Alan Govenar Livres

The updated edition delves into the remarkable journey of Stoney St. Clair, who transitioned from a circus performer to a renowned tattoo artist. Featuring new photos and text, it highlights his unique experiences and artistic evolution, offering an in-depth look at his life and the influences that shaped his career in the tattoo industry.

A new biography of the beloved but mysterious Blind Lemon Jefferson, famous blues musician. Born in 1897, Jefferson was a blind street musician who played his guitar at the corner of Elm Street and Central Avenue in the Deep Ellum area of Dallas, Texas, until a Paramount Records scout discovered him. Between 1926 and his untimely death in 1929, Jefferson made more than 80 records and became the biggest-selling blues singer in America. Although his recordings are extensive, details about his life are relatively few. Through Govenar and Lornell's extensive interviews and research, See That My Grave is Kept Clean gathers the scattered facts behind Blind Lemon Jefferson's mythic representations.

A biography of blues artist Sam "Lightnin" Hopkins, based on interviews with friends, fans, and colleagues, discussing his early years in Texas, his time on a chain gang, his lifelong appetite for drinking, gambling, and women, and other topics.

A visual history of the life of Augustus “Gus” Wagner and his work as a hand tattoo artist, exploring a relatively unknown area of American art history from the 1890s to the 1930s

Dive into the life and work of master craftsman Jeronimo Lozano and his extraordinarily detailed retablos. Steeped in ancient Peruvian traditions, these small sculpted figures show religious and secular scenes housed in structures large and small, ranging from pistachio shells and matchboxes to handmade wooden boxes and freestanding installations. Lozano’s retablos are both traditional and innovative, visualizing the cultural life of people in the mountains of Peru, from ceremonies, processions, and market stands to fiestas, street performance, historical tableaux, and current events. Writer, documentarian, and folklorist Alan Govenar shares an in-depth interview with Lozano, tracking his childhood in Ayacucho, Peru, to his arrival in the US; how he's navigated his hearing disability; and his process from start to finish. Divided into My Story, My Life, and My Process, the interview is paired with colorful photographs of his work. A celebration of the form of the retablo, one of the many folk and traditional art forms that make up the American arts-and-crafts landscape.