Stu Jenks' Fezziwig Press: Hope

March 11, 2019

Cherry Picking Leviticus, as a pdf and as an ebook for only $2.00

My new book Cherry Picking Leviticus is available for only $2.00, at the Fezziwig Press store, both as an pdf and as an epub file. You can also buy other Stu stuff there as well.

And below are some recent images from me. Hope you like. Have a wonderful day, and keep the faith baby, however you do that.

Love and light, Stu.

"Nannie's Mirror: Town Creek Indian Mound, Mt. Gilead, North Carolina" (c) 2019 Stu Jenks. [This structure is a re-creation of the religious building that stood here centuries ago, so I wasn't damaging anything by placing my grandmother's mirror within its ropes. Quite a spiritual place to visit, with the creek over there, the temple up there on that mound and the woods all around. Check it out if you are in the area.]

"Deer Skull along the Ararat River, Virginia" (c) 2019 Stu Jenks. [I found this white-tailed deer skull on the other side of the river from where I took these photos, not far from the grave of J.E.B. Stuart's great-great-grandfather who was murdered (not killed in battle but murdered in his home by a Torie), during the Revolutionary War.

This pristine skull sat atop a tall bluff, near a rusty old Model A Ford car door, both I'm guessing washed down stream during hurricane flooding. It was just sitting, on some grass, like it had been placed there. A lovely and welcome surprise.

"House on Rt. 831, Virginia" (c) Stu Jenks 2019

"The grave of the poet Randall Jarrell, a Quaker Cemetery near Guilford College, Greensboro, North Carolina" (c) 2019 Stu Jenks. [Randall Jarrell's poetry inspired me to be a writer when I was in high school. And yes, I place those flowers there. RIP Randall.]

"Confederate Water Skiers, Mt. Airy, North Carolina" (c) 2019 Stu Jenks [A clandestine image capture of a postcard in a consignment store. Was I going to pay $10 for this creepy postcard? No freaking way.]

"Nannie's Mirror at Turn Four, looking down the front straightaway, Martinsville Motor Speedway, Martinsville, Virginia" (c) 2019 Stu Jenks. [Holy ground to you gear heads out there. And when they aren't racing, you can drive right up to the fence. I kid you not.)

"A Fatal Figure on the wall, after 40 years, Art Lab Building, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill" (c) 2019 Stu Jenks [After all these years, it's still there. Then again, I did spray paint this onto a porous brick wall in 1978, but still.]

Posted at 11:31 AM in Ancestors, Art, Black & White Photography, Books, Business, Civil Rights, Clouds, Current Affairs, eBooks, Emotions, Faith, Fezziwig Press, Good Folk, Greensboro, NC, Highways, History, Hope, Humor, Love, Memoirs, My Grandmother Nannie's Mirror, Nannie's Mirror, Native People, Nature, Night Photography, North Carolina, On The Rez, Other Writers, Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Performance Art, Photography, Politics, Prayer, Rivers, Rocks, Sculpture, Spirituality, Stu Jenks, The Road, The Sky, The South, Trees, Trouble With The Law, Virginia, Weather, Wildlife | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 09, 2019

Stories from the Toole Shed, celebrating its 25+ years. (Lightning Fairy Circle: For Terri Windling)

Lightning Fairy Circle: For Terri Windling
Fall, 2000

Excerpts from Stu Jenks’ book:
Hoop Dancing: More Journeys Through Nocturnal Photography.
Fezziwig Press: 2009. (Story edited in 2019)

In 2000, I was just another artistic bozo on the bus. Still am a clown today, but back then, I was just an unknown guy with an fine art degree, printing 16 x 20 inch prints in the Toole Shed’s darkroom in downtown Tucson, Arizona.

If you print your own photographs in a chemical darkroom, you have a lot of work prints that are just this side of being right. Not good enough to sell, but pretty to look at nonetheless. I usually placed the throwaways on the bottom drying screen in the darkroom, with all the other test strips and crappy prints or I just put in a box somewhere. By the year 2000, I had a boat load of prints that didn’t pass muster.

One night, I decided to thumbtack a purpler version of the above photograph on the wall of the Toole Shed’s East End bathroom, just to pretty it up a little. A few days later, Terri Winding, artist, writer, editor and all around wonderful person, who unknown to me had a studio across the hall, saw the print and loved it. She asked James Graham, the King of the Toole Shed at the time, who shot it. He said Stu Jenks did.

And the rest is history.

Really. That print, in that bathroom, changed everything.

When I had a one-man show in the MOCA basement at the West End of the Toole Shed in 2001, Terri brought down Mary Ann, Karen and the two Charles to see it, when the four of them were visiting from back east. My circle installation ended up being the backdrop for a scene in Charles De Lint’s book, Medicine Road, and Charles Vess and Karen Shaffer invited me to take the alfalfa and Christmas lights on the road to the Mythic Journeys Conference in Atlanta in 2002. Then things took off, with new friends and new patrons, buying and showing my work from as far and wide as Georgia, North Carolina, California, New York, Michigan, Canada, Great Britain and the Highlands of Scotland.

All because I put up a flawed photograph of a circle of light with monsoon lightning in the distance on a art warehouse bathroom wall in Tucson, Arizona.

Oh, and what is more important? That Terri Windling saw the image, liked it, liked me and did what she has done for many people over the years.

She helped.

Posted at 01:04 PM in Arizona, Art, Good Folk, Hope, Medium Format, Moon, Night Photography, Nocturnal Photography, Other Artists, Other Writers, Photography, Relationships, Stu Jenks, The West, Toole Shed, Tucson, Women | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 02, 2019

Two things I resolve to do in 2019...

Two things I resolve to do in 2019.

Stay sober. Stay alive.

Other things are of course important in my life: gainful employment, producing more income so I can support myself and my family; gradually getting out of the hole of debt; being sweet and loving to my beautiful wife; continue to make art, music and books; being kind and compassionate to my friends and family and even to those I do not like; being of service to my community and to the world; bringing social justice to my country, in my own small ways.

But without breath in my lungs, a heartbeat in my chest, and a head clear of mood-altering chemicals, none of the above is possible.

Stay sober. Stay alive.

It's really that simple sometimes.

"The Rev. Dr. William Barber II of the Poor People's Campaign, during the Watch Night Revival, Dec. 31st, 2018, at Pullen Baptist Church, in Raleigh, North Carolina" (c) 2018, 2019 Stu Jenks and The Poor People's Campaign.

Posted at 11:04 PM in Ancestors, Angel/Ghosts, Arizona, Art, Birds, Black & White Photography, Books, Canyons, Christmas and Winter Solstice, Churches, Civil Rights, Death, Earth Spirals, Emotions, Faith, Fezziwig Press, Fiction, Flora & Fauna, Forgiveness, Fun Facts, Good Folk, History, Love, Memoirs, Metaphysics, Money, Mountains, Nature, Nocturnal Photography, North Carolina, Photography, Politics, Raleigh, Religion, Science, Sepia, Sickness & Health, Snow, Spirituality, Stones, The Moon, The Poor, The Sky, The South, Travel, Trees, University Of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Virginia, Water, Women | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 26, 2018

"A Chair in the Wilderness" is coming...

Above image: "Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, After The Flood, Sonoran Desert National Monument, Arizona" (c) Stu Jenks 2018

A Chair in the Wilderness, my 15th book, is coming. Like my previous tomes, there will be semi-iconic photographs of rocking chairs and such, but unlike my other books, this one will be purposefully funny. And political. And spiritual. And a little sad. But witty and funny is what we are going for, like a dark chuckle in the night from a wounded man while the civilized world burns. Fun stuff. Trump stuff. Good times.

The dedication for ACITW is probably going to be a quote from my good friend Karen Hardy from the Northern Neck of Virginia. We were talking on the phone a while back, mostly about how her mother Victoria was doing, when, as I recall, I talked about how I perhaps cared too much regarding what other people think of me, and that I'm more than a little sensitive to art criticism from strangers on the internet.

Then Karen spoke this chestnut:

"They talked about Jesus Christ, Stu. They are going to talk about you and me, too."

Look for A Chair in the Wilderness before Christmas, wherever you buy your books.

Love you guys,

Stu.

(P.S. below are some images from the past couple of months and some older ones. If you have an questions, don't hesitate to call. Or email. Or tweet. Or message me. Or heaven forbid, talk to me, face to face, like they used to do back In Olden Days. Don't lose hope, y'all. Resist.)

Posted at 09:47 PM in Ancestors, Arizona, Art, Babies, Black & White Photography, Books, Business, California, Canyons, Current Affairs, Dying, Emotions, Fezziwig Press, Forgiveness, Good Folk, Grand Canyon, Home, Hope, Humor, Love, Medium Format, Metaphysics, My Grandmother Nannie's Mirror, Nannie's Mirror, National Parks, Nature, Night Photography, Nocturnal Photography, Oklahoma, Politics, Prairies, Prayer Towers, Rivers, Rocks, Spirituality, Stars, Stu Jenks, The Arizona Trail, The Border, The Road, The Sky, Tucson, Valleys | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 03, 2018

Fezziwig Press Images, New & Old, from 17 External Hard Drives...

I've been going through all 17 of my external hard drives, part of a house cleaning and studio cleaning before Alexa and I move to North Carolina (Due to some hickups, looks like it won't be until September of 2018 when my wife and I move to Greensboro.) While doing that, I revisited some old images, and found some discarded images that deserved a second look.

Also, the images from my new "Two Newlyweds" series are in this post as well as some other new stuff. Hope you enjoy them too.

And as always, everything is for sale, either as a digital file or as a print. Simply contact me at [email protected] for prices.

Happy Spring, y'all.

Stu

Posted at 11:40 PM in Ancestors, Arizona, Art, Astronomy, Blues, California, Canyons, Christmas and Winter Solstice, Coalmine Canyon, Current Affairs, Deserts, Earth Spirals, Emotions, Faith, Family, Fezziwig Press, Fire, Flame Spirals, Forgiveness, Good Folk, Hope, Infrared Photography, Medium Format, Moon, Mountains, National Parks, Night Photography, Nocturnal Photography, North Carolina, Panoramics, Petroglyphs, Photography, Pictorialist Photography, Pottery, Sepia, Sexuality, Sky, Snow, Spirituality, Star Circles, Stars, Stu Jenks, The Border, The Road, The West, Tucson, Valleys, Virginia, Washington, DC, Wildlife | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 28, 2017

I'm getting married and moving to North Carolina...

Yep. I'm getting married to a wonderful woman named Alexa! (As a writer, you're not supposed to overuse exclamation points, but this is the time for them!)

You can donate to our wedding registry at www.stujenks.org, to help me move my studio and my life to North Carolina in early 2018.

We will be getting married very soon, and neither of us are rich people. If you would like to give a cash wedding gift, you can do so at www.stujenks.org. It will really help. The money will go for things like a washer and dryer, a rented Penske truck to get my stuff to North Carolina, and resources to help us begin our life together. No gift is too small.

And if you would like to give a physical wedding gift or write us a check, just send it to P.O.Box 161, Tucson, Arizona 85702. Make the check out to me.

Thanks y'all for all your help, now and over the years, so I could be a working artist, writer and musician. It means the world to me.

You will like Alexa. I sure do. Photos of us will be forthcoming, on this blog and on my Facebook page.

I'm so happy to soon be Alexa's husband and she's very excited to soon be Mrs. Alexa Jenks! I'm joyfully misty-eyed much of the time these days.

Again, thanks for your help. And don't forget to give me your snail mail address so I can send you a thank-you card.

www.stujenks.org

Photos from top to bottom: "Alexa Reading, Mark Hewitt's Studio, Pittsboro, North Carolina", "Alexa Walking Away From the PBRC, Lake Brandt, North Carolina", & "Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Lake Brandt, North Carolina" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

Posted at 12:59 PM in Ancestors, Arizona, Christmas and Winter Solstice, Emotions, Family, Flora & Fauna, Forgiveness, Home, Hope, Love, Money, North Carolina, Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Plants, Sex, Sickness & Health, Spirituality, Stu Jenks, The South, The West, Tucson, Water, Women | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 19, 2017

The Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair Installation at Tohono Chul Park

As part of the Dia De Los Muertos show at Tohono Chul Park in Tucson, The Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair Installation is up and ready to go. The opening is Thursday, August 24 at 5:30 p.m.. The show runs until November 8th. Thanks so much to James and Karen for allowing me to be part of this show.

And this post goes out to all those folk who live outside of Southern Arizona, so you all can see and enjoy the piece too. To read the artist's statement for the piece, just click on this link.

Again, thank you everyone for your financial and emotional support this summer. It's been a tough one for me and for many. You all have helped more than you know.

Posted at 01:02 AM in All Souls' Procession, Ancestors, Arizona, Arkansas, Art, Beachs, Birds, Black & White Photography, Buildings, Cactus, California, Canyons, Cars, Colorado, Current Affairs, Deserts, Dying, Emotions, Faith, Family, Flora & Fauna, Forgiveness, Good Folk, Grand Canyon, Grief and Loss, Los Angeles, Louisiana, Love, Mountains, National Parks, Nature, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New Orleans, Oklahoma, Photography, Snow, South Dakota, Spirituality, Tennessee, Texas, The West, Travel, Trees, Tucson, Utah, Virginia, Women, Wyoming | Permalink | Comments (1)

May 08, 2017

From the road, south, east, and west...

[One of the best images from my trip south I think, because you can make up your own story about this woman and this chair. Mystery and magic are good things in art and in life.]

[John B. was largely unbanked, and had much hidden gold or so folks thought. I couldn't find his small headstone, but I think John would have found this image amusing, given his views on God, the financial markets, and the world at large. Rest in peace, John B.]

[I worked as a magician at Tweetsie Railroad, near Boone, in 1981. I lived in a mice-infested house just up the hill from Noah and Effie's graves. My old house is still there, looking about the same. Still kinda shitty.]

[Note to those wanting to be professional landscape photographers: Sit in one spot and wait for the light to come to you, and take tons of images. I took around 30 images to get the desired depth of field and to get those green pine needles in the mirror in proper focus. It just takes time, like all good things.]

[A rare moment at the Lincoln Memorial, when there wasn't a ton of people. Perhaps it was because it was late in the day and raining. One of my favorite spots in the District. Fun fact: My mother saw them building the Memorial when she was a child, living just across the river in Alexandria.]

[I bought these silk flowers at a Walmart in Oklahoma expressly for my mother's grave. My mother liked the color purple for it was the color of royalty. Been thinking many kind thoughts about my deceased, very complex mother. She was mostly a pain in the neck, don't you know, but she taught me some wonderful things when I was a kid, and frankly, she, along with her mother Nannie, were the only family members who gave a damn about Little Stu. Fun fact: Mary gave me $30,000 in 2008, before she got sick, so I could quit my day job and be a photographer and a writer full time. It was 10% of her worth at the time. That was very generous. The money is gone now but it gave me a very good kick start. Rest in peace, Mary. The Nannie's Mirror series is now as much about you as it is about your mother.]

[Was this image photoshopped? You bet your sweet bippie it was.]

[An incredibly tragic thing happened here. Google it and read all about it. Ghosts wander these plains.]

[I trespassed and spent all of ten minutes at John's house. The property is now owned by the man who owns K3 Lumber. K3. Get it? A very strong unwelcoming vibe was all around me, both at the house and all throughout the town. I'm guessing they has all heard the S-Town podcast by now. The property felt especially haunted and I don't use that word lightly. Everything is gone from John's house and his clock workshop. I didn't even go searching for the hedge maze, I was that spooked. I said a prayer for John, took photos of a lonely wooden chair on the porch and the three old chimneys and made my exit. As I drove away, I blew a kiss at the South Forty Trailer Park sign and made my way to the Cahaba River. Rest in peace, John B. and much love to all the folks in Shit Town, the good, the bad and the in-between.]

Posted at 07:28 PM in Alabama, Angel/Ghosts, Art, Birds, Black & White Photography, Blues, Buildings, Clouds, Current Affairs, Dying, Emotions, Flora & Fauna, Good Folk, Highways, History, Hope, Love, Mary Jenks, Money, My Grandmother Nannie's Mirror, Nannie's Mirror, National Parks, Nature, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Other Artists, Pamela Jenks, Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Rivers, Sexuality, Sickness & Health, Sky, Spirituality, The Poor, The Road, The Sky, The South, Travel, Trees, Trouble With The Law, Virginia, Water, Women | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 23, 2017

Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair photographs and other images from the last few weeks...

"Kara Walker's Angel, Broad Museum, Los Angeles, California" (c) photograph by Stu Jenks 2017.

"Achilles and The Tortoise by Mark Tansey, Broad Museum, Los Angeles, California" (c) Photograph by Stu Jenks 2017.

"Mary Magdelene, St. Dominic and St. Ann, detail of tapestry at Cathedral of Our Lady Of The Angels, Los Angeles, California" (c) Photograph by Stu Jenks 2017.

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Blue Grand Canyon, Arizona" (c) 2107 Stu Jenks.

Posted at 12:33 AM in Angel/Ghosts, Arizona, Art, Birds, Black & White Photography, Cactus, California, Canyons, Churches, Colorado, Current Affairs, Fabric, Flora & Fauna, Good Folk, Grand Canyon, Highways, Hope, Love, National Parks, Nature, Oceans, Other Artists, Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Public Art, Religion, Stu Jenks, The Border, The Sky, The West, Tucson | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 11, 2013

Nannie's Mirror on Meyer Avenue (Silent Night)

I re-recorded Silent Night on my mandolin in 2011 after my mother and sister had died. I thought of recording another version for this Christmas but this track works just fine. Sad and hopeful at the same time. Like Christmas often is.

Download Silent Night by Stu Jenks 2011

I also write a haiku each holiday season. This is this year's.

Christmas Haiku #28

Sonoran Christmas:

Female Rains, Star-Filled Nights And

Santa On The Room.

(c) Stu Jenks 2013.

Merry Christmas, y'all. I would be impoverished without your love and friendships.

Love, light and luck,

Stu.