Alabama Chanin followers and Journal readers are likely familiar with Phillip March Jones—artist, photographer, author, curator, Makeshift participant, and a frequent collaborator of ours. He grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, attended Emory University, the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and Auburn University. Phillip founded and runs the non-profit gallery space, venue, and small-scale publishing house, Institute193… Read on

Harald Stoffers has been writing letters every day for over twenty years. Long ones. Short ones. Tall ones. Skinny ones. Some of them measure over ten feet high; others are only a few inches tall. Occasionally, he tears them apart. Most of them are addressed to his mother with the loving words, “Liebe Mutti” (Dear… Read on

For the past few years, I have essentially worked as a roving curator seeking out new artists and projects for Institute 193 and occasionally finding time for my personal work. I am on the road constantly: crisscrossing the Southern United States, meeting people, visiting artists, and making pictures. Things happen along the way. This past… Read on

Windows, New York, New York We asked contributor Phillip March Jones to share the process and inspiration behind his daily photo project, Pictures Take You Places. Seeing is everything. But it takes practice. Modern Antiquity, Atlanta, Georgia La Plage, Trouville, France For the past couple of years I have been traveling almost constantly for various projects… Read on

Phillip March Jones is an artist, photographer, and author of the photo essay book, Points of Departure. He runs the non-profit gallery, venue, and publishing house, Institute193 in Lexington, Kentucky, and curates shows in the U.S. and Europe for various artists, including Lina Tharsing’s recent exhibit of new paintings at Poem 88 in Atlanta, Georgia…. Read on

We are pleased to welcome back friend and writer, Phillip March Jones, who we have convinced to join us as a regular contributor to this Journal. Phillip will be writing about art, visual design, music, food, and travel. This week, Phillip shares a photo essay of (and a delicious recipe from) his new favorite restaurant,… Read on

Writer, artist, and curator Phillip March Jones’s latest book, Points of Departure, is a collection of roadside memorial Polaroids depicting scenes of reality, often stark eulogies on road sides, highways, and Interstates, that we routinely speed by in our busy lives. The collection demonstrates an irony between our hurried motion and the absoluteness of departure… Read on

“Hawkins Bolden: Seated” for Institute 193, January 12 – February 26, 2022. ⁠Scarecrows made from stuffed pairs of work pants—likely worn out after many years in his garden—distinguish Bolden as an epithet for recycled and utilitarian art (Smithsonian American Art Museum).  Phillip March Jones is an artist, writer, and curator. He grew up in Lexington,… Read on

“Everything I do starts in a small black book. I make lists. I draw. I take down notes, memorable quotes, or random thoughts. Things seem to expand out of those pages.”—Phillip March Jones  The covers of our Phillip March Jones Journals, shown below, are printed with vibrant designs from the sketchbooks of artist, writer, and friend, Phillip March… Read on

Follow along on Instagram for more inspiration and stories we love.@alabamachanin What We’re Watching (via @swissmiss): Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint from Kino Lorber Films. @kinolorber Learn more and watch the full documentary here. Explore Hilma af Klint’s work and legacy as one Sweden’s most experimental and influential artists. Weekend Digest: “Dealing with Dignity… Read on

“Anything which is worth the effort to portray, is worth every effort to improve upon.”  – Eugene Von Bruenchenhein  In case you missed it, read Natalie’s personal essay about the inspiration for our Marie Stencil from the work of Eugene Von Bruenchenhein. The Marie Stencil is featured as this month’s Swatch of the Month, and we’re showing more love… Read on

From top left: Fabric Swatch in Marie Natural/Carmine with Whipstitch Appliqué;  The Marie Swing Skirt Kit in White/Natural with Reverse Appliqué; Eugene Von Bruenchenhein: King of Lesser Lands by Philip March Jones; “Marie”, by Eugene Von Bruenchenhein from Eugene Von Bruenchenhein: King of Lesser Lands; Fabric Swatch in Daisy Carmine/White with Variegated Red Embroidery Floss with Whipstitch Appliqué; Fabric Swatch in Large Polka Dot Natural/White with Beaded Whipstitch Appliqué.   Last week, we… Read on

From top left: February 2021 Swatch of the Month: Marie White/Natural Fabric Swatch in Backstitch Reverse Appliqué; The Marie Swing Skirt Kit in White/Natural; Limited-Edition Variegated Embroidery Floss in Variegated Brown; Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes by Dana Thomas  February’s Swatch of the Month design features the Marie Stencil, which debuted in The School of Making in 2018. The… Read on

If you are a long-time reader of our Journal, you might be familiar with Phillip March Jones and Institute 193. Phillip is a friend and collaborator who founded the non-profit gallery, venue, and publishing house, Institute193 located in Lexington, Kentucky. He is also an artist, photographer, and author—and most recently opened a collaborative project space in New… Read on

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from contributing Journal writer, artist, and founder of Institute 193, Phillip March Jones. He’s taking a hiatus from the New York heat this summer to spend time on his family farm in Kentucky. He’s used the summer to grow vegetables, make photographs, and organize exhibitions. Follow his Instagram to… Read on

Alabama artist Mose Tolliver was known primarily for his paintings of birds, frogs, flowers, and erotic figures. An exhibition at Institute 193 in Lexington, Kentucky, earlier this spring shed much deserved light on an often overlooked segment of his output—his self portraits. Tolliver was born one of twelve children to tenant farmers in the Pike… Read on

In 1971, Robert Tharsing moved to Lexington to work as a painting instructor at the University of Kentucky. Geographically, he was thousands of miles from his home state of California; culturally he was perhaps even further removed. On the West Coast, he had grown up near Los Angeles and later studied painting at UC Berkeley… Read on

If you had only seen his most recent paintings, currently on view at Workshop (Christian Berst), you might assume that Robert Tharsing’s idea of paradise resembles a lush and colorful landscape full of palms, ferns, and the occasional volcano. In reality, the artist has contented himself with simpler pleasures: a decent sized room with access… Read on

I took the pieces you threw away, and put them together night and day, washed by rain, dried by sun, a million pieces all in one. -Howard Finster, “Poem for the Garden” Howard Finster, a Southern Baptist minister and self-proclaimed “man of visions” moved to Pennville, Georgia in 1961, having purchased four acres of land… Read on

Not quite terra cotta red; not exactly pinkish; not really coral, but really red. Pinkish: an adjective meaning somewhat pink. Coral: also an adjective meaning a reddish yellow; light yellowish red; pinkish yellow.

Flags or Fences Shreveport, Louisiana; Lexington, Kentucky; Atlanta, Georgia; Nashville, Tennessee; Austin, Texas; Jackson, Mississippi; Birmingham, Alabama; Corbin, Kentucky; Knoxville, Tennessee; Oxford, Mississippi; or The Shoals, Alabama. No matter where Phillip March Jones finds himself, he takes photographs of the extraordinary ordinary, the peculiar still life: unusual signs, unfinished fence projects, garden rails, giant farm… Read on

Him and Her Phillip March Jones says, “Seeing is everything. But it takes practice.” Expanding our collaboration with Phillip, we asked him to take a look around our studio as part of a new and ongoing travel series—and an extension of his daily photo blog Pictures Take You Places. Shop Show “During my last trip… Read on

One Saturday morning in the mid-1930s, Mancey Massengill, a wife and mother of two, saw people having their pictures made in a dime store photo booth in Batesville, Arkansas. According to her son Lance, “she watched close, and got the name off the camera, then wrote to the company and ordered the lens. She got… Read on

In collaboration with Maxine Payne and contributor Phillip March Jones, Alabama Chanin has invited a number of artists, writers, musicians, chefs, and creatives to offer up their own interpretation of the Massengill photographs in a series of posts for our Journal.  The posts give voice to the images of the sometimes anonymous figures that appear… Read on

“Train-Track Hopscotch” Your hair is clay, mine is water, and as we smile into the camera, cotton flowers—all gray— Drape still behind us. Now, there is no color— only black and white— so, after the flash, we play.  You bring the bottle Caps (Nu-Grape and Dr. Nutt), and I pull teacher’s chalk from my gingham… Read on

My Life in Mobile Homes by John T. Edge Where I grew up, singlewide trailers were as common as clapboard shotguns. On the far end of my Georgia town, near where the seg academy floundered, the mothers and fathers of my grade school friends worked at the mobile home factory, bending aluminum and punching rivets,… Read on

Lance and Evelyn Massengill In 2008, Maxine Payne, an Arkansas-based artist, self-published a book of photographs titled Making Pictures: Three For A Dime. She catalogued the work of the Massengill family who worked from 1937 to 1941 as itinerant photographers in rural Arkansas documenting farmers, young couples, babies, and anyone else who had a few… Read on

For nearly 25 years, Mike Goodlett has lived and worked in a house near Wilmore, Kentucky, that originally belonged his grandparents. Over the years, he has embellished the house’s interior and even its structure with artwork of his own creation in a sort of visual call and response. Paper flowers bloom from cracks in the… Read on

In 1939, Eugene Von Bruenchenhein met a 19-year-old girl named Eveline Kalke, whom he nicknamed “Marie,” at a state fair in Wisconsin. The two married in 1943, and settled into their daily lives in Milwaukee where Eugene worked as a baker. Unlike most bakers, Eugene spent his free time composing poems on the subjects of… Read on

Ben Sollee recording in the Mosquito Hut. Prospect, Kentucky. 2013. Photo:PMJ Ben Sollee spent a few days this past summer trying to capture the songs and sounds that influence his life and music. The makeshift recording studio, a small house nestled in a hollow near Prospect, Kentucky, provided the backdrop for the project, a covers… Read on

Cemetery Shadow, 2012 Contributor Phillip March Jones, introduces us to artist and photographer Lina Tharsing, who currently has an exhibition of her paintings on display at Poem 88 in Atlanta through October 19, 2013. A few years ago, Walgreens launched a clever promotion for a reusable film camera in a world full of digital devices…. Read on

Yesterday, we shared a post by contributor Phillip March Jones on self-taught musician, song writer, and artist Lonnie Holley. Holley’s second album, Keeping A Record of It, was just released by the Dust-to-Digital label in Atlanta, Georgia. Find more information on the Dust-to-Digital site.  

Keeping a Record of It (Harmful Music), 1986, Lonnie Holley, Salvaged phonograph top, phonograph record, animal skull 13 3/4 x 15 3/4 x 9 inches, Courtesy of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation. Photo: Steve Pitkin Lonnie Holley, at the age of 63, is finally getting his proverbial moment in the sun. The artist’s second album,… Read on

We’ve written about our friend Phillip March Jones. Institute 193 in Lexington, Kentucky, is his gallery, a music venue, and multi-faceted publisher, which recently released a compilation of recordings from artists who have performed in the space. Phillip joins us as a contributor to the journal, with an introduction to 193 SOUND. Sound is a… Read on

As we’ve written in the past, there are many ways to define a mother. Merriam Webster opts for “a female parent” but we at Alabama Chanin feel the term mother is often more verb than noun. A mother can also be a member of your “family of choice” –or any woman that has offered you… Read on