In over 600 color photos, this book presents historical images and introduces newly discovered artists of tramp art, complete with their known biographies. Made from society's discards, primarily wooden cigar boxes and wooden crates, tramp art is the story of the common man, unschooled in the arts, taking a simple tool to carve a legacy from the heart for all of us to enjoy and celebrate. The engaging text tells the personal stories of the creators of tramp art, including Augustus "Gus" Wynn, Levi Fisher Ames, Adolph Vandertie, John Kozimor, Robert Louis Kosmerl, Carl Briston, Ernest Huber, and Charles Mikkelsen. Also discussed are the collectors who cherished and brought tramp art into their lives. Examples of this unique art form include boxes, picture frames, miniature houses, and carousels that are marvels of meticulous detail. For anyone with a passion for folk art, this book will be a much-treasured addition to their library.

"Tramp art was most prevalent during the years of the Great Depression. All of the wood used in its construction is scrap and discard; a craft of itinerant carvers, most of it was made from the wooden cigar boxes of the era. Most fascinating is the fact that there are no written instructions for the construction or crafting of a piece of tramp art and it doesn't appear that there ever were.

Discover the romance of tramp art, folk art made made from discarded wooden cigar boxes, layer upon layer, one notch at a time, by untrained artists using simple tools and recycled materials. Tramp art crafters representing over 40 nationalities carved tramp art in America. It was also practiced throughout the world wherever cigars were smoked. These artists transformed the discarded boxes into pieces of utility and wonder. Never before has the subject been studied in such depth. Over 600 color photographs document 100s of items, ranging from picture frames and mirrors, to boxes, bureaus, and fantasy pieces. The designs and colors reflect a naive sensibility and aesthetic that is at once charming and beautiful. Here is a rich assemblage of the history of the art form and a thorough the study of the artists' lives and work. Misguided romantic mythologies long associated with tramp art are dispelled to leave an accurate picture of these noble notchers. A foreword by award-winning author and art historian Barbara Goldsmith sets the stage, and the pages that follow both celebrate the art and deepen our understanding of its roots and practitioners. This book will be treasured by folk art lovers everywhere.

This book pays homage to the counterculture movement through the words and photographs of a select gathering of people who lived it.

Revised version of the book Tramp art originally published in 2000 by Design Originals.

A lyrical travelogue charting Tomas Espedal's journeys to and ruminations around the world, from his native Norway to Istanbul and beyond. "Why travel?" asks Tomas Espedal in Tramp, "Why not just stay at home, in your room, in your house, in the place you like better than any other, your own place. The familiar house, the requisite rooms in which we have gathered the things we need, a good bed, a desk, a whole pile of books. The windows giving on to the sea and the garden with its apple trees and holly hedge, a beautiful garden, growing wild." The first step in any trip or journey is always a footstep--the brave or curious act of putting one foot in front of the other and stepping out of the house onto the sidewalk below. Here, Espedal contemplates what this ambulatory mode of travel has meant for great artists and thinkers, including Rousseau, Kant, Hazlitt, Thoreau, Rimbaud, Whitman, Giacometti, and Robert Louis Stevenson. In the process, he confronts his own inability to write from a fixed abode and his refusal to banish the temptation to become permanently itinerant. Lyrical and rebellious, immediate and sensuous, Tramp conveys Espedal's own need to explore on foot--in places as diverse as Wales and Turkey--and offers us the excitement and adventure of being a companion on his fascinating and intriguing travels.