Providence Canyon State Park. It was the worst possible time of day to take photographs of the canyon. With the sun high in the sky the distances in the canyon appeared flat and the colors seemed muted. It was, a pretty place and we did have a nice picnic lunch sitting in the sun. Which, of course, was all the more wonderful given the blizzard conditions that Boston was experiencing.
We love Trip Advisor - the extensive research we used to do before leaving for trips is now unnecessary. We can read hotel and restaurant reviews in the car (on our iPhone) as we approach a destination and decide where we will book a room for the night (also on our iPhone) and decide on a restaurant for dinner.
The number one restaurant listed for Tallahassee (where we are tonight) is the Kool Beaz Cafe. The reviews recommended sitting at the counter with a full view of the chefs at work. It was fun, entertaining, and the food. Oh my. Our sesame crusted rare tuna was exquisite, as was the accompanying endame and shitake mushroom stir fry and the wasabi mashed potatoes.
[Editorial Note: This turned out to one of three great restaurants we encountered on our trip. The others being the Up the Creek Raw Bar in Apalachicola, FL and Fish in Charleston, SC]
The number one restaurant listed for Tallahassee (where we are tonight) is the Kool Beaz Cafe. The reviews recommended sitting at the counter with a full view of the chefs at work. It was fun, entertaining, and the food. Oh my. Our sesame crusted rare tuna was exquisite, as was the accompanying endame and shitake mushroom stir fry and the wasabi mashed potatoes.
[Editorial Note: This turned out to one of three great restaurants we encountered on our trip. The others being the Up the Creek Raw Bar in Apalachicola, FL and Fish in Charleston, SC]