Is Bigfoot real? This is a question you may want to have with your friends late at night, or not, depending on your friends. The new documentary film "Capturing Bigfoot," which premiered at this year's SXSW festival, does not disprove the possibility of Bootfoot, as Business Insider noted recently, but it does aim to upend a piece of evidence that Bigfoot believers have embraced for 60 years--a minute-long, grainy 1967 film showing a tall, furry creature walking on two legs through the Northern California woods. Known as the Patterson-Gimlin film, it has remained at the center of Bigfoot convictions. Now the new documentary is tearing apart the Bigfoot community.

Peter Arkle, an illustration artist who likes to paint portraits of potatoes in his spare time, will be giving a talk about spuds and other stuff at the Tenth Street branch of Ninth Street Expresso tomorrow night. I was so curious about this whimsical idea that I asked him a few questions about his wide-ranging practice, and of course, about his personal library. Here’s the interview that took place by email: Peggy Roalf: As an illustration artist, you must own a lot...