Jahfin Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 Alton Kelley, left, and Stanley Miller, right, are seen in this 1967 photo PETALUMA, Calif. — Alton Kelley, an artist who helped created the psychedelic style of posters and other art associated with the 1960s San Francisco rock scene, has died. He was 67. Kelley died Sunday of complications from osteoporosis in his Petaluma home, according to his publicist, Jennifer Gross. Kelley and his lifelong collaborator, Stanley "Mouse" Miller, churned out iconic work from their studio, a converted firehouse where Janis Joplin first rehearsed with Big Brother and the Holding Company. To read the remainder of the article click here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gainsbarre Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 That's sad to hear... I probably preferred the work of Wes Wilson and Victor Moscoso, but Alton kelley's work can't be ignored... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadScreamingGallery Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 I'm sorry to read this. I love psychedelic poster art. Alton Kelley was one of the finest artists of that genre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahfin Posted June 4, 2008 Author Share Posted June 4, 2008 To see some of Mouse and Kelley's work click here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninelives Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 Sorry to read this. I saw some of his posters in a gallery in San Francisco a few years back. I also have a great book on the whole Haight Ashbury scene with a nice feature on him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gainsbarre Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 Alton Kelley, Stanely Miller, Wes Wilson, Victor Moscoso and Rick Griffin were the San Francisco 'Big 5' psychedelic poster designers. Along with Nigel Waymouth and Michael English in London, these guys were like the top artisans of the psychedelic poster art in the 60's... Wes Wilson Stanley 'Mouse' Miller and Alton Kelley Victor Moscoso Rick Griffin Michael English & Nigel Waymouth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmie ray Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 (edited) Awesome posters - I do recognize some of them. Funny that The Great Society and The Jefferson Airplane shared venues - Grace Slick was originally married to one of the Slick brothers in GS, and wrote JA's two most famous songs when still with GS. How this didn't create a blood feud, is beyond me. She was a handful, I'll bet! Edited June 5, 2008 by jimmie ray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gainsbarre Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 Grace Slick was originally married to one of the Slick brothers in GS, and wrote JA's two most famous songs when still with GS. How this didn't create a blood feud, is beyond me. She was a handful, I'll bet! Yeah, I know...then 20 years later we get 'Starship' what was she thinking...retirement fund, probably... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmie ray Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 She's doing fine, selling $6000 paintings to rich ex hippies. Stong voice, back in the day - but not what drew me to the Airplane. It's perplexing, how the music changed after that group went in different directions - but no mystery to me about which members were the most serious about it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gainsbarre Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 but no mystery to me about which members were the most serious about it... Jack Casady was an extremely good bassist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahfin Posted June 5, 2008 Author Share Posted June 5, 2008 Jack Casady was an extremely good bassist ...and still is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahfin Posted June 5, 2008 Author Share Posted June 5, 2008 One of my favorite Rick Griffin works: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadScreamingGallery Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 From NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...toryId=91208912 Artist Alton Kelley is best known for his work with The Grateful Dead. All Things Considered, June 5, 2008 - If the Summer of Love had a visual, it probably came from the drawing pad of artist Alton Kelley. Kelley's work graced album covers, concert posters and has been described as art that defined a generation. The 67 year old artist died this week in California from complications of osteoporosis. Alton Kelly arrived in Haight Ashbury in 1964 with a sketch book full of hot rod drawings. He raced cars and bikes back home in Connecticut. But when Kelley met a fellow hot rod artist from Detroit named Stanley Miller a few years later, cars and motorcycles gave way to skeletons and roses. The two started making posters for dance concerts featuring up and coming groups like The Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company and Quicksilver Messenger Service. Stanley Miller, who goes by the name "Mouse," says the work, and good times, rolled like a freight train. At their peak, Kelley and Mouse were cranking out their elaborate posters once a week and later expanded their portfolio to include album covers. The Grateful Dead liked the skeleton and roses image the pair created for a concert poster so much the musicians adopted it as their logo. Some call the art a visual extension of the music. Others call it the visual for a psychedelic experience. Mouse says it was both and the the joke between he and Kelley was you had to be under the influence to understand it. But ideas, Mouse says, came from trips to libraries and art galleries. Kelley and Mouse poured over books of Gustav Klimpt, Japanese poster art and art nouveau. Mouse says he and Alton Kelly developed a work style that allowed them to stand side by side at the same art table. The pair worked together for over six decades and Mouse says his work routine with Alton Kelly never changed. Just five months ago Alton Kelley and Stanly "Mouse" Miller completed their last work together, a poster for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahfin Posted June 5, 2008 Author Share Posted June 5, 2008 (edited) Alton Kelley, poster designer for 60s counterculture, is dead By William Grimes Alton Kelley, whose psychedelic concert posters for artists like the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, and Big Brother and the Holding Company helped define the visual style of the 1960s counterculture, died on Sunday at his home in Petaluma, California He was 67. The cause was complications of osteoporosis, said his wife, Marguerite Trousdale Kelley. Kelley and his longtime collaborator, Stanley Mouse, combined sinuous Art Nouveau lettering and outré images plucked from sources near and far to create the visual equivalent of an acid trip. A 19th-century engraving from "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam" inspired a famous poster for a Grateful Dead concert at the Avalon Ballroom in 1966 that showed a skeleton wearing a garland of roses on its skull and holding a wreath of roses on its left arm. You can read the remainder of the article by clicking here. Edited June 5, 2008 by Jahfin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gainsbarre Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 ...and still is. I see he teaches bass workshops, I'd love to go to one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmie ray Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 My friend from another forum goes to Jorma Kaukonen's "Fur Peace Ranch" in Ohio, several times a year for guitar lessons. Jack Casady, as well as other well known musicians, also teach there periodically. I'm not sure if Barry Mitterhoff, the current mandolin player for Hot Tuna, is a teacher there, also - but the website gives an extensive list. It's remotely located, on a large property with barn type buildings, and has bunkhouses for the students to stay for extended periods. A 200 seat concert hall features all star jams, with the likes of G.E. Smith, David Bromberg, and Pete Sears - as well as student / master interaction. I hear the meals offered are fresh gourmet variety, and the students spend all free time casually jamming or giving each other playing tips. I can't say enough about the raves I hear about how friendly and non egotistic the environment there is. Although they say all levels of players can go there, I don't feel my desire to learn is in any way serious enough to experience this place. But I do plan on going there for their informal concerts, if Hot Tuna ceases touring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gainsbarre Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 My friend from another forum goes to Jorma Kaukonen's "Fur Peace Ranch" in Ohio, several times a year for guitar lessons. Jack Casady, as well as other well known musicians, also teach there periodically. It sounds great. I'd love to go there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragster Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 Sad thing indeed!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chef free Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 Did he ever design any Zeppelin Posters? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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