Baer's Den of Wonders

Chris' friend Gretchen from Bisbee AZ arranged for us to stay with her folks while we played our island show; Jackie and Gene Baer were a fascinating pair.  Their lives were full of painting, sculpture, music, writing...and their home was like an incredible museum (sort of a fine art museum meets an antique store meets a children's playhouse.)

Join me on a brief trip through their wold of fantastic imagination...

Jackie and Gretchen decorated a whole table with treasures from a local MV institution "the dumptique" and glued them to a table:

and when she was done, a truly magical land spread over the garden...

Gene was, among many other things, a children's book creator.  He opened a treasure chest full of books he had made by hand, some of which had been published and some of which hadn't.  This one was made of hand cut paper shapes

And before we left Gene sang us an amazing husky piano blues about how you can't get any love if you eat onions before you come over.

Jackie and Gene really inspired me; they are both so committed to doing things they love.