The TypEtching Art of Winifred Caldwell - Part 1

Back in October, I bought a Vincent Price Trick or Treat Memorabilia grab bag on eBay. It wasn't particularly spooky so I didn't post it in October. It's actually a fun way to kick of the new year due to the story that came out of it.

The grab bag was put together by his estate/daughter and contains all sorts of random things you might find if you were going through his desk at different points in time. It was a priority flat rate envelope packed with all sorts of ephemera.

This is just a small sampling of what was included. There were a couple of photos, several things relating to the art world such as gallery opening invites, holiday cards, random newspaper clippings, wedding invites, and even a children's birthday party invite.

This particular piece broke my heart a little. It's a reply to an autograph request where he states that due to his age, it's taken him awhile to respond. It always makes me a little sad to see him in Edward Scissorhands because I usually think of him from decades earlier in his career.

One particular thing that caught my interest was this 1963 copy of the Buffalo Courier Sunday magazine. It's always a hoot (yeah, I said hoot!) to look through old magazines and newspapers. But this one was different, there was an envelope paper clipped to it and the front page had notations on it directing you to interior pages.

Here's the envelope addressed to Art Linkletter's House Party. Note that it was addressed using a typewriter that writes in cursive. I've never seen one of those before!

Now, I didn't open the envelope at first but instead went to the notated pages.

You can click the images to see them bigger but the story is about Winifred Caldwell who makes art with her typewriter. That's right, the three artworks on each page were made with a typewriter! Being old enough to have used one quite a bit as a kid, this blew my mind.

Then I checked out the contents of the envelope.

 

In the letter, she suggests that Linkeletter and Vincent Price may be interested in viewing her artwork, which she calls TypEtchings. And references the magazine with her article and that she got quite the response from it: letters, phone calls, requests to do demonstrations and an art exhibit.

 

 

On page 2, she mentions that she appeared on I've Got a Secret and stumped the panel!

Naturally, I headed to YouTube to see if I could find her appearance, and sure enough there it was! It's a quick 10 minute segment that will really give you a better view, and appreciation, of her art.

If you watched the entire video, you saw the end card stating the woman is the grandmother of the person that posted the video. His YouTube handle is Mike in MO.

 

Wait a minute...back to the magazine article.

I checked out the Mike's YouTube profile which has a link to his own art site. Using this info, I was able to find him on Facebook and strike up a conversation on what I had.

Tune in Wednesday for Part 2!