BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center (SAAM) -- Exhibit: Folk Art

DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center (SAAM) -- Exhibit: Folk Art:

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[1] SIPGFA_190619_01.JPG	[2] SIPGFA_190619_06.JPG	[3] SIPGFA_190619_10.JPG
[4] SIPGFA_190619_14.JPG	[5] SIPGFA_190619_20.JPG	[6] SIPGFA_190619_26.JPG
[7] SIPGFA_190619_35.JPG	[8] SIPGFA_190619_45.JPG	[9] SIPGFA_190619_46.JPG
[10] SIPGFA_190619_49.JPG	[11] SIPGFA_190619_54.JPG	[12] SIPGFA_190619_60.JPG
[13] SIPGFA_190619_67.JPG	[14] SIPGFA_190619_72.JPG	[15] SIPGFA_190619_78.JPG
[16] SIPGFA_190619_81.JPG	[17] SIPGFA_190619_88.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SIPGFA_190619_01.JPG: David Butler Untitled (Rooster) Untitled (Very Old Mermaid) Untitled (Seven Headed Dragon)
2. SIPGFA_190619_06.JPG: Protection, Salvation, Healing, and Home The works of art in this room mark the creative act as a negotiation with an uncontrollable world. They transform places into realms of physical safety or spiritual salvation -- sometimes both. James Hampton created The Throne of the Third Heaven as an act of devotion, service, and preparation, a physical execution of his faith and belief in a better life beyond death. Albert Zahn's home, covered in carved birds and angels, conveyed reverence for the wonder of nature and his faith that one day, his soul would fly to the heavens. David Butler created a garden of cut and painted tin, in which wind, light, and shadow animated a space that he believed kept evil spirits away. Emery Blagdon made a "healing machine," an aesthetic space that he believed could keep pain and illness at bay. Quilts evoke the protection of family even as they answer the practical need for warmth. Their compositions, both material and aesthetic, are in keeping with African-American rural styles that improvise with both pattern and materials to create great beauty from small means.
3. SIPGFA_190619_10.JPG: Untitled (Nativity) about 1968 paint on tin David Butler born Good Hope, LA 1898--died Morgan City, LA 1997 David Butler fashioned a garden of pounded, cut, and painted metal forms around his Louisiana house. His sculptures fuse biblical imagery with characters from his dreams. The tiered layers, attached parts, and cut-out shapes created an animated array as wind and sunlight played across his installation. Butler, with other African Americans across the South, blended Christian beliefs with folk practices to create spaces that felt self-determined and protective in a world that was often harsh and unpredictable.
4. SIPGFA_190619_20.JPG: Untitled (Pine Burr) Unidentified artist
5. SIPGFA_190619_26.JPG: Untitled (Pine Burr) Unidentified artist
6. SIPGFA_190619_35.JPG: Untitled (Strips with Triangles and Rectangles), 1920s Unidentified artist Untitled (String Quilt with Bars), 1930s-1940s Unidentified artist
7. SIPGFA_190619_45.JPG: Male and Female Navajo Figures about 1962-64 Charlie Willeto
8. SIPGFA_190619_49.JPG: Yielding to the Ancestors While Controlling the Hands of Time about 1992 oil on wood and metal Lonnie Holley born Birmingham, AL 1950 "I travel around to see," the artist Lonnie Holley explains. "It's like walking back in time, to walk along the ocean, the beach, to walk in the sand. I am not trying to find my own footsteps in the sand, but to put my own footsteps where my ancestors might have stepped." Holley sees himself as a link connecting his ancestors -- brought to America as slaves -- to future generations. He explains that he gave this sculpture two heads; one is earthly, the other spiritual. "As we develop our personness, we learn to yield to the ancestors and the history of learning, we develop that inner head, that second head, the keeper head; the embankment of all wisdom."
9. SIPGFA_190619_54.JPG: Birthing, about 1986 Bessie Harvey
10. SIPGFA_190619_60.JPG: The Beginning of Life in the Yellow Jungle 2003 plastic soda bottles, doll, clothing, bedding, wire, found metal, rubber glove, turtle shell, artificial flowers, Splash Zone compound, enamel, and spray paint on canvas on wood Thornton Dial Sr. born Emelle, AL 1928--died McCalla, AL 2016 Thornton Dial's assemblage presents a beginning -- a golden dawn with a child standing in a lush world of flowers. In this work Dial explores race in America -- a theme that preoccupied him over many decades. The colors are warm and optimistic; they sidestep a world that is entirely black or white. Using a "jungle" metaphor, Dial suggests the unending complexities of navigating and surviving in a world that is both beautiful and difficult.
11. SIPGFA_190619_72.JPG: The Struggle 1973--74 acrylic on wood Purvis Young born Miami, FL 1943--died Miami, FL 2010 Purvis Young was a native of Miami, Florida, who created a unique art environment in the neighborhood of Overtown. In 1971, Young decided to make a statement in his downtrodden neighborhood after being inspired by murals made by African-American activists in Chicago and Detroit. He decided to paint in a vacant alley of boarded up store fronts -- a blank slate -- with images that charted the challenges of this once-vibrant neighborhood. The Struggle is widely regarded as Young's most powerful and significant work from this period.
12. SIPGFA_190619_81.JPG: Iceman Crucified #4 1958 oil on canvas Ralph Fasanella born New York City 1914--died Yonkers, NY 1997 Ralph Fasanella cast his father, "Joe the Iceman," as the crucified Christ to explore ideas of suffering and sacrifice and to portray the working man as a persevering hero. Fasanella's parents were Italian immigrants who instilled in their son the values of work and solidarity. He became an artist who ardently championed labor and the common folk. "Lest We Forget" was Fasanella's impassioned plea to always honor the sacrifices of our forebears.
13. SIPGFA_190619_88.JPG: Struggle and Persistence The artists whose work is on view here discovered that art provided a powerful voice in a world where they had struggled to be heard. Ralph Fasanella believed that art was not solely for the elite and that one didn't have to be a professional artist in order to make powerful images; he understood that art could be a mighty tool for uniting the working class in a common cause. Issues of racial oppression and poverty are recurring themes. African-American artists including William Edmondson, Thornton Dial, Hawkins Bolden, and Bessie Harvey were born in the American South during the Jim Crow era. Their families recalled slavery, worked as sharecroppers and laborers, and faced unimaginable challenges. Each used art to bear witness, record memory, carry tradition, and proclaim self-worth. Joe Minter, Purvis Young, Herbert Singleton, and Lonnie Holley would carry this mantle forward. As young adults during the Civil Rights era, they felt more empowered than preceding generations to speak openly about oppression and injustice and to create bold works that don't apologize for the past but appeal for a better future.
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Description of Subject Matter: Introductory sign for this gallery:
When the museum approached me to curate their folk art galleries, it thrilled me to no end to be associated with these "folk" and their creations. Growing up in Alabama during the 1940s and 50s, I was fortunate to live among many individuals for whom making things was a natural part of life. I treasure memories of sitting by my mother as she quilted, and watching my father carve tools out of wood -- what he called "just whittling and piddling." So I have had a deep interest and affection for such everyday objects -- long before the public caught on to them as folk art. By osmosis more than anything else, this kind of art has had a profound effect on my thinking about how and why people create.
These men and women whose work is presented here are not bound by aspirations to make "high art." With liberty to freely express what is in their hears and minds through all varieties of methods and materials familiar to them, these artists create works that possess unmistakable honesty and integrity. Sometimes the result is terrifying, and sometimes it is the most wonderful image that makes you feel good or laugh. This work is beautiful and so human. It is the ordinary made extraordinary.
William Christenberry, 2006
Artist and teacher, Washington DC

Pictures here usually include James Hampton's "The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly." Hampton worked on the piece for 14 years 1950-64 while living in Washington DC, building it in a renter garage. He made 180 components but only a portion are on display in the museum. He created notebooks bearing a secret writing system which has yet to be deciphered. He was a little odd.
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