West Virginia 2010 - Andy Warhol, Lunatic Asylums And Appalachian
Weddings
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 A
decaying doctor's office at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston,
West Virginia. Some of the doctors had special wings, where their wife
and children would stay. Can you imagine being a kid, living and
growing up at an insane asylum? |
 I
was originally considering shooting the asylum in black and white to try and
heighten the creep factor. But after seeing the vivid colors of the
asylum, I knew I had to display the photos in color. Many of the rooms
were different colors - green, blue, yellow, red, pink - and the light
shining through the windows and out into the hallway was often quite
beautiful.The lunatic is in the hall |
 The
bathroom of a patient's room at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.
The tour was quite interesting. The guide mentioned that if you were
to walk all the halls of the asylum, you would have walked nine and a half
miles. At 242,000 square feet, the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum is
the largest hand-cut stone masonry building in North America, and the second
largest in the world, after the Kremlin. |
 A
glass maker at
Appalachian
Glass in Weston, West Virginia, shaping the glass that he's just removed
from the glass furnace. Appalachian Glass offers over 500 traditionally
produced soda-lime crystal products. From novelty items to elegant stemware
and vases, all items are hand-crafted and mouth-blown in West Virginia.
|
 A
heady display at the Appalachian Glass store in Weston, West Virginia:
"I'll like to buy two glass candleholders and a deer head, please." |
 Lisa
and I stopped by the Fiestaware store in Flatwoods in the way back from
Weston. Fiestaware is a famous line of vividly colored ceramic
dinnerware made in West Virginia since the 1930s. |
 My
Appalachian girlfriend's family lives in the hollows near Charleston.
Lisa's father owns several acres near Charleston, and sometimes goes walking
to find
walking sticks, which he carves by hand, or looks for ramps to cook.
Ramps are basically wild onions, and Lisa's father fries them.
Here are more members of Lisa's family having fun with a rope swing in her father's back yard. |
 4
August 2010: We visited Lisa's sister. She lives in a lovely
house. She has a son. He is by the door. He is a lot of
fun. You just saw his Dad pushing him on a rope swing. Life is
sweet in The WV. He is a lot of fun.
|
 See
what I mean? Here he is at home, shortly after dinner at the Bluegrass
Kitchen. |
 And
here we are in the throes of one of our many improvisational space-rock
explorations. |
 And
here he is again. He's eight years old. He's really fun, really
intelligent. He was writing a book about a Tiki Monster when we were
over. He also has more toys than any five kids I know put together.We played Wii. This was my first time playing Wii. I'm awful with video games of any kind. Think about anyone you know. I'm more pathetic at playing video games than any of them. No, really. So I was proud that I did better at Wii than I ever have with other video games....although I still had the lowest score.
|
 6
August 2010: In the Culture Center in West
Virginia, which has an outstanding exhibit on the history of West Virginia,
I saw a beautiful waterfall called Cathedral Falls in one of the books about
the state.
As it turns out, Cathedral Falls is not far from Charleston! Lisa and I drove there the next day. It's gorgeous, with many different landings and lots of greenery surrounding it. |
West Virginia 2010 - Andy Warhol, Lunatic Asylums and Appalachian Weddings
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