Some Denizens of the Song Shop Garret Studios

[Henry Whalley]

There were five or six small unheated studios above the Song Shop Bar that shared one cold-water toilet and possibly a sink. The rents were cheap enough. In the late sixties there were several artists and writers working and [[probably illegally) residing there.

Among those I remember is Johnny Russell. She was a talented woodblock printmaker who must have left the area after graduating.

Another neighbor was Barbara Greene. I seem to recall that when Barb told me about her pilgrimage to the Woodstock Festival I didn’t know what she was talking about. I was then decidedly not ‘with it’ and remain so.

Another was the forgotten painter Gary Philips who came to WSU's fine arts program from Syracuse New York.

The last of this quartet was painter, drummer, mathematician and logician, and all-around mensch Steve Halberg whose life was cut short by an industrial tragedy in the early 1970s.

Later residents included writer Greg McEnroe [[sp?) who went to manage a horse farm in Texas, and Carol Ann Doering who moved to San Francisco and then New Mexico.

Please chime in if you remember any of them.

[Lowell]

I was familiar with the Song Shop Bar and visited a studio but I can't remember which artist. I also knew the colorful Barbara Greene then and since. She was a lively spirit and crazy-good great artist who, regrettably, passed a couple of years ago.

About four years back she came back [she then lived in Toronto] for an exhibition at the Ellen Kayrod Gallery where bought this mainly water color based on the Fukashima meltdown.

[Zacha341]

^ I remember Barbara Green Lowell! Did she attend CCS or WSU? Nice drawing.

[Lowell]

I'm pretty sure she was WSU. She was a prominent artist of the Cass Corridor art scene of that era. If you follow this link you can read more about her, see the respect others had for her, and see a picture of her from back then. As you will see she was quite attractive and all the guys had a crush on her. Sadly, like too many artists, she struggled with the demons of alcohol and quite possibly mental illness ,but she was always a nice person.

[Neilr]

I like Barbara Greene's work. I'm lucky to have several of her quirky drawings.