THINGS TO DO IN TAMPA
HONG KONG WILLIE, WHAT IS A HONG KONG WILLIE. KEY WEST ARTIST, TAMPA TOURIST ATTRACTION. ARTIST THAT TRY TO LIVE SO THE FOOT PRINT WE LEAVE IS LESS ON THIS EARTH. IN THIS BLOG YOU WILL SEE WHAT A FEW PEOPLE SAID ABOUT WHAT HONG KONG WILLIE IS, THIS IS THIER VEIW. HONG KONG WILLIE HAS SPENT MOST OF THEIR LIFE IN TAMPA AND KEY WEST. THE KEY WEST FISHERMAN PLAYED A BIG PART IN THEIR ARTS. THE BUOYS CAME FROM LOBSTER MAN, THEY WERE USED ON LOBTER TRAPS AS FLOATS OR BUOYS. TAKE A LOOK FOX TV 13 AND OTHERS.
the bloggy, bloggy dew
a nameless yeast
Monday, March 27, 2006
hong kong willie
Getting lost out of Tampa on the way to Gibsonton, we saw this structure just off the exit ramp. We turned around to investigate and met Kim and Joe of Hong Kong Willie, an artist's collective that makes art out of buoys and burlap bags and other discards on Key West. Kim and Joe were a sweet couple and Bunny thought they wanted to adopt me. Joe explained that the name Hong Kong Willie comes from 1956, when the world changed and plastic turned this into a nation of nonbiodegradable disposables. I hesitate to call what they do outsider art because it can be a patronizing label; their work comes not from the inward obsession of much outsider art, but from a social conscience and a genuine desire to reach out and make the world a better place.
Posted by pat at 9:24 AM
13 comments:
Miss Natalie said...
What an eye sore!
1:02 AM
JCinTampa said...
I live in Tampa and work across the street from this junk pile. It is not art, it is just thier way of "sticking it to the man!" Nobody around here likes it and now they have littered cars all over the place to advertise this mess. The whole place looks like a washed up bait shop.
6:29 PM
Sam said...
These preservation artists have not only mowed the right of way on Morris Bridge for over 25 years, but have also been an integral part of keeping the area tidy and well kept through construction projects, excessive trash buildup due to interstate traffic, overall, being considerate citizens in their beloved community. I do wish for those concerned to research my comments, and validate my claims.
10:08 AM
Jillian and Robert said...
Go Go...Go Willie Go! We have lived here forever and never thought to stop and see just what the reason was for these objects we see daily, till we saw "Google Hong Kong Willie" Thanks. Kept up all the good work you do!
4:49 PM
dave said...
go past 5 days a week, i think it's great, better than the "Bob Evans, Baskin Robbins, Starbucks" see them everywhere stores. Fuck'um if they can't take a joke !
8:17 PM
Gandolfo said...
I just moved to this area from South Tampa where we were worried about the encroachment of big business. If it were not for the unique eclectics this would be a boring cookie cutter world. If you have to point a finger just remember there are three more pointing back at you. I believe it is their property and in the U.S. of America for the most part they have the right to do what they want there, be it business or artistic expression. If it was not for some free thinkers we would not be free, this is usually forgotten until it is your rights that are violated or legislated out of existence. In the days ahead we should be glad that someone has the foresight to use their rights before we loose them. By the way J.C. take a chill pill and watch some more Boondocks, I know where you sit.
9:55 PM
robo said...
while visiting my mother at the cancer center in tampa, i had the distinct pleasure of meeting joe and kim. as a key west resident, i was shocked and incredibly pleased that the bulldozers of progress, read corporate greed and environmental destructionists, have been unable to replace "Hong Kong Willie's" with another business traveller, cookie cutter hotel on their property. get over it tampa, live and let live and stop mowing down all the trees. enough is enough.
3:52 PM
HongKongWillie said...
Here We Are...More To Come...Please Enjoy :-)
Thank You, HONG KONG WILLIE
http://hongkongwillie.blogspot.com/
11:19 PM
HongKongWillie said...
http://hongkongwillie.blogspot.com
11:32 PM
rebelniko said...
I know that this preservation art group is gaining in popularity as the true story unfolds. What a small world it is when you are already have others using your name for their own agenda. That's life in the internet world, I guess? Check this link out:
http://www.bigdomain.info/hong-kong-willie.com
12:32 PM
bjccotton said...
Hong Kong Willie is Awesome!! My husband and I had the pleasure of vacationing in Tampa and stayed at a hotel near the artistic contribution. We spent three days having such a good time betting back and forth on exactly what the objects were...as soon as we got home we had to google Hong Kong Willie to see who was right. Just remember, one person's "eye sore" is another person's most memorable part of a vacation. Keep on "sticking it to the man" Willie, WE LOVED IT!!!
5:07 PM
logan said...
the car, the truck, and the son have been at my school. the art is just that art, expression of the heart and soul. i have been touched by its genius.
10:26 PM
"HONG KONG WILLIE" said...
Thanks for the memories
10:40 PM
the bloggy, bloggy dew
a nameless yeast
Monday, June 12, 2006
a message from hong kong willie
Preservation artist goes home empty first time in 10 years. Empty in material projects but completely understanding and leaving full of knowing what the Florida Keys can give you. The Florida Keys have faced 3 hurricanes. All they need is a hammer. They will find the nails, straighten them and use the boards they find floating up. We will be back.
--Hong Kong Willie.
Posted by pat at 12:19 AM
a
3 comments:
HongKongWillie said...
Here We Are, More To Come...Please Enjoy...
Thank You, HONG KONG WILLIE
11:38 PM
Post
The zen of junk
A Tampa couple devotes itself to creating something from nothing
BY ALEX PICKETT
Published 12.06.06
print email mail us del.icio.us digg facebook reddit
click to enlarge
Alex PickettROADSIDE ATTRACTION: Located off East Fletcher Road between hotel chains and high-end office parks is the gift shop and folk art gallery Hong Kong Willie's.Drive south on I-75, look to the right around East Fletcher Avenue, and you can't miss it. The tree appears first, hundreds of buoys wrapped around its branches, resembling a sort of Dr. Seuss-ian Christmas ornament. Then the rest of the 20,000 buoys come into view -- thousands of strands of the multicolored foam balls stretching from the tree to two wooden shacks, hanging from their roofs and walls, and stretched out over the property.
Strewn about the lawn is a menagerie of surfboards, car doors, CB radios, wooden sculptures and painted signs. A 1979 Ford pickup sits in the front driveway, painted with a rainbow of colors, four racks of antlers affixed to its roof. An old stuffed caribou sits in a lawn chair beckoning visitors.
Of the thousands of motorists who pass by this eclectic landmark off Exit 266 every day, few stop in the funky gift shop and Key West-themed folk art gallery that is Hong Kong Willie's. But this is not your typical roadside store selling cheesy Florida magnets and beach T-shirts (although they have those, too). From the moment the owners come out to greet you, it's clear that for them this isn't just a business -- it's a lifestyle.
As I step out of my car, Joe Brown ambles toward me wearing a red Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts. With his disheveled shoulder-length brown hair and strong jaw line, Brown, 56, looks a lot like Mel Gibson in Braveheart. He ends most of his sentences with "Do you follow me?" and stares with wild gray eyes until you nod in agreement. His 46-year-old wife, Kim, who bears a strong resemblance to Grace Slick, sits near the shop's open sign, branding her latest creation. Wearing large sunglasses, she gives a smile, hardly looking up.
Joe and Kim -- Tampa natives -- bought the half-acre property off Fletcher Avenue and Morris Bridge Road in 1985. For the next two decades, the Browns operated A-24 Hour Bait and Tackle, living on the premises and bagging worms for K-Mart and Wal-Mart to make a few extra bucks. But in 2001, they decided to abandon fish food to pursue the fickle business of art, although they will tell you Hong Kong Willie's was always "part of the journey."
"We were artists," says Joe. "We were born that way. We had no choice. You follow me?"
The underlying theme of Hong Kong Willie's is creating art out of objects destined for the landfill, and while browsing the items, I get the feeling the Browns are trying to make a point rather than a sale.
"Thirty percent of the gifts given will be in the dumpster by next Christmas," Joe says. "Most Christmas gifts will be given because they think they have to. Very few will have a social impact."
Every item at Hong Kong Willie's is either art made out of an object destined for the landfill or products that other companies were throwing away and the Browns retrieved before they made it to the dumpster. But don't call this recycled art. The Browns prefer "preservation."
Recycling implies the material will be used for the same purpose. "If you get stuck in that word, then you get stuck in that form," Joe explains. Instead, the Browns create a whole new use for an item that would have been otherwise thrown away.
Kim looks up from her painting after Joe finishes his long ramble. "We've always been able to take nothing and make something out of it," she says.
Although most people assume Joe is "Hong Kong Willie," he says the name refers to the origin of junk: Hong Kong produces much of the useless merchandise that Americans buy and quickly throw away, he says. So it's up to the Willies of the world -- i.e. the Browns and other conservationists -- to find new uses for the trash.
"All of us who believe what we believe is Hong Kong Willie," Joe says.
The gift shop is a space not much bigger than a tool shed, cluttered with handmade candles, pottery, ceramic figures and deer skulls painted tie-dye style. Joe, who's not content to allow me to wander by myself, darts from item to item, sharing each one's origins. One of the first objects he shows me is an old scuba tank cut in half, stenciled with yellow and purple spray paint with a weighted rope attached on the inside. What would have been a heavy addition to a landfill or junkyard, the Browns now sell as a nautical-themed bell. Another popular item: a used Starbucks Frappuccino bottle filled with sand and shells, and the words "Florida Beachfront Property" written in paint on it.
"Is it really pragmatic to say this had one life -- to have Frappuccino in it?" he says, holding up the $3 gift. "That's not true. You follow me?"
Joe picks up a droopy glass vase -- the result of an Arizona Ice Tea bottle stuck in a kiln for too long. He says it's a collector's item: Only 300 were made and none look alike.
"People really want something that is one of a kind and something that means something," he says, holding up the vase and pointing to a stack of Beanie Babies. "Which one is the real collectible? The one that cannot be copied or the one that is mass-produced just on a small scale? You follow me?"
Most of the materials the Browns work with come from Key West. Every few months they hop in the pickup, drive the 425 miles to the Keys and start looking for the junk no one else wants: used dive tanks, the lobster trap buoys, burlap bags and even old wooden planks from ships or homes destroyed by storms.
In fact, the latter is one of their biggest sellers. They bring back an imperfect piece of lumber, slap some urethane on it and Kim paints everything from colorful fish and birds to old Key West landmarks on it. Every piece is branded, marked with a lobster cage tag and affixed with brass rings or forks with which to hang them. In the building opposite the gift shop, among stuffed animals and fish (Joe was once a taxidermist), 30 of these painted planks hang from the walls.
Customers are few at Hong Kong Willie's, but the Browns say they're doing well. They never try to push their art on anyone, figuring that if someone stops and buys something, it was meant to be. ("A piece of art is a love affair," Kim says.) They count Gaspar's Patio Bar and Grille in Temple Terrace as one of their best customers. Their other business comes from Tampa residents looking to add a tiki feel to their backyards. Among Joe's most popular creations are old car doors outfitted with waterproof speakers. A few Key West bars bought the unique sound systems to hang from their ceilings.
But the Browns are not just content to sell their art to passersby -- they want to live the ideals that inspire their art. The couple is working on getting their business off the electrical grid and powered completely by solar energy. Kim wants to start a coffee and ice cream shop with free wireless Internet to bring in likeminded people. Joe wants to be in the Guinness Book of World Records for hanging the greatest number of buoys to a structure (it's not a category yet). And they're always trying to find new uses for the trash they see lining area roads.
"We're not just sitting out here being weird," Joe says suddenly. "We're actually taking objects and making these thousands of people say, 'What's that?' We're doing it because it's the right thing to do."
His eyes get wide.
"You follow me?"
hong kong willie on fox tv tampa intro
TAMPA ARTIST ON FOX 13 TAMPA, AND HONG KONG WILLIE
TAMPA TOURIST ATTRACTION IN TAMPA LOOK
BUOYS ON YOUTUBE
HONG KONG WILLIE ART
THING TO DO IN TAMPA, TAMPA TOURIST ATTRACTION HONG KONG WILLIE. STOP BY AND SEE KEY WEST ARTIST HONG KONG WILLIE, HIPPIE ART. PRESERVATION ART.
KEY WEST LOBSTERS FLOATS, KEY WEST LOBSTER BUOYS, KEY WEST CRAB FLOATS, KEY WEST CRAB BUOYS. HONG KONG WILLIE ON ANOTHER SEARCH FOR THE BUOYS. BUOYS, THING ABOUT IT. THEY HOLD SOMETHING UP. HONG KONG WILLIE THE KEY WEST ARTIST, LOOKING FOR ART IN THE BUOYS. UNTIL NEXT TIME PRESERVATION IS THE WORD
A LANDMARK IN TAMPA. THE TAMPA TOURIST ATTRACTION HONG KONG WILLIE AN ART GROUP OUT OF TAMPA AND KEY WEST. ARTIST BELIEVING IN PRESERVATION ART. THE WORLD RECORD BUOY TREE, MADE FROM KEY WEST LOBSTER FLOATS SHOW THEIR COMMITMENT TO PRESERVATION. LOCATED ON I-75 EXIT 266 IN TAMPA. APROXIMATELY 2 MILES FROM THE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY, CALLED MOSI. DOWN THE STREET IS BUSCH GARDENS AND ADVENTURE ISLAND. LOWRY PARK IS A SHORT ROAD TRIP. THE TAMPA TOURIST ATTRACTION IS FUNKY LAIDBACK,SCENIC OLD FASHION PLACE WHERE A TOURIST WOULD BUY A TRUE ONE OF A KIND FLORIDA SOUVENIR STOP BY HONG KONG WILLIE.Past days have seen famed Conch artists after destruction from devastating hurricanes collect ship wreckage, building parts, car doors, any mass which could evolve itselfinto a canvas for expression. HONG KONG WILLIE, renowned Key's Artist Collective, gained notoriety only from the blatant choice of medium, and the artists' yearning to remain honest to originality. Every Original HONG KONG WILLIE piece is truly “One of a Kind", no piece is ever reproduced. Along with Burn-Etched Signature, SpinyLobster Trap ID Tag, and Hand Signature, any validation of an ORIGINAL HONG KONG WILLIE piece is definite. Visit HONG KONG WILLIE STUDIOS located in Tampa, Florida for a true insight into the work. Contact the Artists for appointment @ (813)770-4794 or hongkongwillie@tampabay.rr.com. GOOGLE HONG KONG WILLIE, for BLOG, PRESS, and PHOTOS. When you are in Tampa, stop by the little old fashion Tampa tourist attraction. You will find an old fashion true road side attraction. Artists trying to make a living from their art. Refreshing gifts and souvenirs made right in Tampa. Located on I75, exit 266 in Tampa. Look for the buoy tree made from keywest lobster floats and buoys, keywest crab floats and buoys. Souvenirs that are one of a kind. Hong Kong Willie Key West artist invites you, no admission charge. Tampa tourist attraction Hong Kong Willie, a little road attraction started as a Worm Farm in 1965. Artists at Hong Kong Willie saw a bright future for the arts. So for a different thing to do in Tampa; check out Hong Kong Willie a roadside Tampa tourist attraction.Hong Kong Willie
TAMPA TOURIST ATTRACTION ON FOX TV
LOOK AND SEE WHAT TV AND OTHER PEOPLE SAY ABOUT HONG KONG WILLIE
HONG KONG WILLIE, WHAT IS A HONG KONG WILLIE. KEY WEST ARTIST, TAMPA TOURIST ATTRACTION. ARTIST THAT TRY TO LIVE SO THE FOOT PRINT WE LEAVE IS LEES ON THIS EARTH. IN THIS BLOG YOU WILL SEE WHAT A FEW PEOPLE SAID ABOUT WHAT HONG KONG WILLIE IS, THIS IS THIER VEIW. HONG KONG WILLIE HAS SPENT MOST OF THEIR LIFE IN TAMPA AND KEY WEST. THE KEY WEST FISHER MAN PLAYED A BIG PART IN THEIR ARTS. THE BUOYS CAME FROM LOBSTER MAN, THEY WERE USED ON LOBTER TRAPS AS FLOATS OR BUOYS. TAKE A LOOK FOX TV 13 AND OTHERS.
FOX 13 CHARLEY'S WORLD AND HONG KONG WILLIE
BUOYS ON YOUTUBE HONG KONG WILLIE
the bloggy, bloggy dew
a nameless yeast
Monday, March 27, 2006
hong kong willie
Getting lost out of Tampa on the way to Gibsonton, we saw this structure just off the exit ramp. We turned around to investigate and met Kim and Joe of Hong Kong Willie, an artist's collective that makes art out of buoys and burlap bags and other discards on Key West. Kim and Joe were a sweet couple and Bunny thought they wanted to adopt me. Joe explained that the name Hong Kong Willie comes from 1956, when the world changed and plastic turned this into a nation of nonbiodegradable disposables. I hesitate to call what they do outsider art because it can be a patronizing label; their work comes not from the inward obsession of much outsider art, but from a social conscience and a genuine desire to reach out and make the world a better place.
Posted by pat at 9:24 AM
13 comments:
Miss Natalie said...
What an eye sore!
1:02 AM
JCinTampa said...
I live in Tampa and work across the street from this junk pile. It is not art, it is just thier way of "sticking it to the man!" Nobody around here likes it and now they have littered cars all over the place to advertise this mess. The whole place looks like a washed up bait shop.
6:29 PM
Sam said...
These preservation artists have not only mowed the right of way on Morris Bridge for over 25 years, but have also been an integral part of keeping the area tidy and well kept through construction projects, excessive trash buildup due to interstate traffic, overall, being considerate citizens in their beloved community. I do wish for those concerned to research my comments, and validate my claims.
10:08 AM
Jillian and Robert said...
Go Go...Go Willie Go! We have lived here forever and never thought to stop and see just what the reason was for these objects we see daily, till we saw "Google Hong Kong Willie" Thanks. Kept up all the good work you do!
4:49 PM
dave said...
go past 5 days a week, i think it's great, better than the "Bob Evans, Baskin Robbins, Starbucks" see them everywhere stores. Fuck'um if they can't take a joke !
8:17 PM
Gandolfo said...
I just moved to this area from South Tampa where we were worried about the encroachment of big business. If it were not for the unique eclectics this would be a boring cookie cutter world. If you have to point a finger just remember there are three more pointing back at you. I believe it is their property and in the U.S. of America for the most part they have the right to do what they want there, be it business or artistic expression. If it was not for some free thinkers we would not be free, this is usually forgotten until it is your rights that are violated or legislated out of existence. In the days ahead we should be glad that someone has the foresight to use their rights before we loose them. By the way J.C. take a chill pill and watch some more Boondocks, I know where you sit.
9:55 PM
robo said...
while visiting my mother at the cancer center in tampa, i had the distinct pleasure of meeting joe and kim. as a key west resident, i was shocked and incredibly pleased that the bulldozers of progress, read corporate greed and environmental destructionists, have been unable to replace "Hong Kong Willie's" with another business traveller, cookie cutter hotel on their property. get over it tampa, live and let live and stop mowing down all the trees. enough is enough.
3:52 PM
HongKongWillie said...
Here We Are...More To Come...Please Enjoy :-)
Thank You, HONG KONG WILLIE
http://hongkongwillie.blogspot.com/
11:19 PM
HongKongWillie said...
http://hongkongwillie.blogspot.com
11:32 PM
rebelniko said...
I know that this preservation art group is gaining in popularity as the true story unfolds. What a small world it is when you are already have others using your name for their own agenda. That's life in the internet world, I guess? Check this link out:
http://www.bigdomain.info/hong-kong-willie.com
12:32 PM
bjccotton said...
Hong Kong Willie is Awesome!! My husband and I had the pleasure of vacationing in Tampa and stayed at a hotel near the artistic contribution. We spent three days having such a good time betting back and forth on exactly what the objects were...as soon as we got home we had to google Hong Kong Willie to see who was right. Just remember, one person's "eye sore" is another person's most memorable part of a vacation. Keep on "sticking it to the man" Willie, WE LOVED IT!!!
5:07 PM
logan said...
the car, the truck, and the son have been at my school. the art is just that art, expression of the heart and soul. i have been touched by its genius.
10:26 PM
"HONG KONG WILLIE" said...
Thanks for the memories
10:40 PM
the bloggy, bloggy dew
a nameless yeast
Monday, June 12, 2006
a message from hong kong willie
Preservation artist goes home empty first time in 10 years. Empty in material projects but completely understanding and leaving full of knowing what the Florida Keys can give you. The Florida Keys have faced 3 hurricanes. All they need is a hammer. They will find the nails, straighten them and use the boards they find floating up. We will be back.
--Hong Kong Willie.
Posted by pat at 12:19 AM
a
3 comments:
HongKongWillie said...
Here We Are, More To Come...Please Enjoy...
Thank You, HONG KONG WILLIE
11:38 PM
Post
The zen of junk
A Tampa couple devotes itself to creating something from nothing
BY ALEX PICKETT
Published 12.06.06
print email mail us del.icio.us digg facebook reddit
click to enlarge
Alex PickettROADSIDE ATTRACTION: Located off East Fletcher Road between hotel chains and high-end office parks is the gift shop and folk art gallery Hong Kong Willie's.Drive south on I-75, look to the right around East Fletcher Avenue, and you can't miss it. The tree appears first, hundreds of buoys wrapped around its branches, resembling a sort of Dr. Seuss-ian Christmas ornament. Then the rest of the 20,000 buoys come into view -- thousands of strands of the multicolored foam balls stretching from the tree to two wooden shacks, hanging from their roofs and walls, and stretched out over the property.
Strewn about the lawn is a menagerie of surfboards, car doors, CB radios, wooden sculptures and painted signs. A 1979 Ford pickup sits in the front driveway, painted with a rainbow of colors, four racks of antlers affixed to its roof. An old stuffed caribou sits in a lawn chair beckoning visitors.
Of the thousands of motorists who pass by this eclectic landmark off Exit 266 every day, few stop in the funky gift shop and Key West-themed folk art gallery that is Hong Kong Willie's. But this is not your typical roadside store selling cheesy Florida magnets and beach T-shirts (although they have those, too). From the moment the owners come out to greet you, it's clear that for them this isn't just a business -- it's a lifestyle.
As I step out of my car, Joe Brown ambles toward me wearing a red Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts. With his disheveled shoulder-length brown hair and strong jaw line, Brown, 56, looks a lot like Mel Gibson in Braveheart. He ends most of his sentences with "Do you follow me?" and stares with wild gray eyes until you nod in agreement. His 46-year-old wife, Kim, who bears a strong resemblance to Grace Slick, sits near the shop's open sign, branding her latest creation. Wearing large sunglasses, she gives a smile, hardly looking up.
Joe and Kim -- Tampa natives -- bought the half-acre property off Fletcher Avenue and Morris Bridge Road in 1985. For the next two decades, the Browns operated A-24 Hour Bait and Tackle, living on the premises and bagging worms for K-Mart and Wal-Mart to make a few extra bucks. But in 2001, they decided to abandon fish food to pursue the fickle business of art, although they will tell you Hong Kong Willie's was always "part of the journey."
"We were artists," says Joe. "We were born that way. We had no choice. You follow me?"
The underlying theme of Hong Kong Willie's is creating art out of objects destined for the landfill, and while browsing the items, I get the feeling the Browns are trying to make a point rather than a sale.
"Thirty percent of the gifts given will be in the dumpster by next Christmas," Joe says. "Most Christmas gifts will be given because they think they have to. Very few will have a social impact."
Every item at Hong Kong Willie's is either art made out of an object destined for the landfill or products that other companies were throwing away and the Browns retrieved before they made it to the dumpster. But don't call this recycled art. The Browns prefer "preservation."
Recycling implies the material will be used for the same purpose. "If you get stuck in that word, then you get stuck in that form," Joe explains. Instead, the Browns create a whole new use for an item that would have been otherwise thrown away.
Kim looks up from her painting after Joe finishes his long ramble. "We've always been able to take nothing and make something out of it," she says.
Although most people assume Joe is "Hong Kong Willie," he says the name refers to the origin of junk: Hong Kong produces much of the useless merchandise that Americans buy and quickly throw away, he says. So it's up to the Willies of the world -- i.e. the Browns and other conservationists -- to find new uses for the trash.
"All of us who believe what we believe is Hong Kong Willie," Joe says.
The gift shop is a space not much bigger than a tool shed, cluttered with handmade candles, pottery, ceramic figures and deer skulls painted tie-dye style. Joe, who's not content to allow me to wander by myself, darts from item to item, sharing each one's origins. One of the first objects he shows me is an old scuba tank cut in half, stenciled with yellow and purple spray paint with a weighted rope attached on the inside. What would have been a heavy addition to a landfill or junkyard, the Browns now sell as a nautical-themed bell. Another popular item: a used Starbucks Frappuccino bottle filled with sand and shells, and the words "Florida Beachfront Property" written in paint on it.
"Is it really pragmatic to say this had one life -- to have Frappuccino in it?" he says, holding up the $3 gift. "That's not true. You follow me?"
Joe picks up a droopy glass vase -- the result of an Arizona Ice Tea bottle stuck in a kiln for too long. He says it's a collector's item: Only 300 were made and none look alike.
"People really want something that is one of a kind and something that means something," he says, holding up the vase and pointing to a stack of Beanie Babies. "Which one is the real collectible? The one that cannot be copied or the one that is mass-produced just on a small scale? You follow me?"
Most of the materials the Browns work with come from Key West. Every few months they hop in the pickup, drive the 425 miles to the Keys and start looking for the junk no one else wants: used dive tanks, the lobster trap buoys, burlap bags and even old wooden planks from ships or homes destroyed by storms.
In fact, the latter is one of their biggest sellers. They bring back an imperfect piece of lumber, slap some urethane on it and Kim paints everything from colorful fish and birds to old Key West landmarks on it. Every piece is branded, marked with a lobster cage tag and affixed with brass rings or forks with which to hang them. In the building opposite the gift shop, among stuffed animals and fish (Joe was once a taxidermist), 30 of these painted planks hang from the walls.
Customers are few at Hong Kong Willie's, but the Browns say they're doing well. They never try to push their art on anyone, figuring that if someone stops and buys something, it was meant to be. ("A piece of art is a love affair," Kim says.) They count Gaspar's Patio Bar and Grille in Temple Terrace as one of their best customers. Their other business comes from Tampa residents looking to add a tiki feel to their backyards. Among Joe's most popular creations are old car doors outfitted with waterproof speakers. A few Key West bars bought the unique sound systems to hang from their ceilings.
But the Browns are not just content to sell their art to passersby -- they want to live the ideals that inspire their art. The couple is working on getting their business off the electrical grid and powered completely by solar energy. Kim wants to start a coffee and ice cream shop with free wireless Internet to bring in likeminded people. Joe wants to be in the Guinness Book of World Records for hanging the greatest number of buoys to a structure (it's not a category yet). And they're always trying to find new uses for the trash they see lining area roads.
"We're not just sitting out here being weird," Joe says suddenly. "We're actually taking objects and making these thousands of people say, 'What's that?' We're doing it because it's the right thing to do."
His eyes get wide.
"You follow me?"
hong kong willie on fox tv tampa intro
TAMPA ARTIST ON FOX 13 TAMPA, AND HONG KONG WILLIE
TAMPA TOURIST ATTRACTION IN TAMPA LOOK
BUOYS ON YOUTUBE
HONG KONG WILLIE ART
THING TO DO IN TAMPA, TAMPA TOURIST ATTRACTION HONG KONG WILLIE. STOP BY AND SEE KEY WEST ARTIST HONG KONG WILLIE, HIPPIE ART. PRESERVATION ART.
KEY WEST LOBSTERS FLOATS, KEY WEST LOBSTER BUOYS, KEY WEST CRAB FLOATS, KEY WEST CRAB BUOYS. HONG KONG WILLIE ON ANOTHER SEARCH FOR THE BUOYS. BUOYS, THING ABOUT IT. THEY HOLD SOMETHING UP. HONG KONG WILLIE THE KEY WEST ARTIST, LOOKING FOR ART IN THE BUOYS. UNTIL NEXT TIME PRESERVATION IS THE WORD
A LANDMARK IN TAMPA. THE TAMPA TOURIST ATTRACTION HONG KONG WILLIE AN ART GROUP OUT OF TAMPA AND KEY WEST. ARTIST BELIEVING IN PRESERVATION ART. THE WORLD RECORD BUOY TREE, MADE FROM KEY WEST LOBSTER FLOATS SHOW THEIR COMMITMENT TO PRESERVATION. LOCATED ON I-75 EXIT 266 IN TAMPA. APROXIMATELY 2 MILES FROM THE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY, CALLED MOSI. DOWN THE STREET IS BUSCH GARDENS AND ADVENTURE ISLAND. LOWRY PARK IS A SHORT ROAD TRIP. THE TAMPA TOURIST ATTRACTION IS FUNKY LAIDBACK,SCENIC OLD FASHION PLACE WHERE A TOURIST WOULD BUY A TRUE ONE OF A KIND FLORIDA SOUVENIR STOP BY HONG KONG WILLIE.Past days have seen famed Conch artists after destruction from devastating hurricanes collect ship wreckage, building parts, car doors, any mass which could evolve itselfinto a canvas for expression. HONG KONG WILLIE, renowned Key's Artist Collective, gained notoriety only from the blatant choice of medium, and the artists' yearning to remain honest to originality. Every Original HONG KONG WILLIE piece is truly “One of a Kind", no piece is ever reproduced. Along with Burn-Etched Signature, SpinyLobster Trap ID Tag, and Hand Signature, any validation of an ORIGINAL HONG KONG WILLIE piece is definite. Visit HONG KONG WILLIE STUDIOS located in Tampa, Florida for a true insight into the work. Contact the Artists for appointment @ (813)770-4794 or hongkongwillie@tampabay.rr.com. GOOGLE HONG KONG WILLIE, for BLOG, PRESS, and PHOTOS. When you are in Tampa, stop by the little old fashion Tampa tourist attraction. You will find an old fashion true road side attraction. Artists trying to make a living from their art. Refreshing gifts and souvenirs made right in Tampa. Located on I75, exit 266 in Tampa. Look for the buoy tree made from keywest lobster floats and buoys, keywest crab floats and buoys. Souvenirs that are one of a kind. Hong Kong Willie Key West artist invites you, no admission charge. Tampa tourist attraction Hong Kong Willie, a little road attraction started as a Worm Farm in 1965. Artists at Hong Kong Willie saw a bright future for the arts. So for a different thing to do in Tampa; check out Hong Kong Willie a roadside Tampa tourist attraction.Hong Kong Willie
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