DOCUMENT RESUME

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AUTHOR Patterson, To TITLE ASHE: Improvisation & Recycling in African-American Visionary Art. INSTITUTION Winston-Sales State Univ., NC. Diggs Gallery. SPONS AGENCY North Carolina Arts Council, Raleigh. PUB DATE 93 NOTE 41p.; Printed on colored paper with color photographs and may not reproduce well. Funding also received from the James T. Diggs Memorial Fund and the United Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. PUB TYPE Reference Materials Directories/Catalogs (132) Viewpoints (Opinion/Position Papers, Essays, etc.) (120)

EDRS PRICE MF01 /PCO2 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Art Education; Arts Centers: *Black Achievement; *Blacks; Reference Materials; Secondary Education; *Visual Arts IDENTIFIERS African Americans

ABSTRACT This exhibition guide provides critical analysis, historical perspective, and brief biographies of 15 self-taught African-American artists whose works were displayed. "Ashe," an African word meaning "the power to make things happen," was used as the theme of the exhibition. The guide verbalizes the exhibit's investigation of the methods of making art and the motives of the makers by exploring the choice of materials (recycled objects) and the modes of creation (improvisational). Chapter one is entitled "Sorting Out a Context for Self-taught Art." The critique also examines the works' intellectual lineage traced from African spiritualism. Artists featured in this exhibition are: (1) E. M. Bailey; (2) Hawkins Bolden; (3) T. J. Bowman;(4) ; (5) Thornton Dial, Jr.; (6) Ralph Griffin; (7) Bessie Harvey; (8) Lonnie Holley; (9) Joe Light; (10) Ronald Lockett; (11) Charlie Lucas; (12) Leroy Person; (13) Juanita Rogers; (14) Arthur Spain; and (15) Jimmie Lee Sudduth. (MM)

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RESOURCES EDUCATIONAL TO THE CENTER (ERIC) INFORMATION

I/M.11M. ASHE: IMPROVISATION & RECYCLING IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN VISIONARY ART romPattetson.Cutator

'ASK 'the power to make things happen'

February 2 - March 29, 1993

Diggs Gallery at Winston Salem Stale UnrversitY 601 Martin Luther King Jr Drive Winston - Salem, NC 27.110 (919)750.2458

Front Cover: Lonnie Holley in his outdoor studio. 8irm Alabama-Photo by Roger Manley.

Back Cover: Bessie Harvey -Photo by True Kelly

Catalogue Design: Jon Over Alms-Galaxy Graphics

'ASHE FESTIVAL SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13,1993 - 9AM-4PM

VIstting Artists: Bessie Harvey Lonnie Holley Charlie Lucas ev 0cy otom co,

Visiting Scholars: Judith McWillie Dr. Regenia Perry Dr. Robert Farris7hornpson Major support for this catalogue and exhibition have been provided by a grant from the Exhibitions Program of the North Carolina Arts Council, the United .110.1 I. V Arts Fund Drive of the Ms Counci of iv iv .., ... Winsfon-Saiemand Forsyth County. the 0 Grassroots Arts Program of the North Carohna Arts Council. a state agency. and the James T. Diggs Memorial Fund

Copyright OFebtuary T993. Winston- Salem State University--Na part of this book may be reproduced an any form or by any orocess without permission in writing horn the copyright owner Published by the Diggs Gallery at 'A ,v,1 Winston SaiemStale University

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BEST COPYAVAlLABLi. E.M. Bailey

Hawkins Bolden

T.I. Bowman

Thornton Dial

Thornton Dial Jr.

Ralph Griffin

13essie Harvey

LonnieHolley

.JoeLight

. Ronald Lockett

Charlie Lucas

Leroy Person

Juanita Rogers

Arthur Spa in

Jimmie Lee Sudduth Charlie Lucas, Radio Man (cat. no. 40) Photo by Marti Griffin

4 Introduction

his exhibit and each work in It embodies power. and interpret his art and the art of his contemporaries, 'Ashethe power to make things happen. No one such as Charlie Lucas, Bessie Harvey, Hawkins Bolden word better speaks for the work in this exhibition or for and Thornton Dial.To quote Lonnie, "You ore the the spirit of the artists. translators, the apostles of this vvork.'is the Job of art first felt the spiritually charged energy of this professionals committed to the visionary field to work In 1989, when Dr. Robert Bishop (1938-1991) took "spread the message' found in this artwork and make me into his office at the Museum of American Folk Art it understandable to off. The spirituality and generous (I was then a graduate student at New York University) humanity in Lonnie's plea-slash-command makesit all to show me a "surprise.' Bob shared with me the slides the more awe-inspiring. of art by newly 'discovered' artists Lonnie HoNey, Located on the campus of a historically black Charlie Lucas and the Dial family. I thinkBob knew that university, Diggs Gallery at WSSV is committed to pro- he was taking me down a piithway of aesthetic dis- .mating and exhibitingartbyAfrican-Americans. 'ASHE: coveries that I would continue to explore, as I do in IMPROVISATION& RECYCUNGINAFRICAN-AMERICAN complete wonder today. . . VISIONARY ART is one of several exhibitions pcist, ores- Unlike numerous other museum shows focusing ent and future that explore the Afriaanisms in Ameri- on work by self-taught artists, this exhibit investigates can art: this show also kicks off the gallery's curatorial the methods of making and the motives of the makers effortto perlociically show art that celebrates all of the by exploring the choice of materials(the recycled ob- cultures of the African diaspora. feats) and the modes of creation (improvisational).. The visionary/outsider/folk art field has only recently Brooke Anderson, DIrectoi, Diggs Gallery begun to study the aesthetics and intentions of this work and.the artists and to give this art the same kind of scholarlyand critical attention any period of artde- serves. The field of self - taught art is crying out for more. critical analysis and thinking: so, too, are the artists. In a recent phone conversation with Lonnie Holley, he encouraged meand in the same breath ail curatars, arts administrators and writersto actively champion

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I. Sorting OutaContext for Self- Taught Art

For nearly a century now, the art world paintings, sculptures and constructions made has witnessed a growing fascination with the by these artists; commercial galleries in a work of independently motivated artists whose number of. American cities started sidelining if talent, imagination and inventiveness amply not specializing in "outsider" art; and museums compensate for their lack of formal art training. across the country began hosting exhibitions Until about 20 years ago, interest in this work of work by these uncertified and seemingly was largely confined to the elite inner circles of "naive," low-culture mavericks from the sticks the art world, but that began to change in the and. the backwoods. wake of the socio-political/cultural revolutions The unprecedented attention that has of the 1960s: been devoted to this art in recent years can best Awareness of this phenomenonvari- be understood as a. manifestation of a larger ouSly called art brut, outsider art, contempo- cultural phenomenon or, more accurately, rary folk art, idiosyncratic art, grassroots art several overlapping and intertwined cultural and a host of other namesspread to include phenomena. Among its other legacies, the writers, curators, art dealers and increasing memorable decade of the 1.960s spawned a numbers of mainstream artists. The 1970s saw kind of generational yearning for authenticity, the first major exhibitions of this work and to which these artists and their unpretentious articles about it in popular magazines and work strongly appealed. This art also spoke newspapers, and by the '80s the artists were forcefully to the deep current of .anti-elitism appearing on national TV shows and having that runs through American society, and to a their work mass-produced on the covers of spirit of cultural democracy that has been rock music albums. Thousands of people who growing in this country since the end of World had never collected art started buying the War 11. And its increasing visibility happened

S to coincide nicely, too, with other related made by some black Southernersthese and developments in the worlds of "high" art and other equally divers' kinds of art and artifacts popular culture during the late '70s and the are now routinely lumped together under these '80sa renewed interest in bold, figure-based vague, interchangeable banners. artwork; a kind of mini-renaissance in street- To date, the vast majority of exhibits based art forms such as graffiti, hip-hop. and showcasing this art have unquestioningly ac break-dancing! and the populist, do-it-your- cepted this generalized view of it and, as a self spirit of punk-rock and garage rock, to result, have come off as quirky but unfocused name a few of the more obvious examples ofrummage-sale-type affairs. There was a time these trends. when such exhibits played an important.role in Now that we're well into stimulating dialogue and intro- the '90s and some of its novelty ducing the public to a rich vari- has worn off, the art world is in ety of artworks that they weren't the process of reassessing and likely to encounter elsewhere in refining its view of this non-main- the institutional art world. But stream art, struggling with some they've outlived their usefulness of the difficult questions that sur- in that respect. Art audiences round it; and recognizing dis- across the country and around tinctions and common traits the world are by now well aware among the artists and their.works that such works exist. What's

that had earlier gone ignored...... needed at this point are more One of the more fundamental problems tightly focused shows that 'yield some fresh involved in considering this work is that it has insight into these works and highlight aspects been so broadly and loosely defined. "Out- other than the "marginal" status of their crea- sider" art and the other terms I mentioned tors. earlier have been applied to such a wide range In that spirit, this exhibition concen- of artworks that these appellations have been trates on the works of some extraordinary rendered virtually meaningless.The obses- individuals who share in common several key sively elaborate doodles of chronic mental.characteristics that set.them apart from many patients, the whimsical carvings and kinetic otheri who have been similarly categorized. wood toys made by rural craftspeople, the To begin with, they're all. African-Americans. ambitious environmental creations of. amateur As suggested by the reference to "recycling" in architects, the African- influenced mojo charms the show's title; they all make frequent and

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Ronald Lockett, Trap, (cif no.17)11hoto by Writ Griffin

0 regular use of discarded objects and other lately.It's applied freely to canny corporate found materials in their work. And they're all executives, charismatic politicians, brash rock self-taught, in the sense that they arrived at stars and any number of other individuals who theirdistinctive approaches to art-making have managed to capture the public's attention without the guidance of professional artists, art during their requisite 15 minutes of fame. instructors or prescribed curricula. At the same Despite its appropriati: in by the mass media as time, they can't be described as "folk" artists one of our era's favored fuzzy buzzwords, I've according to the strict definition of that term chosen to use it here because in its most precise outlined by folklorists and other academicsense, according to one or more of its several specialipts. In other words, they're not making overlapping dictionary definitions, it is so strik- quilts, t skets, pottery or other utilitarian ob- ingly applicable to the artists represented in jects in a style passed on directly from olderthis exhibit. As an adjective, it means charac- relatives or neighbors.. terized by foresight or vision, in the sense of On the other hand, it's not as if theseunusual competence in discernment or percep- people have simply existed in their own per-. tion; it also refers to anyone or anything that sonal vacuums or in imaginary private worlds, has a fantastical or dreamlike nature, or that is as has been the case with some of the artists fre- otherwise given to apparitions, prophecies or quently described as "outsiders." To the con- revelations. As a noun, it means seer, prophet trary, they have all been responsible, produc- or dreamer. These, of course, are the same tive members of their respective communities, characteristics by which every traditional cul- in most cases holding down demanding jobs ture identifies its wise men and women, its and caring for families for many years. And it shamans, sorcerers, diviners and healers. wouldbe grossly inaccurate to describe most of The.work of these visionary artists may them as being isolated from the larger global- appear highly idiosyncratic, and it may not be village culture whose midst we all live in; they folk art according to the specialists' definition, read books and newspapers, watch the news on but it substantially informed by African.. TV, and have informed opinions on socio-po- American folk traditions. Indeed, some schol- litical issues from the global to the interna-ars view these artists as latter-day practitioners tional levels. For all these reasons, the "out-of ancient visual and philosophical traditions sider" tag seems inappropriate and even de- that have survived and evolved among blacks meaning when applied to these individuals. in the Americas despite four centuries of slav- It's unfortunate that the word "visionary" ery, oppression, enforced ignorance and sec- is tossed around with so li ale. discrimination ond-class citizenship.

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Lonnie Holley, Trail of Tram (cat no 27) Photo by Richard Hackel

10 II. Spiritual Command & African Roots

This exhibition andtata logare the firstand commentary that art historian Robert Far- to focus on the interrelated themes of "recy-ris Thompson has contributed to the field of cling and improvisation" in the art of self-African-American studies. His writingses- taught, black American visionar- pecially his landmark .1983 book, Flash of the ies. But this is by no means the Spirit:, African & Afro-American Art & Philosophy first such project devoted to have been crucial to this show's thematic these particular artists and/or formulation. others with whom they It was Thompson who intro- share some degree of duced me (and thousands aesthetic and cultural of other Westerners) to kinship. In addition to the Yoruba word "cube," the many wide-ranging surveys of "out- 71 which I've appropriated sider" art or whatever else it might be as this exhibition's main title.It translates called, there have in the past few years roughly as "spiritual command," but I particu- been several important group shows larly like the variation thatThompson credits concentrating on African-American to Araba Eko', a Yoruba priest from Lagos, visionary art and a growing number of Nigeria, who defined"ashe" as "the power-to- articles and books that provide impor- make-things-happen, God's own enabling tant insights into this rich and fascinat- light made accessible to men and women." ing territory (see the Selected Bibliogra- According to Yoruba tradition, this divinely phy).Prominent among the writers, generated potential can manifest itself in all scholars andturatars responsible for these facets of life, but our concern here is with efforts have been Regenia Perry, Judith cultural artifacts (a.k.a. works of art) and McWillie, John Mason, Maude their makers.In that context, the 'ashe Wahlman, Jane Livingston and John concept functions as an Afrocentric version Beardsley. Of particular importance in of the familiar analogy between the powers laying the groundwork for this exhibit of the gods and those of the individual artist. has been the extensive research, analysis As "the power-to-make-things-happen," 'ashe

Thornton Dial Jr., logs Christ of Alt she Races (cat. no. 14) Photo by Marti Griffin 14 is the essence of creative abilitythe force, that Western culture calls "talent" and often ex- plains as "a gift.from God." Which is another way of saying that. we don't know where it comes from. Both Western and non.-Western traditions tend .to .airee on the mysterious nature of its originsthat it can be refined and developed in any number of ways, but it can't be learned, that in some fundamental sense ex- plainable only via the supernatural, it is inher- ent in those Who have it. As the late Dilmus Hall once explained it to me in accounting for his own remarkable artistic abilities, "It's a tal- ent that's imbedded in a person. But if it wasn't imbedded in you, you couldn't do it. You got to be imbedded with the talent, and that's from nature. When you can just pick up anything and make somethin' out of it,that's just talent!' LikeDilmus Hall,the individuals repre- sented in this exhibit make art because they're "imbedded with the talent," fueled with the spirit of sasbe. On one level this show is about corre- spondences between these artists' works and objects made by theirancestors in pre-colonial Africa. To a degree, it offers further support for the case already made by Thompson, Perry, McWillie and others, that the work of self- taught black artists in this country constitutes part of ari unbroken aesthetic continuum rooted deep in the African past, but still evolving in

Bessie Harvey, Africa,' Kitt, (cat, no. 24) Photo by Marti Griffin new and surprising ways.- For those previously unfamiliar with this view, I'll try to summarize 112 15 it here in just a few paragraphs: mirror fragments or any number.of other mate- Of all the varied cultures forcibly im- rials used for purposes of healing, protection or ported to the Americas via the slave trade, the the bestoWil of good fortune. Symbols strongly most influential has been that of Kongo, in the resembling Kongo cosmograms are still used in western and central parts of sub-Saharan Af- this hemisphere in connection with the rituals rica, roughly where present-day Zaire and of Vodun, Santeria and other African-American Angola are located. The Bakongoas people religions, and the nkisi tradition survives on this from this part of the continent are called side of the Atlantic in the form of "mojos," love accounted for one-fourth to one-third of the charms and "luck balls," among other manifes- slaves brought to the Americas rand an even tations. larger percentage of those shipped to the As for the other two traditions Thompson southern part of the UnitedStates mentions,' their American after 1808.4 Thompson cites in counterparts are no doubt fairly particular the influences of four obvious to anyone familiar with major Kongo traditions still evi-, African-American culture, par- dent in African-American culture:. ticularly in the South. In keep- ".cosmograms marked on the ing with "the Kongo notion of ground for purposes of initiation the tomb as a chirm for the per- and Mediation of spiritual power sistence of life,"7 black cemeter- between the worlds; the sacred ies. in this country are typically Kongo medicines, or minkisii the festooned with'a wide variety of use of graves of the recently de- found objects intended not ceased as charms of ancestral, vigilance and merely to ornament the graves but to enhance spiritual return; and the related supernatural their inherent powers andprotect the spirits of. uses of trees, staffs, branches and roots." 5 the dead. As in many other cultures, trees are The cosmogramsritual drawings that traditional Kongo symbols of the spirit, their symboliCally illustrate traditional Kongo cos- roots descending into the underworld while mologytake a variety of forms, but tht most their branches reach upward into the heavens, basic is that of a Creek cross or plus sign tightly and this is why they are sometimes planted on enclosed within a circle, Minkisi (nkisi in the graves in the Kongo region and in some of this singular) are medicines in the form of sacred country's black cemeteries.Related to this charms, "strategic object(s)" 6 .fabricitted 'from symbolism and to similar Kongo practices is dirt, leaVes, wood, beads, shells, feathers, nails, the longstanding African.-American tradition

16 of placing bottles on the limbs of trees or tree- dwelling and its surrounding property can be like wood frameworks as a means of supernatu- transformed into "virtually one vast nkisi ral prote.ction against evil.Such bottle trees charm."9 aren't as common as they were 30,ancl more Most if not all of .the artists featured in years ago, but examples of the tradition can this exhibit have created yard shows - =quite still be seen in some rural areas in the American elaborate ones in a few casesand some of the South: works here have been directly excerpted from Tree branches and roots also serve im- such slapdash doMestic displays. There are portant symbolic and ritual functions, whether pieces here that invite. comparison to cos- in their natural state or elaborated with im- mograms, bottle trees, cemetery charms and agery and transformed into staffs and other other minkisi: Others incorporate: twisted roots ritual devices. One of the most popular Afri- or oddly shaped wood formations that recall caif-American charms is a smallitwisted root the bisimbi tradition. known as "High John the Conqueror."8 Such These comparisons aren't intended to objects are traditionally associated with in- suggest that the artists are working from direct tensely concentrated supernatural. power,. in knowledge of these African precedents, nor accordance with the Kongo belief that potent that there's some kind of unconscious genetic spirits called bisimbi are incarnate in gnarled and culturalmemory operating here. The point is, twisted root formations. rather, that these classical African traditions An important link in the evolution of are so strong and adaptable that they've man- traditional black art forms from the spiritually aged to survive in this countryalbeit minus functional artifacts of classical Kongo.culture their original namesdespite seemingly over- to the creations of these late-20th- centurywhelming odds to the contrary. This heritage African-Americans is the yard show. To the has in turn contributed significantly to the untrained eye, a yard show is simply a collec- distinct cross-cultural aesthetic manifested in tion of ordinary objectsold car tires, hub- this exhibition. caps, mirrors, empty jars and bottles, toydolls, stones or other itemsarranged and displayed in the area immediately surrounding a house. But to one who knows the Kongo references, it exemplifies "an independent African-Ameri- can aesthetic of immense consequence and 17 influence,"whereby the most humble house

114 Bessie Harvey, Creation is a thnt of All Colon Thomas Allman lawman, decorated cane (cat. no. 23) Photo by Richard Hackel (tat no 7) Photo by Richard Nickel 1 5 1 lL. %

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BEST COPYAVAILABLE It Something Out of Nothing

While living in during the late me, "When other peoples have somethin' they 1970s and early '80s, I had .the pleasure ofdon't know what to do with, they throw it meeting the late Nellie: Mae Rowe and occa-away. But not me. I'm gonna make somethin' sionally visiting her at her small clapboardout, of it. Ever since I was a child I been that house, located on the northwest, edge of the way." As an example, she showed me one of her city in a community called Vinings. Her yard,chewing-gum sculpturesa softball-size head the garden and both the i nterioranci exterior° f formed largely of pre chewed spearMint gum her home were lovingly Orna- and embellishedwith bright paint, mented with, broken plastic costume jewelryand bits of toys, artificial fruit, religious cloth and explained, *Whenever memorabilia, bells, beads,.plas- I take a notion, I chews gum, but I ter figUrines, .imitiation birds save it when I'm through. My In cages and myriad other deeo- mind says, 'You're buyin' it and rative and utilitarian objects, throwin' it right down,' so I says,. along with many examples of 'I'm gonna make me somethin' out her varied but distinctive art- ofit.'"'° workdrawings, paintings, Like the'artists represented here,

collages, found object. coif- . . Rowe grew up in a family of very . . structions, hincl-colored photographs Of her- modest means and among people who *could ili self and her friends, homemade dolls wearing afford letting anythinglo to waste. What we

.thrift-store clothes and pairs of her old glasses, have in recent.years come to call "recycling" and oddly shaped bits of lumber painted to re- has always been practiced among the world's semble fish or animals, poor, wherever they might live. Material re- During an interview I conducted with sourcefulness and conservation are essential her not long before her death in 1982; she gave survival skills forthose who have little, whether.. eloquent expression to the recycling impulse they be black, white, brown, yellOW or red. In that is 'a focal point of this exhibition: "I take most traditional cultures, such skilli are associ- nothin' and make somethin' out of it," she told ated with common sense and wisdom.

17 20 At firstglance, many of the pieces in this worked to produce 'new' items performing exhibit might suggest a conceptual relation- altered functions."12In most cases the end ship to the 20th- century EurO-American art products of this widespread practice are strictly traditions of assemblage and the found object, Utilitarian. But certain black visionary artists bringing to mindearlier works by Duchamp, have raised this tradition to a more profound Braque, Picasso, Jean Tinguely, Edward Kein- level, at which the most mundanematerials are holz and Robert Rauschenberg.But these infused with religious, philosophical and moral black visionaries are generally unaware of and'significance, functioning as components in uninfluenced by those avante-gardists and other complex narrative, educational, devotional or "mainstream" artists, and their use of found protective devices. Remarking on these artists' objects and materials springs from different "extraordinary gift for reconfiguring ordinary motivations than those 'behind Duchamp's objects," Grey Gundaker has related their work readymades, fora example, or Keinholz's tab- to the traditional African religious concept of leaux. To some degree, the work here repre-. "double sight"the ability to perceive and sents a cross-cultural tradition parallel to that operate within the material andspiritual realms of the Modernists and theiracademically simultaneously and has described its crea- trained successors. In fact, this African-Ameri- tion as a kind of "mediating translation,"' 3 can tradition preceded its Euro- American through which the junk and debris of everyday counterpart, As Judith McWillie has pointed life .iS resurrected and transformed into an out, "...even before Derain, Matisse, and Pi- open-ended series of spiritual object-lessons. casso began to unfiic the classical boundaries of In terms of their working processes, these art- Western imagination and form, blacks in the ists use found objects the way a. jazz player Americas were synthesizing African, European, employs musical notes and scales, improvising and 'Native American idioms to create non- with thernto create dazzling juxtapositions and objective assemblages and narrative improvi- transcendent .constellations of .freely ranging sations. that prefigured the aesthetic revolu- form and deep meaning. tions to come...."1 On a purely material level, the works ex- hibited here exemplify. what anthropologist Juilius S. Kassovic has termed "folk recycling," a virtually universal tradition among the eco- nomically disadvantaged, whereby "junked and industrially-produced items are somehow re- 21

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20 21) IV Contemporary Art Beyond the Mainstream

Lonnie Holley'sone-acre environmental Native Americans to the U.S. health-care cri- assemblage on the outskirts of , sis. These works hold their own, withotit ref- Alabama, is an exceptionally dynamic, ambi- erence to Holley's heritage or biography,, along- tious example of the black yard-show tradi- side the most conceptually focused, politically f-°-n, and his freestanding pieces invite relevant, forma_ lly sophisticated art now being comparison to other African-Ameri- made by aca- demitally trained. artists. can visual models discussed above. Holley is simply a. brilliant, endlessly

As for his use of found objects, Hol- versatile . and astonishingly prolific ley grew Up in circumstances that en- con- temporary artist, period.. And couraged "folk recycling" and other in contrast to the stereotypical forms Of material ingenuity. As an aging, eccentric, isolated "out- adult, he has sharpened .these sider," he is still relatively young skills to a fine art,'which he ex- (42 at this writing), culturally informed, plains in terms befitting a lat- highly articulate and well aware of his work's ter-day alChemisf:"I dig growing status in the contemporary art through what other people have world. thrown away...to get the gold of At 4 I,Holley's friend and colleague it..."14 Charlie Lucas is alsocorisiderably younger Like the densely cluttered than most of the self-tiught artists who garden of resurrected junk he have been "disCoVered" by the institutional hasbuilt on the edge of Birming- art world. While Holley is known around ham, Holley's individual works Birmingham as "the SandMan," Lucas is."the are richly symbolic and loaded Tin Man" to his neighbors in the poetically with meaning.His industrial named community of Pink Lily, Alabama. sandstone carvings and portable This tag was inspired by his frequentuse of found-object constellations com-. tin and other scrap metal materials and ment on a wide range of con- objects in making art. Working with bailing temporary issues, from the Los wire, metal binds, automobile parts, Angeles riots to the plight of broken tools and the innards of dis- Charlie 1-41CSS,.The Ma (cat. no, 39) Li) Photo by Marti Griffin carded radios and TV sets, Lucas creates large- see; is watched over by a constantly changing scale sculptural assemblages in the form of assembly of loosely strut tured figures made people, animas and airplanes. A number of from sticks of broken furniture, carpet scraps, these wcrks populate the field adjoining the discarded kitchenware, castoff clothing. and artist's house (which he also built), like senti- other items Bolden finds in the vacant 'lots and nels standing guard over him and his family. alleyWays of his inner -city neighborhood. Now Lucas also makes paintings, and in this 77 years old, he is unique among contemporary respect at least he is without precedent among artists in that he has been blind since the age Of his forebearers, family members and neigh- seven and relies entirely on his sense of touch bors. But his work in welded scrap-metal was to 'construct his figures andthe wind-triggered prefigured by his 'great-grarid- noise-making devices that share father Caine King Jackion, a the area bordering his vegetable blacksmith who, as Lucas. re- .garden. These "sentinels" clearly calls, "did metal sculpture with function as more than mere scare- left-over stuff that he had. He crows, as 'indicated by their molded it, re- shaped it, beat it number and by comments the out."" Does this mean that. artist has made in reference to the Lucasunlike most of the other buckets and other metal vessels individuals represented here-7- that often serve as heads for these is a bona fide traditional folk art- figurative constructions: "I make

ist? 1111 leave the folklife special- - eyes on them," he explains."I ists to argue among themselves over that ques.- make them so they can see good: two eyes tion. More important is the fact that Lucas is here;.and one way up on the top of the head. making vital, contemporary sculptural state- The third eye sees a whole lot, you lcnow."16. ments.. His art"may not confront.the charged Remarking on examples of Bolden's work social issues dealt with in. the art of Lonnie that appeared ina 1990 group exhibition at the Holley, ThorntonDial and a few others repre- Southeastern Center for Contemporary .Art, sented inthis show, but in a formal sense as well Lowery Sims marveled "at the parallels be- as in its exploration of personal, psychologiCal tween this work and the occult apparitions of concerns, it is strong, significant work. Jim Dine, whose self-portrait was symbolized Just as Lucas' rusting metal sculptures in diagrams. of his housecoat during the guard his domain in southern Alabama, the 1960s."7 Although muchmore abbreviated, yard of Hawkins Bolden in Memphis, Tennes- Bolden's piecei also have a lot in common with

1 22 25 the life-size "Masked Figures" that.the Anglo- American sculptor David Finn exhibited in the alleys and deserted buildings of Lower Man- hattan during the 1980s. The late Ralph Griffin originally made his found-wood sculptures to place in his yard in Girard, Georgia, Where they functioned as guardian figures in an environment that also in- +WI corporated painted stones and gardens. Just as 05 1,0 4-4, Lonnie Holley and Charlie Lucas were nick- named according to their favored 'Materials, Griffin was known. in his community as "the Root Man"- because of the anthropomorphic transfOrthations he worked on roots and other. gnarled and twisted tree fragments that he gathered from astreambed on his property and from nearby cemeteries.

Griffin began cteating.his sculptures in . the 1970s, about the same time that Bessie Harvey commencedworkonherOngOingseries of strikingly similar pieces fashioned from drift- wood and other found objects. .Tilen as. now, Harvey lived In Alcoa, Tennessee, several 'hundred miles from Girard,' Georgia,, and the two artists had noway of knowing about each other until almost a decade later.Her root figures are typically more elaborate, than Griffin'smore thoroughly painted and liber- ally augmented with putty, costume jeWelry, glitter, shells or artificial flowersand in recent years she has added ceramics; metal sculpture and two-dimensional paintingto her repertoire.

Hawkins Bolden, untitled construction (cat, no. 4) Photo by Marti Griffin 2C 211 Regarding her use of found materials,mysterious spaceships hovering in the sky. Harvey echoes the comments of other artists One of these works was even posthumously represented, here, saying "Whatever otherfeatured on the cover of an album by the people throw away; that's What's good for me to popular rock group R.E.M. Hut she was appar- work with."" And her art is mOtivated by the ently more serious about and devoted to same kind of insistentvisionary "making mud,"1° as she referred to her sculpt- that has inspired Many other sel f:taught artists: ing process. A few years before Rogers' death, "Some nights l'close my eyes to go to sleep," her friend and the principal collector of her she explained, "and there 'will appear on mywork, Anton Haardt, wrote that Rogers ap- eyelids avision Of one of these dolls. It won't.proached her "mud work" with "an unwavering go away, and I have to get upand sense of mission"that she cre- draw it out on paper or get a ated sculptures "because she feels piece of wood and start making it is her duty, her job." 11 Accord- its/19 ing to Haardt," Rogers claimed A similar sense of urgency she was compelled to make these drove the late Juanita Rogers to pieces by a man she alternately create hundreds of distinctive called Stonefish or Stoneface, sculptures in the form of fantastic apparently an imaginary figure. human-animal hybrids. Instead Her sculptures depict dogs, cats, 'of twisted roots and branches "graveyard ants" and creatures

like those used by Griffin and . . she called "Mermaids, Goat- Harvey, Rogers created her works from othermen, Ram-men and Jungle women with tails,"22 equally ordinary materials that she found in orand when questioned about them, she replied near her yard outside Montgomery, Alabama. enigmatically, 'This is Secret Service work Cow and mule bones, broken glass, fossil shelli, Stonefish, he can tell you more about it than cinders, Spanish moss and even coffee grounds me, "cause I don't kmiw much about it.I just are among the ingredients she added to the make it."23 raw, reddish, iron-rich mud that was her main Ralph Griffin said he made art simply sculptural material. because "I just want to see what I can find in Rogers is remembered in the art world these roots and things. "14 Bessie Harvey primarily for her somewhat more conventional downplays the art status of her sculptures by watercolors of expressionistically rendered calling them "dolls." And Juanita Rogers de- cartoon characters'in rural settings, often with flected inquiries into the nature of her work by 24 27 invoking a mysterious entity perceivable to no one else.Unfamiliar and unconcerned with the specialized language and intellectual con- ventions of contemporary art discourse, self- ae taught artists have been known to speak of their work in terms deliberately aimed at con- AA founding the listener or understating the work's a real significance. This is particularly common in cases of black artists responding to questions from writers, scholars .and collectors who happen, to be white. Cultural subterfuge is itself a necessary folk tradition among black

Americans, who.long ago learned how to conceal their own strengths and otherwise be- strategic in their dealings with whiteito play Juanita Roger, Dog with Tongue . it cool, play dumbt disguise their motives, hide Photo by Anton .Handt the truthwhatever it took to protect them- selves and their traditioni from, the keepers of the dominant racist culture. Writing about the work of Thornton Dial, the late Robert Bishop attributed the artist's "long-maintained secrecy about his work" in part to "his fear of reprisals froniuninformed whites and blacks who might misunderstand and resent his social commen- tary. He avoided talking about the nature of his art to outsiders, claiming simply that 'it don't , meannothing.'" Dial's is a highly interesting case in this regard.For more than 40. years he created artworks that were seen only by his.family and his neighbors in Bessemer, Alabama, mean- while making his living at a variety of construc- tion-related jobs and other, blue-collar trades. Juanita Roger, HeadlesiWoman (cat. no. 47; Photo by Anton Haardt

26 28 "Discovered" by the art world during the "out- sider" art boom of the 1980s, Dial quickly gained a reputatic n as one of the country's most creative and prolific, self-taught artists.En- couraged by the keen interest that others have shown in his work in recent years, he is no longer secretive about it, and he new asserts, 'Too many people died without ever getting their mind out to the world. I have found how to get my ideas out and I won't stop." 26 Like the other artists represented here, Dial often works with found materials, which he incorporates into his art in ways that are 'sometimes so subtle that they go unnoticed. He has used scrap metal, scrap carpet, un- wound braided rugs, discarded architectural components, soft-drink bottles, a pair of crutches and myriad other castoffs in making his intensely expressionistic narrative sculp- tures and paintings.. Drawing from a rich vocabulary of personal symbols, he uses his work as a vehicle for social criticism and com- mentary on a variety of political, psychological and spiritual issues, including race relations, the environment, corporate exploitation, drug

abuse, religion and sexuality. Inspired by his. formidable example, several other members of Dial's family have begun making art in recent years, and two of themson Thornton Jr. and cousin Ronald Lockettare also represented in this exhibit. Dial's bold artistic statements have made a strong impression in the critical arena as well

Lonnie Holley, Th. Eye 4.1In LAPP Man kat nn 31) Photo by Marti Griffin 126 29 as the marketplace, where his more ambitiousingly irrelevant to our larger societal circum- pieces have established record prices for newstances. But just as some semblance of a "New work by a living, self-taught artist.But hisWorld Order" is beginning to take shape in the commercial success has been a sore point forrealm of geopolitics and international eco- some observers of the "outsider" market, whonomics, so is a kind of New Art-World Order seem troubled by the fact that works by anemerging on the American cultural front. uneducated black Southerner could command.Among its other aspects, this emergence in- the same five - figure prices routinely fetched byvolves a new openness to and eagerness for the younger, trendier white, academically'trainedcreative contributions of African-, Hispanic-, New York artists.This.-rnis attitude revealsa deep- Asian-, and Native Americans, along with those seated, ultiMately Eurocentric (and SoHocen- of other racial and cultural groups once con- tric) prejudice about the nature of art andsidered to be "outside the mainstream." education. The mainstream doesn't exist anymore.

. Countering this view in a recent issue ofThe aesthetic and intellectual priorities that the New Art Examiner,Butler Hancock offers aAmerican visual'art inherited from Europe no more appropriate perspective on this subjectlonger comprise the dominant agenda in the when he cautions, "The fact that some of thesepostmodern, pluralistic, multicultural milieu artists may have had little formal education,that is the current art world. This fact is just lived in relative isolation, faced monumentalbeginning to be acknowledged and addressed racism and poverty, or been inspired by per- by the institutions charged with administering sonal religious convictions should not be theculture in this country. It's a slow process, but critical or categorical focus of their work....one in which the artists represented here are We should approach their backgrounds as ref-playing a significant role. Just as they give new erences that tell us how they got where theyare meaning to the castoff materials they scav- today: making important contemporary art.'senge, so are they revitalizing and reinvigorat- Current debates about the value anding the contemporary art scene with their validity of self-taught art reflect the generallyinnovatively improvisationaLthought-provok- unsettled state of the American art scene dur-ing work. Consistentlybold, experimental and ing an important transitional phase. Despiteadventurous, it transmits important lessons the distintively American developments of theabout self - empowerment; community empow- pas1 75 years or so, the visual arts in thiserment and the transformational powers of art. country have in many ways continued to fol- low a basically European model that is increas-

30 271 Footnotes

,Robert Fans Thompson. flash of the WI, African I AttoArnssocon Art I Philosophy(Now York: VIntoae Books/Random Hous., 19831 P.5. 'Tom Patterson. *Straw Ir Beoutlful World,' Ekottrrs Gude to Georgia. Va. 9. No. 12 (December 1981) p. 58. 'The argument is most comprehereheiy 'spooned In Robert Tank Thompson's Flash of the Spitit(tee Note 1. abovo)and turtle( elaborated In the follovAno eshiblIton catalogs: Mother foe* of the DiarnOnd: Pathways ThreuGh he Wok Atlantic South (New York: INTAR Lolls American Gallery. 1989): Nock Art/Ancestral Legacy: The African mouse Aftloon-Arnericon Art (Dolor Dallas Museum of Art. 1989): Even the Deep Minpro I God:A Qua/lye/ Mind in Afro-Aftm8c TractIffaralArt (Pthsburatt: Pittsburgh Center tor the AA, 1990): and Nock folkArt in America 19301980 (Jackson; University Press of hIssiseppl/Center for the Study of Southern Cullum/Corcoran Galley of 1582). 'Judith McWile. 'Introckbllon.' p. 5. and Robert Fares Thompson. 'The Circle and the Branch: Renascent Kongo-Arnerfoan Art.' p.24. Another foee of the Diamond (sie Mole 3. above), 'Thompson, flash of the Spklt, p. 108. Mbid.p. 117. 'bid, p. 132. abld.p 131. 'Robert FOInt1hornpeco. 'The Song that Named the Land: The Vlsionay Pretence of African- American Art.' Block Alf/Ancestral Legacy (see Note 3, above) p. 124. 'Tom Patterson, 'A Shaped Beautiful Wend: 0.53. P.Judlth hloWlee.."Introductbn.' Mother Faced the Diamond, p. 7. "JI&S Stephen Kassa/lc. 'Junk and Ih Transformations: 'A Report tan The Center for folk An and Conternixwory Crofts, Vol. 3. No. 1 (19e2)p. 1. %fey Guncidesr. 'Double Sight: Even the Deep Things of God (se Note 3, above). "Judith McWille, Moves,. Arffaurn. Vol. )00(, No.8 TAO 191'2) 11 81. ',Another Face of be Dicrnond, p. 64. %lap. 01. . . Lowery S. Sril, 'On Nollass of the Decode. MeanAmericansandthe Art Wald' Next Generation: southern hock Aesthete (WInston.Salem Southeastern Center tor Contemporary Art. 19902P. 11. .. , toSell-pranottonal/bfarnotIon sheet clstrbuted bY the artist. 1972. "bid. situated by Anton licadt. 'Juanita Rogers,' pamphlet cletrIbuted by Anton Haardt Studio, Montgomery, AL1982.

"Even the Deep Thrice &God, p. 11. sliabert Bishop, 'Thornton dal: An Ordinary and Unique Americo, Artist,' Thornton Dolt Strategy of the Wodd(iamalca: Southern Queens Pak Aasocialcn, 1990) p. 3. "Paul Amett. 'The Strategy of Thornton Old,' Thornton Mt Sliolegy of the Woad, P. 9. ',Phyllis Joyner and Gerard Haggerty. 'Folk Att at Fahey Prices: the Case of Blanton Dial Sr.,' Folk Arf Aiessengor, Vol. 3, hb.(Spring 1990)p. 1-3, Seeds° 'Dial Story Rakes Tempers,' a response to the Joyner/Harmony article in the form of a letter written by Bon Ap feltaurn (and Haggerly's response to Apteibaum's response), kirAdAfeseetsper, Vol, 3, No. 4 (Summer 1990) p. 2. "Butler HancoCk. 'The deemation of Incltference, 'New AN Examiner, Vol. 20, No, 2 (October 1992) p. 72.

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Hendpainted signs at entrsece to Lonnie Holley's environment, Birminghain, Alabama, October, 1997 Photo by Torii Patterson.

32 29 THE ARTISTS

E.M. BAILEY(f 901-19/16) was born and spent his .4p:river , childhood in rural Georgia near the small town of Indian Springs. In 1916 he moved to Atlanta, where he lived until his death.During his last 40 years he earned 'a living fabricating cement tombstones.Around 1960 he began making art as "something to do in my spare time, to keep busy." In the ensuing years he created dozens of paintings, sculptUres and other works, which he displayed in every room of his house and in an adjacent outdoor environment that doubled as a vegetable garden. His work ranges from com- memorative portraits to religious scenes to personal narrative art and social commentary. HAWKINS BOLDEN(b. t 915) lost his eyesight at age seven following a blow to the head, and never regained it, but hi has made visual/tactile art for most of his life.Bolden gathers a variety of discarded objects during his rounds as a gardener and clean-up man in urban Memphis, Tennessee, and uses them to construct the scarecrows, guardian figures and abstract assemblages that until a few. years ago could only be seen in his yard. THOMAS JEFFERSON BOWMAN (c.19 t 5- c.198c) mjed in Pinihurst, North Carolina, and was a rail- road worker for most of his life. Iii Used dolls, Christmas or- 4 naments, costume jewelry and other found objects to make and

'01 decorate walking canes and other artworks.His most elaborate project was the ornamentation of his car, which he transformed into such an arresting sight that it caused traffic jams when he drove it through hii hometown, and he was ticketed by local police as a result. THORNTON DIAL(1/.192 8) OMt his childhood in rural Sumter County, Alabama, before moving at age to Juanita Roger, 1912. Photo by Anton Hatirdt the nearby industrial town of Bessemer. He worked for many

130 33 BEST COPY AVAILABLE years at a local railroad-car manilla( hut ma plan landa affinities with traditional African and African-American riety of part-tone jot's, inch«ling carpentry, house -painful,' art as well as with the work of certain self-taught and aca- and metal work. Meanwhile he hooted his spate In/leto demically trained contemporaries. Making sculpture, paintings and other ar tworks that few LONNIE HOLLEY (b.1950) was in his early teens people saw until about six years ago Dial uses a stir/mutt,' when his grandmother taught him to scavenge in trash dumps array of conventional and unconventional materials, in- for items he could sell at secondhand shops and flea markets. cluding industrial scraps and found objects, to crew to distinc- About a dozen years ago be began carving blocks of indus- tive, restlessly experimental works that address social, phi- trial sandstonewaste from a steel mill in his hometown of losphical and personal issues. Birmingham, Alabamato form sculpture echoing the art of THORNTON DIAL, JR. (b. 1953) is one of several ancient Africa and Mesciamerica. Soon be added painting, . . members of Thornton Dial's family who have followed in his wire sculpture and found object assemblage to his artistic rep- footsteps (see also Ronald Lockett, below). In 19/14, with his ertoire, and in recent years he has transformed the wooded father and younger brother Richard, he helped establish a hillside surrounding .his house into a densely cluttered envi- family business, Dial Metal Patterns, in which he continues ronment whose constantly changing juxtapositions of arti- to work making outdoor furniture.Meanwhile, like the facts and images convey interrelated messages about spiritual senior Dial before him, he devotes much of his spare time to and psychological issues as well as socio-political concerns. making art, often from industrial scraps and other castoff JOE LIGHT (b. 1934) was born in Dyersburg, Tennes- materials that he finds near his home in Bessemer, Alabama, see, and spent much of his troubled youth traveling ground the RALPH GRIFFIN (I 925-199) was horn in Burke South. After a brief stint in the army during the early 1950S, County, Georgia, and lived his entire life in that state's he had several run-ins with the law, and he was *in and out of southeastern coastal plain, working as a janitor and at a jail from the mid-'50suntil the 1;:e 'oos. After converting to varietY of other jobs. With his wife Loretta, he settled in the Judaism during his last prison term, he settled in Memphis, rural community of Girard and raised six children About where he married and raised seven children; whom he sup- 5 years before his death he began scavenging roots and ported by working as a barber and a dealer in secondhand weathered tree stumpi and using red, black and white paint goods. He also began making sculpture from driftwood and to transform them into anthropomorphic sculptures that he other found objects, and a few years later he started painting placed in his yard and later sold to art collectors and dealers bold landscapes and figures on plywood panels. He first across the country. exhibited these works in his yard along with hand painted BESSIE HARVEY (b. 1928) was born in Dallas, Geor- signs bearing religious and socio-political messages. gia, and currently lives in Alcoa, Tennessee. A great grand- RONALD LOCKETT (b. 106 5), the youngest artist mother with 30 grandchildren and s t children whom she represented in this exhibit, is a young cousin of Thornton raised almost entirely by herself, she began making sculpture Dial (see biographical note above) and lives near the rest of about 70 years ago and was "discovered" by the contempt, the Dial family in Bessemer, Alabama,As a child he rary art world ill the early 19805. Usually made a/ twisted watched Dial making sculptures and paintings and was thus tree fragments augmented with paint, ienitlry, feathers, shells inspired to take up art himielf. He considered entering art and artificial flowers, these fiore.based works have shawl school after his graduation from high school in the early 3 31 BEST COPY AVAILABLE 19805, but instead decided to remain'at home working on his a few sticks of furnitureanda TV set that usually remained own and continuing to learn from Dial.His work often on, this small dwelling was filled with her sculptures, which incorporates recycled materials and otherwise shows clear she claimed were inspired by and made for a mysterious, signs of Dial's influence, but he has developed his own probably imaginary figure known its Stonef ish or Stone - signature. style and a unique vocabulary of symbols and face. Rogers also made fanciful narrative watercolors of visual motifs. hovering spacecraft and cartoon characters. CHARLIE LUCAS(b. 1951) may have inherited his ARTHUR SPAIN (1931-1978.)spent most of his life creative and mechanical abilities from his father, who was a in Raleigh, North Carolina. There he produced many tits. chauffeur and auto mechanic, and from other forebears tinctive variations on the traditional folk art form of bottle skilled at such trades as blacksmithing and chair-caning. construction, filling whiskey bottles with miniature pores One of 14 children graving up in rural Jefferson County, and crosses that he-carved from scrap wood and decorated Alabama,' he ran away from home in his early 'teens and with glitter and ballpoint pen drawings1 le usually sold learned to support himself as a construction worker, truck- these or traded them for full bottles of whiskey The only driver and handyman. In the early 1970% he married and examples of his work on. permanent public display are at settled in Autatiga, Alabama, where he continues to live with Marvin Johnson's Ken. nebec.Gourd Museum near Fuquay his wife and six children. During his childhood he made toys Varina, N.C. from scrap materials, and many years later, when he was a JIMMIE LEE SUDDUTH(b. 19 so) began paint- husband and father, he began making scrap-metal sculpture ing at age three and was encouraged to continue pursuing

whili recuperating from a back injury. . this art fonn by his mother, a Native American "medicine LEROY PERSON (1907-1985)wasa saw. mill workir lady." Having no access to traditional art materials, he and carpMer who dealt with illiteracy by devising his own taught himself to. paint with his fingers, using mixtures of private hieroglyphic system, which only he a nettnembers of mud, sugar, honey, berries and other plant materials on his family could read. He built the small wood frame house .scrap wood surfaces, and he ha' s continued to work primar- where he lived for most of his life. near Jackson, North ily with these same kinds of.materials. While making art . Carolina, and after. his retirement in the 19705, he covered and performing music on his harmonica for the amusement the door and window frames with complex networks of of his family and neighbors, he earned his living working on carved glyphs and abstract shapes. Using .scrap lumber farms, grinding corn meal and even. working as a carnival and other found wood objects, he made furniture and roustabout. His reputation as an artist began to spread after

hundreds of small wood sculptures which he colored with the his first solo.exhibit, 2 1 years ago at the Fayette Art wax from melted crayons. Museum in his native Fayette County, Alabama JUANITA ROGERS (1934-,198 5).lived her entire life in rural southern Alabama near Montgomery, and she The Curator began making mud sculpture during her childhood. She TOM PATTERSON is a writer art critic and curator He Is'the author of 51 EOM ,a never married or had children, and she spent the last 13 years &Lee/Jai Pasapian Oargiin Society 198716nd Howard FINSIf Sono, bow Amodro Wald (Abbeville Press. 19891 He wntesregularly for the (-bylaw Observe, and the Maw. of her life in a two-room house with no plumbing. Asidefrom Sale lomat

32 35. 10. Bird-Catcher Lady. 1987 metal strips, wire, concrete. industrial sealing compound, house Exhibition Checklist paint; 32 1/2 x 9' x 7'12 Collection of William Arnett

LINDIRI TO THI EXHIBITION 11. Old KW Klux, 1969 hemp rope, plastic can lids, industrial seoling compound, house William ArnettCavinMorns GalleryMr & Mr's, Richard Craven . paint on wood; 48' x 48 1/4' x 13'

Robert Cargo Folk Art GalleryLew Deadmore Penny Demetriades . Collection of William Arnett Anton Huardt GalleryLonnie HolleyA. Everett James 12. Discrimination and Electricity, 1992 Robert Lynch Collection of Outsider Art. North Carolina Wesleyan College enamel. wire, cloth, rubber, tin, industrial seining compound on Roger Manley Su PetersonMike and Lisa Eller Smith . canvas mounted on wood; 48' x 58' x 6' Howard SmithUrban Artwore Gollery Collection of William Arnett

THORNTON DIAL, JR. E.M. BAILEY 13. The Gallia Lends a Helping Hand to the and the Corrvany, 1985 .1. Pyramid, mld-1970s . plantcoated wire, mop string, carpet, carpet backing. wire, house plastic beads. coins, rocks, Jewelry, buttons, plaster, wood; paint on wood; 48' x 52 14' It6' 11'x 123(4 x 121.3 CoNeolion of William Arnett Collection of William Arnett 14, JIM. Chit of AN the Races, 1988 2. Unf lled. date unknown metot tubing, barbed wire, aluminum pop top, Industrial sealing aluminum foil, plastic foliage, rocks, branches with leaves, jplastic toy COMpoUnd, noun paint on wood; 46' x 31 112* s 14' animals, terrycloth, plader, spray paint, wood frame; 23' x 27' x 5 Ili Collection of WIlliarn Amett Collection of William Arnett 15, Africa, 1989 HAWKINS BOLDEN wood, libribi Carpet, Industrial sealing compound. house paint 3 x ' 3.Untitled. 1980s Collectipn of William Arnett decorative cookie tin lid. aluminum pot, carpet. tree branch; 32'x 15' x 9 RALPH OMPI1N Collection of William Arnett 16 Mead Doing flockffroks, 1988 4. Untitled, 1980s wood, point) 11 lol' x30' x 36' 'tin Ilda, found metal, plastic, synthetic leather, wood, fabric Collection of Robert Cargo Folk Art Gallery (child's snow WO; 88 112 x 291/2 x 8 1/2 Collection of Wrisom Arnett 17. Subenorino Trout 19811 wood, paint; 14 103 x 27' x 23' 5. Untitied, 1980s Collect on of Robert Cargo Folk Art Gallery painted wood bed headboard, found metal °bleats. wire fencing, uoholstery fabric, foam backing; 41' x 33' x 18. floil-Hood Man, 1%9 Collection of William Arnett wood, paint; 26' x 27' x 6' Collection of Robert Cargo Folk ArfGallery 6, Untitled, 1980s wood, plastic, aluminum pot, artificial greenery. 79' x 13 I/2' it 10' 19Devil, 1988 CbIlection of William Arnett woad, palrit; 20' x 9' x 15' Collection of Robert Cargo Folk Art Gallery THOMAS JIPPIRSON BOWMAN 20. Witch, 1988 1. Decorated cane, ca, mld-1970 wood, paint; 25 I/2' x 17' x 15 I/2 wood, plastic, sequins, artificial foliage, ribbon, tinsel, mirror glass. Collection of Robert Cargo Folk Art Gallery plastic flowers, aluminum barber wire. yr un. string and found Omit advertisements, 40' x 11/2. x 1 21. The Lognoins, ca. 1988 Collection of Mr i Mrs. Ilsoluird [Alvan wood, paint, shot bead necklace; father 25' x 11' x 9', mother 17'x 15' x 8'. child 14' x 7' x 7' THORNTON DIAL Coiler;flon of Robert Cargo Folk Art Gallery 8 Sancti/led Minoru 1992 22. Wind, 1990 enamel, wood, wile Screen, nt it, ref. clutlillirs. bathed wire, Industrial wood, paint; 12' x 4' x 6 64' sealing compound on coilvoi 'or it miler II rn wr rui I. 72' x 84 IN s 4' Collection of Lew Deadmore Collection of W11110111 An tett MUIR HARVEY V Even the nanrflonopoil Mi 't Net 1989 wooden [mantles, In111ier1 wile. I flOttli, sealing compound, 23. Creation Is a Bunt of Alt Colors, 1991 litotes int. 66'NV x 31' marbles, glitter, felt and rhinestone button, paint, wood; 47' x 11' x 7' 3 iliettill OfWIIII(Ilt1Al/Illt, Collection of Urban Anwar* Gallery 311 36 BEST COPY AVAILABLE 24 African King, 1987 37. Traps. 1990 wood, plastic beads, feathers, acrylic paint on tree root: wood, metal, wooden twigs, plastic bird/flower ornament, plastic 36' x 20' x 12 1/2' fence. housepoint; 48' x 48' x . Collection of William Arnett Collection of William Arnett 25. Poison of the Lying Tongues, 1987. CHARLIE LUCAS wood, tree root, pebbles. acrylic point 20' x 19' x 13' CollectIon of William Arnett 38. When the Brain Melts Down, the Dog Eats, 1987 rusted metal Orbs, container lid. bicycle and.machine parts, wood: 26. Warrior. 1085 44' x 49' x 12' painted wood. beads. costume jewelry. woodputly, ribbons. Plastic Collection of William Arnett flowers: 48' x 25' x 10' Collection of Cavin-Morrls Gallery 39. Time Man. 1987 rusted metal wire. bicycle parts machine parts. oven rack: LONNIE HOW 80' x 38' x 33' Collection of William Arnett 27 TKO of Tears. 1991 Skull, mandible, feathers, artificial flowers and other found materials; 40. Radio Man, 1988 34' x x 12' pipe, transistorS, plastic coated wire, metal tubing. found metal Collection of A. Everett James objects. auto wheel hub; 75 1/2' x 24' x 20' Collection of William Arnett 28, Ode to South African Slacks, 1991 pointed shovel; 17 x8 1/2 x 17' 41., Old Wheel Don't Rol Anymore. 1988 Collection of A. Everett James rusted metal, machine parts, bicycle wheel. auto wheel hub; .50',x 18' x 18' 29. You Can't Replace Real Life, 1992 Collection of William Arnett wood, plastic, wire, fabric and found objects; 68' x22 1/2' x 9' Collection of William Arnett 42. The Duck. 1991 paint, dirt, rubber hose. clothespin, wooden dowel wood chips. 30, Looking Back into The Memories of a Worker. 1990 staples. plastic, plastic lid. plywood; 17 1/2' x 23' . rusted metal, wire, artificial flowers, found objects; 53 x 53' x 33' Collection of A. Everett James Collection of William Arnett lEROY PERSON 31. Eyes of the Labor Man.'1991 41 Blue Throne. ca. 1980 rusted metal, wire, container lids, cotton twine, fabric, paint, wood. paint, crayon wax, scrap wood. nails; 35 1/2' x 26' x 28' ,78' x 22 1/2" 107 Robert Lynch Collection of Outsider Art. North Carolina Wesleyan Collection of William Arnett College 32. Fighting at the Foot of Me Crate. 1988 44. Brown Throne. ca 1980 wood, metal wire, plastic coated wire, found metal objects, strop Wood, Masonite, aluminum strip, paint; 42' x 34. x 23' e/Y x 35' x 14' Lynch Collection of Outsider Art. North Carolina Wesleyan .Collection of William Arnett Robert COlioge 33. Remedicofing. 1992 duminum and tin umbrella frame, plastic syringes, air conditioning 45. Desk, 1981 Putr- capper tubing, cloth; 66' x 25' x 70' Crayon wax, scrap wood. nails; 40 1/2' x 161/2' x 16' Collection of the artet Collection of Roger Manley. 46. Five wire baskets, ca. 1970-1980 JOE UGHT . insulated telephOne wire, copper wire, metal springs. aluminum 34. Thank the Lord, 1987 . fencing; 4' x 6' x 6' (smallest) to 11 1/4' x 10 1/2' x 9 34 (largest) metal pipe, mirror, horseshoe. aluminum and brass containers. paint, Robert Lynch Collection of Outsider Art, North Carolina Wesleyan wood; 56' x 40' x 19' . College Collection ofWIlliam Arnett 'JUANITA ROGERS 35. Untitled, 1987 linoleum tile, rusted metal toy car, auto tall light, metal clippers. 47. Headless Woman, co. 1980 paint, wood; 14 1/2' x 81 I/2' x 4' mud, bone, found materials; 10' x 10' x 7' Collection of William Arnett Collection of Anton Hoardt

RONALD LOCKETT 48. Dog with Ng Nostrils, co. 1980 mud, bone, round materials; Ix 12' x 14'

36. Tree of Llfts,1992 . Collection of Anton Hoardt wood, metal, canvas, fabric, wooden twigs, found wooden frame, cardboard, Industrial sealing compound, acrylic paint; 48' x 69' x 7' 49. Dog with Long Ears, ca. 1980 Collection of William Amen mud. bone, found materials; 11' x 12' x 13' Collection of Anton Hoardt 37 I34 BEST COPY AVAILABLE 50. Dog with Teeth; ca. 1980 mud, bone, found materials; x x 10' Collection of Anton Haarat Selected Bibliography. 51. Headless Woman, ca. 1980 mud, bone, found materials; 8' x 7 x 10' Adele. Lynne. Black History/Black i'iSiONAustin: Archer M. Huntington Collection of Anton Haardt Art Gallery, College of Fine Arts, The University of Texas at Austin, 52. Dog with Black Nose. ca. 1980 1989. mud, bone, found materials: 12' x 15'.x 16' Collection of Anton Haardt Another Fare of the Diamond- Pathways Mogi, The Black Monne South New York: INTAR Latin American Gallery, 1988. ARTHUR SPAIN .ART /artifact. New York: The Center for African Art, 1988. 53. Untitled bottle construction, 1967 whiskey bottle, carved wood, ballpoint pen. enamel, glue, glitter: Baking In The Sun: Visionary Imagn From Tlx South. Louisiana: 4`x 2' University Art Museum, 1987. Calle6ton of Mr. & Mrs. Richard Craveh 54. Untitled bottle construction, 1976 'Bessie Harvey.' Artforurn, (January 1988), no pagination. whiskey bottle, carved wood.ballpolnt pon, enamel, glUe. glitter: el X 4' x 2' Black Art/Ancestral Lipsey: The African Impulse lx African-American Collection of Mr, & Mrs. l'ilchard Craven Art. Dallas Museum of Art, I989. 56. Untitled bottle construction, 1977 Bontemps, Arna Alexander and Jacqueline Fonvielle.Bontemps. Forever

whiskey bottle, carved wood, ballpoint pan, ammo', glue, glitter; . beet Art by African-Amnion WOPIIVI 1843.1910. Alexandria, '. x 4'2' Virginia: Stephenson, Inc, t980. Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Mchard Craven Dewhursr, Kurt C., Betty MacDowell and Marsha MacDowell. Religious Folk JIMMIll III MIXON Art lie America: Reflections of Faith. New York: E.r Dutton, BO, Dog, 1991 Inc.; 1983. point. earth. sugar, chalk, plywood; 29' it 18' . Collection of Penny Dernetriades ,Early, Gerald. Tuxedo Junction: Essays ON American Csiture. New York: The Ecco.Press, 1989. 51. Se-Portrait 1991 paint. earth, sugar. coffee grounds. PlYwood. 48' x 29' Fawcett, Dennis, Two Black Women Reflect Their Heritage In Their Art.' Collection of Penny Demettlacies Nig Ham Register, March12, 1989, D.3. 56. Artlto HM.194 point, earth, plywood; 24' x 24' Ferris, Williams, ed. ,4fro.karrican Folk Ant and Crafts.. Jackson, Collection of Su Peterson Mississippi and London: University Press of Mississippi. 1983. . . 59. Gedrgefown 8uilding,1991 Georgia's Writer's Project. Draws awl Sba4ouss: Survival Studies Aissvg point, sugar. earth. chalk. plywood; 32' x 16' Tbt Grogia Coastal Norm. Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Collection of Mike and Usa Eller Smith Press, 1940.

60. Woman in the Green Skirt 1991 Greenfield, Verni. Making Door Making Art, A Siudyof American' point, sugar, earth, plywood; 25' x 17' Recycling. Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI, Research Press, 1986. Collectors of Mike and Lisa Eller Smith Hammond, Leslie King. Riiiialand Myth: A Sunny of African-American Art. 61. Statue of Liberty. 1989 New York: The Studio Museum of Harlem, 1981. Paint, sugar, earth, plywood; 37 x 24' Collectibn of Howard Smith Henkovits, Melville J, The Myth of tbt Negro Past, Boston: . Beacon Press, 1958.

lime and Yank Black Folk fife Expressions In Los Angeles. Los Angeles., California: California Alro,AmerIcan Museum. 1987,

Human, Zora Neale. Dust Tracks on a Road, Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, 1941,

Livingston, Jane and John Beardsley. Black Folk Arl In America. I CIO. too. Washington, DC: Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1981.

MacGaffey, Wyatt, 'Coinplexity, Astonishment Ind Power: The Visual Vocabulary of Kongo Minkisi," Journal of Soulhens African Studies, 14(1) t988, pp. 169.1,01. . 38 361 BEST C PY AY Magiciens de la tern. Pans: Editions du Centre Pompidou, 1989. Thompson, Robert Farris. African Art In Motion: lieu aid Act. Los .Angeles, California: University of California Press, 1974. Manley, Roger. Slammed Wonders O uiiidn Art bade North Coo Raleigh, N.C.: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1989 Thompson, Robert Farris. 'African Influence On The Art of the United States.' Black Studies hi The Um:versify. A 'reposing' New Haven: McW1111e, Judith. 'Total Relay: Conversations with Robert Ferns Yale University Press, I969. 'Thompson,' The Ans Journal,1 5(101: July 1990, pp. 4.7. Thompson, Robert Farris. Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro- American Me Willie, Judith. Even The Deep Things of God A Quality of Mind hi An and Philosophy. New York: Random House, 1983. Afro-Atlantic Traditional ArtPittsburgh, PA: Pittsburgh Center for The Arts, 1990. Thompson; Robert'Farris. "Siras Bowens of Sunbury, Georgia.' The Massachusetts Review, VOL 18, No. 3 (Autumn 1977), pp. 490.500. McWillie, Judith. 'Lonnie Holley's Move.' Arifonin, Vol. XXX 'No. 8 (April 1992), pp 80.84 Thompson, Robert Farris and Joseph Cornet. The FosirMonents of the Sum Kongo An in Two Worlds. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Metcalf, Eugene W. 'Black Art, Folk Art and Social Control' Winterthur Art, 1981. Portfolio, Vol. It No.4 (Winter 1983), pp. 271-289. . Thornton Dial: Strategy of The World. Jamaica, New York: Southern Morris, Shari Gavin. 'Bessie Harvey: The Spirit In The Wood' The Clarion; Queens Park, 1990. Vol. 12, No. 2/3 (Spring/Summer 1987), pp. 44.49. Transmitters: The Isolate Artist In America Philadelphia: 'Philadelphia Neat Cognation: Southern Black Aesthetic. Winston-Salem, North College of Art, 1981. Carolina: Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, 1990. Vlach, John M. The Afro-American Tradition in Decorative ArtsCleveland: Nichols, Elaine., ed. The Last Miles of the Way: African-American fionsegoimg The Museum of Art,978.* Traditions. .890-Presort, Columbia: South Carolina State Museum, .'1989.

Outsider Artists In Alabama. Alabama: The Alabania State Council of the Arts., 1991:

Owen, Mary Alicia. Voodoo Toles as Told Amon/ the Negroes of the Southeast, New York: G.P. Putnam & Sons, 1893.

Patterson, Tons. 'A Strange and Beautiful World,' Brown's Guide ;o Georgia, Vol, 9, No. 12 (Dec, 1981) pp. 44-58.

Perry, Regen:n. What it isBlack Americas Folk Art from the Collection of .Regemid Perry. Richmond: Anderson Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1982. . .

Powell. Richard J. Afrsran and Afro,Americam Art Call and P.oponie. : Field Museum of Natural History, 1984.

Price, Sally. Prneitiin Art in Civilized Places, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989.

Puckett, Newbell Niles. Folk Eel of the Soot/nen Negro. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1926. 1', Roston, Joe "Bessie Harvey is MagicBlack Magic!' Antique Review, (August 19115)4p. 13.15 ir Ruhin, William edPrimitivion In Twentieth Centirry ArtVol 1 & II New York Museum of Modern Art, 1984

The Throne of the Third Ileum of the Nation's Mittman Gftlf41 Assembly Washington, DC National Museum of American Art n.d.

Leroy Person, Blue Throne (cat. no. 43) Photo by Roger Manley 36 39 r iggs Gayly nt WSUu Pleased to host ASI IMPIKNI SATION 8 ittCYClING IN AIM. CANAMERICAN VISIONARY Aid We would Ike to thaPtIt ail of Int 1910).6111N artists. iornPalf orlon L for hisluccassful partnership with WSW: ,'on Olver Aline GolasY Gralahlcs, for hillrnagtnallye and thoughtful catalogue (Sefton and hlioy of calbborallon: Mark Kingsley Fine AhCorservatan for sPeclatassiStance %lb exhibit preparation: HneYP01301Com pony. General EllnalngCompany Pictorial EngtmAniotsdWIllnm Amett, for donation to the pro- diction of the catalog: tendon to thsreithlbnion. Roger Manley Man Sol th. and the Blue Spiral Goliery for contra:J(81m photo profane podia% of startle of the offish: Chill dead. for installation and exhIbtlIon down: Judith McW114. Regents Perry and Rawl Fonts ThOrnbon for taboo padthe 'Mho Fettivot and spacial thanks to the goNery staff for their dairy coninKttnnent to Diggs Golery: Undrayfloilbson. administrative mirk:int and Joel MCIVIlf. gallant aslistont.

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