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Velvet Painter Eric Askew
In the early 1930s, New Zealand-born artist Eric Askew found himself unable to get work as a commercial artist because of the depression. So, he took up sign painting and pictorial art painting in New Zealand. Around this time, he began surfing and became a member of the Piha Surf Life Saving Club. Askew aspired to compete in Olympic weight…
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Elvis’s Honeymoon Hideaway
Palm Springs has received a lot of attention lately for its wealth of modern and post-modern architecture. One architecture firm was largely responsible for a changing the face of Palm Springs from a sleepy desert town into a jet-setting community of the future. The firm was the Alexander Construction Company, founded by Robert Alexander and his father George. The Alexander…
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Edgar Leeteg: The Father of Modern Velvet Painting
Edgar Leeteg was in his 20s when he first visited Tahiti. While working as a billboard painter for an advertising agency in Sacramento, he had decided to take a six-week vacation to Tahiti 1930. He chose the Tahitian vacation simply because it was the only one he could afford out of the travel brochures he was presented with. His initial…
