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NOVEMBER | PAGE 88 | 2015 CATHERINE D. ANSPON VENTURES INTO THE LAIR OF ACCLAIMED OUTSIDER GALLERISTS JULIE AND BRUCE LEE WEBB, WHERE THEOSOPHY, LODGE COSTUMES, SECRET SOCIETIES, MEZCAL AND THE OCCULT ARE PART OF THE FLAVORFUL BREW. AND THE GHOST OF WILLIAM BURROUGHS MIGHT JUST DROP IN. JENNY ANTILL CLIFTON PHOTOGRAPHS THE EPHEMERAL SCENE. A nd wonders they are, indeed — also uncanny, charming, disturbed and at times the closest encounter we've ever had with a Wunderkammer as living space. Talents such as St. Vincent, Cindy Sherman and David Byrne have sought out and collected from Julie and Bruce Lee Webb's celebrated Webb Gallery, a frequent exhibitor at the Outsider Art Fair (and also occasionally the Dallas Art Fair). But the Webbs' house — footsteps from Waxahachie's majestic historic courthouse, located above their turn-of-the-century storefront turned art space in the hamlet's town square — has never before appeared in print. Until now. Herein, we take you up two (creaking) flights of stairs and into the domain of the very curious Webbs, who number among America's pantheon of visionary art dealers. Just watch out for the shrunken heads, the spanking chair and the closet full of Odd Fellows' robes. Eponymous proprietors Julie and Bruce Lee Webb answer some salient questions. HOW, WHERE AND WHEN YOU DID YOU MEET? I REMEMBER A STORY ABOUT A SKATE PARK IN DALLAS? BLW: We met [in 1984]. I was skating at the Blue Clown ramp one afternoon near Love Field. We recognized each other from the punk-rock scene. Julie was there with her friend, photographing skaters. She invited me home for a turkey sandwich the next day. She played Adam Ant and Police records. I played T.S.O.L. and The Big Boys. HOW YOU CAME TO BE IN WAXAHACHIE. BLW: I was born in Waxahachie but moved to Oak Cliff and then Richardson. My grandparents came to Waxahachie from Kerala, India, in the 1950s. The massive courthouse and the old buildings loomed tall, gothic and shadowy and still have a sense of mystery to me. We inherited my grandparents' house in 1987, and Julie and I moved from Richardson to Waxahachie. JW: When we moved to Waxahachie, we had already been doing some flea markets, so it made sense to open a shop here. As we were visiting folk artists in the South, we realized the best places took some effort to get to and decided Waxahachie was perfect for us. ON LIVING WITH MA BELL. BLW/JW: Our building was built in 1902 by Waxahachie resident E.S Campbell. Originally, Mr. Campbell's law offices and an armory were upstairs, and a dry-goods store was downstairs. Later, the Bell System Telephone Co. moved in upstairs and a paint store downstairs. Shortly after World War II, the phone company moved, and it sat unused until we moved our living space there in 1995. The paint store closed in 1985, and it sat with all of the stuff still in it until we purchased it and moved our gallery. ON LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT. BLW/JW: When we moved to Waxahachie, we rented the upstairs of the connecting building and always looked in the windows of our building and dreamt of owning it. We purchased it in 1994 when we heard the family was selling. We agreed to buy it before we even saw the inside. ABOUT THE FOUNDING OF WEBB. BLW/JW: Webb Gallery started in 1987 in an old barbershop building down the street from our current location. We had been buying on trips first across north Texas and Oklahoma, then as distant as the New England antique markets, where the best tramp art, folk art, early Masonic and Odd Fellows artifacts, and early occult books were plentiful. We have loved and sought out a diverse array of old handmade, hand- painted signs; carved and painted items; and vintage clothes. We started traveling to set up at antique shows across the country and Deep South, where we sought many self-taught artists to meet and collect their work. In 1991, we moved to a larger space that had been an Main room of Webb residence with a 1940s-era Freaks banner by Snap Wyatt. The gallery has shown circus and sideshow banners throughout the years — a hot collecting field.