E. Kenneth Baillie

Spurred by the article I Don’t Know How to Waste Time on the Internet Anymore, the blog-anachronism which is FITK proudly presents yet another pointless search down an internet rabbit hole.


Block Print by E. Kenneth Baillie, 1933

This modest work has hung in my porch for many years. The artist was director of art at Northern State Teachers College in Aberdeen, S. D..  On the back of the print was a sticker for the NRA, not the gun-crazy lobbyist group, but rather the ill-fated National Recovery Act, one of Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. The idea of the legislation was to insure higher wages and uniform pricing. Outside of establishing the right to form labor unions, its provisions were counter-productive and its myriad legal provisions only frustrated citizens. Picture Molding and Picture Frame Authority, indeed!

Dr. Baillie also authored a couple of educational books, the most noted being Homespun Crafts from 1953. Relying heavily on the use of  recycled materials, the projects in this book were aimed at older children and teens:




Dr. Baillie’s son, Bruce Baillie, was an influential experimental filmmaker, here is one of his early films that featured San Francisco street scenes of the early 1960s:



Just doing my bit for slackers everywhere.