A garage-sale cat is dominating my thoughts

I couldn't figure out if this art piece was a child's school project or a piece of outsider art. [READER]( O n Saturday I swung through the Villa District, a triangular neighborhood that sits on Avondale's north border like a tiny cap. The Villa hosted its annual garage sale, which gave me the chance to indulge my curious whims; after all, it's not often that dozens of strangers open up their garages to let me rummage through their unwanted trinkets. These days I'm not as interested in collecting more things as I am in having a socially acceptable excuse to meander through the alleyways of a neighborhood I don't live in. But I'll take home items that catch my eye, if the price is right. ended up walking away with a folk music book, a 1940 Culinary Art Institute salad cookbook, a 50-cent copy of Xanadu on VHS, and a [wooden cat sculpture](. Since I brought my haul home, I've mostly thought about the cat. It's made of a hollow wooden box roughly five inches tall, four inches long, and a few inches wide, with all the cat's characteristic features—its tail, paws, tufts of fur—painted on the surface. A thin plank of wood sits on top of the box, affixed to it by a hinge. On the opposite side of the hinge rests a stubby wooden block, which serves as the cat's head—to open the box, it's easiest to pull on the stubby block, which looks as if you're peeling the cat's head off its body. The sculpture's dimensions don't resemble that of any cat I've ever met, and the paint job is crudely sparse. I couldn't figure out if this art piece was a child's school project or a piece of outsider art, and didn't think to ask the owner when I bought it for a dollar, though I assumed it was the latter. I later confirmed my suspicion when I noticed a faded seal on the bottom of the hollow box—a few of the letters are illegible, but I could clearly make out "folk art." I haven't made much progress in learning more about the person who made this piece of art since then, and I'm not sure I ever will. This cat box will likely animate my thoughts for months to come, which is not close to what I expected would come from my brief journey through the Villa District. I don't need any more arguments to convince me that I can get a lot out of a little walk, but this piece of art is a nice reminder of what I can find in the world when I let myself wander. Sincerely, ["A savior of abandoned American music contemplates his collection,"]( by Joe Heim (Washington Post) ["Kate Bush, 'Running Up That Hill,' And the End of Music Charts As We Knew Them,"]( by Nate Rogers (The Ringer) Barnett + Coloccia, [Third Wilderness]( Dijon, [Absolutely]( Show You Suck, [2Comfy, 2Cozy, 2Casual]( Kara's Walk Home, [Look! A Rainbow!]( [Bev Rage & the Drinks ring in Pride with a kaiju rampage]( Plus: Jazz guitarist Dave Miller celebrates a new album of solo acoustic guitar at Constellation, and rapper-singer Rich Jones releases a mellow, jazz-flecked collaboration with producer Iceberg Theory. by [J.R. Nelson]( and [Leor Galil]( [Lucy Liyou’s experimental music doubles as diaristic storytelling]( by [Joshua Minsoo Kim]( 🎵 Are you signed up for our exclusive "Early Warnings" list? [Get "Early Warnings" sent to your inbox every Tuesday by signing up today!]( [Issue of May 26 - June 8, 2022 Vol. 51, No.]( [Download Issue]( [View this e-mail as a web page]( [@chicago_reader]( [/chicagoreader]( [@chicago_reader]( [Chicago Reader on LinkedIn]( [/chicagoreader]( [chicagoreader.com]( [Forward this e-mail to a friend](. Want to change how you receive these e-mails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](. Copyright © 2022 Chicago Reader, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Chicago Reader, 2930 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 102, Chicago, IL 60616