Existing comment:
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. |