PhonoArt by PhonoFriends

A Virtual Gallery of Phonograph Art

This gallery features original works of art inspired by the phonograph. Phonographia are displayed, celebrated and even used as source materials in this selection of mixed media creations. All pieces are held in private collections and were created by Friends of the Phonograph.

 

Doug Boilesen on the Black Rock Desert

Photographer: Douglas Keister, Copyright © 1990

Media: 4x5 Kodachrome

Location: Private Collection

 

Description: This photograph appeared in the book, Portraits on the Playa: The Black Rock Desert, and it commemorates the birthday of the phonograph with DB trumpeting to the stars to "Remember the Magic - Happy Birthday to The Phonograph!"

Portrait on the The Black Rock Desert, Gerlach, Nevada, USA.

 

 

 

Amazed and Delighted!

Media: 35mm photograph, 1982

Location: Private Collection. 4x6 print

 

Description: This photograph (top) is a re-creation of the famous oil painting (below) by Massani in 1905. Edison used this piece (in this case as an advertising postcard) in literally hundreds of thousands of Edison Phonograph advertisements.

The "actors" in the 1982 re-creation are Axel and Betty Boilesen who produced this dramatic portrait as an entry for the Friends of the Phonograph's annual birthday party. Massani's painting was titled "The Phonograph" but it is often called "The Old Couple."

 

 

 

 

Mary Had a Little Lamb and TAE

Made by: Kathy Aiken, Lincoln, NE, 1981

Media: Needlepoint Sampler, 7"x11"

Location: Private Collection

 

Description: This sampler was a 1981 artistic entry for the Friends of the Phonograph's annual birthday party. Besides the traditional alphabet, Kathy Aiken's sampler features the first four lines of the nursery rhymn "Mary Had a Little Lamb" which were the first words spoken by Edison's tin-foil Phonograph in December 1877. The bottom row of numbers has Thomas Alva Edison's initials TAE inserted between the 6 and 7.

 

 

 

Ceramic Grooves for His Master's Voice

Made by: Bob Gross, Oakland, CA, 1989

Media: Ceramic and Paint, 8" diameter

Location: Private Collection

 

Description: This ceramic record was made by Bob Gross in 1989 to help celebrate the Phonograph's birthday. It features a Victor style "His Master's Voice" label with Nipper and the Gramophone, and a title of "Recorded Music 1948-9".

 

 

 

 

 

First Recorded Sighting of the Big Nipper

Artist: Sheila O'Hara, Oakland, CA, 1987

Media: Woven tapestry, 32.5" x 19.5"

Location: Private Collection (FP1034)

 

Description: This whimsical textile piece by artist Sheila O'Hara (known for her warp sense of humor) was created in 1987 to celebrate the 110th birthday of the Phonograph. Sheila's layered weaving technique blends multiple colors by threading four sets of colors or warps all weaving at once. This creates a two-sided fabric, with one weft and one layer.

Although the piece was commissioned to celebrate Edison's cylinder playing tin-foil phonograph "finished" on December 6, 1877, no Edison phonographs or logos are included in this artwork. Instead, other phonograph industry trademarks and symbols are displayed featuring the disc record technology. The talking machine is Berliner's Gramophone performing the dual role of a searchlight and record player. The Victor dog "Nipper" speeds through the sky standing on a disc record. The rival Pathe Rooster flies by on another record.The Columbia Graphophone Company's logo "Note the Notes" is the other piece of phonographia floating in the cosmos.

The disc technology seen in this artwork is also a tip of the hat to the 10th anniversary of the launches of the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft each carrying a golden record in the off-chance its recorded "message in a bottle" might be intercepted somewhere and at sometime in deep space.

See "The Phonograph Lives! - The Voyagers" for more information about Voyager 2's launch by NASA on August 20, 1977, Voyager 1's launch on September 5, 1977 and the "greetings from earth" Golden Record.

 

 

 

Voice of the Victor, 1918 (Courtesy The Library of Congress)

 

 

 

The Talking Machine World, April 15, 1910

 

 

 

The Talking Machine World, April 15, 1906

 

 

 

Record made by Suzanne Arca and Stan Archaki for Phonograph Birthday Party 1989.

(His Master Grunts Record is 7" D x 1" H slice of wood cut from tree trunk).

 

 

 

The Phonograph Art by Chaige Baker, 2010

 

 

The Phonograph Art at the Denver Museum drawn with snow by Chaige Baker, 2010

 

 

 

The Phonograph - May 7, 2022 Birthday Art by Nash Baker

 

 

 

The following phonograph albums altered as mixed media pieces using a process called an Altered Book Round Robin. The project started with an old phonograph album and was sent to each participant to "create" their own page. Altered Books are a popular way to creatively share words and images and artistic expressions and this one, because of the phonographia element, found its way to this gallery. Mixed Media and Phonographia, 12" x 14" in private collections.

 

Album Cover - Created by Venita Hawkins-Bird, 2005

Location: Ft. Collins, Colorado

Venita also created the back cover and inside front. This Round Robin was Venita's, with contributions from Michelle Schell, Leticia Gronlund and Lynn Henry.

 

 

 

Phonograph Album Page - Created by Venita Hawkins-Bird, 2005

Location: Ft. Collins, Colorado

 

 

 

 

Phonograph Album Page - Created by Venita Hawkins-Bird, 2005

Location: Ft. Collins, Colorado

 

 

 

 

Altered Phonograph Album Page - Created by Lynn Henry, 2005

Location: Ft. Collins, Colorado

Description: For Free White Bird Vinyl with Sunset

When asked for an artistic explanation of this piece, Lynn Henry provided these words from her artist friend Michael deMeng who had presented this lecture at ArtFest in Port Townsend, Washington in March 2006.

 

 

 

 

Phonograph Album Page - Created by Venita Hawkins-Bird, 2005

Location: Ft. Collins, Colorado

 

 

 

 

 

Altered Phonograph Album Page - Created by Michelle Schell, 2005

Location: Ft. Collins, Colorado

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Altered Phonograph Record

Artist: Susan Wacob, Ft. Collins, CO, 2005

Genre: Mail Art

Media: Mixed Media on Phonograph Record

Location: Private Collection

 

Description: This phonograph record was mailed from one artist to another with a note written on the reverse side. This is of a genre called 'Mail Art' where different objects are artistically altered and then sent through the mail, possibly back and forth, from one artist to another. As you can see from the post this record was mailed as you see it here. This phono mail was created by Susan Wacob and is owned by Christine Webb owner of The Artists' Nook in Fort Collins, Colorado.

 

 

 

 

 

Collage on a Phonograph Record

Made by Bailey Nolder, Westminster, CO 2006

Media: Mixed Media on Phonograph Record

Location: Private Collection

 

Description: This collage, created by Bailey Nolder, Grade 6 at Zerger Elementary school, was selected for the Jeffco Elementary Art Show in 2006.

 

 

 

 

 

Victor Trademark Window

Made by Dave Cavenah, 1974

Media: Leaded stained glass, 24" x 36"

Location: Private Collection

 

Description: This window features Nipper, one of the most famous advertising images of all time, listening to the Berliner Gramophone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phonographia