The Eighth Lively Art: Conversations with Painters, Poets, Musicians, and the Wicked Witch of the West

by Wesley Wehr

Book Overview

As a young artist and musician Wesley Wehr became a friend and often a confidant of many of the painters, poets, and musicians who lived or worked in the Northwest in the 1950s and 1960s. Drawing on... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0295980982
• ISBN13: 9780295980980
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: University of Washington Press
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Amazing Book...Amazing Man

I first read this book for as a selection for MOHAI's bookclub and found it amazing. I was glad that Wes showed up to the bookclub meeting and talked for over an hour. I have lived on and off the 'Ave' for well over 10 years and I would often see him and have a cup of tea with him in the 'Ugly Mug Cafe.' This is a must read.

art and rocks

Wes Wehr had that unusual ability of being able to write exactly the way he spoke. The artists he knew come alive on his pages in such a way that I felt I was listening to him tell it to me personally. I first came to know Wes through the Stonerose Museum in Republic, WA, which he helped to establish and support. As an artist, not only did I thoroughly enjoy his first book and the antedotes that he recorded, but it left me anxiously waiting for his next, The Accidental Collector. Here's an antedote of my own: while in Republic on a dig, a coffee shop in Seattle called him and told him he had left his only manuscript for the Accidental Collector laying on one of their tables that morning! These two books were supposed to be part of a trilogy, but sadly that was not to be. Wes passed away before it could be completed and we are left to imagine what gems that third one would have held. I highly recommend both these books.

Wonderful book on Art, Seattle, Friendship

Not only is it one of the more delightful books I have read recently, it could very well be the best autobiography ever written by a lifetime resident of my hometown."The Eighth Lively Art" is at once a colorful history of Seattle in the 1950s, a thoughtful exploration of the artistic process, and a celebration of the connections that exist between people. Wesley Wehr recounts his life as a young man in Seattle in the 1950s where, as a student of music composition at the University of Washington, he was befriended by such luminaries as painter Mark Tobey, poet Elizabeth Bishop, and actress Margaret Hamilton. He meets painters Morris Graves, Guy Anderson, and Helmi Juvonen, all of whom become lifelong friends. He has encounters with famous twentieth-century figures like photographer Imogen Cunningham and composer Ernest Bloch who offer there wisdom, hospitality, and encouragement. The book is divided into chapters that focus, for the most part, on individuals he has known and people he has met. The artists convey their ideas about life and love while sharing their personal experiences with and approaches towards the composition process. Wes Wehr also relates his own, often unsuccessful, forays into music and painting during this early stage in his life.For those of us who have grown up in Seattle, this book is a reminder of how this place has shaped our own sensibilities. How many of us, like the young Guy Anderson, wandered through the Burke Museum as a child looking at Northwest Coast Indian Art or, like Wes himself, spent our late teens hanging out on the Ave?This book is, most significantly, about the power of friendship. I am so accustomed to living in a world where everything is assigned value based on net worth or earnings potential, I often lose sight of the things which have truly enriched my own life. After reading Wes' account of the various friendships he has established and maintained over the years, I recognized more clearly how very important such friendships have been to me.

Fun and Friendly Book

I have really enjoyed this book. For the first time I feel an insight into the Northwest Artists that I have not felt before. It really leaves me asking for more. I hope that Wes will follow up with more details on these incredibly interesting people and their respective relationships with each other. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in artists and their lives, as well as anyone looking for some honest, open and fun reading.