What Fires You Up?

1/15/2007

 

Bob Waldmire: Meeting an Artist Whose Work I've Collected for Over 20 Years, originally uploaded by cobalt123.

About Bob Waldmire, Route 66 Artist

In December, suertudo and I went to Portal, Arizona, at the eastern edge of the Chiricahua Mountains in the southeastern part of the state. We stayed at the Portal Lodge, and in the afternoon's wanderings I found a great VW bus, a classic of the hippie days. After I'd taken about 20 shots, the owner came by with a friend, and we struck up a converstation. Lo and behold, it was Bob Waldmire, an artist whose work I've collected since 1980 if not earlier!

Since I was raised in Illinois and went to school at Normal, IL, I became acquainted with his postcards and posters that have a great graphic quality in the intricate maps and historical trivia contained. Over the years I''ve collected his posters of small towns from Clinton, IL to Bloomington-Normal to Pontiac, IL (home of the Route 66 museum) to obscure places all along the historical Route 66. What a delight to meet him finally!

His VW van is so famous that the Pixar movie "Cars" has a character named Fillmore that is based on Bob's old 1972 VW bus! There are fun links listed below for those interested in following up on why I've been such a fan all these years. And the reason "Fillmore" is not "Waldmire" is also fascinating and in keeping with this great artist's life and beliefs. Salute to a Great American Original!

Bob's home page on his website:
www.cozydogdrivein.com/bob/aboutbob.html

Fillmore, a wikipedia article about "Cars"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fillmore_%28Cars%29

Biodiversity Poster Map of Route 66:
hometown.aol.com/bobwaldmireart/myhomepage/artgallery.html

About Bob and the Cozy Dog cafe in Springfield, IL:
www.funroads.com/ea/route66.jhtml

Route 66 University Who's Who article:
www.route66university.com/bios/waldmire_r.php

It is Bob's bike that I showed earlier on my stream in December, here. Never fear, cobalt was on it and there are more photos to come in a set for this great treasure of the road.

BJ 1/15/2007 06:26:00 AM