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Hippie Marbling

An art form rooted in the 1960's and a look at one of its eccentric pioneers

Caleb John Clark, April, 2005



Cove as Count Fabriano In
The Early 1970s.

"It's all about waves. Like a map to another dimension. A two-dimensional map of a three-dimensional process, reflecting a four-dimensional idea." - Cove.


A five minute video of Cove creating
large format Hippie Marbling. Combines
8mm film shot in Berkeley, CA in 1972
by Jack Sinclair with a 2005 interview.

> Play Flash Version on Blip.tv
> Play Larger Quicktime Version

"I am Count Fabriano," says Cove, who pioneered large format "hippie marbling" in a tank made from an old VW bus during the swirling, chaotic hippie days 35 years ago in Berkeley, California.

Cove called these marble prints "Fabrianos," or "Fabs" after a town in Italy famous for making artistic paper. Count Fabriano was a fictitious character made up for the Renaissance Pleasure Faire where the first Fabs were sold. A product of the times, hippie marbling is characterized by psychedelic vortices and waves of colors. Technically speaking, Hippie Marbling is referred to as "one-off aqueous monoprinting," due to the unique patterns it produces, as opposed to the "classic" style of paper marbling most commonly seen on book ends in neatly combed identical patterns.

The process of hippie marbling (shown below and in the 5 minute video on this page) is similar to bookbinding marbling in that paint is floated on water and a material (fabric vs. paper in this case) is then laid across the top of the water. The paint is transferred to the fabric frozen in the same image it was on the water at the moment the fabric touched it. The fabric is then dried and sold as art.

Cove had discovered the ancient art of marbling for himself quite by accident while painting outside on Cape Cod. A canvas he was working on got wet in the rain, causing paints to float in a puddle on the painting. Cove then poured the water off onto another canvas, causing the paint to flip over onto the canvas and leave a pattern.

The idea to use a VW bus roof as a large tank came from Cove's friend, Olaf. Cove and Olaf developed a technique of floating oil based alkyd paints thinned with gum turpentine on 50 gallons of water thickened with commercial wall sizing glue. Hair dryers and sticks were used to tease the colors into each other and the bath of water was kept in motion. These finished 4' by 10' Fabs were then sold by Cove and Olaf on the streets of Berkeley, California during the early 1970s (continued below).
Hippie Marbling Process

Taken from an 8mm film shot by Jack Sinclair in 1972 in Berkeley, California. Cove is using the roof of a VW Bus as a tank for the water, and tubes that blow air to move the paint.


Paint is dropped on water.


Paint is air blown to swirl colors.


Fabric is set on paint.


Fabric is fully immersed in paint.

Fabric is taken out of tank.
Fabric is hung to dry.


cove maya marble
A finished Hippie Marble.

cove marble street2
Cove (right) selling Hippie Marbled
"Fabs" in Berkeley, Early 1970s


Cove shows vintage early 1970s
"Fab" during 2005 interview.

Hippies marble st.
Hippies hanging a marble.

Cove's hippie marbling culminated in the mid-1970's when he was commissioned to make large marbleized star maps for the first Star Trek conventions, and a 15' by 30' Fab that served as a background for a Grateful Dead and Jefferson Starship free rock concert in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. As the Hippie Movement started to ebb, so did demand for such psychedelic street art and Cove started doing more paper marbling and other forms of art.

In 1989 Cove organized the first International Marblers Gathering in Santa Fe, NM. Billed as "the largest gathering of marblers in the history of the universe," the conference was attended by 250 marblers from 20 countries. The conference ended with the creation of an 864 square foot piece of marbleized fabric. The world's largest.

To this day Cove views marbling as a magic "Freezing of the moment," a capturing of a slice of time. While classic marbling often is focused on interference patterns, hippie marbling is focused on waves that are in constant motion, right up to the magic moment the fabric touches them. He sees this type of marbling as a "Map to another dimension, a two dimensional map of a three dimensional process, reflecting a four dimensional idea." Cove also sees the process of marbling as a "reflective divination that reflects how the artist is doing in the cosmic world.

For further reading on Cove's marbling, see the following editions of "Ink & Gall, A Marbling Journal": Volume 1, #2: Volume 4, #1: Volume 5, #1.


More Info About Cove

Cove attended the University of Connecticut. He is currently an artist and political activist living in Santa Fe, NM. He can be reached at: coveymaya (at) earthlink.net.


Here's Some Marbling Links:

Dharma Trading companies marbling supplies.
The Art of Paper and Fabric Marbling, by Galen Berry.
"Rebirth of a Craft." A traveling show by the Museum Of New Mexico.
The Society of Marbling's main web site.
Mathematical Marbling by Audrey Jaffer.
Iris Nevins Hand Marbled Paper.
Photos from the Hippie Revolution by Robert Altman.