Red Alexander
Shipwright and Folk Artist

Arhoolie Foundation Video DVD202
30 minutes - COLOR.region 1

This delightful 30 minute visit with 80 year old "Red" Alexander is a document of this man's passions: building ships (both model and real), wood working, and story telling, just to mention a few! Red was encouraged by the sale of one of his first model ships to one of his school teachers. In 1934 he joined the Shipwrights, Joiners, and Boat Builders Union - local 1149, in the San Francisco Bay Area. After 46 years of building real ships Red retired in 1980 as dockmaster at the Pacific Drydock in Alameda, Ca. Today his kitchen is a studio where he makes detailed models of all types of ships and boats.

Plenty of music floats through this moving story of a true folk artist and born story teller. During his time on the waterfront, Red saw the Oakland estuary change from a shallow backwater to a modern harbor. With this evolution his work also changed: much of the traditional aspects of the craft were almost lost as the basic materials changed from wood to plastic and steel, but Red tutored well a number of younger shipwrights. Red is visited by film maker Chris Simon and folklorist and fellow union member, the late Archie Green.