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 Florida, 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: Thornton Dial, 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 Lonnie Holley 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 Contemporary Art. 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 “Outsider Art” 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 Atlanta, 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 New Orleans, 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.