At long last a book documenting the art of Godfrey Stephens has been published, and it’s stunning. Godfrey has been painting, drawing, carving, and assembling all his life (he’s now 70), and his niece Gurdeep Stephens has performed a Herculean task of sifting through a blizzard of Godfrey’s art to assemble this collection. Oh yes, he’s also built over a dozen sailboats.
I’m hardly an objective observer: I’ve known Godfrey and his art since meeting him on a Mexican beach in 1964, and he’s a dear friend. I’ve never been able to figure out why he isn’t world-famous. The quantity and quality of his output is staggering. And his energy: there are almost 800 emails in my “Stephens” mailbox, over 600 photos in my “Stephens” photo folder. How Gurdeep ever prevailed to assemble this excellent collection is beyond me. High five!
It’s best to let his art speak for itself, but I’ll just point out something about his carving: when he was 12, he hung out around Mungo Martin, a famed Kwakwaka’wakw chief who was creating totems and building a “big house”, at Thunderbird Park in Victoria. Godfrey’s best friend, Tony Hunt was Mungo’s grandson, and Godfrey and Tony started out carving little bears to sell. Godfrey has always been close to the native “First Nations” culture, with many Indian friends, and it shows in his carving. It seems to me a blend of the powerful north coast indigenous art and wide-ranging abstract and representational artistry. Godfrey doesn’t drive and he’s never had a “job.” Just art.
https://woodstormswildcanvas.com/
https://www.godfreysart.com/
Wood Storms, Wild Canvas: The Art of Godfrey Stephens will have a first book-signing at Munro’s Books in Victoria, BC, on November 1st at 1 pm. Both Godfrey Stephens and the author Gurdeep Stephens will be signing copies at Munro’s between 1-2 pm on Saturday November 1st. The book will be available for sale at local independent book sellers in addition to online. For each copy sold, the publisher will plant one Native tree species locally in BC.
The Granger Collection, New York, 1876
I’m printing contact sheets (ooops — thumbnails) of recent photos and running across some interesting things like this, from my trip to British Columbia last month.
The book on Godfrey’s art is just about out. I’ll post details when it’s available.
https://www.godfreysart.com/
Duncan (just south of Nanaimo) is another pretty good-feeling town. For one thing, the town has commissioned a bunch of authentic First Nations art. This one was carved by Richard Hunt, son of famed carver Henry Hunt.
The 3 animals represented here are (from the top): frog, bear, beaver.
The art of First Nations tribes is still very much alive in Canada.
It’s hanging from ceiling, it’s maybe 8′ long, 6′ wingspan. A cartoon in 3D.
300 people showed up for my slide show/book signing at the Vancouver Public Library Monday night, and they had to turn others away due to fire marshal regulations. It was the biggest and best crowd I’ve ever had. Lively discussion, total rapport. I signed a ton of books.
Vancouver is a 10-star city (along with San Francisco, Hong Kong, and — Victoria.
I made the 20-minute flight from Vancouver to Victoria in a Beechcraft 20-seater, had to duck to get through aisle to seat/only one other passenger, into Victoria in rain, picked up Mazda-2 rental car, drove in to Victoria, spotted spectacular street art, started shooting pics.
Visited Anián off-the-grid clothing/surfboard/venue conglomeration of little buildings, solar-powered complex. More to come on this tuned-in micro-village later.
The sculpture is by Godfrey Stephens (who I’m about to go visit) and is at Swan’s Hotel & Brew Pub.
I just sent this out to my high school friends:
A couple of things:
1. A friend told me to check out the Camera Obscura at the Cliff House, which I’d never done. It’s a small building down below the restaurant, with a rotating lens that gives you a moving 360° panorama of the beach and Seal Rocks. Also, in the Cliff House, on the left side of the bar, there’s a large monitor with photos of early San Francisco, including Sutro Baths, the original (and spectacular) Cliff House circa 1900, and Playland at the Beach*. You can get a beer and watch the procession of old photos.
2. Last week I got a book titled The Barbary Coast: An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld by Herbert Asbury. I didn’t realize how lawless and violent San Francisco was in its early days. It was like Deadwood, the TV series.
Here are a few other books (I know there are hundreds) on San Francisco:
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