Trashpo Book: On The Road with Southern Buddhists (Buddha is my Co-Pilot)

I hope Bill Whorral gets to see this! 

He'd surely get a kick out of seeing his bumper stickers transformed into this little book.

When I moved to Indiana in 1995, Bill was one of the first artists I didn't meet. 

That is, in person. We exchanged artwork through the mail.

He created many books of compiled artwork from artists the world over and added spicy, healthy doses of humor from his Southern Indiana home town of Shoals (it's near Loogootee).

The orange Buddha is My Co-Pilot page that this book is constructed around is artwork that he produced. The rest is ephemera, mail art bits, photos, and color samples I created for other projects that I'd just not gotten around to tossing into the trash. 

Lately though, "Trash-poetics" have been finding their way into the mail art stream and changing my mind about all kinds of garbage. ;) 

In any case, he mailed me a bright orange 8.5x11 sheet of paper with the "Southern Buddhists bumper stickers" ... and though it's been 16 long years, I think it's held up very well!

Thanks Bill!

 Indiana may never accept me as one of its own (even though my 7gg is IN pioneer William Conner) I will always remember the warm mail art welcome you gave me!

Above on the right is a Sunday School attendance card. 

It hinges to the right and underneath that you can read the entire centerfold bumpersticker: "In Case of Enlightenment This Vehicle Will Be Abandoned. Courtesy of the Southern Buddhist Monastery."

If you guessed or recognized the map, yes it is the State of Indiana. 

Or as Bill would interpret it, "The Republic of Indiana."