VERNACULAR ART from the Gadsden Arts Center Permanent Collection Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art February 21–May 15, 2016 Tarpon Springs, Florida VERNACULAR ART from the Gadsden Arts Center Permanent Collection Vernacular Art from the Gadsden Arts Center Permanent Collection Gadsden Arts Center 13 North Madison Street Quincy, Florida 32351 850.875.4866 www.gadsdenarts.org © Gadsden Arts, Inc. 2016 All rights are reserved. No portion of this catalog may be reproduced in any form by mechanical or electronic means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from Gadsden Arts, Inc. Photography by Ed Babcock and Roger Raepple Edited by Charlotte Kelley Cover image: Thornton Dial Sr., Everything is under the Black Tree, n.d., paint on wood, 48 x 31.5 inches, Gadsden Arts Center Permanent Collection, 2009.1.2 1 VERNACULAR ART from the Gadsden Arts Center Permanent Collection ThornTon Dial Sr. arThUr Dial Table of Contents ThornTon Dial Jr. Essays The Creative Spirit .............................................................................................5–8 hawkinS BolDen Art as an Expression of Place ........................................................................ 9–12 richarD BUrnSiDe Works of Art in the Exhibition ...........................................................13 archie Byron Artist Biographies and Works alyne harriS Thornton Dial Sr. .......................................................................................... 14–17 Arthur Dial ...................................................................................................... 18–19 BeSSie harvey Thornton Dial Jr. ........................................................................................... 20–21 Hawkins Bolden .............................................................................................. 22–23 lonnie holley Richard Burnside ............................................................................................ 24–25 Archie Byron ................................................................................................... 26–27 Joe loUiS lighT Alyne Harris ................................................................................................... 28–29 ronalD lockeTT Bessie Harvey .................................................................................................. 30–31 Lonnie Holley ................................................................................................. 32–33 eDwarD MUMMa Joe Louis Light ............................................................................................... 34–35 Ronald Lockett ............................................................................................... 36–37 Mary ProcTor Edward Mumma ............................................................................................ 38–39 Mary Proctor ...........................................................................................40–41, 58 o.l. SaMUelS O.L. Samuels ................................................................................................... 42–43 Mary T. Smith .................................................................................................. 44–45 Mary T. SMiTh Henry Speller .................................................................................................. 46–47 henry SPeller Jimmy Lee Sudduth ....................................................................................... 48–49 Mose Tolliver .................................................................................................. 50–51 JiMMy lee SUDDUTh Felix Virgous .................................................................................................... 52–53 Ruby C. Williams ............................................................................................ 54–55 MoSe Tolliver Purvis Young ................................................................................................... 56–57 felix virgoUS Resources Glossary ..................................................................................................................59 rUBy c. williaMS Vernacular Art Resources ...................................................................................60 PUrviS yoUng 3 The Creative Spirit by Grace B. Robinson Art is our oldest and most universal language. Human beings have been making art for tens of thou- sands of years. Why? The great 20th century painter Georgia O’Keefe was once asked why she made art. She said, “I found that I could say things with colors and shapes that I couldn’t say in any other way – things I had no words for.”1 Indeed, art is a powerful language, with the power to express emotion, ideas, and facts simultaneously across the barriers of chronological time, culture, and verbal language. Mose Tolliver, Golden Eagle, n.d., paint on wood, 24 x 18 inches, Gadsden Arts Like O’Keefe, the artists repre- Center Permanent Collection, 2009.1.12 sented in Vernacular Art from the Gads- den Arts Center Permanent Collection seem compelled to communicate through their art. Unlike O’Keefe, these Vernacular “art” in their native language, even though the creation artists have had no formal training in drawing, painting, of decorative objects is of central importance to their or other methods of making art. They have had no formal culture. Regardless of whether or not the term “art” is education in art history, no access to commercially available used, all human beings incorporate art into their daily art materials, and no inspiration from museum and gallery lives, so much so that many of us take it for granted. visits. Yet, making art is an integral part of their everyday Some humans are also compelled to create “art,” objects lives. Many of these artists, like Mose Tolliver, Mary that are meant solely for an expressive, rather than utili- Proctor, Joe Light, and O.L. Samuels, make so much tarian purpose. What motivates them? art that their homes and yards are filled with it. Why are these artists so driven to make art? Consider the thoughts of artists working today in our own region. When asked, “Why do you create “Art” is an object that is deliberately created by art?” three basic themes emerged from their responses: a person to express an idea, emotion, or experience. the artist’s ability to communicate more completely Many artists in Vernacular Art from the Gadsden Arts through visual expression; the positive psychological Center Permanent Collection have created decorative or effect experienced by a person who makes art; and expressive objects for decades without ever referring to the desire to capture, preserve, and share with others them as “art.” Many human cultures pass on traditions something that the artist values. of creation over generations – making unique paintings, quilts, or pottery, for example – but have no word for 5 The Creative Spirit The Creative Spirit created was “art” until his work was recognized by a curator, who suggested that he exhibit and sell it. Sizes of the pieces run from a foot or so in height Miami artist Purvis Young was incarcerat- to her enormous and ed as a young adult for theft and said that while in impressive doors.2 prison, an angel visited him and told him to paint.5 He taught himself to paint while in prison, and after Tragedy of a different his release, he continued to paint prolifically until sort motivated Mose Toll- his death in 2010. Young captures the daily life and iver to begin making art. struggles of the Overtown neighborhood in Miami, Tolliver was born around Florida, in his paintings. He said that during his youth, 1920 to Alabama share- Overtown was a harmonious, thriving community. croppers. One of a dozen It was the heart of Miami’s Jazz nightlife, where a children, he had 11 chil- range of rich cultures came together, sharing their dren of his own and sup- traditional foods and folklore. Overtown fell into Thornton Dial Sr., Big Black Bear Trying to Survive, 1993, carpet, metal, plastic bags, sealing com- pound on canvas, 48 x 36 inches, Gadsden Arts Center Permanent Collection, 2009.1.1 ported his family with odd decline when a highway overpass was built right jobs until a crate of mar- through its center to link the area to the “north- ble crushed his legs while south expressway.” Later, with the introduction of Tragedy and struggle seem to be common driving he was working in a furniture factory in the late 1960s. crack cocaine, Overtown became a very dangerous, forces for several of the artists in Vernacular Art from the Crippled, depressed, and drinking, a friend suggested that dilapidated place. Young lived his entire life in what Gadsden Arts Center Permanent Collection. Personal loss and he begin making paintings to pass the time. He painted became one of the roughest urban environments in religious faith motivated Tallahassee artist Mary Proctor, prolifically, filling his hallways, rooms in his home, and his the United States, recording his experiences day af- Mary L. Proctor, Once Again I Fall Down…, 1997, mixed media on a self-described former “Junk Dealer,” to begin making art. yard with paintings, and offering them to passersby for a board, 11 x 15.5 inches, Gadsden Arts Center Permanent Collection, ter day through hundreds of drawings and paintings. Her grandmother, aunt, and uncle were all killed in a tragic few dollars each. In 1982, his work was featured in the 2009.1.10 He used materials found locally, such as house paint, house fire. Shortly after this,