Al and Barbara Garvey
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Al and Barbara Garvey are an American artist and tango dancing couple known for catalyzing hot tub culture in California in 1966. While living in Fairfax in
Marin County, California Marin County is a County (United States), county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and ...
, the Garveys built their own hot tub in which they could soak with friends. The practice spread into a cultural phenomenon throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The Garveys are both artists, with Al known as a
painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
, screen printer and
woodworker Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials ...
. In 1972, Al was a founding member of the Baulines Craft Guild, a society of master artists willing to teach apprentices. His artistic doors and doorways have brought him praise. Barbara collaborated with Al on a screen printing commission titled ''We Are the Wall Itself'' in 1974. Barbara co-founded Folkwear Patterns with two other women in 1976, which continued as a pattern-making company under new ownership. In the 1990s, the Garveys began to teach
tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...
dancing in the
San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
, after leading a resurgence of interest in tango dancing inspired by the musical ''
Tango Argentino Argentine tango is a musical genre and accompanying social dance originating at the end of the 19th century in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. It typically has a or rhythmic time signature, and two or three parts repeating in patterns such as ABA ...
''. In 2004, the Garveys moved to
Puerto Vallarta Puerto Vallarta ( or simply Vallarta) is a Mexican beach resort city situated on the Pacific Ocean's Bahía de Banderas in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Puerto Vallarta is the second largest urban agglomeration in the state after the Guadala ...
in Mexico and continued to build a tango community and create art.


Personal lives

Albert Garvey was born in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
on January 23, 1932. His Jewish parents were Harry and Marion Garvey. A few years later, his sister Myrna was born. In the
1940 census The United States census of 1940, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 132,164,569, an increase of 7.3 percent over the 1930 population of 122,775,046 people. The census date of record wa ...
the Garvey family was listed as living in Chicago's
Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...
neighborhood near Washington Park. Following this, Al's sister Gilda was born. Garvey studied a broad range of art at the
Los Angeles County Art Institute LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...
. Barbara Sue Harman was born November 10, 1934, in
Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metropo ...
. The Harmans were not Jewish but Barbara's mother's maiden name was
Rosenblatt Rosenblatt is a surname of German and Jewish origin, meaning "rose leaf". People with this surname include: * Albert Rosenblatt (born 1936), New York Court of Appeals judge * Dana Rosenblatt, known as "Dangerous" (born 1972), American boxer * Elie ...
, a surname of German and Jewish origin. She graduated from
Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...
in Ohio. Al met Barbara at the
Old Town School of Folk Music The Old Town School of Folk Music is a Chicago teaching and performing institution that launched the careers of many notable folk music artists. Founded by Folk musicians Frank Hamilton and Win Stracke, and Dawn Greening, the School opened in the ...
in Chicago in 1958, where they were learning folk dancing. They married on May 31, 1959, then spent a year in the Montmartre district of Paris. In the same manner as
Maurice Utrillo Maurice Utrillo (), born Maurice Valadon; 26 December 1883 – 5 November 1955), was a French painter of the School of Paris who specialized in cityscapes. Born in the Montmartre quarter of Paris, France, Utrillo is one of the few famous painte ...
50 years earlier, Al set up a painting easel at
Place du Tertre The Place du Tertre is a square in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France. Only a few streets away from Montmartre's Basilica of the Sacré Cœur and the Lapin Agile, it is near the summit of the city's elevated Montmartre quarter. Place du Ter ...
to paint city scenes. Returning to the US, the two drove from Chicago to California in their 1953 Chevrolet and rebuilt a houseboat in
Sausalito Sausalito (Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, and about north of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge. Sausalito's p ...
in
Marin County Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is acros ...
north of
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
where they lived in a community of
bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...
artists. Their first daughter, Megan, was born in San Francisco in 1961. In 1963, the Garveys moved to
Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...
, Spain. In the mountain village of
Fornalutx Fornalutx () is a mountainous Municipalities of Spain, municipality and village on Majorca (''Mallorca''), one of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. The nearest town is Sóller, which can be reached by foot via a series of footpaths and pathways and ...
, they rebuilt a ruined stone mill into a multi-level home and occupied it from 1963 to 1965, making a living by odd jobs and selling Al's paintings. The couple's second daughter, Samantha, was born in
Palma de Mallorca Palma (; ; also known as ''Palma de Mallorca'', officially between 1983–88, 2006–08, and 2012–16) is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situate ...
in 1964. Seeing little future raising a family in
Franco Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" Prefix * Franco, a prefix used when ref ...
's Spain, the Garveys moved back to Sausalito in 1965, but the houseboat arrangement was growing more commercial so they shifted in July 1966 to a house on Scenic Road in
Fairfax, California Fairfax is an incorporated town in Marin County, California, United States. Fairfax is located west-northwest of San Rafael, at an elevation of . The population was 7,605 at the 2020 census. History The Coast Miwok Native Americans occupied ...
, where they lived for almost 40 years. Al said that thriving as artists in Marin County in the 1960s and 1970s was very productive: "we lived a truly elegant life with our own home and practically no money. I was able to work three days a week as a carpenter doing really far-out things and devote the rest of the time to my art habit." He said that he and Barbara were carefree "
flower child Flower child originated as a synonym for hippie, especially among the idealistic young people who gathered in San Francisco and the surrounding area during the Summer of Love in 1967. It was the custom of "flower children" to wear and distribute ...
ren" who put their trust in
providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
. The Garveys moved to Puerto Vallarta in 2004, and continued to create art and to teach tango dancing.


Art


Printmaking

Al Garvey's first years of art were in the medium of
oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...
, but in the 1960s he began to experiment with
screen printing Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open mes ...
. In April 1963, the first cover of the alternative weekly newspaper ''Pacific Sun'' was Al's work: the head of a rooster rendered as a serigraph. Al helped architect/artist William "Bill" Kirsch re-organize the Sausalito Art Festival as an artist-run event in 1965 and 1966, after the Sausalito Chamber of Commerce stopped hosting it. Garvey showed his paintings and prints at the festival every year, and he served as director of the festival in 1968, the year that influential artist
Jean Varda Jean "Yanko" Varda (11 September 1893 – 10 January 1971) was an American artist, best known for his collage work. Varda was one of the early adopters of the Sausalito houseboat lifestyle that was popular in the 1960s–1970s. He was the subj ...
supplied the overall design of the festival. In 1967, Al wrote about Varda and other houseboat artist residents in ''
Architectural Forum ''Architectural Forum'' was an American magazine that covered the homebuilding industry and architecture. Started in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1892 as ''The Brickbuilder'', it absorbed the magazine ''Architect's World'' in October 1938. Ownership ...
'', an article titled "The Houseboats of Sausalito," which described the creative and artistic building styles of the bohemian community of houseboat dwellers. Al was commissioned in 1974 by the
Judah L. Magnes Museum The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, formerly known as the Judah L. Magnes Museum from 1961 until its reopening in 2012, is a museum of Jewish history, art, and culture in Berkeley, California. The museum, which was founded in 1961 by Se ...
to create a series of images depicting modern
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. The Garveys collaborated on the project, though it was listed under Al's name alone. The resulting work, ''We Are the Wall Itself'', took the form of 24 color silkscreen prints. To inspire the project, Barbara Garvey pored through 5,000 years of Jewish writings to select 24 quotations. For raw material, the Garveys drew from snapshots taken during their visit to Israel in 1960 as well as new photos taken in 1974 specifically for the project; more than a thousand photos in all. Photos were altered in the darkroom and retouched by hand to create the 24 images of the series. The museum exhibited this project for seven weeks in 1974–1975, and again from September 2013 to June 2014. Curator Francesco Spagnolo wrote that "Garvey's eye seized Israel's diversity through the lenses of a then popular form of Pop Art (screen printing), distant from the tropes that had until then marked its representation in America and elsewhere. Rather than glorifying military might, agricultural advancements, and archeological treasures, these images offer a direct appreciation for the daily life of a developing country in which multiple cultures continually negotiated their forms of coexistence".


Woodworking

Al Garvey is a woodworker known for his doorways (doors and door frames), sold under his Door/Ways trademark. His work was described as "intricate and sensuous". He not only formed the wood of his doors but he fabricated the brass and bronze hardware. Al fashioned a
Dutch door A Dutch door (American English), stable door (British English), or half door (Hiberno-English), is a door divided in such a fashion that the bottom half may remain shut while the top half opens. They were known in early New England as double-hung d ...
made of stained glass and a combination of
Acacia koa ''Acacia koa'' or commonly known as koa is a species of flowering tree in the family Fabaceae. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, where it is the second most common tree. The highest populations are on Hawaii, Maui and Oahu. Name The name ...
and
cedar Cedar may refer to: Trees and plants *''Cedrus'', common English name cedar, an Old-World genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae *Cedar (plant), a list of trees and plants known as cedar Places United States * Cedar, Arizona * ...
driftwood; this was later shown at the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...
in the 1999–2000 retrospective exhibit titled ''Far Out: Bay Area Design 1967–73'', alongside other hippie-era artworks such as
Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known Rock music, rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage ...
's psychedelic
Porsche 356 The Porsche 356 is a sports car that was first produced by Austrian company Porsche Konstruktionen GesmbH (1948–1949), and then by German company Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH (1950–1965). It was Porsche's first production automobile. E ...
. Al built himself an art studio at his house in Fairfax by reclaiming the old-growth redwood planks from a very large wine barrel that had been discarded next to a road in Sonoma. He said that the new studio smelled like wine for five years afterward. Inside the home, he built a fireplace of Mexican river stone with a relief sculpture above it that he made from fallen branches of
Pacific madrone ''Arbutus menziesii'' or Pacific madrone (commonly madrone or madrona in the United States and arbutus in Canada), is a species of broadleaf evergreen tree in the family Ericaceae, native to the western coastal areas of North America, from Bri ...
wood. The Garveys were influenced by Jean Varda, their Sausalito houseboat neighbor, who advocated an organic style of art that revealed "the hand of man." Al was a founding member of Arthur Carpenter's Bolinas Craft Guild in 1972, formed to connect apprentices with master craftsmen. Under the auspices of the guild, Al taught Germany-born sculptor Florian Roeper in 2003–2004 during a period when Roeper was working on various sculptures and Al was creating a notable door in the Mission district of San Francisco. When Al started woodworking, he took a long hiatus from painting.


Painting

Al began painting in the late 1950s, especially in Paris and Mallorca, but he stopped when his California woodworking projects took all the available space in his studio. He returned again to painting after his 2004 move to Mexico. He showed 16 of his tango-inspired oil paintings in a solo exhibition titled "Come Dance With Me" at ''Galería Uno'' in Puerto Vallarta in December 2018.


Folkwear Patterns

Barbara Garvey enjoyed sewing her own clothing, and she exchanged ideas with clothing designer
Laurel Burch Laurel Burch (December 31, 1945 – September 13, 2007) was an American artist, designer and businesswoman. Early life Born Laurel Anne Harte in the San Fernando Valley, California, on New Year's Eve, 1945, to parents Ann and Russell Harte. ...
who wove an intricate dress for Barbara to wear. Two other sewing friends were Ann Wainwright and Alexandra Jacopetti Hart, who were interested in classic costumes of the world. In 1976, Wainwright, Jacopetti Hart and Garvey co-founded Folkwear Patterns to sell sewing patterns for folk dancing outfits, ethnic costumes and historic, creative clothing to show personal flair. Barbara served a term as president of the venture. The three founders sold Folkwear in the mid-1980s to
Taunton Press Taunton Press is a publisher of periodicals, books, and websites for the hobbyist and building trades based in Newtown, Connecticut. It was established in 1975 by Paul Roman and his wife Jan. Publications and Products Periodicals published by T ...
. As of 2017, Molly Hamilton owned the company, and began digitizing the catalog and expanded the operation to include retail clothing sales.


Hot tub culture

In 1966 while they were living in Sausalito, the Garveys were invited by mutual friends to the home of Charlotte and Charles "Tad" Irvine in Stinson Beach. Tad had been in Japan during the occupation, and he brought back an appreciation of the Japanese outdoor bath ( ''furo''). Unlike the Japanese, the Irvines were prudish regarding who could use the tub, restricting its use to only one married couple at a time, no unmarried couples, and no larger groups. The Garveys were keen on the tub but not the restrictions. Al decided to build his own hot tub, but first he needed a house with sufficient space. The Garveys found a run-down 1915 house for a purchase price of $30,000 on Scenic Road in Fairfax, next to the old right-of-way of the Fairfax Manor Funicular (1913). Before moving in, Al commissioned a custom redwood tub with submerged benches built to be four feet in diameter and deep enough for an adult to stand up in the center. The Garveys built a wooden deck in the branches of an expansive pine tree in their yard, the deck large enough and strong enough to hold the hot tub, a handful of guests, and a changing room with pegs to hang clothing. Bathers climbed a ladder to get up to the deck; the ladder was salvaged from an abandoned, half-sunk wooden tug boat near
Marinship Marinship Corporation was a shipbuilding company of the United States during World War II, created to build the shipping required for the war effort. Founded in 1942, the shipyard built 93 cargo ships and oil tankers, before ending operations 194 ...
. Al rigged an old water heater to supply hot water; he said, "There was no idea of a filter system or recirculation system. It was as simple as possible." Hosted online at medium.com. Barbara said, "We decided to make the hot tub a social enterprise and started throwing parties." Hundreds of people used the Garveys' "Japanese bath" in the second half of 1966. The Garveys would entertain dinner guests, or conduct art classes, or throw a party, and afterward, many of the guests would shed their clothes and dip in the hot tub. Al said, "At that time it was a party thing with couples, single people, everybody taking off all their clothes, having great conversation and listening to great music. It was not sexual but it was extremely sensual." Among the bathers were jazz musician
John Handy John Richard Handy III (born February 3, 1933) is an American jazz musician most commonly associated with the alto saxophone. He also sings and plays the tenor and baritone saxophone, saxello, clarinet, and oboe. Biography Handy was born in ...
, architect Roger Somers (known for
Druid Heights Druid Heights was a bohemian community in Marin County, California, USA, founded in 1954 by poet Elsa Gidlow, her partner Isabel Quallo, and carpenter Roger Somers. The community was a popular retreat for various countercultural movements and ...
) and sex worker/feminist
Margo St. James Margaret Jean "Margo" St. James (September 12, 1937January 11, 2021) was an American prostitute and sex-positive feminist. In San Francisco, she founded COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics), an organization advocating decriminalization of pro ...
. Al was asked to make hot tubs for some of his guests, and the idea caught on. Within a few years Marin County supported a half dozen hot tub builders including Redwood Hot Tubs in
Mill Valley Mill Valley is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located about north of San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge and from Napa Valley. The population was 14,231 at the 2020 census. Mill Valley is located on the western and ...
, sometimes making hot tubs large enough for 12 people.


Tango dancing

The Garveys have enjoyed dancing together since the first time they met. Throughout the 1970s, the Garveys hosted Greek folk dancing parties at their home on Friday evenings, with many of the dancers staying to enjoy the hot tub. They participated in
vintage dance Vintage dance is the authentic recreation of historical dance styles. Vintage dancing styles include jazz, swing, blues, disco, and breakdancing. Societies Several vintage dance societies hold balls and events to promote and teach vintage danc ...
events held by the Art Deco Society of California, of which they were members. Barbara Garvey attended the musical ''
Tango Argentino Argentine tango is a musical genre and accompanying social dance originating at the end of the 19th century in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. It typically has a or rhythmic time signature, and two or three parts repeating in patterns such as ABA ...
'' when she was in New York on business in 1985, and she phoned Al to say, "I've just seen what we're going to do the rest of our lives." In 1986 they saw the musical when it traveled to San Francisco, and then they threw their own tango dance party, in the flamboyant style of stage tango. In 1987 after encountering a Buenos Aires
milonga (dance event) Milonga is an event where Argentine tango is danced. The venue dedicated to milongas may also be called "milonga". People who frequently go to milongas may be called '' milongueros''. The music played is mainly tango, vals Vals is the word for ...
where everyone was dancing in the more subdued and intimate salon style, and after speaking to veteran dancer Fino Ribeira about the close interpersonal connection offered by this style, the Garveys were interested in learning more about salon tango, a style of
social dancing Social dances are dances that have a social functions and context. Social dances are intended for participation rather than performance. They are often danced merely to socialise and for entertainment, though they may have ceremonial, competiti ...
in which the dance steps are improvised on the spot rather than choreographed ahead of time. The Garveys studied salon tango with protegés of Argentine expatriate Orlando Paiva who was promoting social tango in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. In 1991 the Garveys brought dancers Nito García and Elba Sottile to California to perform and conduct classes. Barbara began to keep track of social tango events happening around the
San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
, and she organized a
mailing list A mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. The term is often extended to include the people subscribed to such a list, so the group of subscribers is re ...
of milongas to distribute among aficionados. The Garveys visited
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
many times to observe and participate in authentic tango dancing, and in April 1994 they were invited to appear on the Argentine television program ''Venga a Bailar'' to show their tango dancing prowess. In 1995 the Garveys co-founded the non-profit Bay Area Argentine Tango Association and published ''B.A. Gotan'', a newsletter to promote tango in Northern California. The Fairfax Milonga had been started by fellow Fairfax residents Jean and Charlie Stewart in 1994, then in 1999 the Garveys began hosting the monthly event. The Garveys occasionally taught tango elsewhere, for instance at San Francisco's Broadway Studios Milonga during its heyday in 1996–2002. The Garveys have been cited as making the San Francisco Bay Area into the North American "capitol" of tango. Barbara Garvey wrote about tango in 1993 in '' Smithsonian'' magazine, comparing three tango dance styles to three phases of marriage: "The American tango is like the beginning of a love affair, when you're both very romantic and on your best behaviour. The Argentine tango is when you're in the heat of things and all kinds of emotions are flying: passion, anger, humour. The international tango is like the end of the marriage, when you're staying together for the sake of the children." The Garveys taught tango dance classes throughout the 1990s and after they moved to Puerto Vallarta in 2004, they continued teaching there. Tango images fill many of Al's 21st century paintings.


References


External links


Three images from the Garveys' ''We Are the Wall Itself'', 1974
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garvey, Al and Barbara 20th-century printmakers 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters American woodworkers American printmakers Artists from Illinois Jewish American artists Living people Married couples Painters from California People from Marin County, California People from Puerto Vallarta Tango dancers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American Jews