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Velveteria
Velvet: how to
Welcome to the Velveteria
story Kate Nacy | photo Ashley Baer
Marshall Appelwhite is hardly a household name. Preaching a gospel rooted in aliens and the Apocalypse, Appelwhite was the doomsday seer behind the Heaven’s Gate suicides in 1997. A decidedly unpopular figure, Appelwhite’s image is substantially less than timeless, making the fact that Caren Anderson and Carl Baldwin managed to locate and purchase a black velveteen likeness of the googly-eyed guru even more remarkable.
Anderson and Baldwin aren’t Heaven’s Gate disciples, and they don’t care much for Kool-Aid. It isn’t Marshall Appelwhite they worship, but the fine craft of velvet painting.
Often classified as the bastardized, closeted cousin of fine art, velvet paintings are stuffed in basements and bargain bins, admired by old women perfumed with cat urine. For connoisseurs of kitsch, Anderson and Baldwin are relatively inconspicuous.
Ten years ago, they embarked on a velveteen odyssey. Weary of squinting at stale European street scenes and zestless water lilies, the couple hit the road in search of something a little offbeat. They scoured the Western part of the country for velvet artwork, rummaging through thrift shops and garage sales, flea markets and flophouses. They were on a bender — drunk on love and velvet and Elvis. “The power of these damn things changes you,” says Baldwin.
In 2005, they opened the Velveteria, a museum in Portland featuring throngs of black velvet banditos, gremlins, full-breasted aliens, dog-children, jackalopes, and poodles. “I think we’ve hung three hundred paintings, although I haven’t even counted them all,” says Anderson. The duo admits to an overwhelming affection for the overtly garish, but there are certain pieces that even they snub. “We don’t buy landscapes unless they glow in the dark,” says Baldwin. “We’re also tired of cartoons, Snoopy, and Mickey Mouse. And the new Elvises are pretty hack.”
Inside the Velveteria’s showroom, visitors are greeted with an onslaught of all that is plush and neon. Each wall is organized loosely by theme: one dressed with tropical landscapes and Polynesian women, another with D-list celebrities like Howard Stern and Dog the Bounty Hunter. Jesus is strewn about in nearly every conceivable form (including blessing a semi truck), and an entire room is devoted to voluptuous nude beauties. Unicornucopia, Poodletopia, Clowntacular, and the Surgical Evolution of Michael Jackson are rotating exhibits. A shrine in homage to Hawaii 5-0’s Jack Lord is exhibited nearby.
As the assemblage of nearly two thousand fuzzy canvases continues to grow, so does the Velveteria’s notoriety. It’s been featured on HGTV’s Offbeat America, the Travel Channel’s No Reservations, and NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno as part of Tom Green’s countrywide search for interesting people. The couple even penned a book entitled Black Velvet Masterpieces, outlining the history of the art form.
“It’s not easy being the new darlings of the art world,” says Baldwin with a playful sigh.
Anderson and Baldwin remain passionate velvet fetishists, whether vying for a neon Condoleezza Rice or haunting eBay auctions for a flame-wielding Ted Nugent. After years of hunting and gathering, they’ve cemented a position among rococo royalty.