Folk Art in Texas Page: 18
203 p. : ill., ports. ; 29 cm.View a full description of this book.
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SOME PEOPLE CALL THIS ART
and drilled holes in each slat and put
forty marbles in each slat. It was real pret-
ty with the sun sparkling through there in
the morning.
John: While I was building the patio I was drink-
ing the beer. I knew I was going to do
something with them aluminum cans
because that was what I was looking for.
So, that's how it come about.
Joseph: Did you save up the cans a long time before
you figured out what you were going to do
with them?
John: I was saving them for about seventeen
years.
Joseph: Where did you put them?
John: I cut 'em up.
Joseph: You started cutting them up at the begin-
ning so they'd take up less space?
John: Yeah.
Joseph: But where could you store seventeen years'
worth of cans?
John: Right here.
Joseph: In the garage?
John: See, when you flatten them out, it don't
take much space.
Mary: Well, I can tell you. He didn't even answer
your question. That's like what he did
yesterday. They'd ask him a question and
he'd-But anyway you didn't know what the
end result would be when you started
out.
John: Oh, no! No! I sure didn't. I didn't know
what I was going to do with them cans. No
way!
Mary: No. And when he started he just started
hanging some of them around in the trees.
And, you know, like he made an arch over
the driveway there with solid cans. They
were all Budweiser at that time. But then
they fell down and he put these others up.
John: See, originally I started with the plastic that
goes around these here six packs. I hung
them from the eaves of the house. But then
they figured we were killing too many
animals. You know-people throwing them
in the woods and stuff. So they was going
to fix them so they'd deteriorate. So thelatest ones I had hung up were falling down,
so I quit that.
Joseph: So you started with the cement work. Had
you done all of that before you started us-
ing up the cans you had stored?
John: That's right.
Mary: He was drinking the beer in the mean-
time.
Joseph: At what point did you start using them as
shingles over your siding?
John: I would say around seven or eight years
ago.
Joseph: How long did it take to get all four walls
covered?
John: Now, then, I would say, you take this bot-
tom part below the windows-I did that
first. After I had gone all the way around
the house below the windows, it didn't take
me no more than seven months to get the
rest done.
Joseph: So you went all the way 'round the house,
doing the bottom portion first?
John: I was soft peddling her in the meantime.
See, giving it to her slow.
Mary: He didn't know if he was going to get to
do it. But finally he did it all before I knew
what was going on.
Joseph: What about the window shades?
John: Now I done that after I done this. Now, see,
that's another thing I catch hell about.
Mary: Covering up the windows like that.
John: You take-we bought $3,000 worth of
windows.
Mary: Storm windows. And he covers half of them
up. Well, anyway, maybe it's for the best.
Who knows?
John: But they held up good in the storm [Hur-
ricane Alicia].
Mary: They sure did!
Joseph: You didn't have any storm damage?
Mary: Not on the house itself. But it did blow
down a lot of the stuff hanging from the
trees, and it tore up part of a wind screen
on the front porch.
Joseph: How were the sound effects during the
storm?
Mary: Well, wild!* 18 *
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Folk Art in Texas (Book)
This book describes popular folk art of Texas, including basket weaving, hat-making, yard art, sculptures, murals, cemetery art, quilt-making, tattoo art, and other miscellaneous folk art. The index begins on page 198.
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Abernethy, Francis Edward. Folk Art in Texas, book, 1985; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc67647/m1/26/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.