Post #631797 by bigbrotiki on Mon, Apr 9, 2012 8:20 AM

Do you mean biographical info beyond what is written in the Book of Tiki? An academic paper on American mid-century Tiki carvers would be a very valiant endeavor, since they were not seen as artists worthy of being noted back then. So unfortunately you can't just go to a library and look them up. The best source would likely be local newspaper archives, most anything ever published on them exists in small news clippings. Or to try to find relatives, which in the case of Guanko is not easy, because you'd have to look in a Californian immigrant community.

I would love it if more folks would build on my research and go deeper into the history of American Tiki carvers, some (like JP with Barney West) have done it and have come up with amazing finds. For me the big enigma is still Andres Bumatay.