I have wanted to write this for so long, but I get tired of my regrets and my shame of one kind or another. These days I try my best to find some shiny nuggets among the dross but mostly come up empty. I succeed most in looking at the clouds or at the … Read more
I never knew my uncle James Robert Peery, or if I ever did meet him I was too young to remember. He died when I was 11 years old, and for reasons I never knew, our branch of the family seldom visited his branch of the family. Nevertheless, he was my hero when I was … Read more
I have posted announcements of the upcoming publication of my book What the Heck is a Frame-Pedestal Aesthetic? on this blog and on my personal writing blog and on Facebook. The book is an updated version of my graduate thesis written in 1970. I had to manually type the 50-something pages and then add a … Read more
It was 1970. Abstract-Expressionism had dominated American and world art for almost three decades. For thousands of years before that, art had been pictures on walls and sculptures on pedestals meant to be admired for their beauty. Revolutionary new approaches to art during the 1960s changed all that. Alec Clayton’s graduate thesis with the academic … Read more
I was finishing up my senior year in college in Mississippi and going to graduate school at East Tennessee State University. It was the late 1960s. There was an explosion of new and different art schools-movements-events that in many ways ended what art critics and historians had been presenting as an orderly, chronological evolution of … Read more
I got too much stuff on the grill. Hamburgers, hot dogs, barbecue chicken, corn on the cob, veggie burgers. Everything cooking at once. Uh oh, the hot dogs are about to burn. Gotta get them off the grill. Oops, chicken needs more sauce. Hey, ya’ll better get your buns and spread you some mayo and … Read more
People ask me what my books are about. I’ll be damned if I can give a clear and definitive answer. I’ve written a book of art criticism, As If Art Matters: Modern and Post Modern Art – Reviews and Commentary. That one’s easy. The subtitle tells what it’s about. There are essays such as “The … Read more
The city of Tumwater, Washington held a book event called “Author’s Afternoon” on Sunday, Oct. 20 with a dozen writers tabling, talking, reading and selling and autographing books Mud Flat Press authors Alec Clayton and Christian Carvajal (not pictured) were among the authors. Click the title to see the photo.
Mud Flat Press is proud to announce the latest book by Ricker Winsor, Everything in its Season, a photo-essay book about living in Lyme, New Hampshire from 1970 to 1985 — a book of beautiful black and white photos and honest observations, plus poetry from the likes of ee cummings, Robert Frost and more. From … Read more
I don’t know who first used the term Grit Lit, but I like to think it was Barry Hannah, a great grit-lit novelist and short story writer who used the term in reference to Larry Brown, another great novelist and short story writer. Both Hannah and Brown lived in Oxford, Mississippi, and both died young. … Read more
