Art Exhibition

Alicia Bay Laurel 2018 Japan Tour

Posted on by in Alicia Bay Laurel - Live in Japan - music album, Art Exhibition, Blog, Concert Tours, Friends and Mentors.

This year I am having a multi-decade solo art exhibition from September 1 through 20 at fashion designer Aya Noguchi’s Sison Gallery in Daikanyama, Shibuya, Tokyo.  The opening event will be recorded as part of a documentary about my work by Setsuko Miura’s environmentalist television show, Kotonaha No Midori.

Sison Gallery show brochure-color-web size

My concerts are also CD release parties for my newest recording, “Alicia Bay Laurel: Live in Japan,” which you can buy here.

ABL LIVE IN JAPAN 3000X3000 for CD Baby


Here is the tour schedule in Japanese and then in English:

2018年8月11日（土）ニュー・ムーン・コンサート＆新作CDリリース・パーティ。場所：白浜豆腐工房。18:00スタート。1,500円。住所：千葉県南房総市白浜町滝口1477

https://www.facebook.com/events/242954323164704/

2018年8月18日（土）コンサート＆新作CDリリース・パーティー。場所：安房里山房るんた。18:00スタート。1,500円。住所：千葉県安房郡鋸南町217

https://www.facebook.com/events/257584581504181/

http://lungta.petit.cc

https://muraken5.com/piece/kyonan#top

2018年9月1日（土）アリシア・ベイ・ローレル個展“ダンシング・ウィズ・ネイチャー”オープニング・パーティー＆コンサート。場所：代官山SISON GALLERY。15:00～20:00。ミニライブ＆小倉美保さんのフラダンス19:00～。住所：〒150-0033東京都渋谷区猿楽町3-18　電話：03-6886-8048

2018年9月2日（日）～9月20日（木）個展“ダンシング・ウィズ・ネイチャー”。場所：SISON GALLERY。12:00～19:00。※月曜休館。

http://sison.tokyo/info/2175262
https://www.facebook.com/events/274301256687815/

2018年9月6日（木）コンサート＆新作CDリリース・パーティ。場所：横浜ライブバー＆レストラン サムズアップ。オープン18:30、スタート19:30。共演：井上オハナ、小倉美保（フラダンス）通訳：キンバリー・ヒューズ。お問合せ：045-314-8705。前売り：2,800円、当日：3,300円。住所：〒220-0005神奈川県横浜市西区南幸2-1-22相鉄Movil 3F

http://www.stovesyokohama.com/

2018年9月7日（金）コンサート＆新作CDリリース・パーティ。場所：ピープルツリー自由が丘店（フェアトレード・ファッションブランドの東京フラッグシップ店）。オープン18:00、スタート18:30。共演：Rie Nobuso（創作舞）。住所：〒152-0035東京都目黒区自由が丘3-7-2

http://www.peopletree.co.jp/shop_jiyugaoka/index.html#shop_map

https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/shopping/people-tree-jiyugaoka

2018年9月9日（日）コンサート＆新作CDリリース・パーティ。場所：横浜cafe ゆっくり堂。オープン17:45、平和の祈り18:25、スタート18:30。共演：馬場尚子（司会）、Rie Nobuso（創作舞）。1,500円+1オーダー。住所：〒244-0002神奈川県横浜市戸塚区矢部町125。JR戸塚駅東口より徒歩7分。電話：090-1795-0341。

https://www.yukkurido.com/access

ご予約：info@sloth.gr.jp.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1115536298622481/

2018年9月15日（土）コンサート＆新作CDリリース・パーティ。場所：神戸Modern Ark Pharm Cafe。19:30～21:30。住所：〒650-0012兵庫県神戸市中央区北長狭通3-11-15。お問合せ：078-391-3060。

https://www.facebook.com/ModernarkPharmCafe/

2018年9月16日（日）大阪アート＆エコロジー・センター“THE BRANCH”を応援する小さなコンサート。場所：大阪THE BRANCH。オープン15:30、スタート16:00。住所：〒559-0011大阪府大阪市住之江区北加賀屋2-8-20

http://branch.sociecity.org
https://www.facebook.com/events/284386238985308/

2018年9月17日（月・祝）コンサート＆新作CDリリース・パーティ。場所：大阪茶屋町URBAN RESEARCH DOORS（エコ・ファッション・ストア＆カフェ）。カフェでのライブ：19:30～20:15。住所：〒530-0013大阪府大阪市北区茶屋町15-31。電話：06-6485-0178（コーディネーター：Ryoko）

http://www.urdoors.com/

2018年9月22日（土）コンサート＆新作CDリリース・イベント。場所：西光禅寺（広島西部の山間、三次市街地の近く）オーガナイザー：西光禅寺住職、檀上宗謙。14:00スタート。ベジタリアン・カレー・ディナー付き。住所：〒729-4207広島県三次市吉舎町敷地610西光寺。お問合せ：080-5338-6274。

https://www.facebook.com/SAIKOUJI

2018年9月23日（日）秋分の日パーティー＆コンサート＆新作CDリリース・パーティ＆カントリー・マーケット。場所：イタリア会館・福岡。16:00スタート。住所：〒810-0021福岡市中央区今泉1-18-25季離宮-tokirikyu-中離宮２階。電話：092-761-8570。お問合せ：ayamomo821@gmail.com（Ayako）

2018年9月28日（金）コンサート＆新作CDリリース・パーティ。場所：照明寺。18:00スタート。出店 ワークショップあり。住所：〒899-6404鹿児島県霧島市溝辺町麓溝辺町2563。

2018年9月29日（土）コンサート＆新作CDリリース・パーティ。場所：宮崎県（時間と場所の詳細は追ってお知らせします。）

2018年9月30日（日）コンサート＆新作CDリリース・パーティ。場所：喫茶 風の丘。

13:00スタート。住所：〒899-2431 鹿児島県日置市東市来町美山 東市来町美山2591

Here is the English language version of tour schedule:

08/11/2018 New Moon concert and CD release party and vegetarian dinner. 18:00 start. SHIRAHAMA TOFU FACTORY. 1500 yen. Address: 1477 Shirahacho Takiguchi, Minami Boso-shi, Chiba
https://www.facebook.com/events/242954323164704/

08/18/2018 Concert and CD release party and macrobiotic dinner at Lungta Yokone. 18:00 start. 1500 yen. Address: 217 Kyonan-machi, Awa-gun, Chiba-ken
https://www.facebook.com/events/257584581504181/

http://lungta.petit.cc

https://muraken5.com/piece/kyonan#top

09/01/2018 Art Gallery Opening Party for Alicia Bay Laurel’s solo exhibition, “Dancing with Nature,” and her concert, at Sison Gallery, Daikanyama, Shibuya, Tokyo. 15:00 to 20:00.  Live at 19:00, with hula by Miho Ogura.  Address: 150-0033, 3-18 Sarugakucho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Tel: 03-6886-8048

09/02 to 20/2018 Sison Gallery “Dancing with Nature” exhibition open from 12:00 to 19:00, daily except Mondays. http://sison.tokyo/info/2175262
https://www.facebook.com/events/274301256687815/

09/06/2018 Concert and CD release party at Thumbs Up Live House, Yokohama.  Open 18:30, start 19:30. With the Inoue Ohana Band, hula by Miho Ogura, and translation by Kimberly Hughes. For more information, call 045-314-8705. Advance 2800 yen, Door 3300 yen. 3F Movil, 2-1-22, Minamisaiwai, Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 220-0005. http://www.stovesyokohama.com/

09/07/2018 Concert and CD release party at People Tree Jiyugaoka [fair trade fashion shop] (flagship store in Tokyo) 3-7-2 Jiyugaoka, Meguro-ku, Tokyo.  18:00 open, 18:30 start. With interpretive dance by Rie Nobuso.
http://www.peopletree.co.jp/shop_jiyugaoka/index.html#shop_map

https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/shopping/people-tree-jiyugaoka

09/09/2018 Concert and CD release party at Cafe Yukkurido, 125, Yabe-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 244-0002. Open 17:45, peace prayer 18:25, start 18:30. Hosted by Naoko Baba. With interpretive dance by Rie Nobuso.

Access from JR Totsuka station, east exit, 7minute walk. https://www.yukkurido.com/access Charge: 1500 yen +1 order. Booking information: info@sloth.gr.jp. Café Tel: 090ｰ1795ｰ0341
https://www.facebook.com/events/1115536298622481/

09/15/2018 Concert and CD release party at Modern Ark Pharm Café in Kobe. 19:30 to 21:30
中央区北長狭通3-11-15 Kobe-shi, Hyogo, Japan 650-0012.
For more information, please call 078-391-3060.
https://www.facebook.com/ModernarkPharmCafe/

09/16/2018 Intimate Concert to benefit The Branch Arts and Ecology Center in Osaka. Open 15:30. Start 16:00. 2-8-20 Kitakagaya, Osaka 559-0011 http://branch.sociecity.org

https://www.facebook.com/events/284386238985308/

09/17/2018 Concert and CD release party at Urban Research Doors Chaya-machi (Eco fashion store and café.)  Live in the café 19:30 to 20:15. 15-31, Chaya-machi, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-0013. Tel: 06-6485-0178 (Ryoko is the coordinator)

09/22/2018 Concert and CD release event Saikouji Zen Buddhist Temple, in the mountains west of Hiroshima, near the town of Miyoshi.  Event organized by Souken Danjo, the head monk. Start time 14:00.  Includes a vegetarian curry dinner. 729-4207 Hiroshima-ken, Miyoshi-shi, Kisa-cho, 610 Saikouji. For more information, please call: 080 5338 6274. https://www.facebook.com/SAIKOUJI

09/23/2018 Autumn Equinox Party, Concert, CD release party, and country market, at Italia Kaikan Fukuoka / Centro Italiano di Fukuoka. Address: Tokirikyu – Nakarikyu 2F, 1-18-25 Imaizumi, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka, 810-0021, tel: 092 761 8570.  Start time: 16:00. Please contact Ayako at ayamomo821@gmail.com for more information.

09/28/2018 Concert and CD release party at Shoumyouji Buddhist temple. Start time: 18:00. Address: 〒899-6404 鹿児島県霧島市溝辺町麓 溝辺町2563 Kagoshima-ken Kirishima-shi Mizobechofumoto Mizobecho 2563
出演者 アリシア ベイローレル 他 出店 ワークショップあり

09/29/2018 Concert and CD release party with shrine-building workshop in Nichinan, Kagoshima.

09/30/2018 Concert and CD release party at Kaze No Oka, outdoor restaurant and music venue. 〒899-2431 鹿児島県日置市東市来町美山 東市来町美山2591 風の丘 Kagoshima-ken Hioki-shi Higashiichiki-cho Miyama 2591 Kazenooka 出演者 アリシア ベイローレル Start time is 13:00.

 

Kota drums and Alicia sings at Kaze No Oka in Miyama, Kagoshima. A typhoon had passed through the area during the early morning of the same day, but the café was full of happy people that evening.

Alicia Bay Laurel Patchwork on Display in San Francisco

Posted on by in Art by Alicia Bay Laurel, Art Exhibition, Blog and tagged , .

art show app-quilt.jpg

The autobiographical patchwork crazy quilt that I made between 1967 and 1974 was on display in the lobby of the historic Mills Building in downtown San Francisco from October 18, 2010 to January 15, 2011 as part of a show called “Still Crazy,” which included Victorian and 20th century crazy quilts, loaned by the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. Deborah Corsini, curator at SJMQT, created the show.

The piece is 8 feet high and 5 feet wide, and contains “guest embroideries” by my dear friends, author Ray Mungo and composer/author Ramón Sender Barayón, as well as a small piece by quilter Charlotte Lyons, who befriended me at Wheeler Ranch commune while I was writing and illustrating Living on the Earth.

Curator Deborah Corsini wrote:

“Alicia Bay Laurel’s crazy quilt is an excellent example of a 20th century crazy quilt from the decades of the 1960s – 1970s.  It is composed of a multitude of irregularly shaped fabrics, many typical of the time period.  There are large scale printed florals and smaller ditsy prints as well as embroidered and woven lace.  Many of the blocks contain unique and personal appliqued and embroidered scenes.  Some examples that clearly reflect on the universal (and astrological) themes that were of interest at the time are a God’s eye and embroidered solar system, a bull (her sun sign), and a flying lion (for Leo rising in her natal chart.)  Other blocks charmingly depict the Sausalito houseboat where she lived in 1967 and her guitar with “real” strings.  Like the crazy quilts of the 19th century, the one is filled with symbolic and personal references, and clearly references the cultural influences that were surrounding her.  Most importantly, this quilt has an embroidered date, 1967 – 1974, and an embroidered signature, Alicia bay laurel, which gives it true authenticity.

“…it is especially compelling because it is the authentic handiwork of a well-known woman, artist, author and creative spirit from that extraordinary ‘hippie’ time.  Alicia Bay Laurel’s crazy quilt is an excellent example of the continuum of the crazy quilt’s evolution and is a singular artifact by a multi-talented artist as a part of her early creative output and rich legacy.”

Alicia with her patchwork crazy quilt.jpg

Here I am on the last day of the show, January 14, 2011 with my quilt.  You might notice a few minor differences between this one and the one at the photo at the top, which was taken in 2002.  That’s because the quilt suffered some damage in 2008 and was expertly restored by Karen Stern at her quilt and textile restoration studio in Berkeley.

Signature on lower right hand corner: “1967 – 1974 Alicia bay laurel”

I design a t-shirt and towel for the 2009 Artist Power Bank music festival in Japan – and have another art show

Posted on by in Art Exhibition, Blog, Illustration commissions and licenses and tagged .

May 18, 2009

I’m having another art show in Japan of the original drawings for Living on the Earth, opening right now. It’s at the Birdo Flugas Gallery in Sendai. Here are some photos on Flickr of the framed drawings hanging in the gallery.

The show was set up by Keisuke Era of Artist Power Bank in Tokyo, an environmental activist arts organization. We’ve been collaborating on projects over the past few years. The latest is a couple of souvenir items for Artist Power Bank’s annual outdoor rock festival. Above is my drawing on their 2009 festival t-shirt.

I also adapted a drawing of a sea turtle I made for a yet unpublished book for their souvenir towel. Here are both sides of the towel.

This is from the festival web page that sells the towel.

ap bank fest-girls in turtle towels-websized.jpg

Here are two children at the festival wearing the towels as shawls!

One thing I encounter over and over in Japan is the request that I explain what I am attempting to communicate with my art, music and books. “What is your message?” After receiving the art, Keisuke sent me a questionaire on that very subject:

Hi Alicia-san, Would you give your messages to ap bank fes audience? It will be on web shopping site with your T-shirts and Towel graphics.

Question 1. Please tell us the concept of the design.

The swimming sea turtle shows that the ocean is healthy. Sea turtles die from drift nets and from choking on plastic bags (which look like food to them). We must stop polluting the ocean and using drift nets. In Native American and East Indian myths, the turtle is said to hold up the earth. The sea turtles slow circular movements make waves in the water, which I drew in the design.

The t-shirt design shows the divine energy all around us coming forth as life (the tree grows out of emptiness). The tree of life expresses its energy as love (leaves like hearts). The bird is the joy of making music. The rabbit is the sweetness of innocence and connection to the earth. The sun’s smiling face is the divine energy of compassion for all.

Question 2. What do you believe for making the environment better?

In our own daily lives, we need to do many small things that help. Take public transportation instead of drive a car when we can. Turn off lights we are not using. Insulate our buildings. Buy foods from farms near where we live. Try to use less packaging. Use recycling services.

In the bigger, political world, we need to elect leaders and vote for laws that stop industry from polluting and from killing wild animals, and from manufacturing things that pollute. This takes organizing. This is difficult, but it must be done in every country in the world.

Question 3. Message to ap bank audience please!!

Thank you for caring about the earth and for caring about each other. You are creating the future. Enjoy the music and the festival!

Art Opening at Mirai Garou

Posted on by in Art by Alicia Bay Laurel, Art Exhibition, Blog.

August 5, 2008
The second Tokyo exhibition of the original Living on the Earth drawings and layouts (created in 1969 and 1970), opened today at the Mirai Garou (gallery) in Roppongi Hills, Tokyo. Above, my drawing and design for the invitation.

Ohta-san, the curator of the gallery, requested that I create a current piece of art as a centerpiece for the show, preferably a scene of Tokyo. I drew the view from neighboring Mori Tower (the building next door to the building where the gallery is) looking out to orange and white Eiffel-like Tokyo Tower. Since I often draw goddesses, I was not surprised when Amaterasu, the Shinto Sun Goddess, who is the mother of Japan, floated into the sky behind it.

miraigarou-photo for drawing.jpg

Here’s the photo on which I based my drawing.

I missed the opening, since I am preparing to leave shortly for two weeks in Vermont, for events that were booked long before the art show, but, happily, Keisuke Era, from Artist Power Bank and Kurkku, sent me three photos. Above, some of the crowd that came for the opening.

The layouts and drawings in beautiful driftwood frames created by Yuji Kamioka are here displayed in an elegant white room.


The cozy bar at Mirai Garou, with one of my two-page layouts on the wall.

We Plan the Art Show

Posted on by in Art Exhibition, Blog, Living on the Earth book.


April 15, 2008. The next morning after our return from Hazu, Kaorico and I breakfasted on kiwi, miso soup with tofu and wakame sea vegetable, green salad with sesame-miso dressing, rice, and two different cooked vegetable dishes. Japanese food is amazing. It looks beautiful, tastes great, and you feel good afterwards. How great is THAT?


After breakfast we visited a local music store to see if someone there could repair the jack on my guitar, which had become unreliable in sound output. No one could. So, for the rest of my tour, I played the guitar into a microphone instead. Back in LA, I took it to a guitar repair shop, and discovered the problem was only dirt in the jack, which the repair guy removed with a cotton swab. Even I could have done that., if I had been able to figure out what to do.


Next I traveled by train into Tokyo. I saw this anti-litter advisory in the Harajyuku station.


My mission for the day was to meet with Keisuke Era and Junko Tamaki, who are organizing an art show of the original drawings and layout of Living on the Earth at the Kurkku complex in Harajyuku. I delivered the work, for which master craftsman Yuji Kamioka would eventually create 178 one-of-a-kind drift wood frames. We would only show 30 pieces in the upcoming show, but we would have other shows in the future, until all the images were sold.


Yuji showed me a sample of the frames. I was delighted.


On my way back to Harajyuku Station, I walked through one of my favorite Tokyo places. Takeshita Street, a bustling neighborhood where throngs of high school-and-college-aged people shop, eat and go to night clubs. It has the air of a carnival, and there are lots of people in costume.


This lovely girl in white agreed to let me take her picture.


Easter on Takeshita Street


A very theatrical storefront.


The bargain rack. One thousand yen is about $10.00


The layered look is much favored here.


Next, I took the train to Shibuya to buy art supplies at Tokyu Hands, a big department store with a big art and craft supply department. The intersection outside of the Hachiko entrance to Shibuya station reminded me of Times Square, with its gigantic animated signs.

My 2008 Japan Tour!

Posted on by in Art Exhibition, Blog, Concert Tours.

Rainbow7-ABL Fusan Daichan.jpg

Alicia headlines at the Rainbow Festival, Aso Mountain, Kyushu Island, May 2007. That’s Futaro on lead guitar, and Daisuke on bass. 

I’m heading back to Japan April 9 for my third tour in less than 18 months. This time I’m having an art show of the original drawings from Living on the Earth, including the cover layout, displayed in handmade frames of sliced driftwood, crafted by Yuji Kamioka, who created the wooden signs at Kurkku Environmental Arts Center in Shibuya, Tokyo, where the exhibit will be held, May 10 to June 1. At the gallery opening May 9th, the beautiful women working at Kurkku will model the spring fashion line illustrated with drawings from Being of the Sun created by Aya Noguchi for her fashion company, Balcony and Bed.  Other Tokyo locations where the drawings will be shown and sold will be the Balcony and Bed main store in the Daikanyama fashion district of Shibuya, and at Utrecht, a bookstore in Ginza.  Hiroshi Eguchi, the owner of Utrecht, will be creating and publishing a catalog of the show.

Here’s the invitation to the Kurkku event:

invitation to Kurkku.jpg

I’ll be making music at the art opening, as well as at ten other occasions during my tour, and I’ll be leading two art workshops, one on the island of Oshima and the other on the island of Okinawa (two of my favorite places on earth).  I’ll also be recording two songs by Donto for my next CD with his widow, Sachiho Kojima, and her band Amana in Okinawa, where I will be their guest. (For those of you not familiar with Shuntaro Tanikawa‘s works, here is a sample.)

Here is my schedule:

April 13 Rock on the Rock Festival in Hazu, just outside Nagoya, on the beach
April 20 Earth Day Festival in Saku, Nagano Prefecture. Festival site is near Sakudaira Station and adjacent to the Jusco Shopping Center.
April 21 Cafe Gonza concert in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, at 6:30 PM. 2000 yen.
April 25 House concert in Aiki, Nagano Prefecture, at 2 PM. 1000 yen. For more information, please call Kyoko and Ta-Bou at 0267-77-2485.
April 26 3 PM Concert at Kuraya Greens (natural food store) in Kobuchizawa, Yamanashi prefecture. 1500 yen. For more info, phone 0551-36-4789 or call Asako Fujito at 080-6684-4477.
May 3 and 4 Oshima Island Spirit dream shirt workshop co-lead with En Ando at Alohana Gardens
May 3 Solo concert on Oshima, 5 PM at Alohana Gardens.
May 9 Art opening party and concert 7 PM to 9 PM at Kurkku, Shibuya, Tokyo. Art show runs May 10 to June 1, 2008 in the Jingumae Lab at Kurkku.
May 12 to 15 Okinawa, recording session for two Donto songs for new CD with Sachiho Kojima and her trio, Amana (Sachiho on bass, Yoko Nema on harmonium, and Hiromi Kondo, African percussion. All three sing.)
May 16 to 18 in Donto-in Hakkakudo (octagon), Tamagusuku, Okinawa, spiritual, art and music retreat, co-lead by Sachiho Kojima.  Concert by Alicia and Amana on May 17.
May 23 7 PM Solo concert, including my telling the story (with translation) of the creation of Living on the Earth. Matsumoto Performing Arts Centre, Small Hall, 3-10-1 Fukashi, Matsumoto, Nagano 390-0815 Japan. Tickets 2500 yen pre-sale, 3000 yen at door. 
May 24, 10 PM, Interview and music from the May 9th art opening concert on AP Bank Radio, Tokyo, broadcast all over Japan.
May 30 9:30 PM, Yukotopia Dead Heads Land Night Club, Umejima, Tokyo. Four acts:

18:30~19:30 RaBiRaBi (avant garde/tribal stomp with great singer)
19:30~20:30 ha-za-ma (rock band of club manager Roku Uehara)
20:30~21:30 satocough (Sato, singer-songwriter from Big Frog band)
21:30~22:30 Alicia Bay Laurel (solo psych folk, Hawaiian, blues and jazz)

May 31 9:30 PM Yukotopia Dead Heads Land Night Club, Umejima, Tokyo. Four acts:

18:30~19:30 Blue Moonstruck (haven`t heard them yet)
19:30~20:30 Electric Building (husband/wife folk/rock band. Fun!)
20:30~21:30 The Great Rolling Flower (not sure what genre)

21:30~22:30 Alicia Bay Laurel (solo psych folk, Hawaiian, blues and jazz) 

I will fill in the exact times and locations of the events as I receive this information. My three CDs and two books will be available at all events, and I’ll sign (almost) anything you put in front of me, whether you bought it from me or not.

Here are the front and back of the flier for the concert on May 23! 

MAPC flier for blog-front.jpgMAPC flier for blog-bk.jpg Nagano events flier.jpg

Flier for Nagano events, created by Satomi Yanagisawa, who is organizing the first four Nagano events for me. 

Oshima flier-web.jpg

Flier for Dream Spirit Shirt making workshop and solo concert on Oshima Island, created by En Ando, my co-leader in the workshop.  The drawing is from Being of the Sun. 

The Original Art and Layout of Living on the Earth is for Sale!

Posted on by in Art by Alicia Bay Laurel, Art Exhibition, Friends and Mentors, Living on the Earth book, Songs from Being of the Sun - music album and tagged .

Cover layout with bleed borders and the original drawings for Living on the Earth.

Wow, here they are, the original drawings from which all of the books, CDs, t-shirts, fabrics, magazine illustrations and other printed images from Living on the Earth were born. Partially lettered in Press Type, yellowed with age, and stained with rubber cement and correction fluid (ah, the tools of the graphic design trade back in the late ’60’s), they are wabi-sabi, shabby-chic, framable, and absolutely authentic.

I will be having a gallery show at which the entire layout will be auctioned during the months of May and June 2008 at the Kurkku Arts and Environmental Center in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. 

I created the drawings, lettering and layout for the first edition of Living on the Earth in 1969 and 1970, at the ages of 19, 20 and 21. The Bookworks, Bay Area distributor Book People’s publishing imprint, released it in September 1970 as their second title ever. They sold out the initial printing of 10,000 copies in two weeks. The Whole Earth Catalog’s review: “This could be the best book in this catalog. It is a book for people. If you are a person, it is for you.”


 In April 1971, Vintage Books/Random House released the second edition, which became the first paperback ever on the New York Times Bestseller List. Publishers Weekly had never seen a book design like this one before, and published a handlettered review with illustrations from the book to note this. Dozens of books with derivative book designs, illustrations and themes appeared on the market within a year, and continue to appear to this day.


I am preparing to sell the original layout as an archival manuscript (I retain the copyright of the content), and thought you might like to see what the artwork looks like now, after 37 years in the same little blue suitcase inwhich I delivered it to The Bookworks in the spring of 1970. It’s moved to Hawaii from California with me twice.


The pages in the center of the book aren’t as yellowed as the cover and front pages, probably because they weren’t as subject to the acidity of the packaging in which they were stored. The rubber cement used in layout work in those pre-computer days left stains, as did the white correction fluid.


When I updated the information in Living on the Earth for the Villard/Random House third edition in 1999 (which, with minor changes, was also the 4th edition in 2003), I clearly could not re-use the original layout, so I took apart two pristine copies of the Vintage/Random House second edition and used the pages to lay out the revised edition, still using Rapidograph pen, scissors, rubber cement and correction fluid as I did in 1970.


One of the most noted updates in the revised edition was the layout on marijuana and hemp. I realized soon after moving to Maui in 1974 and inhaling the extra-strong product available there, that it made my nasal passages swell shut, obliging me to breathe through my mouth and wonder how long until this uncomfortable side effect would wear off. So I quit smoking pot. When I updated the text twenty-five years later, I had to find and interview someone who still grew it commercially to improve the instructions. I also learned the usefulness of hemp, even without the medicinal effects of tetrahydrocannabinol.  Hemp preceeded petroleum as the material of choice for manufacturing almost everything useful. Canvas, which propelled ships across the ocean, derives its name from cannibis. Some environmentalists think we’ll be back to using hemp on a large scale after Peak Oil.


Living on the Earth was initially shelved in the Library of Congress under Home Economics, Handicrafts and Outdoor Living, but the 2000 Random House edition was categorized under Spirituality and Healthy Living, and the 2003 Gibbs Smith edition as a Reference Book. All of the above, would be my guess. I didn’t create it for a publisher. I made it as a gift to my fellow communards at Wheeler Ranch. However, the Universe had other plans.

Update as of 2021:  Many of the original page layouts, framed in handmade driftwood frames created by master craftsman Yugi Kamioka, some with mat boards bearing my new additional illustrations, have been sold at a series of gallery shows in Japan.  The cover layout hangs in the tea ceremony house of rock producer Takeshi Kobayashi.   Fashion designers Kaoriko Ago Wada and Aya Noguchi, both of whom produced fashion lines printed with the pages of Living on the Earth, have framed pages hanging in their homes.  Novelist Yoshimoto Banana bought framed pages, too, remembering how much she enjoyed the book in her childhood. 

Here is a link to a video of an art exhibition of the framed page layouts at Gallery Speak For, in Daikanyama,
Shibuya, Tokyo.

The sound track is an improvised piece called “Everything is Flowing” from the album Songs from Being of the Sun, which Ramón Sender Barayón recorded in 1973, of himself on zither and me on guitar, and both of us singing.