Found: Southern Vernacular Art & Gee’s Bend Quilts

Presented by

Bell & Bates Home Center • FSU College of Medicine Su and Steve Ecenia • Stacy Rehberg Photography Anne Jolley Thomas and Lyle McAlister The Pettit Family Fund • Calynne and Lou Hill

Sponsored in part by the State of , Department of State, Division of Cultural Afairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture. Funding for this program was provided through a grant from the Florida Humanities Council with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, fndings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Florida Humanities Council or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Cover image: , Sr., Life Go On, 1990, watercolor on paper, 30 x Grace Robinson, Executive Director 22.5 inches, Gadsden Arts Center & Museum Permanent Collection Angie Barry, Curator of Exhibitions & Collections Anissa Ford, Education Director © Gadsden Arts, Inc. 2017 Lexie Lobaina, Volunteer Coordinator Melanie Joyner, Bookkeeper All rights reserved. No portion of this catalog may be reproduced in any form Becky Reep, Museum Shop Manager by mechanical or electronic means (including photocopying, recording, or Earl Morrogh, Catalog Design information storage and retrieval) without permission from Gadsden Arts, Inc.

Gadsden Arts Center & Museum 13 North Madison Street, Quincy, FL 32351 • (850) 875-4866 • www.gadsdenarts.org

1 2 Table of Contents

Essays Works of Art in the Exhibition 55-57 Forward from the Executive Director by Grace Robinson 4-5 Index of Artists 58 A History that Refused to Die by William Arnett 6-11 Common Tongue: Vernacular Art in the Florida Artists American South Alyne Harris 28 by Bradley Sumrall 12-15 Edward “Mr. Eddy” Mumma 36-37 Mary L. Proctor 38-39 O.L. Samuels 40-41 Artist Biographies Ruby C. Williams 51 Thornton Dial, Sr. 16-19 Purvis Young 52-54 Hawkins Bolden 20 Richard Burnside 21 Archie Byron 22-23 Arthur Dial 24 Thornton Dial, Jr. 25 Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers 26-27 Alyne Harris 28 Bessie Harvey 29 30-31 Joe Louis Light 32-33 Ronald Lockett 34-35 Edward “Mr. Eddy” Mumma 36-37 Mary L. Proctor 38-39 O. L. Samuels 40-41 Mary Tillman Smith 42-43 Henry Speller 44 Jimmy Lee Sudduth 45 Mose Tolliver 46-47 Felix “Harry” Virgous 48-49 Albert Wagner 50 Ruby C. Williams 51 Purvis Young 52-54

3 FOUND Forward from the Executive Director

Presenting the major exhibition FOUND: Vernacular Art and FOUND also includes thoughtfully selected work borrowed Gee’s Bend Quilts is a meaningful way to begin what prom- from private collections to parallel a collection acquired by ises to be another landmark year in the life of the Gadsden the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2014 and accessioned Arts Center & Museum. The art work and this organization into its Department of Modern and . are attracting growing professional recognition for their Vernacular Art was long given marginalizing terms like respective uniqueness and value within the much larger “Naïve Art” or “” by curators and art dealers art world. As little as twenty or even ten years ago, this because these artists were not part of the art world’s recognition would have been viewed as unlikely or even academic, commercial, or museum mainstream and impossible… that Gadsden Arts, a small arts center in a until recently, few minority artists were. More than three southern city with a population of 7,000 people would one decades of tireless work by curator and collector William day become the 27th art museum in Florida accredited by Arnett, and his team–discovery, research, scholarship, the American Alliance of Museums… and that Vernacular carefully conceived exhibitions, and exhaustive pub- Art, made by individuals without formal training using cast- lications–has fnally brought many in the mainstream of materials, would become valued as some of the most art world to value Vernacular Art as some of the most expressively powerful, uniquely American contemporary art important, authentic American art ever made. The essays to emerge from the twentieth century. presented in this catalog, written by Mr. Arnett, founder of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation in , and A large portion of the museum’s growing Vernacular Art col- Bradley Sumrall, Curator at the Ogden Museum of lection makes up FOUND–the collection has been shown Southern Art in , shed much more light on at other museums and with this exhibition, is on view as a Vernacular Art, its creators and its changing place in whole for the frst time here at home. The collection itself is American museums. a catalyst for growth at Gadsden Arts, attracting additional collection gifts and necessitating expansion of the muse- FOUND is, in and of itself, a culturally and historically rich um’s collections care facilities, a signifcant portion of the exhibition. This work celebrates the creative genius of expansion work that will be realized this summer. many African American artists from the American South who made art because they were compelled to express their life experiences, thoughts and wisdom in visual form. These artists lived and created in varied forms of isola- tion created by economic and educational disadvantage, crime, poverty, oppression, and sometimes geography. Ironically, these fueled the expressive power and purely individual styles that are characteristic of Vernacular Art. The story of this art and the individual stories of its creators are particularly relevant to our immediate community in Gadsden County, Florida, a rural county that faces signifcant economic, educational, and health challenges. Yet, as Dean Mitchell recognized when speaking about his powerful Dean Mitchell’s American West: Poverty and the Human Spirit exhibition at Gadsden Arts last year, impoverished communities like those found in Gadsden County exist throughout our country. It is a relevant and important endeavor for Gadsden Arts to continue to build, steward, interpret and share this signifcant collection of Southern Vernacular Art, and the museum is fortunate to have this opportunity.

The generous contribution of time, money, and other resources by hundreds of people make Gadsden Arts Ronald Lockett, untitled, n.d., mixed media, 50 x 48 inches, Private Collection an efective community museum that today is nationally

4 Thornton Dial, Sr., The Tiger Knocks the Lady Down and the Midget Runs Away, 1993, mixed media, 97.5 x 48 inches, Gadsden Arts Center & Museum Permanent Collection accredited, organizing and hosting an important exhibition I would like to also recognize our professional staf, who like FOUND, and undergoing expansion in all areas. Within fearlessly and enthusiastically tackle every project in the this group, I have to recognize Calynne and Lou Hill, who same manner as a much larger museum. For a major exhibi- in their quiet way have fostered signifcant growth in key tion like FOUND, that includes shipping fragile works of art, areas of this museum over the past decade. researching catalog content, producing a self-guided audio tour with online video, preparing docents for interactive Calynne and Lou Hill truly love art and the humanities, guided tours, designing a quality installation, and more, all working tirelessly to nurture cultural learning opportunities while preparing for museum-wide expansion. Thank you. for everyone in our larger community. Their visionary ideas, shared over casual conversations and always supported I hope that all of you will enjoy the FOUND exhibition and in myriad ways, have been the catalyst for many of the related programs. Be sure to visit, bring friends and visit museum’s remarkable achievements. As one example, I again, and if anyone you meet has not yet been to Gadsden remember talking with Calynne and Lou back in January Arts, please bring them. 2015 over wine and cheese, and I asked for their next “pie in the sky” ideas. They suggested that we organize an art My sincere thank you to you and everyone who contributes trip to Cuba and mount a major exhibition of Vernacular to Gadsden Arts, a high quality museum and a very special Art to celebrate the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s recent community gathering place. acquisition. At the time, overwhelmed by these sugges- tions, I believe I replied, “Great ideas! We’ll look into them.” Grace Robinson Fast-forward two years, we have taken a group for an Executive Director unforgettable cultural experience in Cuba, and we are here, opening FOUND. Calynne and Lou, thank you for your courage, generosity, and inspiration!

5 A History that Refused to Die by William S. Arnett

I Contrary to conventional suppositions, the highlights of this After the death of Martin Luther King Jr., the state of Ala- art do not normally come from artists who live in isolation bama produced an impressive number of African American or obscurity, nor is such art the product of people whose self-taught artists whose work particularly focused on the sensibilities are separated in any way from the normal fows Civil Rights Movement and on aspects of history that led of cultural activities around them. Many signifcant contri- to it. This happened, in part, because the action was right butions by African Americans to the history of visual art do on their doorsteps: Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus have their roots, like music, in such places as rural felds Boycott, the Selma March, the murder of four little girls in and remote religious settings, in isolation from the white the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birming- world. The music they created did not become infuential ham. Artists were watching. They were awaiting a favorable and important globally until it traveled outward, absorbed set of circumstances, and freedom and encouragement, to the strengths of what it encountered, evolved, and exploded portray openly in art their formerly suppressed opinions. It into jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, and other musical permutations that was a spontaneous response to an emerging opportunity, followed. Their art also emerged in isolation, in slave ceme- and it occurred all over the South. teries and secluded woods. But when rural African American sharecroppers and tenant farmers found their world and their History Refused to Die attempts to document this phe- means of economic survival being eroded and upended, nomenon. It highlights men and women whose artistic and were forced to migrate from rural residential clusters accomplishments deserve to be recognized by American to large urban population centers, a new artistic mutation art history. It identifes various themes that run through developed. That agrarian population’s collision with industry the works of almost all of these artists, originating with in the area around energized an enormous Alabama artists. More than thirty years of research in this creative genius that had been latent in Southern African Amer- feld in ten Southern states led me to my conclusions. ican society. Such evolution is historically inevitable when You will not be reading established history. An accurate one culture forcefully encounters another: the expansion history of this feld has yet to be accepted, possibly of the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, for example, because much of what has been written is incorrect, or often or the spread of the British Empire in more recent times. intentionally misleading. At the time of the visual arts outburst in Alabama, even the The African American men and women who made all of this extraordinary artistry of African American quiltmaking had art knew exactly what they were making and why they were been only modestly recognized. The funerary and yard arts, making it. Many of them eventually came to understand which in recent decades have been extensively documented, the value of their contributions to their culture’s artistic are certainly among the greatest examples of visual art that heritage, and often used their art as teaching tools with resulted from that culture clash. Unfortunately, however, many relatives, friends, or neighbors. They can and should be generations’ worth of African American artistic production identifed as artists, just as Leonardo and are disappeared or was destroyed long before the frst art histo- so identifed, without subtly dismissive adjectives—folk, rians or connoisseurs became remotely aware of them. outsider, visionary. Even “self-taught” is misleading. These artists did not learn their skills in a classroom with fellow By 1900, museums of ethnographic art existed throughout art students, but many of them were very much aware of Europe, exhibiting a vast array of works from the ancient others like themselves who were unknowing contributors “primitive” (meaning non-white) peoples—of Africa, the to one of the most widespread and extensive systems of Pacifc Islands and the Western hemisphere. The impacts of art-making in the history of the world. Over the centuries that art, especially of African wood statues and masks, upon there had to have been millions of such artists, exception- European artists of the early twentieth century cannot be ally creative people about whom we know almost nothing, overemphasized. grew out of the experience of but who were crucial to the preservation of vital knowledge visionary twentieth-century Europeans who recognized, over and information about their culture’s philosophy, theology a period of a few decades, the richness of artistic develop- and history. ments that had unfolded over millennia in non-European civilizations. That awareness stimulated radical changes in Western art.

6 Call this informed speculation, but had African American already had experienced. Black music had long since been artistry been noticed, recognized, appreciated, and docu- discovered by America’s mainstream and had made its way mented from its beginnings, what we now call Modernism into America’s consciousness and popular culture. That in Europe probably would have arisen in the music, which also had developed in secrecy and privacy at least a century earlier. Not just Picasso, but perhaps also in the woods, cemeteries, felds, and churches, became the likes of Matisse in France, Mondrian in the Netherlands, the soul and voice of America. It became the most popular, Kandinsky in Germany, Giacometti in Italy, Malevich in Rus- infuential and arguably the most important music in history, sia, Klee in Switzerland, Miró in Span, Munch in Norway, dramatically altering the culture of the entire world in the Ensor in Belgium, and Henry Moore in would have twentieth century. thrived in nineteenth-century Charleston, Richmond, and Savannah. The artists who frst gained recognition as pio- While this music could be easily heard, recorded, and neering modernists would have been inspired by American transported, African American visual art remained hidden. slave culture, and might long ago have been celebrated all Intentionally disguised, it had been brilliantly made abstract, over the world. The equivalents of such European artists symbolic, and metaphorical. In some ways it was far ahead did live and work in the back then, of Western civilization’s artistic learning curve. It remained but they were black and they created funerary and yard largely unseen and thus unrecognized. sculptures, charms, quilts, and who knows what else.

Something similar did happen in the United States in II the 1950s, when Southern white artists began to notice Drive down any country road in the South, from Virginia to the advanced and startling aesthetic of a culture whose East Texas, through any area populated primarily by Afri- visual arts were lurking in plain sight all around the can Americans, and if you look carefully you can still see countryside. For scores of Southern white visual artists, this evidence of a highly evolved, complex system of outdoor discovery was similar to what their musician counterparts art that has been in existence since the era of slavery. You will have to look closely or you will not notice it. A secret language has been inscribed on the Southern landscape.

In the African American South, there is a sophisticated and esoteric visual system of communication, built around materials and found objects that are loaded with consis- tent symbolism and concealed meanings. The unofcial language came into being for the purposes of recording, preserving and disseminating specifc ideas and information. That art-making process evolved over centuries into a widespread tradition that in the twentieth century spawned some of the greatest visual art forms produced by any culture.

When black Africans disembarked from slave ships, they were subjected to a harsh system that was designed to strip them of every aspect of their personal dignity and cultural identity. Dislodged from everything familiar except their memories, from everything from which they might have derived a sense of personal pride, or loyalty to any- thing other than their masters, New World blacks began to create a new cultural identity that was as original and distinctive as anything an enslaved people could have produced under such conditions. Purvis Young, untitled, 2003, mixed media, 49 x 51 x 3 inches, Private Collection

7 had made. But they could not totally conceal the objects. To protect their works fully, these unofcial artists had to place them were they would not likely be seen by the white overclass. So a cultural heritage embodied in the visual arts survived because it was born and nurtured in the graveyard. White people, either out of respect for the dead or more likely fear, generally stayed away from black cemeteries.

As this kind of art gradually made its way from cemeteries to the woods, then to backyards and ultimately to front- yards, it became larger and more visible but maintained its secrecy by appearing to be unstructured, composed of unattractive materials, and characterized by a strange aesthetic, at least one that was unusual for its time and place. That secret language barely exists today, but along the sides of Southern roads, there are still a few big piles of “junk,” built with surprisingly consistent ingredients: non-working appliances, bottles, broken furniture (especially chairs), stones, bricks, pots and pans, and so on. In fact, these junk piles are created, carefully and meticulously, by African Americans who are farmers, factory workers, preachers, domestics, handymen, schoolteachers, or now- adays, old people and retirees—in short, anyone with an artistic temperament who wants to make a visible and nonprovocative statement. Such junk piles have been in existence for centuries. They originated as private monu- ments made by African Americans for whom all displays of independence were proscribed. Junk piles are intended to be stationary and visible to members of the community, and they generally last throughout their makers’ lifetimes. Although the creators of such junk piles may have been the only people who fully understood the messages or Thornton Dial, Sr., untitled, n.d., watercolor on paper, 45 x 64 inches, Private Collection meanings they might wish to convey through them, these works tend to share a common vocabulary. They were For the signposts of this new identity to survive and thrive, among the seeds from which grew the pieced quilt, the they had to avoid detection by the holders of power. found-object assemblage, and the work of such great visual A private accumulation of philosophical and theological artists as Lonnie Holley, Joe Minter and Thornton Dial, all concepts had to be woven into diverse forms of art, music, from the Birmingham area. and oral literature, among many other modes of expression. The music was safe. Its performers sang in private and The art critic Michael Kimmelman, writing in the New York could alter their lyrics according to who was present. Even Times about the African American quilts of Gee’s Bend, if white people heard the songs, they probably did not Alabama, which were shown at the Whitney Museum understand the words, much less their meanings or the of American Art in 2002, called them “some of the most subtle messages encoded in their rhythms. Folk tales and miraculous works of modern art American has produced.” other forms of oral literature were also secure, but art had My reason for citing Kimmelman here is this: Yes, the a physical presence. Art makers could safeguard the mean- artistic merits of the quilts of Gee’s Bend are indeed mirac- ing of their creations by abstracting their subjects’ forms ulous, for a multitude of reasons. Gee’s Bend, however, is or by ofering disingenuous explanations about what they just one of many such remote Southern black communities

8 of a few hundred scattered residents, and the quilts that information about this aspect of African American culture, were shown at the Whitney represent only a tiny fraction of and an efort to discredit it each time signifcant evidence what had been produced there over the past two centuries, about it or exhibition of it are presented. We indeed do most of which did not survive; and the quilts of Gee’s Bend know where this art comes from, who made it, why it ex- represent a tiny piece of a huge picture that consists of ists, what it means, and the many reasons it belongs in the , sculptures, assemblages, drawings, textiles, American art-historical dialogue. If an intellectually curious music, dance, oral literature, informal theater, speech, hair- art critic like Michael Kimmelman still does not know in the styling, clothing design, culinary arts, and more, a richly twenty-frst century how to account for the quilts of Gee’s varied tradition that stretches across the southern portion Bend and the other great art forms of the genre, those of of the United States like, well, a giant patchwork quilt. In us who believe change is required need to fgure out why his Gee’s Bend exhibition article, Michael Kimmelman also he does not, and go about correcting this disappointing added this comment: “The best of these designs, unusually faw in the information network. minimalist and spare, are so eye-poppingly gorgeous that it’s hard to know how to begin to account for them. But then, What we wanted was to gather defnitive evidence of the good art can never be fully accounted for, just described.”1 importance and the depth of this artistic tradition. It was clear that establishing the truth about African American visual arts, even if under perfect conditions, was an uphill III battle. And the conditions were far from perfect. Poorly In the early 1990s, a contemporary art curator from a large educated black people in the South constitute the compo- American museum announced something like this to a nent of the American population least likely to gain respect “black folk art” symposium audience in Atlanta: “I actually and recognition in the art world. Their work was outside of, do like this art. I’ve seen a lot of it and some of it is good. and often far ahead of, established art-historical perceptions. But we don’t know anything about it. As museum admin- Perhaps more importantly there was no legitimate system of istrators, we feel we have a responsibility to only put art galleries, critics, collectors, scholars, and curators to estab- on our walls which has been thoroughly documented and lish the signifcance of the art and its context. Additionally, is understood by historians and scholars, and this work some of the best work was not market-friendly at that point doesn’t qualify. We ought to go look at the art in the places in time, and was site-specifc. Much of it likely would not where it is made, and enjoy it, but don’t try to put it in be understood or appreciated if turned into an unexplained museums at this time. In fact, I’ve seen some of the best or incorrectly interpreted commodity. We created a collection of it in museums and frankly, it doesn’t hold up next to the that was thoroughly researched, documented, exhibited, and great work of contemporary trained artists.” published. The collection would allow future generations of historians not only to be aware of this type of African Ameri- This remark represents the party line vis-á-vis “black folk can Southern art, but to evaluate it free of present-day biases. art,” taken by many museum administrators throughout the South, and elsewhere, sad to say. It was such sleight-of- Some artists created meaningful yard environments, and hand sophistry that convinced us that our most compelling as we developed a sensitivity to their aesthetic and an obligation had to be to attempt a thorough documentation appreciation of the intellectual complexities, we felt it was of this feld of art, to research every aspect of it, to create crucial to assist those artists when they requested our help publications of the highest possible quality with investi- in maintaining the permanence of their sites. Many artists gation and observations by the most competent scholars, were being forced because of fnancial pressures to sell and to make certain that this cultural phenomenon could essential components of their life’s work that they absolutely not be ignored for specious reasons. And we did what we did not wish to sell. Despite our eforts, several of the most set out to do. important of these environments were destroyed, for no valid reasons, sometimes by the duplicity of regional art bureau- As we might have guessed but did not, after we produced crats, sometimes by the basest motives of dealers and col- the proof, entirely diferent reasons were invented for lectors. There was little or no respect from the outside world keeping the art out of museums. In fact, there has been a for these often spectacular installations, which in a more en- constant efort to prevent the dissemination of important lightened society might be designated “monumental zones.”

9 My explanation of some of the problems facing this African and occasionally the great civilizations of Asia, African American art have not thus far taken into account the and the New World—are best remembered and their worth obvious, the artists’ skin color. Many people in the art world generally assessed by their visual arts: sculpture, archi- considered that African Americans lack the intellectual tecture, sometimes . Most of us know little of their sophistication and refnement to produce great visual arts, music or literature. Seldom, if ever, do we evaluate groups a perception that unfortunately still lingers. In the past I of people on the basis of their systems of law and morality. heard this sentiment spoken privately again and again by Perhaps we should. Commerce and theology, important Southern cultural and educational administrators. to so many Americans, are not used to determine cultural relevance except by us in our self-evaluation. We tend to There is also the other side of this problem: people in the remember technology most admiringly when it enables regional bureaucracy who did indeed understand the great- civilizations to wage (and win) wars. ness of the culture under their noses, but because they did not discover it or could not control it, attempted to diminish, In the African American South, the visual artworks had par- discredit and ultimately destroy it. Because they had ticular locales for which they were intended. They served missed the boat, they tried desperately to sink the boat so particular purposes, for particular audiences, a condition no one would know they had missed it. clearly understood by the makers and many of the viewers. They serve as cultural commemorations—of historical heroes and events, revered ancestors, spiritual guidelines, IV and community and family values, as but a few examples. In part, this is a story about art as a defning element in They often were intended as inspirational messages to the evaluation of a culture’s historic importance. The civi- support survival strategies. And they were employed as lizations that have attracted our attention, and are held in a catalyst for action, when action was required. In short, highest esteem by our educational system—ancient Egypt, this art played the same roles that art has forever played Greece, and Rome; medieval and Renaissance Europe; in traditional societies. The principal diference, which made this artistic phenomenon possibly unique among traditional cultures in world history, was that this art did not come from an ofcial system of art-making. In every other civilization, cultural developments were encouraged or promoted by the rulers of society—kings and queens, religious leaders, tribal chiefs, emperors, philosophers, military commanders—who understood the unifying and pride-inducing powers of great art, architecture, music and theater. This art arose spontaneously within a population that was denied leaderships, and forbidden the right to have a system of visible arts to provide unity, pride, dignity, and inspiration. Nowhere in recorded history have descen- dants of a slave population contributed a comparable body of works of such magnifcence and far-reaching infuence.

This African American cultural evolution was specifc and fnite. The art had sprung from the era of slaver, but did not fourish until after the Civil Rights Movement. Because of the many changes in Southern social, economic and politi- cal life, we assumed that the artistic phase of this develop- ment would probably be over by the end of the twentieth century, and for all intents and purposes it was.2

Ronald Lockett, untitled, n.d., mixed media, 48 x 48 inches, Private Collection

10 Alongside the back roads of the South there have been many thousands of junk piles that I believe Michael Kimmelman and other art critics would recognize as being “some of the most miraculous works of modern art American has produced.” In rural yards, and plenty of urban ones, there have been hundreds of thousands of assemblages— frestanding, or hanging from trees, or attached to fences and houses—that I believe some critics also would recognize as among the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced; and inside menial dwellings there have been millions of charms, homemade utilitarian objects, shrines, arrangements (of things), handmade articles of clothing, and of course quilts, that I believe also would qualify as some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced.

Every improvisational quilt, every barn, every piece of yard sculpture is a potential Rosetta Stone. They are among the components of one of the mostly highly evolved systems of preserving information, without revealing it openly, that exists anywhere. Every combination of colors, materials and forms can and often does contain data that can be imparted in some manner or another to everyone, according to his or her ability to comprehend information. Drive through the South when quilts are being given their spring cleaning and are being hung to dry on fences and clotheslines, and you can see a wonderful thing happening out in the open: quilts and artistic “patchwork” barns in a visual call-and-response, like an art-historical conversation between genders.

Primarily African in origin, infused with heavy European and O.L. Samuels, Godzilla, n.d., paint on wood, 29 x 84 x 23 inches, Gadsden Arts Center & Museum Permanent Collection Native American infuences, yet as American as anything else that is American, the art discussed herein has been evolving and mutating for hundreds of years. This phenom- enon was born and grew in secrecy among black slaves. It became part of an unofcial means of survival, and pres- ervation of cultural identity, in the face of overwhelming obstacles to both. But this story is not a conventional art history narrative. The visual arts, which arose from a most unlikely source, African slaves, have constantly faced being suppressed and removed from history without ever being 1. “Jazzy Geometry, Cool Quilters,” Michael Kimmelman, New York Times, given a fair opportunity for critical evaluation. November 29, 2002. 2. The artistic phase of this era was indeed all but over by the end of the twentieth century for the reasons we assumed it would be over. But people still ask me (it’s 2015 now), “Art you still out looking for artists of the kind you collect?” My appropriate answer is always something like, “No, and I don’t go to Paris to try to discover new French Impressionists.”

This essay has been edited and reprinted by permission of William S. Arnett.

11 Common Tongue Vernacular Art in the American South by Bradley Sumrall

Southern Vernacular awareness, instruction or infuence. This was the work of The task of any serious contemplation of Southern Vernacular children and the mentally ill. Outsider Art quickly began to be Art is to situate the genre – through an exploration of medium, loosely used in the United States to describe all self-taught motivation, style, inspiration and message – into a broader art, including craft traditions. In today’s post-postmodern art dialogue. What is it? Where did it come from? Why is globalized society, I believe a more precise defnition of it important? FOUND: Vernacular Art & Gee’s Bend Quilts Outsider Art to be: self-taught art that is created outside includes over seventy works by twenty-one Southern of society, either through isolation, incarceration or illness. artists. The works are drawn from the Collection of Calynne and Lou Hill, combined with works from the permanent Although most, if not all, of the artists in this exhibition collection of the Gadsden Arts Center & Museum. Together, have been labeled as Outsiders, none ft perfectly into these works constitute a broad view of the studio practice that classifcation, except perhaps Purvis Young. Young of a diverse group of artists who share many commonalities, developed his drawing practice while serving three years in perhaps the most important being that they have created prison for breaking and entering. After his release, he flled truly original bodies of work outside of any formal Western old shopping carts and handmade journals with thousands art dialogue. This is art drawn from life itself, tied to the of drawings. Eventually settling in an abandoned alley in place and culture in which it was created, and which (with the neighborhood of , Young was defnitely the exceptions of Eddy Mumma and Purvis Young) rarely living outside of society – an uneducated, disenfranchised alludes to Western academic traditions. ex-con living on the street. What happened next, though, would change Young’s life forever, and turn his alley into a The term “vernacular” is most commonly used to describe famous art destination. Young turned his attention to paint. the language of the common people of a particular place. With a frantic improvisational hand and highly original sense The term often implies inferiority, which I will argue is not the of color and composition, Young flled the walls of his alley case when applied to the artists included in this exhibition. with narrative paintings executed on discarded boards. The The term also implies a unique iteration of communication expressionist depictions of his community transformed an bound to location, an implication I fnd wholly ftting with- abandoned alley into a massive mural that soon drew the in this context. Just as vernacular dialects change with the attention of tourists. Collectors began to acquire his works; land itself, becoming a song of history and proximate tradi- curators and museum ofcials were next in line. Today, tions, the visual art of the region also contains a vocabulary Purvis Young is considered one of the most infuential built upon a strong sense of place. The Southern Vernacular Vernacular artists of his generation. artists presented in this exhibition are often classifed as Visionary, Outsider or self-taught, but they are specifcally Two prison terms defnitely informs the work of Joe Light, situated by time and location within the history of the but he and his environment are well-known fxtures in his American South. With birth dates ranging from 1900 for North Memphis community. Although many of the artists Henry Speller of Mississippi to 1965 for Ronald Lockett of in this exhibition hail from extremely rural communities, Alabama, these artists witnessed the Old South change none existed completely outside of society. If any lived in from a mostly agrarian culture with a majority of common relative isolation, it was by choice. Embarrassed by loss of people tied to the labor of the land, to the New South of in- both legs to diabetes, Mr. Eddy Mumma painted his brightly dustry and sprawling suburban development. Most of them colored fgures in the seclusion of his own home. Although sufered the injustices of the Jim Crow era, and witnessed he rarely received visitors, and had no desire to sell or the difcult struggle of the Civil Rights Movement. Luckily exhibit his paintings, like Purvis Young, he was very interested for us, all of them have a story to tell. in art history. Some of his works are even interpretations of masterworks such as Portrait of Henry III and The Laughing Outsiders Cavalier. Because of her hearing impairment and difculty From its very inception, the term Outsider Art has been with verbal communication, Mary T. Smith rarely left her wrought with controversy. It was originally coined by Richard home later in life. In one of William Arnett’s most memorable Cardinal in 1972 as an English translation for Jean Debufet’s essays, Her Name is Someone, he quotes Ms. Smith, “I term, Art Brut. Debufet championed art that was created don’t go nowhere no more. I can’t hear nothing. I don’t need in its most raw form, outside of society, and without self- nothing. I got it all here. My church. The Lord Jesus.”1

12 Joe Louis Light, untitled, 1993, paint on wood, 75 x 31 inches, Gadsden Arts Center & Museum Permanent Collection

It is interesting to note that many self-taught artists start are ministers within that tradition. As an act of witness, creating after a near-death experience or serious illness. Ruby C. Williams and Mary T. Smith created roadside art Hawkins Bolden began creating his crucifx-like “scarecrow” environments – Ruby at her produce stand and Mary in her assemblages after losing his sight from a baseball accident. yard – flling the spaces with artworks both religious and O.L. Samuels – who is both artist and preacher – told me secular. The works of art became signs that could be seen that he create*d his frst work of art in the hospital after from the road, directing visitors to the location where the being “nearly cut in half” in a tree-topping accident involving artist could sell their wares, be it art objects or salvation – a chainsaw. Mose Tolliver began creating his fantastical although Ruby would not sell works with scripture paintings and decorated furniture after his legs were crushed represented. Born in 1904, Mary T. Smith spent much of her by a load of marble. For some, like Tolliver, art served to fll life crafting an art environment in her yard flled with expres- the time left as a result of not being able to work. For others, sionist and abstract depictions of praise fgures, angels and the act of creation began from a more esoteric place. Jesus. Biblical stories and a narrative of religious practices are also depicted in Alyne Harris’ The Baptism, and works Visionary Vernacular by Felix Virgous and Purvis Young. For many artists, spirituality and expression are inextricably bound together. Whether seen as a visitation from a muse or The sculptures of Bessie Harvey emerged from an amalgam a vision from God, the transcendent state associated with of fervent Christian conviction and animistic belief that likely the act of creation is often interpreted in religious terms. has its roots in the Bori religion of West Africa. Harvey saw Visionary art expresses these spiritual concerns, and is often the natural world around her, especially the trees, as having believed by the makers to be mandated by God as an act of a spiritual element. “Trees is soul people to me,” she said, witness. Evangelical Christianity – with its strong emphasis “maybe not to other people, but I have watched trees when on the word of God – is by far the dominant religion in the they pray and I’ve watched them shout and sometimes they South. Both preachers and believers alike are encouraged give thanks slowly and quietly, they praise God.”2 Through to participate in a rich oral tradition of telling bible stories her art, she sought to portray her visions of the spirit within and bearing witness to Christ. The three works included by the natural objects. Mary Procter – Once Again I Fall Down, Self Portrait, and St. Matthew 4-4 Man Shall Not Live – are strong examples of a Black Vernacular visual representation of the Southern evangelic oral tradition All of the artists included in this exhibition are from the of witnessing. In keeping with Evangelical tradition, she American South, and with the exception of Eddy Mumma, bears witness not only through the painted image, but also all are African-American. This is important because the work through the word. Both O.L. Samuels and Ruby C. Williams can be situated within an esthetic tradition rooted in Africa

13 and developed in North America, particularly the American South, beginning with the frst slave ship that reached our shores in the sixteenth century. Much has been added to the exploration of African infuence on the art and culture of the Americas in the last forty years, but it is important to note that this is a relatively new frontier of scholarship. The frst major exhibition of black vernacular American art, Black Folk Art in America 1930-1980, was mounted at the in 1982. The catalogue for the exhibition contained essays by Jane Livingston, John Beardsley and Dr. Reginia Perry that introduced the art world to the concept of “black- ness” contained within this vital but relatively unknown tradition. In his foreword to the catalogue, Peter Marzio says, “Forms from Africa, American popular arts, photojournalism, advertising, voodoo, and the landscape itself blend with the oral traditions of black culture: rural legends, popular history, Biblical stories and revivalism. Each artist in his or her own way has constructed an art-world unlike anything else we know.”3 He could have easily been describing the twenty-one artists included in FOUND. From Felix Virgous’ Jonah and the Big Fish to the praise fgures of Mary T. Purvis Young, untitled, n.d., mixed media collage, 22 x Smith, Biblical stories and revivalism abound. Although the 42 inches, Private Collection artists were likely unaware of being part of any distinct art movement, the landscapes of Joe Light and the legendary so frmly in the context of African traditions, Farris made it creatures of O.L. Samuels are the result of an organic devel- impossible to dismiss this work as the product of eccentric opment of style within the culture in which they are situated, outsiders. Rather, when faced with Thornton Dial’s tiger, a style predicated on artists such as Joseph Yoakum and we must consider not only Dial’s assertion that the tiger William Dawson. Like Jesse James Aaron before, Bessie is an autobiographical representation of a proud creature Harvey, Joe Light and Archie Byron have all been described struggling in a modern world, but we must also consider how as Root Sculptors, artists who practice an animistic form of feline imagery has been used throughout the history of spiritual art-making. The artists featured in the Corcoran African art. In an Artforum essay on Dial’s tiger paintings, exhibition were a generation older than the artists fea- Thompson explains, “The tiger is a cat; in many West and tured in this exhibition, but they spoke the same language. Central African civilizations, particularly those that most infuenced the Americas (Yoruba, Ejagham, Kongo), the cat The next major publication to consider how African culture is a sign of sovereignty … Dial’s tiger is shorthand for one informed this new American idiom came in the form of Robert man’s struggle, one man’s relation to the diaspora. If so, Farris Thompson’s ground-breaking unpacking of African under this sign Dial compounds culture with identity.”4 and Afro-American Art and Philosphy, Flash of the Spirit. In this highly infuential book, Thompson gives a detailed Perhaps the single most important text to be published on account of how fve African civilizations – Yoruba, Kongo, Vernacular Art is William and Paul Arnett’s massive, multi- Ejagham, Mande and Cross River – informed the spiritual, volume tome, Souls Grown Deep. With essays ranging from social, musical and visual reality of contemporary black highly academic studies to poetic journalism, it represents American culture. With sections devoted to textiles, bottle the most comprehensive exploration of Black Vernacular trees, architecture, sculpture, painting, music and all the Art. The Arnetts have long been champions of this work, as symbolism contained within these forms, Farris connects scholars, collectors, documentarians, dealers and promoters. the deep and complicated traditions of these accomplished Several of the artists in this exhibition might have remained cultures to their descendents in the New World. By situ- unknown if not for the passionate dedication to this genre ating contemporary black American vernacular art forms shown by Arnetts and the Tinwood Alliance.

14 Modern Vernacular Arriving at their home, it became immediately clear that Ca- Unlike folk art in a broad sense – which includes craft genres lynne and Lou Hill had constructed an important collection deeply rooted in tradition, such as ceramics, basketry, of historic artifacts and Southern art with a strong represen- blacksmithing and quilting – the vernacular art included in tation of black vernacular artists. Dr. Hill eloquently guided this exhibition concerns itself with an expressive esthetic us through a collection built with a disciplined focus and an more commonly associated with Modern and contemporary easily recognizable passion for the history, ecology and cul- art. Artists from both sides of the Academic divide are ture of the region. Bottles, bones and pottery shards joined concerned with some of the same things: line, color, with paintings, sculptures and works on paper to weave composition and narrative. It has long been my opinion that a visual narrative of place from modern day to the pre- the most accomplished of the Vernacular artists deserve Columbian indigenous cultures of the area. The works were to be included in an art historical conversation beyond the well-chosen, well organized, and well cared for. This was a confnes of a naïve art designation. The abstracted land- museum quality collection. scapes of Joe Light resonate with works by Arthur Dove, an artist recognized as being at the vanguard of abstract art in When I frst began my career as a museum curator, I America. The dense, soulful constructions of Thornton Dial, engaged the Ogden’s namesake and founding art donor, Sr. converse easily with works by . Roger Houston Ogden, in a conversation about the role Ronald Lockett’s lyrical compositions, often involving of the collector in the art world. He related to me that as oxidation in his process, bring to mind the work of the great his collection grew – guided by his passionate scholarship Texas artist, James Magee, especially his studies of rust and of Southern art – into a collection of great signifcance, decay. Yet, taken as a group, the artists in this exhibition – he came to realize that it was unfair to keep it completely despite often having diferent biographies and motivations – in private hands. He felt that great collections belong to the have more in common with one another than with any other public, and that great collectors should serve as not only the school of art. They share a common tongue, so to speak. architects, but also as stewards of the objects that should ultimately beneft the culture in which they were created. Vernacular Collectors In short, collectors should share the work with the public In 2011, I received news from the Ogden Museum of through gifts and loans to institutions dedicated to enriching Southern Art’s newly appointed executive director, William the lives of their patrons through a deeper knowledge, Andrews, that the museum had been ofered a gift to the understanding and appreciation of the visual arts. The Permanent Collection of a major work by Alabama-born Gadsden Arts Center & Museum is such an institution, and artist, Thornton Dial, Sr. The work was Struggling Tiger Calynne and Lou Hill have been excellent stewards of in Hard Times – a masterful example from Mr. Dial’s Tiger the work. Series. The potential donors were Calynne and Dr. Lou Hill. Although unfamiliar with the donors at that time, I was very This exhibition would not be possible without the passion of familiar with the work of Thornton Dial, Sr. – an artist that I the collectors, and the faith they have placed in the Gadsden consider one of the most important voices in the contem- Arts Center & Museum to interpret and protect this work. porary American art dialogue. From the regular exhibition of a major work from the founding donation – Man Got it Made, Sitting in the Shade – to the 2006 exhibition, Ogun Meets Vulcan: The Iron Sculptors of Alabama – in which Mr. Dial’s work was featured along with fellow artists from the Birmingham area: Lonnie Holley, Joe Minter, Ronald Lockett and Charlie Lucas – the Ogden Museum of Southern Art has long been a champion of Dial’s work. The prospect 1. Arnett, William. “Her Name is Someone,” Souls Grown Deep. Atlanta: of adding another major work by Dial to the collection was Tinwood Books, 2001, 114. 2. Wehnert, Jay. “Bird and Spirit Root,” Intuitive Eye, Cargo. Accessed exciting, and I quickly made plans to visit the Hill’s home in 12.15.2016. Tallahassee with my fellow curator, Richard McCabe. 3. Marzio, Peter. “Foreword,” Black Folk Art in America 1930-1980. University Press of Mississippi, Corcoran Gallery, 1982, 7. 4. Thompson, Robert Farris. “In the Forest of the Night.” Artforum, April, 2016. 31-32.

15 Thornton Dial, Sr., Struggling Tiger in Hard Times, 1991, oil, rope carpet, tin, industrial sealing compound, 88 x 64 x 5 inches, Private Collection

16 Thornton Dial, Sr. (b. 1928)

Thornton Dial, Sr. is now considered one of the creative geniuses of his time, and the most famous vernacular artist from the southeast, whose work has shattered the art world’s notion of “folk” and “outsider” art.

Thornton Dial, Sr., an African-American artist from Ala- bama, was always making art and expressing his ideas; however, he did not know it was art until he met art dealer William Arnett in 1987.1 With Arnett’s help, Dial reached notoriety during the late 1980s, becoming an innovative and key player in Vernacular Art. The expressively com- posed assemblage art of his career portfolio presents an artist unafraid of experimentation. Focusing on the themes of human struggle and history, his often monumental works developed as part of an existentially laced, organic process where Dial found materials and stored them until he had enough to create a work of art that could made a statement about life.

Dial, Sr. was born in 1928 in Emelle, Alabama. He was one of Thornton Dial, Sr., Everything is Under the Black Tree, n.d., paint on wood, twelve children and never knew his father. His family made 48 x 31.5 inches, Gadsden Arts Center & Museum Permanent Collection their living sharecropping, and he grew up helping out on the farm. Dial went to school on and of for a few years, but retirement, he concentrated on his artwork, as well as raising dropped out completely after he was ridiculed for being 13 turkeys and making wrought-iron lawn furniture with his sons. years old in the 2nd grade. Instead of going to school, Dial In 1987, Dial met William Arnett, an art dealer and collector snuck of to work diferent odd jobs, including carpenter, from Atlanta, Georgia, who traveled throughout the South- house painter, cement mixer, and ironworker. east meeting and discovering artists like Thornton Dial. This type of art, known as “self-taught,” “folk,” “outsider,” or From 1952 to 1980, he worked for the Pullman Standard “vernacular” art was unknown to the larger art community Company, a railroad car factory in Bessemer, Alabama. Dial and was not truly considered “fne” art until artists like Dial says he learned about drawing from his job at the Pullman exhibited at museums like the in Atlanta factory, studying designs for the steel machines. After his and the Whitney Museum of Art in New York.

Dial said he liked to create his artwork with materials others had thrown away.2 In most of his sculptural pieces, Dial col- lected all of the components of the work, such as old carpet, rope, fence, or clothes, and constructed the work frst. After the piece was built, Dial painted the entire sculpture to tie the composition together. His sculptural paintings were often very large in scale, resulting in imposing art that literally en- ters the viewer’s space.

Dial’s work mostly deals with the themes of freedom and power.3 His use of a tiger motif in much of his artwork was meant to symbolize the general theme of struggle, as con- frmed by the artist himself. Yet critics and art historians have widely regarded Dial’s tiger to specifcally represent Thornton Dial, Sr., Big Black Bear Trying to Survive, 1992, mixed media, 62 x the African-American man’s struggle for freedom in America. 40.25 x 4 inches, Gadsden Arts Center & Museum Permanent Collection

17 Thornton Dial, Sr., Love Picture (As Life Go On), 1990, watercolor on paper, 23 x 30 inches, Gadsden Arts Center & Museum Permanent Collection 18 In 1990, Dial exhibited a collection of his work called Ladies of the United States, at Kennesaw State College in Mar- ietta, Georgia. Soon after this show, Dial started drawing on paper, primarily images of women, in response to an art critic who stated that Dial couldn’t draw and made women look ugly. This was particularly hurtful to Dial, because he had a huge respect for the female gender. He was raised by women, and believed they carry strength, power, and love. Dial said that man would lose his struggle without women’s strength and love.4

In 2011, the Indianapolis Museum of Art revealed a new traveling retrospective of Dial’s work: Hard Truths: The Art of Thornton Dial, which traveled throughout the Southeast. The popularity of this exhibition and the buzz surrounding Dial led Time magazine to publish an article noting the artist’s elevation into the art world: “What he does can be discussed as art, just art, no surplus notions of outsider- ness required.”5 In 2014, the Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired ten of his works, as part of a large acquisition of Southern Vernacular Art.

Dial continued to work well into his eighties, consistently creating large sculptural paintings despite his declining health. He passed away in his beloved home state of Ala- bama on January 25, 2016. Much of his late work is almost completely nonobjective—large, high-relief paintings in monochromatic colors of black, white, and brown. It was as though his work were quieting down; pulling back on his personal interpretations to allow the viewer to add more to the conversation.

Dial was an artist who created art his entire life, stemming from a deep-rooted need to make things. Thornton Dial, Sr. is now considered one of the creative geniuses of his time, and the most famous vernacular artist from the Southeast, Thornton Dial, Sr., The Spirit of Ella James Price, 1995, mixed media, 38 x 64 whose work has shattered the art world’s notion of “folk” inches, Private Collection and “outsider” art. Although Dial never had formal artistic training and was from a rural town in the Deep South, his work touched on themes that resonate with audiences 1. Mr. Dial Has Something to Say. Dir. Celia Carey. Alabama Pubic around the world: racial inequality, struggles in a modern Television, 2007. DVD. world, and relationships between men and women. 2. As told by Thornton Dial. “Mr. Dial is a Man Looking for Something” in Souls Grown Deep: African American Vernacular Art. Vol. 2. Eds. William Arnett and Paul Arnett. Atlanta: Tinwood Books, 2001. 201-202. 3. Arnett, William. “A Network of Ideas” in Souls Grown Deep: African American Vernacular Art. Vol. 1. Eds. Paul Arnett and William Arnett. Atlanta: Tinwood Books, 2000, 187. 4. As told by Thornton Dial. “Mr. Dial is a Man Looking for Something.” 208. 5. Lacayo, Richard. “Outside the Lines.” Time 14 Mar. 2011: 54-57.

19 Hawkins Bolden (1914 - 2005)

Starting in 1965, he created objects of art from discarded punctured pans, metal lids, washtubs, cofeepots, shoe soles, hoses—anything to make noise and fap in the wind.

An afnity for protecting his garden from birds prompted the more than three decade-long art career of Hawkins Bolden. His style—assemblage art made from found ma- terials—gave life to the inner visions of a blind man who used his remaining senses, primarily touch, to create a uniquely tactile form of sculptural art.

Bolden was born in the Bailey’s Bottom section of Mem- phis, Tennessee, to parents of Creole and American Indian descent. At age eight, Hawkins lost his eyesight as a re- sult of a blow to the head while playing baseball with his twin brother Monroe; however, blindness did not squelch his creativity. He made kites, tom-walkers (leg stilts), skate trucks—toys for his nieces and nephews—even a radio, from a wire, a crystal, and a coathanger.1

Bolden lived in the same house his entire life, a small urban home squeezed between a car wash and a privacy wall. An avid gardener, his garden was his pride and joy. One day, his nephew told him he could scare birds away from his garden if he made eyes in a bucket with a screwdriver to use as a makeshift scarecrow. Starting in 1965, he cre- ated these objects from discarded punctured pans, metal lids, washtubs, cofeepots, shoe soles, hoses—anything to make noise and fap in the wind. Most of his work is repre- sentational of human faces and bodies attached to a post. His sculptures are prized as works of folk art, and although Bolden intended his sculptures to be placed outside, many collectors prefer to display his artwork indoors.2

Bolden’s studio was under his house, where he stored his collection of materials that he found on the street and in alleys. He tossed his fndings in the crawl space, re- trieved them by touch, and bound them together with wire Hawkins Bolden, untitled, n.d., mixed and string. Bolden was aware of interest in his work, and media, 26 x 79 x 9 inches, Gadsden Arts continued to challenge himself to make his pieces more Center & Museum Permanent Collection complex until his death in 2005.3 His works can be found in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American 1. Arnett, William. “Insight.” Souls Grown Deep: African American Art Museum, the Newark Museum in New Jersey, and the Vernacular Art. Vol. 2. Eds. William Arnett and Paul Arnett. Atlanta: Flatwater Folk Museum in Nebraska. Tinwood Books, 2001. 151. 2. Rosenak, Chuck and Jan Rosenak. Contemporary American Folk Art: a Collector’s Guide. Abbeville Press: New York, 1996. 78. 3. “Hawkins Bolden.” Webb Art Gallery. Webb Gallery, 2001. http://www. webbartgallery.com/hawkins-bolden.

20 Richard Burnside (b. 1944)

Burnside’s use of color jolts scenes to life as the rhythmic patterns surrounding the central fgures create movement.

The paintings of Richard Burnside are extensions of a vivid fantasy realm that reveals itself to him as he sleeps. The rich colors and eccentric narratives found in his work reveal his process of coping with the stresses brought on by a lifetime of nightmares and act as a type of coded language through which he can communicate what he sees.

Born in , Maryland in 1944, Burnside was driven to paint around the age of thirty when he began to be plagued by night visions of ancient times. The artist used his art not only to express what he saw but also to deal with the stress and confusion that came along with these nocturnal experiences.1 Through his art, the viewer can see the internal struggle of Burnside’s nightly visions and how he fnds meaning in each.

Burnside’s dream world was the catalyst for his now pop- ularly collected vernacular pieces. He infuses his art with many of the dream characters he encounters using a sig- nature style to express the feelings of angst and intensity. A large portion of his art shows confrontational fgures—an- cient kings and queens, jungle cats and white wolves, who Richard Burnside, The King Suffering, n.d., paint, paper on wood, 23.5 x 21 stare directly at the viewer, challenging them to stare back. inches, Gadsden Arts Center & Museum Permanent Collection The paintings are thrust up against the frame with little depth to distract from the fat, mask-like faces he outlines in heavy Richard Burnside has been creating his work for decades black lines. as a means to share his visions with the world. His work hangs in many House of bars, and has been col- Burnside’s use of color jolts scenes to life as the rhythmic lected by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and patterns surrounding the central fgures create movement. the Morrison Museum of Art in Georgia. His frst museum Burnside calls these patterns “Roman writing,” an ancient retrospective, Who is King? opened in May of 2016 at the language he also sees in his dreams.2 He combines biblical McKissick Museum in South Carolina. He currently lives scenes, folktales, and nursery rhymes to create his own “Af- in South Carolina, quietly continuing the creation of his ricanized mythology.”3 Each of his paintings is brimming with inspiring work. symbolism, meaning, and a running documentation of his own thoughts and dreams. 1. Crotty, D. “Richard Burnside” Self Taught Folk Art. n.p. 1997-2004. http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~dacrotty/burnside.html. Largely self-taught, Burnside uses oil-based enamel paint on 2. Conwill, Kinshasha and Arthur C. Danto. “Richard Burnside” in paper bags and plywood.4 The artist uses a number of oth- Testimony: Vernacular Art of the African-American South: The Ronald and er materials for his work, including many found items such June Shelp Collection. New York: harry N. Abrams, Inc. Publishers, 2001. 168. as gourds or abandoned wooden boards. He has also been 3. Arnett, William “Richard Burnside” in Souls Grown Deep: African known to use pinecone pieces for the teeth or claws of his American Vernacular Art. Vol. 1. Eds. William Arnett and Paul Arnett. painted subjects. The rich, symbolic quality of his work has Atlanta: Tinwood Books, 2000. 442. been compared to both African and American Indian tribal art.5 4. Wertkin, Gerard C., Kogan, Lee, “Richard Burnside” in Encyclopedia of American Folk Art, 2004. 74. 5. Ibid.

21 Archie Byron (1928 - 2005)

Archie Byron used his experience manipulating tree roots to create a technique of combining sawdust, glue, and water to form sculptures of fgures and animals. His fgures often have a religious or political connotation and deal with the theme of origin.

Archie Byron’s art is metaphorical of the sociopolitical cli- mate of the early twentieth century in the South. Exploring such themes as racial and gender diversity, fragmentation, migration, and the disunity of origin, his materials—sawdust and glue—are symbolic of the breaking down and separating of things to come together as something new.

Byron was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1928. He was primar- ily raised by his grandmother and lived with her until leaving high school in 1946 to join the Navy’s eforts in Okinawa, Ja- pan as a WWII draftee. After the war, Byron returned to his studies, later attending trade school under the G.I. bill. He learned architectural drawing and brick layering; the latter be- came his profession until 1961, when he helped to establish what he describes as the frst African-American owned pri- vate investigations frm in the United States.1 Over the years, Byron owned and ran several businesses, from a tackle shop, to a fring range, to a security guard training school.

In 1975, Byron’s fascination with art began when he dis- covered an uprooted piece of wood that reminded him of a Archie Byron, untitled, n.d., mixed media, 22 x 21 inches, Gadsden Arts Center gun.2 He started searching for roots to display and also to & Museum Permanent Collection sculpt. After two years, he used his experience manipulating tree roots to create a technique of combining the sawdust accumulated from the day’s operations with glue and water Archie Byron’s sculptures still stand in Atlanta’s Folk Art to form sculptures of various fgures and animals. Often, Park, and his work can be found in many private art col- Byron’s fgures had a religious or political connotation and lections, as well as the permanent collections of the Smith- dealt with the theme of origin, through exploration of the sonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. and the concepts of Genesis and of his own mixture of heritages— High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Native American, African American, and European.3

Byron continued to create artworks based on his own per- sonal style and while his recognition as an artist grew, so did his political career. Byron was commissioned by the Mayor of Atlanta to take part in creating artworks for the city’s Folk Art Park and served as a city council member for Atlanta from 1981 to 1990. 1. Arnett, Paul. “Anatomically Correct” in Souls Grown Deep: African- American Vernacular Art. Vol I. Eds. William Arnett and Paul Arnett. Atlanta: Tinwood Books, 2000. 229. Late into his career, Byron experimented with new materials 2. Arnett, 231. in addition to continuing his traditional sawdust mixture. 3. Conwill, Kinshasha and Arthur C. Danto. Testimony: Vernacular Art of However, by the end of his life, having become ill and un- the African-American: The Ronald and June Shelp Collection. New York: able to work with sawdust, Byron turned to painting.4 Byron Harry A. Abrams, Inc., 2001. 152. passed away in 2005, after a long battle with lung cancer. 4. “Archie Byron.” Orange Hill Art Gallery. Orange Hill Art, Inc., 2005. http://www.orangehillart.com/artistinfo.asp?ArtistID=1003.

22 Archie Byron, Two-Faced, 1987, sawdust, glue, paint, 22 x 13 inches, Private Collection

Archie Byron, Birth, 1990, sawdust, glue, paint, 26 x 20 inches, Private Collection

23 Arthur Dial (b. 1930)

“I take ideas from my own head. I got one or two ideas from the news but most of it comes from what I see and the opinions I got inside me. My art is a record of what went by.”

Mixed media artist Arthur Dial is known for his assemblag- es depicting regional folklore and biblical passages. In the style of many other southern vernacular artists, he pulls inspiration from his surroundings, both in terms of materi- als and concepts.1

Born and raised in rural Alabama, Dial developed an interest in the arts from his well-known artist half-brother, Thornton Dial, Sr. He held a job with a company called U.S. Pipe, what the locals termed the “Pipe Shop,” for thirty-seven years until the extended chemical exposure eventually degraded his health. Throughout his long career, the con- stant interaction with piping materials began to infltrate his artwork, as he “made other stuf, little peoples, ani- mals, and crucifxions and stuf like that out of scrap pipe and steel and leftover supplies around the shop.”2 Dial’s frequent use of materials such as burlap, spray paint, and industrial sealing compound in the fabrication of his works, ofers high-relief texture to his paintings.

Dial’s neighborhood, also known as “Pipe Shop,” ofered a great deal of support for his artistic practice, often serv- ing as inspiration for his pieces. He frequently represented Arthur Dial, untitled, n.d., paint, fber on board, 39.5 x 39.75 inches, Gadsden the people in his community that he related to, such as the Arts Center & Museum Permanent Collection “working man,” in addition to biblical characters, such as Adam and Eve.

Dial’s process is organic and unique, serving as an artis- tic extension of him. He states, “I take ideas from my own head. I got one or two ideas from the news but most of it comes from what I see and the opinions I got inside me. My art is a record of what went by.”3 His concepts are not meant to encompass archetypal ideas or overarching philosophies, but rather his personal identity as an artist, what’s important to him, and his societal context. Dial’s work can be found in the permanent collections of the Rockford Art Museum in Illinois and The High Museum of 1. Sellen, Betty-Carol. “Artists: Arthur Dial” in Self Taught Outsider, and Art in Atlanta. Folk Art: A Guide to American Artists, Locations, and Resources, 160. Jeferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2003. 2. “Arthur Dial.” Souls Grown Deep Foundation. As told by Arthur Dial to William Arnett, 1997. http://soulsgrowndeep.org/artist/arthur-dial 3. Dial, Arthur. “A Record of What Went By” in Souls Grown Deep: African American Vernacular Art of the South, Eds. Paul and William Arnett, 368- 74. Atlanta: Tinwood Books, 2000.

24 Thornton Dial, Jr. (b. 1953)

Dial’s paintings are characterized by the use of strong colors, bold lines, and often repetition to emphasize his message. He uses animals and nature in his work to symbolize social conditions within modern society.

Thornton Dial Jr., called “Little Buck” by his family, was called to art through the inspiration of his father, the late Vernacular artist Thornton Dial, Sr. His use of found materials and everyday objects in his artwork represent his interest in exploring human relationships and relationships between men and nature.

Dial was born in 1953 in Bessemer, Alabama.1 He attended school through the 11th grade, after which he moved to Birmingham and spent seven years there working in con- struction. Dial then returned to Bessemer to work for the Pullman Standard Company operating punch-and-shear machines. It was at this time that he learned to bend and shape iron, a skill that he would later use to create his sculptures. Dial married his frst wife in 1972 and had two children before they divorced in 1981. In 1986, he married Angela Jackson and fathered two more children, as well as becoming the stepfather of Jackson’s daughter from a pre- vious marriage. That same year Dial, inspired by his father’s art, began creating artwork of his own.

Thornton Dial Jr. works in several mediums, including painting, sculpture, and assemblage. He prefers to paint with oil-based enamel house paint, which he considers to be a basic material, as opposed to using “artist’s paint,” or more traditional mediums.2 His assemblages are made from found and purchased materials, and his sculptures are made from cut and molded sheet metal and iron. Dial’s paintings are characterized by the use of strong col- Thornton Dial, Jr., untitled, n.d., paint, tin, fber on wood, 39 x 48 inches, ors, bold lines, and patterns of repetition to emphasize his Gadsden Arts Center & Museum Permanent Collection message. He uses animals and nature in his work to sym- bolize social conditions within modern society. Much of his work focuses on the relationships between blacks and whites, as well as humans’ relationship to nature.

Over the years, Thornton Dial Jr. has gained much recog- nition for his art and has exhibited around the country at notable institutions, such as the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia. His work is also included in the perma- nent collection of the Museum of American Folk Art in New 1. Barrett, D. “Little Buck.” Souls Grown Deep: African American York City. Dial is proudly continuing the artistic traditions Vernacular Art. Vol II. Tinwood Books: Atlanta, 2001, 470. started by his father, Thornton Dial Sr. 2. Conwill, Kinshasha, et al. Testimony: Vernacular Art of the African- American: The Ronald and June Shelp Collection. New York: Harry A. Abrams, Inc., 2001. 100.

25 Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers

Vernacular artists can be found throughout the southeast- ern United States, presenting works of varying styles and techniques, each unique to the artist, their region, and their life stories. Perhaps none are so rooted in their home com- munities as the Gee’s Bend quiltmakers. Out of this small, historically black community in rural southwest Alabama, on a peninsula accessible by a single road, came a tight knit community of women who have been passing down quilting traditions for as long as anyone can remember.1 The quilts these women created are unparalleled expres- sions of individuality that not only weave the complexity of life into quiltmaking, but also weave the rich history of a particular community into exquisite cultural treasures that “stand side by side with the world’s great art.”2

As descendants from generations of slaves who worked on the Pettway Plantation, Gee’s Bend families dealt with many struggles over the years, including being deeply afected by the Great Depression, patchy government Lucy Mingo, Roman Stripe Variation, 2002, cotton, 92 x 83 inches, On assistance, and the consequences of activism during the Loan from Tinwood Civil Rights movement.3 However, through these challenges, several families chose to stay in Gee’s Bend, continuing to For these women, a quilt–a functional object of the home share quiltmaking techniques, patterns, and stories with meant to keep the family warm at night–became a center- fve generations of family members.4 Despite, or perhaps piece of artistic expression. A quilt’s ability to be both an art because of their seclusion, Gee’s Bend has been home to object and a craft object is particularly poignant for African over 150 documented quiltmakers.5 American quiltmakers, whose ancestors, as slaves, used quilts to decorate their homes when other adornments were forbidden. These works are profoundly personal and their meaning is often disguised from outsiders who may just see the object as a utilitarian object, while the symbolic, commemorative, or metaphysical messages of these works may only be known to the maker.6

While others might have felt limited by the available ma- terials–old work clothes, cotton, corduroy, bandanas–the women of Gee’s Bend saw an opportunity for innovation and creativity; they had the freedom to create beyond the boundaries of the medium. Similarly, instead of being confned by the repetitive symmetrical designs of main- stream quilts, Gee’s Benders took symmetry and made conscious decisions to deviate from that order, mixing colors, shapes, patterns, and traditional patchwork designs into intricate, abstract works of art that refect the person- ality of the quiltmaker. Their works represent both “tradition and innovation.”7 The visual language of their quilts has been compared to jazz improvisation, as the quiltmakers Lola Pettway, Housetop Blocks, 2003, corduroy, 82 x 79 inches, combine patterns and fabrics into colorful and geometric, On Loan from Tinwood but unexpected, designs that captivate viewers.8

26 Lucy Mingo b. 1931

Lucy Mingo learned to quilt from her mother and grand- mother, and as soon as she saw how it was done, she was quilting on her own. Lucy recalls that the older generations quilted as a group, going house to house helping people, sewing in very tiny rows. Lucy was raised working in the felds like many of her counterparts, but she also attend- ed school and was sent to Mobile, Alabama, to attend the Allen Institute. After she got married, Lucy moved back to her hometown and raised 10 children. Over the years she had jobs working in the felds, a school cafeteria, and the extension service as a program assistant. Lucy is known for being one of Gee’s Bend’s spokespeople during the civil rights era. She marched in Montgomery and fought for her right to vote.9

Lola Pettway b. 1941

Lola Pettway grew up working in the felds picking vege- tables in her family’s farm, and remembers spending more time in the feld than school. She also grew up quilting. Her mother, Allie Pettway, was in a quilting circle, which included quilters like Lucy Mingo and Candis Pettway (Qunnie Pett- Qunnie Pettway, Strip Quilt, 2003, corduroy, 78 x 69 inches, On Loan from way’s mother). Their work infuenced Lola’s quilting style, Tinwood which includes a mix of colors, fabrics, and types. Lola is full of energy and never likes to be sitting for too long. Growing up with 13 siblings, and having 12 children of her own, Lola was never alone when quilting.10 1. Cubbs, Joanne. “The Life and Art of Mary Lee Bendolph” in Mary Lee Bendolph, Gee’s Bend Quilts, and Beyond. Eds. Paul Arnett and Eugene W. Metcalf Jr. Atlanta, GA: Tinwood Books, 2006. 8. Qunnie Pettway 2. Beardsley, John. “On the Map” in Gee’s Bend: The Women and Their 1943 - 2010 Quilts. 2002, 50. 3. Arnett, Paul. “Gee’s Bend, Alabama” in Gee’s Bend Quilts. New York, NY: Ameringer & Yohe Fine Art, 2005. 6-7. Like Lola, Qunnie Pettway was taught to quilt by her mother 4. Ibid, 5. Candis Pettway and the women in her community. She 5. Beardsley, 50. grew up making the Housetop variations, but after she got 6. Ibid, 37. married she learned to piece together all diferent types. 7. Marzio, Peter. “Forward” in Gee’s Bend: The Women and Their Quilts. Qunnie especially enjoyed created the Crazy Z and Star 2002, 9. 8. Anderson, Maxwell L. “Gee’s Bend Quilts” in Gee’s Bend Quilts. New quilts. As her health deteriorated, Qunnie stuck with more York, NY: Ameringer & Yohe Fine Art, 2005. 4. 11 simple patterns, and she eventually passed away in 2010. 9. “Lucy Mingo.” Souls Grown Deep Foundation. http://www. soulsgrowndeep.org/artist/lucy-mingo 10. “Lola Pettway.” Souls Grown Deep Foundation. http://www. soulsgrowndeep.org/artist/lola-pettway 11. “Qunnie Pettway” Souls Grown Deep Foundation. http://www. soulsgrowndeep.org/artist/qunnie-pettway

27 Alyne Harris • Florida Artist • (b. 1942)

The main subjects of her paintings are centered on the African-American experience, showing such struggles as slavery, the dichotomy of good and bad, religion, and the physical landscape.

Alyne Harris has always been driven to create art. Born in Gainesville, Florida in 1942, Harris remembers playing with her sister in the nearby Pleasant Grove Cemetery, drawing angels in the dirt. In school and at home, all of her free time went to drawing or painting, to bring to life her “imagination visions”–ideas for paintings that she saw in her head.1

Harris creates spiritual and vibrant paintings centered on her experience as an African American woman in the South. Themes such as religion, the natural landscape, the dichot- omy of good and bad, celebrations of everyday life, and the struggles of slavery are frequent features in her paintings.2

Instead of the sand she used to draw in as a child, Alyne Harris now paints with acrylic on board, paper, and canvas to bring to life the visions she sees in her head. Harris’s painting style is easily recognized; she uses the same tech- niques of broad brushstrokes and quick, thick dabs of paint Alyne Harris, The Baptism, n.d., acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24 inches, Gadsden Arts throughout her work. She tends to use anything available Center & Museum Permanent Collection as a tool, her fngers, something of the ground, a kitchen utensil, and combines them to create her signature look.3

When looking at her work, you see ethereal angels surrounded by bold colors of the setting sun, or trees blooming for the frst time in spring, or even dark nighttime vistas where the moon looms eerily overhead. In each of these settings, the viewer is confronted with Harris’s love of color. She is inspired by the colors of Van Gogh, as well as quilts hanging out to dry, or other things simply lying by the side of the road.4

Alyne Harris is a widely regarded folk artist whose work is included in the collections of the in , the Rockford Art Museum in Illinois, New Orleans Museum of Art in Louisiana, and the Asheville Art Museum in North Carolina. 1. Arnett, William “Alyne Harris: Taken from interviews with Alyne Harris conducted by William Arnett” in Souls Grown Deep: African American Vernacular Art. Vol. 1. Eds. William Arnett and Paul Arnett. Atlanta: Tinwood Books, 2000. 438. 2. Monroe, Gary. “Alyne Harris” in Extraordinary Interpretations: Florida’s Self-taught Artists. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003. 71 3. Congdon, Kristin G. and Tina Bucuvales. “Alyne Harris” in Just Above the Water: Florida Folk Art. University Press of Mississippi, 2006. 113. 4. Arnett, 438.

28 Bessie Harvey (1929 - 1994)

Harvey turned to God to cope with her daily struggles. As a devout Christian, she saw her art as overcoming the spiritual nature of her materials–roots and gnarled wood–and giving them a new Christian force.

Bessie Harvey was born on the eve of the Great Depression. and her Native American heritag- Despite, or perhaps because of her challenging early life, es. This study greatly infuenced she would go on to become one of the foremost vernac- Harvey’s later work in both form ular artists from Tennessee. Borne of great struggle and and content, becoming celebra- spirituality, her densely painted and bead, shell, and cloth tory representations of her cultural incrusted sculptural assemblages speak to her inherent antecedents.3 connection with God and, through her work, her need to bring to life nature’s spiritual presence. After she retired in 1983, Harvey’s works were seen in galleries and Born in , Georgia, Harvey was one of ten children. museums across the country. In Burdened with an alcoholic mother and a father who died 1995, a year after her death, Bes- while she was still very young, Harvey’s childhood was sie Harvey’s work was exhibited in troubled and painful. At fourteen, she was married to an the prestigious , abusive husband and soon found herself struggling to raise after which the Whitney Museum eleven children alone and with only the assistance of wel- purchased her piece Cross Bear- fare and her fourth-grade education. ers for their permanent collection. Her work can also be found in Harvey’s creative impetus was primarily spiritual. With her the permanent collections of the teenage sons involved in drugs and petty crime, Harvey American Folk Art Museum, the Bessie Harvey, untitled, n.d., turned to God to cope with her daily struggles. She claimed Knoxville Museum of Art. Through paint on wood, 9 x 17 x 4 that the Lord began showing her faces in the walls to soothe both hardship and success, Bes- inches, Gadsden Arts Center her, creating her desire to bring forth the undiscovered faces sie Harvey never lost sight of what & Museum Permanent within nature.1 Using roots and gnarled wood, Harvey be- was truly important to both herself Collection gan making sculptures expressive of these visions. Her and her work – a uniquely deep distinctive style of sculpture led many to identify her as a faith and the comfort found in dis- ‘voodoo woman,’ a distinction that greatly upset Harvey. covering one’s true calling. As a devout Christian, Harvey saw her art as overcoming the spiritual nature of her materials and giving them a new Christian force.2 Consequently, Harvey burned many of her sculptures. Harvey’s sculptures are often highly abstract, drawing from the natural forms of her materials. Adorned with paint and various found materials, including feathers, shells, and jewelry, Harvey’s sculptures take on a lifelike presence that animates the space in which they are placed.

Harvey’s art was frst introduced to the public when she entered an employee’s art exhibition at Blount Memorial Hospital, where she worked as a housekeeper’s aide. After 1. Conwill, Kinshasha. Testimony: Vernacular Art of the African-American the hospital exhibition, art critics took notice of Harvey and South: The Ronald and June Shelp Collection. New York: Harry N. her work. Many identifed parallels between Harvey’s aes- Abrams, 2002. 162. thetic and the traditions of tribal African art. These artistic 2. Ibid. comparisons flled Harvey with a deep desire to learn all 3. Borum, Jenifer. “Bessie Harvey.” Souls Grown Deep: African-American Vernacular Art of the South. Vol. 1. Eds. William Arnett and Paul Arnett. she could about the artistic traditions of both her African Atlanta: Tinwood Books, 2000. 168.

29 Lonnie Holley (b. 1950)

Through personal tragedy, Lonnie Holley discovered a hidden talent and has become one of the foremost Vernacular artists of his time.

Lonnie Holley, a pioneer of the Southern Vernacular art and, by the mid 1980s, paint. West African, Egyptian, and movement, came to art as a way to escape his crippling Pre-Columbian era infuences are prominent in his work depression, fnding a sense of freedom in the process. His through Holley’s strong emphasis on the spiritual world and almost compulsive need to create has resulted in a thirty- his use of human and animal forms. Holley also creates fve year career and prolifc body of work that is as sponta- more abstract paintings whose geometric forms are an neous as it is eccentric. Primarily focused on assemblage homage to the infuences of such modern Western artists compositions constructed of found objects, he has also as , Hans Arp, and Henry Moore. His frst experimented with music, photography, and ephemeral art. retrospective, Do We Think Too Much? I Don’t Think We Can Ever Stop: Lonnie Holley, A Twenty-Five Year Survey, Born February 10, 1950, in Birmingham, Alabama, Lonnie opened in 2004 at the . The Holley is the seventh of twenty-seven children, with ffteen museum also commissioned an extensive outdoor instal- children of his own. During his youth, Holley was moved lation of his work in the lower sculpture garden as part of from one foster home to the next, spending time in the their “Perspectives” series in 2003. His art can be found Industrial School for Negro Children in Mount Meigs, Ala- in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American bama, until he ran away at the age of fourteen. He worked Art Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the High his way through a variety of jobs in Louisiana, Florida, and Museum of Art and the MFA Houston. Alabama, and has most recently settled in Atlanta. At age 62, Holley made his debut as a recording artist. His Holley began creating his art in 1979 after a house fre trag- music is almost indescribable, “haunting vocals accom- ically killed two of his nieces, sending Holley into a deep panied by rudimental keyboard efects,” all of which is depression that almost drove him to suicide. As the family completely improvised.3 Holley still creates art daily, along could not aford tombstones for the graves, Holley decid- with his recordings, and is represented by art galleries and ed to use his grief constructively and build the tombstones a record label. Through personal tragedy, Lonnie Holley himself out of sandstone that he found at a foundry near discovered a hidden talent and has become one of the his sister’s home. Believing divine intervention led him to foremost Vernacular artists of his time. the materials,1 these tombstones marked the beginning of Holley’s artistic career. He says of the tombstones, “I asked God to give me something so that I may go to the top in life, and He did. I use the setting sun, the stars, the hills – all that has afected my imagination and what I put into my work.”2

Soon after creating the tombstones, Holley began turning his yard into a menagerie of found materials and assem- blages. In 1980, he took some of his carvings to the Director of the Birmingham Museum of Art in Alabama, who gave Holley his frst exhibition. The Birmingham Director con- tacted the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C., which included Holley’s work in the 1981 exhibition, More 1. Kemp, Kathy and Keith Boyer. Revelations: Alabama’s Visionary Folk Artists. Birmingham: Crane Hill Publishers, 1994. 86. Than Land and Sky: Art From Appalachia. 2. Nosanow, Barbara Shissler ed. More than Land or Sky: Art from Appalachia. Washington D.C.: National Museum of American Art, 1981. In the beginning, Holley constructed his sculptures primari- 70. ly out of industrial-grade sandstone, but later he expanded 3. Binelli, Mark. “Lonnie Holley, the Insider’s Outsider.” The New York his mediums to include discarded wire, scrap metal, wood Times Magazine. 23 Jan 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/ magazine/lonnie-holley-the-insiders-outsider.html?_r=0.

30 Lonnie Holley, untitled, n.d., wood, paint, 62 x 75 x 8 inches, Private Collection

31 Joe Louis Light (1934 - 2005)

Light saw himself as a fghter against the shortcomings of humanity, including ignorance, hypocrisy, and injustice, and used his paintings as his weapons.

Joe Light’s hermetic existence provided the platform upon These attachments included anything from old photo- which to display the zealous and spiritually self-refec- graphs to toys, and were mostly found at the fea market tive signage and paintings that have made him a favorite where he worked for several years. among collectors of Southern Vernacular Art. Light’s art is defned by both his steadfast religious convictions and In his old age, Light sufered from diabetes and had a semblance to pop art emanating from his appropriation fnancial difculties. Light lost his house and yard, which of American kitsch. Best known for his cautionary sign art, contained much of his artwork; however, he believed that Light’s messages against vice were meant to promote sal- whatever happened to him was the will of God. He said, vation for not only passersby, but himself. “Of course, if it’s His will to make things get a little better, I won’t mind.”3 Light was born in Dyersburg, Tennessee, in 1934. He admit- ted that his youth was flled with delinquency and that he spent time in jail. During his second jail sentence, he con- verted to Judaism after hearing a prison chaplain reading from the Old Testament. He had always resented Christi- anity because of his father’s harsh Baptist teachings and his belief that Christianity was simply made up of “false promises made by whites to blacks.”1 This religious con- version is refected in much of his artwork. Light’s goal was to spread the word of salvation to everyone around him.

Light saw himself as a fghter against the shortcomings of humanity— ignorance, hypocrisy, injustice—and used painting as his weapon.2 His earliest artwork was writing biblically inspired declarations on highway bridges and sidewalks. Later, he began painting images and sayings on his house, particularly on his shutters. He placed similar signs in his yard, expressing his controversial opinions on how society should behave and commenting on such issues as child rearing, sexual education in schools, government treatment of minorities, and compassion within the black community. Light intended for these signs to be seen by everyone who walked by his house while serving as a fence Joe Louis Light, Bird Man’s Second Chance, to keep social immorality out and his family safely within. n.d., paint on wood, 18 x 40 inches, Private Collection Light’s paintings are characterized by bold, black lines outlining brightly colored cartoon-like fgures. Despite his conversion to Judaism, much of his content involves 1. Arnett, William. “River Deep, Mountain High” in Souls Grown Deep: Christian iconography and themes of salvation. He worked African-American Vernacular Art. Vol. 2. Eds. William Arnett and Paul with house paint on wood and also painted on discarded Arnett. Atlanta: Tinwood Books, 2001. 283. objects like hubcaps and old TV sets. Sometimes, instead 2. Arnett, 282. of working on the found objects, he placed them directly 3. Told by Joe Light. “Black Man of Jewish Faith” in Souls Grown Deep: African-American Vernacular Art. Vol. 2. Eds. William Arnett and Paul on top of paintings, adding what he called “attachments.” Arnett. Atlanta: Tinwood Books, 2001. 306.

32 Joe Louis Light, Hobo’s Swollen Left Arm, n.d., paint on plywood, 96 x 48 inches, Private Collection

33 Ronald Lockett (1965 - 1998)

Confict, and what art historian Paul Arnett calls “death driven” art, are often the central themes found in Lockett’s work. Through his art, he was, “expressing an idea of what I really think is wrong with society.”

Even as a young child, Ronald Lockett knew art was in his blood. He was raised by his grandmother, Sarah Dial Lock- ett, who also raised artist Thornton Dial, Sr., or as Lockett called him, “Uncle Buck.” Like Dial, who became his mentor, Lockett made use of found materials and represented his ideas about social issues through allegorical animals in a variety of mediums.1

Born in Bessemer, Alabama in 1965, Lockett found little support from his mother for an artistic career. For a while, he tried his hand working in the Dial family metal furniture business. Yet art continued to beckon, inspiring his passion despite his mother’s disapproval, “so sometimes discour- agement can encourage, too.”2 When he was 20 years old, he caught the attention of William and Judy Arnett, collec- tors of African-American Vernacular art, and thus ofcially began his career. Ronald Lockett, Traps, 1993, collage, watercolor, rope on paper, 29.75 x 22 Confict, and what art historian Paul Arnett calls “death inches, Gadsden Arts Center & Museum Permanent Collection driven” art, are often the central themes found in Lockett’s work.3 Images of traps and chains are transformed into a methodical visual language that refects social plights as his death, he had left his mark on African-American Ver- Lockett addresses historically signifcant events such as nacular Art.7 His frst retrospective, Fever Within, focusing Hiroshima, the Holocaust, the Oklahoma City bombing, on a collection of mixed-media works, has been exhibited and the Klu Klux Klan’s terrorism in the American South.4 to great success, debuting in such prestigious museums as The rhetorical quality of Lockett’s art stems from his com- The High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA and The Folk Art mentary on societal collapse, as he was, “expressing an Museum in New York City. idea of what I really think is wrong with society.”5 In his later work, themes of traps and rebirth are presented through rusty tin siding covered with oxidized paint, which had been put there by Thornton Dial in the 1950s and 60s.6 Underlying these concepts of disintegration and collapse, Lockett sought the unappreciated beauty of the decay, 1. Conwill, Kinshasha, et al. Testimony: Vernacular Art of the African- the vivid turn of its colors as the rust regenerated the tin American South: The Ronald and June Shelp Collection. New York: Harry into something new. These themes extend to that instant N. Abrams, Inc, 2001, 114. moment of death, where old life ends as something new 2. Conwill, 114. beings, a theme he explored in his series of hunted deer 3. Arnett, Paul. “Improvising in a New Key.” Souls Grown Deep: African- and other animals near extinction. American Vernacular Art. Vol. 2, Eds William Arnett and Paul Arnett. Atlanta: Tinwood Books, 2001, 516. 4. Bernard L. Herman and Ronald Lockett, Fever Within: The Art of In August of 1998, Ronald Lockett died of pneumonia Ronald Lockett (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2016), 2. brought on by AIDS at the young age of 33, just ten years 5. Moses, Kathy. Outsider Art of the South. Alglen, PA: Schifer after his career began. He had never left Bessemer. In his Publishing, LTD., 1999, 171. youth, “most folks paid him no mind,” but by the time of 6. Arnett, 523. 7. Arnett, 520.

34 Ronald Lockett, untitled, n.d., mixed media, 52 x 62 inches, Private Collection

35 Edward “Mr. Eddy” Mumma • Florida Artist • (1908 - 1986)

Mumma was compelled to paint every surface, including lampshades, doors, and appliances, and both sides of the canvas, plywood, or cardboard on which he worked.

The art of Edward Gallimore Mumma, or “Mr. Eddy” as he is popularly known, was all created in the artist’s last 17 years of life–an explosive period of creativity in which the artist developed his iconic, abstracted portrait form. In these years, Mumma created nearly 1,000 works of art and mostly lived a reclusive lifestyle in Gainesville, Florida.

Mr. Eddy was born in West Milton, Ohio in 1908. As a young man he hopped onto a train to travel the countryside, working odd jobs until he returned home and married Thelma Huebna, whose father created a position for Mumma at his meat- packing factory. In 1941, Mumma bought a farm in Spring- feld and despite their lack of farming skills, Mumma and his wife were determined to succeed and found prosperity in farming and managing rental properties.1 However, in 1956, Edward “Mr. Eddy” Mumma, untitled (left: front, right: back), n.d., acrylic on canvas, 18 x 24 inches, Gadsden Arts Center & Museum Permanent Collection tragedy struck when Thelma died from untreated breast cancer. exchange for paintings. Kesl recognized the creative ability and drive of Mumma saying, “You could never forge a Mum- Mumma had signifcant health problems following the death ma because he was so unique in discovering the things he of his wife, including alcoholism, cataracts, and diabetes. did. Even without a signature, his work is distinctive.”7 The heavy drinking was a drastic change from his years of abstinence as part of his religion.2 Mumma eventually moved After Mumma’s death in 1986, Josh Feldstein, a prominent to Gainesville, Florida, to be close to his daughter Carroll businessman and folk art collector who had tried to meet Lee Mumma. While in Florida, Mumma’s diabetes led to the with Mumma while he was alive, ofered to purchase 600- amputation of both of his legs.3 Carroll encouraged him to 800 works of art from Mumma’s daughter.8 Feldstein then take an art class to keep his mind of the illness; however, worked to save the art and tell Mumma’s story. Presently, Mumma left the class after claiming that the art instructor Mumma’s paintings are on display and for sale in many folk accused him of being intentionally sloppy.4 Despite the criti- art galleries. They are part of the collections in the American cism, the class sparked his obsessive desire to paint. Folk Art Museum in New York City, the Mennello Museum of American Art in Orlando, and the St. James Place Museum Mumma painted mostly abstract portraits with exaggerated in North Carolina. hands and faces. At times he would depict animals, cars and sailboats.5 Although he painted the same iconic face 1. Gilroy, Anne E. Mr. Eddy Lives: The Art & Life of Eddy Mumma. for most of his paintings, he carefully considered color, hand Baltimore, MD: American Visionary Art Museum, 2016. placement, and clothing to diferentiate each character in 2. Ibid. his works. Mumma was compelled to paint every surface, 3. Sellen, Betty-Carol, and Cynthia J. Johanson. Self Taught, Outsider, including lampshades, doors, and appliances, and both sides and Folk Art: A Guide to America Artists, Locations and Resources. of the canvas, plywood, or cardboard on which he worked.6 Jeferson, NC: McFarland & Co, 2000. 4. Congdon, Kristen G., and Kara Kelley Hallmark. American Folk Art: A Regional Reference. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2012. To Mr. Eddy Mumma, money and fame were not factors in 5. Sellen, 2000. his art. In fact, he rarely shared or sold his work, but was 6. Gilroy, 2016. close with a University of Florida teacher and artist, Lennie 7. Knopf, Linda. “Lennie Kesl Recalls Eddy (Mr. Eddy) Gallimore Mumma.” Kesl, who often brought materials and paints to Mumma in Southern Folk Art Magazine, June 2009. 8. Congdon, 2012.

36 Edward “Mr. Eddy” Mumma, untitled (front), n.d., acrylic on canvas, 19 x 24 Edward “Mr. Eddy” Mumma, untitled (back), n.d., acrylic on canvas, 19 x 24 inches, Private Collection inches, Private Collection

37 Mary L. Proctor • Florida Artist • (b. 1960)

Proctor claims she had a vision during prayer that told her to get a door and paint. Since this vision Proctor has taken it upon herself to be a missionary to the world.

To learn about the harsh struggles and lasting faith of Mary Proctor says, “I started L. Proctor or “Missionary Mary” as she is also known, look painting because of lov- no further than her work, Self-Portrait. The artist has de- ing and healing,” which picted herself using broken shards of glass, jumping with is evident in Self-Portrait her mouth open and hands raised. Surrounding Proctor where she writes, “When are statements about her life and faith such as, “Have you my grandmama aunt and ever saw a mirror that broke in pieces? That’s how my life uncle burn to death, He’s has been and only the Lord is picking me up and he is still mending me” and “When mending my broken pieces back together again.” you trust Him, He sees you through.”5 Born to an eleven-year-old mother in Jeferson County, Florida in 1960, Mary Proctor was raised by her grand- Today, Mary Proctor owns parents, a bi-racial couple that faced much scrutiny from the American Folk Art Mu- the community. Though she never knew her father, Proctor seum and Gallery in the believes he was an artist like herself, and that he painted Centre of Tallahassee–a pictures in the local church.1 gallery where she is able to sell a variety of folk art, At seventeen, Proctor married a Tallahassee freman and mainly her own. Her work began to collect odds and ends that she used to create a has been widely exhibited fea market called Noah’s Ark Flea Market.2 Like many ver- and included in several nacular and self-taught artists, she can pinpoint the exact museum, corporate, and moment and reason why she began to paint. In 1994, a fre private collections includ- took the lives of her grandmother, aunt, and uncle. Proctor ing the Smithsonian Insti- says that right before the fre, she awoke and had a vision, tution, the Morris Museum, “I saw light going all the way up into heaven.”3 The Zora Neale Hurston National Museum of Fine Deeply depressed by her Arts, the American Vision- Mary Proctor, St. Mattew, 1995, assemblage, 12 x 28 x 1 inches, great loss, Proctor found ary Art Museum, and sever- Gadsden Arts Center & Museum comfort in her faith, praying al House of Blues locations. Permanent Collection extensively for an answer to her pain, and in 1995, Proctor had a vision that told her to get a door and paint.4 Since this vision, Proctor has taken it upon 1. Told by Mary Proctor to William Arnett. “Mary Proctor: I Believe in My herself to be a missionary Mission” in Souls Grown Deep: African American Vernacular Art. Vol. 2. to the world, using doors as Eds. William Arnett and Paul Arnett. Atlanta, GA: Tinwood Books, 2001. 448. passageways to freedom, 2. Conwill, Kinshasha and Arthur C. Danto. “Mary Proctor” Testimony: peace, and comfort, and Vernacular Art of the African-American South. The Ronal & June Shelp instilling her paintings with Collection. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Publishers, 23001. 128. Mary Proctor, Once Again I Fall Down..., passages from scripture 3. Arnett, 2001. 1997, mixed media, paint on board, and glittering angels. 4. Monroe, Gary. “Mary Proctor” in Extraordinary Interpretations: Florida’s 14.5 x 19 inches, Gadsden Arts Center Self-taught Artists. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2003. 73. & Museum Permanent Collection 5. Arnett, 2001.

38 Mary Proctor, Self Portrait, n.d., broken glass and paint on found window, 45 x 49 x 4.5 inches, Gadsden Arts Center & Museum Permanent Collection

39 O.L. Samuels • Florida Artist • (b. 1931)

Samuels is known for his imaginary images, dreamlike fgures, and mythical creatures, each of whom comes with a story about its existence.

O.L. Samuels’ artistic career began in 1982. While on the Born in 1931 in Wilcox County, Georgia, O.L. Samuels job as a tree surgeon in Tallahassee, Samuels was seri- left home at only eight years old due to an unsafe home ously injured and spent a lengthy three-year recovery in environment. He later worked various jobs around the a wheelchair. In the face of depression from his accident, country including working as a farmer, professional boxer, Samuels recalled his grandmother’s advice, “when the musician, for the railroad, textile factories, and in sawmills, mind gets tangled up, when they get worried, carve on a before settling in Tallahassee as a tree surgeon.7 Today, he wooden spool.”1 Samuels quickly started carving found is a lay minister living in Tallahassee with his wife Gladys, wood objects such as tree trunks, roots, old wood furniture where he uses his living room as an area for his sermons and discarded two-by-fours, saying he was “doing some- and a workshop for his spiritual carvings.8 thing to raise my spirit about this sad[ness].”2 From this point on, he was committed to art making and developing O.L. Samuels is still actively creating and exhibiting his his signature style. artwork, and has been considered one of the most tal- ented self-taught artists in American by museums across Samuels is known for his imaginary images, dreamlike fg- the country. Samuels’ work is part of several permanent ures, and mythical creatures, each of which comes with a collections such as the Smithsonian American Art Museum story about its existence, and “expresses stories about life, in Washington, D.C., the Georgia Museum of Art, the Amer- personal heritage, and social issues.”3 In a list including alli- ican Folk Art Museum in New York City, the Arkansas Art gators, snakes, dogs, and mules, Samuels’ most frequently Center, and the National Museum of African Art. carved images are horses, which he says are “the most prideful of all the animals.”4 Samuels carves sculptures in a variety of sizes, including life-size sculptures, and often spends months on each piece. His sculptures are painted with a secret concoction of paint, glitter, sawdust, and glue that he warms on the stove, and uses as a “skin” for his sculptures.5 Although color-blind, Samuels paints several layers of wild, expressive colors, “using every color so he doesn’t leave any out.”6

1. “O.L. Samuels (b.1931) - Outside/Folk Art.” Roots Up Gallery. 2015. http://www.rootsupgallery.com/artists/#/ol-samuels/. 2. Sickler-Voigt, Debrah C., Ph.D. “Faces in Community Education. An Examination of the Florida Arts and Community Enrichment Program.” PhD diss., The , 2002. 3. Sickler-Voigt, Debrah C., Ph.D. “Carving for the Soul: Life Lessons from Self-Taught Artists O.L. Samuels.” Art Education, Vol. 59, No. 3 (May 2006): 25-32. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27696144. 4. Abrams, Michael. “O.L. Samuels and his imaginative universe of animals, people, and goblins: ‘I make things with the help of the spirit.’” In Florida Wildfowers. Michael E. Abrams, 2008. http://www.fwildfowers. com/#/olsamuels/ 5. Monroe, Gary. “O.L. Samuels” in Extraordinary Interpretations: Florida’s Self-Taught Artists. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2003. 131. 6. “O.L. Samuels.” Orange Hill Art. Orange Hill Art, Inc., 2005. http://www. O.L. Samuels, Firefy, n.d., glitter paint orangehillart.com/artistinfo.asp?ArtistID=1235 on wood, mixed media, 31 x 25 x 5 7. Congdon, Kristen G., and Kara Kelley Hallmark. American Folk Art: A inches, Gadsden Arts Center & Museum Regional Reference. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2012. Permanent Collection 8. Roots Up Gallery, 2015.

40 O.L. Samuels, Ruby, n.d., glitter paint on wood, mixed media, 50 x 39 x 23 inches, Private Collection

41 Mary Tillman Smith (1904 - 1995)

Many of Mary T’s paintings include religious themes and iconography that are often conveyed with bold patterns, designs, and even nonsense words that can only be translated by Mary herself.

Mary Tillman Smith did not begin producing art until she school through the was nearing 70 years of age, responding in part to the ffth grade, where mass liberation of artistic expression in the African Amer- she frst found an ican community that preceded the Civil Rights Movement. outlet from her A lifelong social isolationist due to a hearing impediment, alienation by draw- she created large-scale art works with bold, gestural paint ing in the dirt at application and cryptic text that she displayed outside her recess and adding house to keep away strangers. Her themes refected her humorous text to choice to disengage from society and instead take com- her drawings. pany with herself and God; a metaphor of her independent and religious nature. After two short and ill-fated marriages, Smith was born in 1904 in Martinsville, Mississippi. Also Smith moved to Ha- known as “Mary T,” she was the third of thirteen children in zlehurst, Mississippi her family who grew up working on a sharecropping farm. for a fresh start. From an early age, her family knew she was very intelligent, Having to raise but a severe hearing impairment made her speech difcult a son alone, she to understand and an outcast in local society. She went to gained a sense of independence and Mary Tillman Smith, untitled, n.d., paint on self-sufciency that plywood, 24 x 32 inches, Private Collection would eventually be- come key to the creation of her artwork.1 Her frst major act of self-expression was to build a fence around her property out of scrap tin found in a nearby junkyard. Whitewashed and with strategic spacing, the fence became a place to display and contain her paintings and a space that repre- sented everything she needed in the world. It eliminated the necessity to go into town, where the citizens assumed she was either unintelligent or crazy. Tillman used these false assumptions to her advantage in her paintings. Many of the slogans that accompanied her painted imagery were pur- posely written unintelligibly in order to reafrm the town’s perception of her, and served as a sort of “keep out” sign, giving her privacy and security. Explaining why she rarely left her property, she said, “I can’t hear nothing. I don’t need nothing. I got it all here. My church. The Lord. Jesus.”2

Many of Smith’s paintings include religious themes and iconography that are often conveyed with bold patterns, designs, and even nonsensical words that can only be translated by the artist herself. She frequently painted ab- stracted images of Jesus and the Holy Trinity and portraits Mary Tillman Smith, untitled, n.d., paint on wood, 23.75 x 23.75 inches, Gadsden of her friends, neighbors, and pets.3 Using mostly house Arts Center & Museum Permanent Collection

42 paint on scrap material, Smith’s abstract expressionistic style drew many infuences from the large billboards hov- ering over her property of State Highway 51. She decided to counter the commercial advertisements above her by putting up her own brand of advertisement that refected her world views and ofered guidance to the public, with phrases like “Thank The Lord All the Way” and “Here I Am Don’t You See Me?”4

Around 1990, Mary T. Smith stopped painting and, fve years later, died penniless. Smith’s family could barely aford her funeral and her home and yard were not pre- served after her death. Since then, however, many of her paintings have gained much attention and respect and have been exhibited in the United States and Europe. In 2013, a gallery in Paris dedicated to exhibiting “art brut,” or folk art, hosted an exhibition of Smith’s work titled Mis- sissippi Shouting, and in 2015, her work was included in exhibitions in France and Prague. To further cement her contribution to American art history, Smith’s artwork has been added to prestigious collections, including the Smith- sonian American Art Museum and the American Folk Art Museum.

Mary Tillman Smith, untitled, n.d., paint on plywood, 24 x 48 inches, 1. Arnett, William. “Her Name is Someone” in Souls Grown Deep: African Private Collection American Vernacular Art. Vol. 2. Eds. William Arnett and Paul Arnett. Atlanta: Tinwood Books, 2001. 114. 2. Ibid. 3. Yelen, Alice Rae. Passionate Visions of the American South. New Orleans Museum of Art, 1993. 328. 4. Conwill, Kinshasha and Arthur C. Danto. “Mary Tillman Smith” in Testimony: Vernacular Art of the African-American: The Ronald and June Shelp Collection. New York: Harry A. Abrams, Inc., 2001. 144.

43 Henry Speller (1900 - 1997)

Speller’s move to Memphis, TN would prove highly infuential, exposing the artist to the Blues, whose rhythm and imagery appear frequently in the artist’s work.

From the 1940s until his death, Henry Speller lived and worked from the confnes of his neighborhood near Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. His works refect the bright neon lights and vibrant garments of those who frequented the area in its heyday, as well as the everyday life of his surroundings.

Born in rural Mississippi and raised by his grandmother, Speller spent his childhood amongst the sharecroppers of the Mississippi Delta. Drawing provided both an expressive outlet and a comfort to Speller, who used art as an escape from the boredom and anger that frequently accompanied his days.1 For Speller, an education was almost completely out of the question, as he was taken from school to help provide for the family before he could read or write. At age eighteen, Speller left home, taking a number of jobs before eventually settling in Memphis in 1939. Speller’s move would prove to be highly infuential, exposing the Henry Speller, untitled, n.d., crayon, marker on paper, 28 x 22 inches, Private artist to the Memphis Blues, whose rhythm and imagery Collection appear frequently in Speller’s work. His move to Mem- phis also brought Speller to meet his third wife, Georgia Verges Speller, who was instrumental in encouraging her husband’s creative process.

Speller’s best-known works feature toothy women with sometimes explicitly outlined genitalia, and the long hair and large breasts of his sexual fantasies. Their stylized dresses, resplendent with mechanical patterns, refect the vibrant garments Speller often saw on the women of Beale Street.2 Speller’s women, in pencil and crayon on paper, assume an almost predatory feel within their stylized fea- tures, drawn by Speller with almost obsessive care.

Many critics have also recognized in Speller’s works the vivid colors and asymmetrical patterning of African-Amer- ican quilt making. This activity was in fact an early infu- ence on Speller’s work. As a young child, Speller helped 1. Arnett, William. “Henry Speller: Handy Man” in Souls Grown Deep: his grandmother in her quilting, and this infuence, like the African-American Vernacular Art of the South. Vol. 1. Eds. Paul Arnett & William Arnett. Atlanta: Tinwood Books, 2000. 384. trains and riverboats that captured his imagination as a 2. Maresca, Frank and Roger Ricco. “Henry Speller” in American Self- child in the Delta, stayed with him and later emerged in his Taught: Paintings and Drawings by Outsider Artists. New York: Alfred A. drawings.3 His works are included in the permanent collec- Knopf, 1993. 231. tions of the Rockford Museum of Art and the Smithsonian 3. Conwill, Kinshasha and Arthur C. Danto. “Henry Speller” in Testimony: American Art Museum. Vernacular Art of the African-American South: The Ronald and June Shelp Collection. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2001. 174.

44 Jimmy Lee Sudduth (1910 - 2007)

Sudduth worked as a gardener for many years and said that he could obtain 36 diferent colors from the clay near his home.

Jimmy Lee Sudduth was one of the early masters of South- ern Vernacular Art. Unlike many other artists, Sudduth cre- ated his own pigments using found materials like dirt, grass, and cofee. Not only did his work feature portraits of neigh- bors, celebrities, regional landscapes and still lifes, his work actually contained elements of his physical environment.

Sudduth was born on March 10, 1910, in Fayette County, Alabama. He grew up in the home of his stepfather and Na- tive American mother, who practiced herbal medicine and taught Sudduth about plants and their properties. Sudduth worked as a gardener for many years and said that he could obtain 36 diferent colors from the clay near his home.1 He re- members creating his frst painting when he was three years old. His frst drawings in charcoal on wood washed away until he learned to add honey or syrup to make them last. He used a combination of substances including dirt, clay, berry juices, leaves, sugar, cofee grounds and ashes for his paintings, using his fngers to apply his “paint” because, “The brushes die when I die.”2

Sudduth attended grade school and worked on farms until he enlisted in the army. He married his wife, Ethel, in the 1940s, and she remained by his side until her death in 1992. They adopted a son who became an artist, but he tragically Jimmy Lee Sudduth, untitled, n.d., earth pigments, paint on drowned in an accident. wood, 32 x 48 inches, Private Collection

In 1968, Sudduth exhibited his work for the frst time at Still- Around the early 1990s, Sudduth could no longer physically man College, in Tuscaloosa, the frst of many venues to exhibit collect the natural materials he traditionally used for pig- his work. Additional notable appearances included an invi- ments, and had to turn to using acrylic paints and sponges. tation to exhibit and play his harmonica at the Smithsonian’s He also began standardizing the sizes of his works to ¼, ½, Bicentennial Festival of American Folk Art in 1976, and and full sheets of plywood. These later works are strikingly 1980 appearances on the Today Show and 60 Minutes. His diferent from the traditional mud paintings created earlier work is featured in the permanent collections of the Georgia in his life. Sudduth died on September 2, 2007, at the age Museum of Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. of 97.

Sudduth was renowned for his inventive and joyful mud paintings on plywood. His subject matter ranged from southern mansions and cotton picking to Manhattan sky- 1. Conwill, Kinshasha and Arthur C. Danto. “Jimmy Lee Sudduth” in lines; however, he mainly depicted the people and places of Testimony: Vernacular Art of the African-American South: The Ronald and Fayette County. Until very late in life, he entertained relatives June Shelp Collection. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2001. 178. and friends with his music and painting demonstrations. 2. Arnett, William. “Cutting to the Slice” in Souls Grown Deep: African American Vernacular Art. Vol. 1. Eds. Paul Arnett and William Arnett. Atlanta: Tinwood Books, 2000. 270.

45 Mose Tolliver (1920 - 2006)

Mose Tolliver would create in a fury, setting a limit for himself early in the day, sometimes up to ten pieces, and he would not stop working until he had produced that amount.

Mose Tolliver was one of the frst self-taught artists to gain prestige and recognition for the colorful pieces produced by his untrained hand.1 He used art to overcome depression after an accident left him nearly paralyzed. Though vastly ranging thematically, his highly stylized technique is easily recognizable with its severely fat fgural rendering, muted color palate, and lack of spacial depth.

Although there have been several discrepancies on the exact date of his birth, Tolliver was said to have been born around 1920 in Montgomery County, Alabama.2 Born into a large family, he was constantly surrounded by his twelve brothers and sisters. After being sent to school at a young age, he de- cided to stop pursuing his education in order to help support his family—he worked his entire life doing odd jobs such as gardening, handy work, and painting houses. Mose Tolliver, Golden Eagle, n.d., paint on wood, 24 x 18 inches, Gadsden Arts In the 1940s, Tolliver married the love of his life, Ms. Willie May Center & Museum Permanent Collection Thomas of Ramer, Alabama. They had been childhood friends and eventually raised eleven children. In the 1960s, Tolliver As the years passed, Tolliver became less dexterous and sufered an incapacitating accident while working at a facto- began to train his children to paint. Although they were still ry, making him unable to work. While many sources believe his visions, his daughter Annie took over the act of “mate- this to have been the turning point in his life, which inspired rializing” them, even down to his signature: “Mose T” with him to take up painting, Tolliver claimed he had always been the backwards “S.” Although Tolliver passed away from creating art and just had time to focus on it after his accident.3 pneumonia on October 30, 2006, his identity as a major icon of the Vernacular art movement lives on. Tolliver would create in a fury, setting a limit for himself early in the day, sometimes up to ten pieces, and worked contin- uously until he had produced that amount. His images are created on house paint-encrusted pieces of plywood and include sexually explicit images of women, self-portraits, buses, birds, snakes, and fruit. He attached the tab of a soda or beer can to his paintings to serve as a hanging device and displayed them throughout his home.

As Tolliver continued to gain recognition, a local curator from Alabama’s Montgomery Museum of Fine Art came to see 1. Kogan, Lee. “Mose Tolliver: Picture Maker” in Souls Grown Deep: African-American Art of the South. Vol. 1. Eds. Paul Arnett and William his work and ofered him his frst solo exhibition, which took Arnett. Atlanta: Tinwood Books, 2000. 338. place in 1981. After his popularity began surging to a national 2. Weber, Marcia. “Mose Tolliver” in Marcia Weber Art Objects. Marcia level, he was invited to exhibit at prestigious locations such Weber / Art Objects, Inc., n.d. www.marciaweberartobjects.com/tolliverm. as the Corcoran Gallery, the High htm . Museum of Art in Atlanta, and the American Museum of Folk 3. Dunn, Robert A. “Mose Tolliver” in The Encyclopedia of Alabama. The Encyclopedia of Alabama, 22 May 2008. http://www. Art in New York. encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1544.

46 Mose Tolliver, untitled, n.d., paint on wood, 24 x 24 inches, Private Collection

47 Felix “Harry” Virgous (b. 1948)

Virgous’s art “comments on black ghetto society by combining biblical stories with images from popular culture.”

Felix “Harry” Virgous’s art is inspired by the work of Joe Light and similarly refects the artist’s spiritual interests and his social commentary through his paintings, collages, and carvings. In 1987, artist Lonnie Holley discovered Virgous while travelling throughout the South seeking to discover other African-American Vernacular artists like himself. Within a few years, Virgous’s art began to be included in the grow- ing number of Vernacular art exhibitions and catalogues.

Virgous was born on October 30, 1948, in Woodstock, Tennessee. He spent the majority of his early life living in Memphis with his family. At a young age, Virgous was diagnosed with learning disabilities and then at twelve years old, a critical playground accident severely injured his back. These two difculties resulted in his attending elementa- ry school for only four years and led to Virgous taking up painting. Felix “Harry” Virgous, Jonah and the Big Fish, n.d., paint, collage on board, 23.5 x 16.5 inches, Gadsden Arts Center & Museum Permanent Collection When his family moved to a new home in the early 1980s, Virgous found himself across the street from the artist Joe Light, a prolifc Vernacular artist whose work littered his yard and house.1 It was then that Virgous set up an artist’s workshop in an outbuilding behind his house. It is thought Virgous called his private studio retreat “The Harry Club,”2 and it was there that he began to seriously express him- self as an artist. Using available materials (magazine ads, household odds and ends, and found objects), Virgous painted, collaged, and carved decorative and symbolic patterns, embellishing the interior and exterior of his studio.

Virgous’s artwork is flled with bright colors and simplifed forms that reveal messages on topics about which he cares deeply. His typical subject matter focuses on biblical sto- ries, heroic images of Native Americans, music, nature, and contemporary urban issues. His Old and New Testament Felix “Harry” Virgous, Jesus, n.d., paint, collage on wood, 26 x 21 imagery is sometimes expressed in contemporary urban inches, Private Collection settings, but speak to the agelessness of time.3 His art “comments on black ghetto society by combining biblical 1. Conwill, Kinshasha and Arthur C. Danto. Testimony: Vernacular Art of 4 stories with images from popular culture.” the African-American: The Ronald and June Shelp Collection. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2001. 132. 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid. 4. Crown, Carol, ed. Coming Home! Self-Taught Artists, the Bible and the American South. Art Museum of the University of Memphis, 2004. 21.

48 Felix “Harry” Virgous, Moses, n.d., paint, collage on wood, 24 x 13 inches, Private Collection

49 Albert Wagner (1924 - 2006)

Turning from what he deemed a life of sin, Wagner began creating art when he felt God call to him in the form of a grain pattern on a paint speckled wooden board he found in his attic.

At the age of ffty, Albert Wagner was called by God to achieve a greater purpose—that of artist and reverend. This late chapter in Wagner’s life would oddly become his most prolifc, allowing him to fnd great fulfllment both spiritually and artistically. Claiming to have created some 30,000 works before his death, Wagner believed his art was loosely autobiographical, speaking of God’s love and redemption, and spanning across a multitude of mediums.1

Born in Bassett, Arkansas to a family of sharecroppers, Wagner demonstrated an aptitude for art at an early age, often making cars and planes from mud. Yet times were hard and Wagner attended grade school for only three years before going to work in the cotton felds as a water carrier for the pickers. Upon reaching adulthood and moving to Cleveland, Ohio, he set on a turbulent life path acquiring a taste for alcohol and gambling, lying, and adul- Albert Wagner, untitled, n.d., paint on wood, 38 x 37 inches, tery, fathering twenty children with three diferent women. Private Collection Turning from what he deemed a life of sin, Wagner began creating art when he felt God call to him in the form of a foor to ceiling, exposed to the possibility of band liquida- grain pattern on a paint speckled wooden board he found tion. Since then, his children have sold much of his art to in his attic.2 collectors from around the world. Wagner has gone on to become a well-known and sought after name in Outsider His work took many forms, including paintings, intaglio Art, being featured in an expose in LIFE MAGAZINE, “Faith prints, wooding carvings, and assemblage sculptures, all in Paint” (1998), and even becoming the subject of a docu- of which covered the walls in his home and flled every mentary, One Bad Cat (2008), by Thomas G. Miller. He has space until there was barely room for him or his furniture. been widely exhibited, with shows at the Akron Museum of The walls of his basement chapel, The People Love Peo- Art in Akron, Ohio and the American Visionary Museum of ple House of God ministry, were also covered with images Art in Baltimore. Currently, his family is working alongside and messages of salvation. Even the materials he used the Northeast Shores Development Corporation to estab- ft the theme of rebirth, as he often used what he called lish a house museum in honor of Wagner’s life and work.5 “objects from the alley”—found objects discarded by others—and repurposed them as elevated works of art.3 Another prominent theme in his art was the erasure of 1. John Leland, “Moses of East Cleveland, With Detours,” The New African American culture at the hands of its own people, York Times, 2001, accessed December 02, 2016, http://www.nytimes. with subjects that recalled African American struggles of com/2001/01/25/garden/at-home-with-the-rev-albert-wagner-moses-of- the past and rebuked it’s modern decedents to “get up and east-cleveland-with-detours.html. make something of ourselves.”4 2. “Our Visionaries,” American Visionary Art Museum - Our Visionaries: Reverend Albert Wagner, accessed December 01, 2016, http://www. avam.org/our-visionaries/rev-albert-wagner.shtml. Wagner passed away on September 1, 2006 at the age of 3. Joseph Clark, “COME HOME REVEREND ALBERT WAGNER,” CAN 82. His quickly declining health prevented Wagner from Journal 3, no. 1 (Spring 2014): accessed December 1, 2016, http:// preparing a will and left his home on Lakefront Avenue in canjournal.org. East Cleveland, an artwork in and of itself that he painted 4. Leland, “Moses.” 5. Clark, “Come Home.”

50 Ruby C. Williams • Florida Artist • (b. 1920s)

Ruby’s paintings tell stories from the Bible or from her own family and often have a moral theme.

Businesswoman, minister, grandmother, artist: that’s Ruby C. Williams. She can be found on Highway 60 in Hillsborough County, Florida, at her produce stand and walk-in art gallery where she prominently displays her brightly colored signs. Originally, Williams created her signs to attract produce customers. Eventually, visitors began asking to purchase the signs as well.

Ruby Williams’ colorful paintings of fruits, vegetables, animals, and people are often accompanied by text that advertises food items, tells stories from the Bible, or ofers moral wisdoms to tell visitors how to best live their lives. Williams has said, “I’ve been ministering since I was a Ruby C. Williams, Piano Playing Cow I Give Better Buttermilk, n.d., paint on kid… I do everything from the bottom of my heart, whether wood, 48 x 24 inches, Gadsden Arts Center & Museum Permanent Collection shelling a bucket of beans or making a painting.”2 Several of Williams’ works also show some of her attitude towards shows visitors clippings of news stories about her art and those who might have tried to tell her what to do, such as takes pictures with visitors, if they ask permission.5 She in paintings titled, “Tired of Being a Good Guy” and “Hey says seeing people smile when they look at her paintings this is My Life.” makes her happy.6

Williams was born sometime in the 1920s in Bealsville, Ruby Williams illustrated a children’s book in 2004 titled, I Florida, a community founded by freed slaves in the 1860s. am Ruby, and in 2005 received the Florida Folk Life Award She is close with her family who has ties to Bealsville; her and was included in an exhibition at the Smithsonian grandmother was one of the town’s founders and the frst Anacostia Museum entitled On Their Own: Selected Self- school was named after her grandfather for his eforts to Taught Artists. bring the frst teacher to Bealsville. Williams lived in New Jersey for 28 years, but returned to her hometown and began to live comfortably on a farm.3 With a fortunate loca- tion on the busy Highway 60, Williams began painting her signs. Reporters, folk art collectors, photographers, and writers began to notice Williams, and her reputation grew.

In 1997, Williams had her frst one-person exhibition at the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland, FL. As a businesswoman, she closely observed the way the event was organized. She returned to her home to create Ruby’s Walk-In Gallery, right 1. Congdon, Kristen G., and Kara Kelley Hallmark. American Folk Art: A next to her produce stand, covering both the inside and Regional Reference. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2012. 2. Taylor, Jeanine. “Ruby Williams.” In Jeanine Taylor Folk Art. Jeanine outside of the gallery and the fences in her yard with her Taylor Folk Art. 2011. http://www.jtfolkart.com/artist/ruby-williams/. artworks. She also hosted opening events, with prayers, 3. Congdon, 2012. songs, and presentations about her work and family.4 4. Ibid. 5. Crotty, D. “Ruby Williams” in Self-Taught Folk Art. D. Crotty, 2006. Today, the artist enjoys her fame, which has taken her to http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~dacrotty/ruby.html. 6. Lott, Randall. “Ruby Williams’ Produce Stand and Art Gallery.” Folk Art classrooms and galleries, both near and far. She often Society of America, 2009. http://folkart.org/mag/ruby-williams.

51 Purvis Young • Florida Artist • (1943 - 2010)

Purvis Young’s vibrant paintings often show “grafti-like repetitive images” of trafc crowds, hovering angels, and running horses.

Purvis Young is a self-taught artist who lived most of his life in Overtown, a Miami, Florida, neighborhood that is now bisected by an interstate. At a young age, Young was intro- duced to drawing by his uncle, but he lost interest. Young dropped out of school in tenth grade and after being accused of breaking and entering, he was incarcerated from 1961 to 1964.1 It was in prison that he rekindled his interest in art. Young said that angels told him, “This is not your life. You’re going to have a diferent life. Listen and learn, Purvis.”2

After release, Young settled in Goodbread Alley in Over- town. At the height of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, Young was a social activist as well as an artist. His desire to learn more led him to the Miami Public Library where he extensively researched art history, fnding inspiration in Picasso, Van Gogh, and Rembrandt.3 He also learned of the mural movement and its power to communicate, specifcally the Wall of Respect in .4 Young saw an opportunity to paint his distinctive, expressionist vision of urban life based upon the experience of African Americans in the south, and created his own mural in Overtown’s Goodbread Alley, visible from the interstate passing overhead.

Purvis Young’s vibrant paintings and mixed-media art- works were created using house paint on found materials as diverse as cardboard, discarded doors, telephone bills, orange crates, manila folders, and printed book pages.5 His works depict cacophonous, urgent representations of urban strife, with repetitive images of crowds and Miami buildings. He often included rounded blue shapes and eyes to sym- bolize the surveying “eyes of the white power structure,”6 horses to represent freedom, trains to represent the possi- bility of escape and connecting the inner city and the outer world, and hovering angels that bring hope.7 It is undeniable that there is a storytelling aspect in his paintings, which resonates with the struggles of African Americans in his urban neighborhood, who have experienced , daily violence, and pervasive hypocrisy in a world infuenced by living through or experience war and the Great Depression.8

Purvis Young, untitled, n.d., collage, paint on wood, 24 x 43.5 inches, Gadsden Arts Center & Museum Permanent Collection

52 Young produced thousands of works of art in his lifetime. In 2007, Geraldo Rivera called Purvis Young “a painter of the people,” and commented on the “hopefulness of his work.”9 As a result of diabetes, Young was confned to a wheelchair in his later years and was eventually deemed unft to tend to his own afairs. He died in poverty despite his growing artistic recognition and the fnancial value of his paintings.

Young’s artwork has been widely exhibited in museums and galleries around the globe including the Ringling Mu- seum of Art in Sarasota, FL, Miami Art Museum, Bass Museum of Art in Miami, FL, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA. Purvis Young, untitled, n.d., mixed media, 48 x 34 inches, Private Collection

1. Congdon, Kristen G., and Kara Kelley Hallmark. American Folk Art: A Regional Reference. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2012. 2. Rivera, Geraldo. “From Ghetto to Grand.” Geraldo at Large, 2007. Web. YouTube.com 3. Arnett, William. “On Purvis Young’s Mind” in Souls Grown Deep: African American Vernacular Art.. Vol. 2. Eds. William Arnett and Paul Arnett. Atlanta: Tinwood Books, 2001. 390. 4. Purvis Young: Contemporary Urban Painter. Dir. David Seehausen. Prod. Skot Foreman. Skot Foreman Fine Art Gallery, 1997. https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=a6uF0A8ghR8 5. Watkins, Alison. “The Visionary Vernacular Language of Black Outsider Artists” Florida Studies: Proceedings of the 2005 Annual Meeting of the Florida College English Association. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, August, 2006. 6. Harper, Paula, “Urban Expressionist.” Art in America. Jan. 2003: 37-38. 7. Arnett, William. “This is Life I See: Told by Purvis Young” in Souls Grown Deep: African American Vernacular Art. Vol. 2. Eds. William Arnett and Paul Arnett. Atlanta: Tinwood Books, 2001. 403. Purvis Young, untitled, n.d., collage, ink, paint on wood, 44 x 57 inches, 8. Sellen, Betty-Carol, and Cynthia J. Johanson. Self Taught, Outsider, Private Collection and Folk Art: A Guide to America Artists, Locations and Resources. Jeferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2000. 9. Rivera, 2007.

53 Purvis Young, Jus Life, 2002, mixed media, 30 x 49 inches, Private Collection

54 Works of Art in the Exhibition

Hawkins Bolden Thornton Dial, Jr. untitled, n.d. (1914-2005) (b. 1953) watercolor on paper 45 x 64 inches untitled, n.d. untitled, n.d. Private Collection mixed media paint, tin, fber on wood 26 x 79 x 9 inches 39 x 48 x 4 inches Alyne Harris (b. 1943) Richard Burnside Thornton Dial, Sr. (b. 1944) (1928-2016) The Baptism, n.d. acrylic on canvas The King Sufering, n.d. Big Black Bear Trying to Survive, 30 x 24 inches paint, paper on wood 1992 23.5 x 21 inches mixed media Bessie Harvey 62 x 40.25 x 4 inches (1929-1994) Archie Byron (1928-2005) Everything is under the Black Tree, untitled, n.d. n.d. paint on wood Birth, 1990 paint on wood 9 x 17 x 4 inches sawdust, glue, paint 48 x 31.5 inches 26 x 20 inches Lonnie Holley Private Collection Fishing For Love, 1990 (b. 1950) watercolor on paper Mastectomy Patient, 1987 23 x 30.0 inches The Cycle of Energy for the sawdust, glue, paint Thought of the Baby, n.d. 17 x 29 inches Life Go On, 1990 paint on plywood Private Collection watercolor on paper 40 x 34.5 inches 30 x 23 inches Private Collection Two-Faced, 1987 sawdust, glue, paint Life Go On, 1990 untitled, n.d. 22 x 13 inches watercolor on paper wood, paint Private Collection 22.5 x 30 inches 62 x 75 x 8 inches Private Collection untitled, n.d. Love Picture (As Life Go On), 1990 mixed media watercolor on paper Joe Louis Light 22 x 21 inches 23 x 30 inches (1934-2005) Arthur Dial Struggling Tiger in Hard Times, 1991 Baby Shoe, n.d. (b. 1930) oil, rope carpet, tin, industrial mixed media, paint on wood sealing compound 22 x 19.5 x 4.25 inches untitled, n.d. 88 x 64 x 5 inches paint, fber on board Private Collection Bird Man’s Second Chance, n.d. 39.5 x 39.75 inches paint on wood The Spirit of Ella James Price, 1995 18 x 40 inches untitled, n.d. mixed media Private Collection paint, mixed media on wood 38 x 64 inches 40 x 40 inches Private Collection Flight, n.d. Private Collection paint on wood The Tiger Knocks the Lady Down 19.5 x 48 inches and the Midget Runs Away, 1993 Private Collection mixed media 97.5 x 48.0 inches

55 Works of Art in the Exhibition

Four Flowers, n.d. Edward Mumma Firefy, n.d. paint on board (1908-1986) glitter paint on wood, mixed media 19.75 x 14 inches 31 x 25 x 5 inches untitled, n.d. Hobo’s Swollen Left Arm, n.d. acrylic on canvas Godzilla, n.d. paint on plywood 18 x 24 inches paint on wood 96 x 48 inches 29 x 84 x 23 inches Private Collection untitled, n.d. acrylic on canvas Ruby, n.d. Rainbow=One, n.d. 19 x 24 inches glitter paint on wood, mixed media paint on wood Private Collection 50 x 39 x 23 inches 13 x 29 x 15 inches Private Collection Private Collection Lola Pettway (b. 1941) untitled, n.d. untitled, 1993 glitter paint on wood, mixed media paint on wood Housetop Blocks, 2003 37 x 35.5 x 2.75 inches 75 x 31 inches corduroy Private Collection 82 x 79 inches untitled, 1988 On Loan from Tinwood Mary Tillman Smith paint on wood (1904-1995) 26 x 32 inches Qunnie Pettway Private Collection (1943-2010) ISIM, n.d. paint on plywood Strip Quilt, 2003 Ronald Lockett 24 x 36 inches corduroy Private Collection (1965-1998) 78 x 69 inches Traps, 1993 On Loan from Tinwood TMHE, 1987 collage, watercolor, rope on paper paint on plywood 29.75 x 22 inches Mary Proctor 23.5 x 48 inches (b. 1960) Private Collection untitled, n.d. mixed media Once Again I Fall Down..., 1997 untitled, n.d. 50 x 48 inches mixed media, paint on board paint on wood Private Collection 14.5 x 19 inches 24 x 32 inches

untitled, n.d. Self Portrait, n.d. untitled, n.d. mixed media broken glass and paint on found paint on plywood 48 x 48 inches window 24 x 32 inches Private Collection 45 x 49 x 4.5 inches Private Collection

untitled, n.d. St. Mattew, 1995 untitled, n.d. mixed media assemblage paint on plywood 52 x 62 inches 12 x 28 x 1 inches 24 x 48 inches Private Collection Private Collection O.L. Samuels Lucy Mingo (b. 1931) untitled, n.d. (b. 1931) Angel, n.d. paint on plywood glitter paint on wood, mixed media 24 x 32 inches Roman Stripe Variation, 2002 Private Collection cotton 31 x 24.75 x 5 inches 92 x 83 inches On Loan from Tinwood

56 Works of Art in the Exhibition

untitled, n.d. untitled, n.d. untitled, n.d. paint on wood paint on wood mixed media 23.75 x 23.75 inches 24 x 24 inches 48 x 34 inches Private Collection Private Collection Henry Speller (1900-1997) Felix “Harry” Virgous untitled, n.d. (b. 1948) mixed media collage untitled, n.d. 42 x 22 inches crayon, marker on paper Jesus, n.d. Private Collection 28 x 22 inches paint, collage on wood Private Collection 26 x 21 inches untitled, 2003 Private Collection mixed media Jimmy Lee Sudduth 49 x 51 x 3 inches (1910-2007) Jonah and the Big Fish, n.d. Private Collection paint, collage on board untitled, n.d. 23.5 x 16.5 inches untitled, n.d. earth pigments on wood collage, ink, paint on wood 12.5 x 42.5 inches Moses, n.d. 44 x 57 inches paint, collage on wood Private Collection untitled, n.d. 24 x 13 inches earth pigments, paint on wood Private Collection 24.75 x 12.5 inches

untitled, n.d. Albert Wagner earth pigments, paint on wood (1924-2006) 32 x 48 inches untitled, n.d. Private Collection paint on wood 38 x 37 inches untitled, n.d. Private Collection earth pigments, paint on wood 25 x 13 inches Ruby C. Williams Private Collection (b. 1920s) Mose Tolliver Piano Playing Cow I Give Better (c.1920-2006) Buttermilk, n.d. paint on wood Black Jesus Crucifx, n.d. 48 x 24 inches paint on wood 5 x 40 inches Purvis Young Private Collection (1943-2010) Golden Eagle, n.d. Jus Life, 2002 All works are from the Gadsden paint on wood mixed media Arts Center & Museum Permanent 24 x 18 inches 30 x 49 inches Collection unless otherwise noted. Private Collection untitled, n.d. Additional works are on loan from paint on wood untitled, n.d. the collections of: 13 x 24 inches collage, paint on wood Calynne & Lou Hill, Tallahassee, FL 24 x 43.5 inches Tinwood, Atlanta, GA

57 Index of Artists

Numbers in italics indicate images.

Bolden, Hawkins, 13, 20, 20, 55

Burnside, Richard, 21, 21, 55

Byron, Archie, 14, 22, 22-23, 23, 55

Dial, Arthur, 24, 24, 55

Dial, Jr., Thornton, 25, 25, 55

Dial, Sr., Thornton, 1, 5, 8, 8, 14, 15, 16, 17, 17-19, 18, 19, 24, 25, 34, 55

Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers, 8, 9, 26-27

Harris, Alyne, 13, 28, 28, 55

Harvey, Bessie, 14, 29, 29, 55

Holley, Lonnie, 8, 15, 30, 31, 55

Light, Joe Louis, 12, 13, 14, 15, 32, 32, 33, 55-56

Lockett, Ronald, 4, 12, 15, 10, 34, 34, 35, 56

Mingo, Lucy, 26, 27, 56

Mumma, Edward “Mr. Eddy”, 12, 13, 36, 36, 37, 56

Pettway, Lola, 26, 27, 56

Pettway, Qunnie, 27, 27, 56

Proctor, Mary L., 13, 38, 38, 39, 56

Samuels, O.L., 11, 13, 14, 40, 40, 41, 56, 59

Smith, Mary Tillman, 12, 13, 14, 42, 42-43, 43, 56-57

Speller, Henry, 12, 44, 44, 57

Sudduth, Jimmy Lee, 45, 45, 57

Tolliver, Mose, 13, 46, 46, 47, 57

Virgous, Felix “Harry”, 13, 14, 48, 48, 49, 57

Wagner, Albert, 50, 50, 57

Williams, Ruby C., 13, 51, 51, 57

Young, Purvis, 7, 12, 13, 14, 52, 52-53, 53, 54, 57

58 O.L. Samuels, Angel, n.d., glitter paint on wood, mixed media, 31 x 24.75 x 5 inches, Gadsden Arts Center & Museum Permanent Collection

59 60