Tag Archives: Tulare County

Wilsonia and Mineral King

While working on the book The Cabins of Wilsonia, sometimes people would ask why I was doing a book on Wilsonia iwhenI have a cabin in Mineral King. These are the top three reasons: 1. cabin communities matter; 2. I call my business Cabinart; 3. I like to document and portray the good things of Tulare County. *

But did you know that Wilsonia and Mineral King are tied together by the cabin that I married into?

In the spring of 1983, (2 years before I met my husband Michael), his family cabin in Mineral King blew up and burned down. It was next door to the Mixter cabin, whose permit had expired and was ordered by the Park to be torn down.

Over the course of the next 2 years, my husband pursued rebuilding his cabin and also the possibility of buying the Mixter’s cabin and turning his empty lot over to the Park to satisfy the law. Lots of red tape, lots of bureaucrats saying no, and then someone knew Someone who knew SOMEONE, and permission was granted to exchange his bare lot for the Mixter’s cabin with its expired permit.

While I was working on the book, Neal Mixter and I became friends. I gave him all the paperwork from Michael’s cabin exchange so he could study it and learn if there was a way to apply this experience to Wilsonia. He and other hard-working cabin folks went to endless meetings, and eventually they made a plan.

Maybe this is the reason that the Park has made its offer to exchange their unused cabins for private vacant lots. Maybe it isn’t, but I like to think that Michael’s experience with the Mineral King Mixter cabin and the Park got the ball rolling.

The Botkin cabin, formerly the Mixter cabin, Mineral King

*4. I already did a book on the cabins of Mineral King, called The Cabins of Mineral King; 5. I love to draw; 6. Several cabin folks in Wilsonia asked me to do a book on Wilsonia

Chance Encounter Near Mineral King

This oil painting, Long Way There, shows a tiny portion of the Mineral King Road. It is available for sale on my other website, www.cabinart.net.

After getting this blog repaired, I thought I’d post regularly. But, I didn’t have anything to say! Why not? Because I didn’t visit Wilsonia this summer, had no book signings, and nothing of significance in my little world of The Cabins of Wilsonia happened until this week when I had a chance encounter.

I was driving down the Mineral King Road, coming home from my own cabin, when a red car caught up to me. As is the custom with mountain driving etiquette, I pulled over. The red car passed, and I stayed a respectful distance behind, enjoying the chance to follow a good mountain driver.

A little further down the road, the red car pulled over for me to pass. I pulled alongside, put down my passenger window, and the driver also opened her window. I complimented her on her skillful handling of the very winding narrow road and said I’d been enjoying following her. She thanked me, said they pulled over to look at a rock and that she would enjoy following me for awhile.

When we were almost to the bottom of the hill, I saw a propane truck heading our way. I took the nearest turnout, making room for the red car behind me, and while we were waiting for the truck to pass, the passenger got out of the red car and approached my passenger window.

I opened the window, and he said, “You are the Cabinart artist! We are from Wilsonia!”

Oh my. CABNART is my license plate. I’m glad I was a courteous driver that day. I may have said something brainless such as, “What are you doing in my mountains??” (probably not quite that stupid, but possibly close. . .)

I had met these folks and didn’t recognize them in a completely out-of-context situation. We had a nice quick chat, I recommended a place for lunch in Three Rivers, and we were soon on our way.

What a hoot!! Tulare County is very small, and it is impossible to remain invisible or anonymous.

What It Is and What it Isn’t

What it is:

The upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia is an album. It is a collection of pictures designed to show the overview of a cabin community. It is pictures of the typical, pictures of the unique, word pictures of cabin life expressed in stories from cabin folks. It is designed to show the many architectural styles within the community. It is a medley of little details, such as the way the sun lands on something ordinary and makes it beautiful. It shows things that are ordinary to cabin life that may be unusual in “normal” life. It is a picture of cabin life in the 20th century. It is pencil drawings made from photos that I spent days and days shooting, editing, cropping, choosing, and three years putting together. It is the celebration of a very special treasure of Tulare County and Kings Canyon National Park.

What it Isn’t

It is not a directory of cabins. It is not a comprehensive, all-inclusive list of every cabin. It is not a history book. It is not a complete representation of every one of the 214 cabins in Wilsonia. It isn’t photos. It isn’t a list of cabins that used to be there. It isn’t a collection of cabins that currently belong to the Park. It isn’t a hastily thrown together piece of work.

And it isn’t yet in our hands.

Possibly The Most Interesting Cabin Owner in Wilsonia

A cabin owner wrote this as a comment. At first I thought it was one of those long spammy things. Then, I read it and realized that I have drawn the cabin about which he is writing. I’ve done a little editing –please forgive me, Professor Dirks. I’m guessing that since you put it in as a comment, you don’t mind your story going public.

“The Last of the Log Cabins” on Laurel Lane at Hazel was built with 53,000 lbs. of lodgepole pines from Twisp Mills on the Canadian border in Washington.They lay on the ground but with the help of pioneers Harold & Naomi Hansen (Jana’s note: I changed the spelling from “Handsen” to match what I’ve seen in Wilsonia) we built it to celebrate our Bicentennial in 1976.

But we had to get congressional and county approval in hearings in Fresno. (Note from Jana: Wilsonia is in Tulare County.) They said we had to prove that these logs met the heating standards in California. We found there were approved log cabins near Shasta.

In 1975 after we bought the two lots, we found the Lincoln Log design in a lodge on the Athabasca Glacier in the Colombian Ice fields, moving down the mountain, which meant it could withstand California earthquakes.

As a Eagle Scout who ran the John Muir trail every summer, and as a professor of Biology and History, I wanted the cabin to fit the ecology of Wilsonia. I built schools in Kenya, a year before Obama was born during the bloody Mau Mau rebellion, after I’d climbed the snows of Mt. Kilimanjaro, speaking Swahili in 1960. The next year I was in JFK’s first Peace Corp, and built schools in Ghana and Guinea. Then I returned and used the Peace Corp spirit, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country!” As President of the AFT I built LASW College after the Watts Riots, then founded LA Mission College in a poor area of NE San Fernando Valley in 1975, being named by CA Senate, Assembly & Chancellor as “The Faculty Father of LA Mission College” for the LACCD “The only Faculty (nonAdmin) ever to build a college in California.

We built the roof stretching well beyond the cabin so it is sheltered even in deepest snows, based on our observations of other Wilsonia cabins. A draft portrait of Woodrow Wilson hangs above my desk, with the other one in the White House, painted by my cousin who knew him before he was elected in 1916 by S. Seymour Thomas. (Jana’s note: Wasn’t Wilson elected by the voters?) Thus the Wilsonia tradition will stay alive with your book. Thanks from our hearts. (You are most welcome, Professor Dirks!)

I met my wife Xiaoping Liu, when I was the only college professor to get into forbidden Tibet in 1988, taking my students through Lhasa and the Dalai Lama’s Palace and to monasteries above 16,000 feet behind Mt. Everest. I met her during the “Democracy Movement” at the University in Xian, in the Chin Kingdom (Chin – China) where she’d been Presidents’ Carter, Reagan and Queen Elizabeth’s doctor in China. A year later when the leader of the Democracy Movement died, a million people gathered in Tian An Men Square in April and in May when Gorbachev had the summit meeting but couldn’t go to the square because of the millions still there, (Jana’s note: I’m confused!) so Dr. Liu left thru Hong Kong the week before the Tien An Men Massacre. She came here, became a professor of Microbiology and Napa, (Jana’s note: What is a professor of Napa?) then came down here to find that mad professor (Jana’s note: by “mad professor” I think the author is referring to himself) from Mission (Jana’s note: I think he is referring to LA Mission College) who predicted the massacre if they pushed democracy too hard. She found me, we became friends and then family and our son Darwin evolved, East meets West and 1/2 + 1/2 is twice as smart.

75 year old teachers talk too much, sorry…Charles Please forgive me, a proud historian. Thanks!

And thank you, Professor Dirks, for sharing your most interesting life and cabin story with my blog readers! (I removed many personal details about your son to protect his privacy, which I also would have done if this was published as a comment on my blog.)

Who Wants a Book About Wilsonia?

When someone wants to self-publish a book, one of the biggest puzzles to solve is who will want to buy the book. If someone wants to publish a book traditionally, that is probably the most important question too.

Let’s answer that question about The Cabins of Wilsonia, an upcoming book about cabin life in a mountain community, told in drawings and quotations from the residents.

1. People who love Wilsonia

This could be people who have visited, who have a cabin, who used to have a cabin, who have friends with a cabin or who wish they had a cabin.

Surprising fact: many cabin folks have asked if their cabin will appear in the book. If it doesn’t, or if it doesn’t appear in the way that they think it should, they are not shy in letting me know they will not be buying a book!

2. People who love cabins

Did you know there is a website of beautiful cabin photos called “cabin corn”? (Not really called that, but I didn’t want to type the second word which actually begins with the letter “P” – you figure it out!) There are people who just love cabins and small homes and mountain living.

3. People who love pencil

This book will have 276 pencil drawings. There are people who love to draw, people who love pencil drawings, people who love detail, drawing students past and present.

4. People who love local information

There are people who buy all books of local history. The Cabins of Wilsonia is not yet a history book, but it will be some day. It is a look at life today in a cabin community in Tulare County. The folks who collect information about this place we live are likely to want this book.

5. People who love me

Ahem. This last one is a little embarrassing. However, my friend Mark used to tell me (because his Dad used to tell him), “If your friends and family won’t do business with you, who will?”

And now you know who comprises the market for the upcoming book, The Cabins of Wilsonia. Do you fit into one of these categories?

A Wilsonia Calendar?

Not this year, but maybe next year, depending on the response. I didn’t mean to tease you!

Hmmm, this would make a good calendar page. . .

This year I have a calendar with my photos of the most beautiful places in Tulare County. It is selling well – $15 includes tax and shipping. You can see and order one here.

Calendars are risky business for two main reasons:

1. Short window of selling time

2. There are zillions of freebies out there.

As I puzzled over whether or not to make and sell a calendar this year, one idea was to feature the Wilsonia cabins on each page. Photography won out, but I’m still mulling over the feasibility of a Wilsonia cabin drawing calendar.

What do you think about that idea?

P.S. I just found another cabin with a bay window – it is on President’s Lane!

A Bonus Day in Wilsonia

I have a very dear friend who is a member of the Tulare County Historical Society. She graciously invited me to their July meeting because it was in Wilsonia. Of course I said yes! (Remember my shock and pleasure at discovering Wilsonia is in Tulare County?)

Tulare County is very small. Without knowing who would be there, look at this list of people I re-met: some cabin folks from Mineral King; my first employer; someone I used to know from doing a giant arts/crafts show; someone who used to own a print shop where I got some of my notecards printed (back in the olden days when people wrote to each other on paper); the mom and aunt of some girls I used to ride the elementary school bus with; my old friend Alan; the brother-in-law of a friend; the most premier historian in the county (that is sort of a duh); a guy I met in 1985 while waiting in an ophthalmologist’s office (he says we met before that at Silver City, but he claimed it was in the ’50s and I wasn’t born yet).

The renowned historian was kind enough to introduce me and asked me to tell about the upcoming book, The Cabins of Wilsonia.

Wow! I really appreciated that. Self-promotion and marketing is just weird, awkward and sellsy, so any help that comes my way is highly appreciated.

How to Draw a Book, Chapter 5

Do I have the right to draw The Cabins of Wilsonia?

There is a smarty-pants answer of “It’s a free country!”

A commissioned pencil drawing of a Wilsonia cabin

But, honestly, (and I want to always be honest so don’t ask me questions if you don’t want the answers – how is that for a fair warning?) this is a question of legitimacy. Since I don’t have a cabin in Wilsonia, who do I think I am??

These things led me to do take on this project:

1. I have a cabin, so I understand and appreciate cabin culture.

2. My business is Cabinart, named this because when I began earning my living with my art, I was living in a cabin and drawing people’s cabins. (1986 – gasp of shock at my advanced age!)

3. I am a California artist whose self-declared mission is to represent the beauty of Tulare County. Since I only recently learned that Wilsonia is in Tulare County, I am thrilled!

4. I believe strongly, STRONGLY, that historic cabin communities are treasures in today’s world. They need to be enjoyed, preserved, documented, recognized and celebrated!

5. Architecture, particularly older architecture has always been my favorite thing to draw.

6. I have experience in self-publishing another cabin book, The Cabins of Mineral King.

7. Several friends from Wilsonia asked me to do this.

A Wilsonia cabin owner asked me, “Why don’t you just do a book on Mineral King cabins?”

I answered, “I did.” 😎

How to Draw a Book, Chapter 3

Will anyone care enough to buy this book?

Is this cabin on Cedar? Or is it on Meadow? The map says Cedar, so that is the chapter where it will appear in the book.

Last time we determined that people will indeed care about a book called The Cabins of Wilsonia. Today we will think about whether or not enough people will care to make the project worthwhile. It would be stupid to spend 3 years on a project, not earning any money while I am doing it, and not earning any money at the end. I try to not be stupid. This is a good policy, don’t you think?

There are several places I hope to find people who will want the book.

1. Cabin folks, their families and friends. In 1998, Jane Coughran and I wrote and drew a book called The Cabins of Mineral King. We printed and sold 1000. There are around 60 cabins in Mineral King, as opposed to around 200 in Wilsonia. Clearly, more than just cabin owners and their associates bought the book!

Who were those other people? Do they exist within the circles of Wilsonia?

2. The tribe who loves Wilsonia, Grant Grove, Kings Canyon. Mineral King has a tribe of folks who love the place. These are mountainy people, history buffs, hikers, campers, people from Tulare County, people from all over the world.

Wilsonia is next to Grant Grove, in Kings Canyon National Park, also visited by people from all over the world. The road is much easier than the road to Mineral King and it leads to other places too. It stands to reason that the visitation is substantially greater. I don’t know the numbers.

The comparison sort of works, although Wilsonia is off the main highway and isn’t necessarily a part of the visitors’ experience. So, although that might be a source of customers, it probably won’t be a large segment.

3. My people. I have been earning my living as a pencil artist, oil painter, teacher of drawing, and muralist since 1993. Through those years I’ve developed a small following. Makes sense that a percentage of those who like my work and bought my first book are likely to buy a second book. Certainly would help if I knew what that percentage will be, but alas, I am an artist, not a clairvoyant.

4. People who love local history, love to draw, and/or have a thing for cabins. This group is diverse, hard to find, and random. I can find the local history buffs through the Tulare County Historical Society, but the rest might depend on good old Mr. Google, who knows everyone and everything.

The cost of almost everything goes up (except the latest in technology – I remember my dad paying $90 for a calculator the size of a shoe back in the ’70s!). So, whether or not anyone will care enough to part with their hard earned dollars depends on me – DO YOUR VERY BEST WORK, TOOTS!

Oh my goodness – the pressure – bring on the dark chocolate!

Where is Wilsonia?

You know that cliche’ “You learn something new every day”?

I’d like to learn more about this chair on Fern Street.

I recently learned that Wilsonia is in Tulare County!

Who cares? Me, the folks at Tulare County Treasures and of course, the county tax collectors.

I care because my art career and business focus on the beauty of Tulare County. It felt sort of wrong, outside of my area, losing my focus, infringing on other artists’ territory to draw a book on the cabins of Wilsonia. Yes, I am cabinart, but there are many gifted artists in Fresno County, where I thought Wilsonia is. (was? what is the right way to say this??)

What is Tulare County Treasures? You can read about them on the link above, but since you are here, I’ll tell you. This is a group of volunteers who know and love the good things of Tulare County. They are authors, historians, artists, and leaders. (I attended their first meeting but realized it would be stupid for me to add any more to my life. Just wanted you to know I rubbed shoulders briefly with local big shots. Please be impressed.)

They are gathering information and photographs, building a website, making maps and a brochure to the places in TC that are special and open to the public. They asked for permission to use some of my artwork of Mineral King and Wilsonia. Silly me, I said yes before thinking “WAIT! Wilsonia is in Fresno County!”

Then I asked Gus and Neal, my go-to-guys for all things Wilsonia, and both of them confirmed that Wilsonia is indeed in Tulare County!

Who knew? (The tax collector, but who cares about that stuff?)

So, I am thrilled, just thrilled I say. One of my little obstacles to the legitimacy of this book has been shattered, obliterated, vaporized, G O N E, and now this Tulare County/California artist is ready to DRAW!!!

Did you know that about Wilsonia??