Beautiful Hippies

Native Funk & Flash: An Emerging Folk Art
Alexandra Jacopetti
Scrimshaw Press 1974

This is one of my all time favorite books, a slim paperback volume chock full o' photos of early '70's California hippies and their art. It focuses mostly on embroidery, quilting, and other fabric-related creations, with a bit of woodcarving and glass work thrown in, but the true charm is in the people. Dirty barefoot children, young men who look like Jesus, young women with a serene, stoned beauty, older folks with braided grey hair and flowing robes; all ready to save the planet with recycling and thrift shopping.
I have no use for irony. I really do love this book for the hopeful feeling it gives me. Ok, so the world wasn't saved by macrame owls, and all these folks probably grew up, got haircuts, and joined the corporate world in the big, bad '80's, but it's a lovely little dream they have going here.

May 5, 2008: It seems that I'm not the only fan of this book!

Comments

[BReid]

I have a few craft magazines from the era, and some patterns too. Not sure what I'm doing with them. Personally, I just remember people using the excuse to be stinky, and if you're white with curly hair you're screwed (unless of course you're sporting an afro).

I do have a soft spot for tin can sculpture and wood panelling though. There, I said it.

[Captain Green]

My guilty 70's pleasure is the swag lamp. I love swag lamps and I remember almost every one we had fondly.

My parents were hippies, but ended up liking Styx - so there you go.

[Hippy Harpy]

The crafty hippy types I knew as a kid were Washington DC area hippies, and I don't recall stinkiness. The hippies on the West Coast in the '90s, though...a fear and loathing of deoderant, for sure.
My soft spot is for weird, lumpy handmade pottery and multicolored glass candle holders.

[Kirsten]

We had the bad earthenware pottery from friends, and lots of brown and orange batik art (I think there WERE some owls in there!) that had wooden dowels on the top and bottom so you could hang it on the wall, and string art of ships. Also- do you remember God's Eyes? Two popsicle sticks arranged in a cross and a ton of yarn? A classic Girl Scout craft project. Making pottery mushrooms was another 70's hippie craft we did (though I liked to make pottery UFO'S)
The one thing I never got that I coveted was those stretched out pop bottles filled with layers of colored sand.Usually found at the seedy local small town carnival...

[Kipling]

Ah, string ship art, how could I forget? And God's Eyes...I have a tiny one my little brother made in summer camp when he was in first grade, I think...two toothpicks and some yellow and green yarn. It goes on my Hannuka bush every year!

Now you've done it though. Every artist dyin' to get into your gallery is going to arrive bearing gifts of stretched bottles with multi-colored layers of sand. If you're really lucky you'll get the ones with glued on google eyes and a tuft of brightly colored acrylic hair.

[kirsten]

Anyone worth their salt would know I'm helpless before Siamese Cat Art.
More bad crafts: My stepsister would put a piece of crinkled aluminum foil behind some glass in a frame to make a "mirror"...then she'd paint the "Yes" logo on it. Kewl teenager art!
Also- it isn't "hippie" but for me the 70's were all about Shrinky Dinks.

[Meg]

THat is one of my fav. books too. It's got great pics!

[john hall]

hi...maybe im a leftover hippie throwback... i play sitar and am the proud owner of 2 original rajah zeetar's. my music is reminescent of psychedelic era beatles. in my years of yardsaleing i came up with the original bottle stretcher....which i will procede with to my grave im sure...but if anyone wants a stretched bottle...i may be able to help them out... im pretty sure i can stretch any bottle i can find...with only a small percentage that will break. ive made several over the years and given them as gifts to my closest friends... my favorite bottle to stretch is the made in kentucky soft drink "ale 8 one" i can still get those bottles im sure.. with the cool painted logo. i even got the unit with the instruction manual (long since gone) but i remeber it said i could even stretch out mini airline bottles....and larger wine bottles... the only limitation is it fitting into the devise... if anyone is interested in obtaining quantities of these freshly stretched...just let me know...maybe i can work out a deal..and if anyone is interested in my sitar music by the way..it can be heard on the www.triplabs.com website... my recordings were done under the name Dr Rajah von Zeetar & the electric dream conspiracy. thanks...and keep up the good work!