American Folk Art
An Excerpt From the Booklet, "(Folk) A.R.T. Is"
by Scott Blackwell
So, what is folk art anyway? In all my years as a collector, I've heard it labeled in so many different ways; some call it outsider art, self-taught or visionary, but for me, I've always just stuck to the basic term, folk art. The collection I've built over the years contains works embodying what I think of as folk art, a category that was best identified for me through the insight of artist, Lonnie Holley, who once asked, "Are you looking at the art or are you looking at the artist's mind?" This simple question really made me wonder, "What are we really looking at here?" It's more than just bright colors and crude renderings, more than just gathered materials or an untrained sketch. Here in these works, what we're really looking at is the rawest form of self-expression, the exposed soul of the artist and their passionate stories of life.
One of my favorite parts of collecting folk art, almost more important than the aesthetics of the artwork itself, has been forming friendships with these unique individuals and learning more about the burning passions that drive them to create. Many of these artists are extremely poor and live in pretty bleak conditions with little hope for change in their lives. In spite of these hardships, or maybe because of them, they each have the most amazing stories to tell, and they are completely unself-conscious in their willingness to share their life experiences with whoever will take the time to enjoy them. For many of these artists, the burning need to express themselves overcomes all inhibitions that tend to block the creativity of trained artists. One of my personal theories is that folk artists have tried their hand at life, and maybe it hasn't been so good to them, so they must pull themselves up with the intense, creative passions burning from deep inside.
When looking at this art, it's important to remember that these folks are not only the ultimate recyclists, but, more importantly, incredible storytellers. It doesn't matter if you're looking at a rusty piece of roof tin, plywood, or an old barn door, the tools they use to create aren't as important as the life experiences they are trying to relate. Often their creations blend the innocence of childhood memories with other life lessons allowing them to re-imagine an experience in the way they would like to remember it. Take Bernice Sims, for example, whose memory paintings, rendered in bright, primary colors on canvas, recall events of her childhood such as religious revivals, cotton harvests, and such profound subjects as the civil rights movement. Clyde Jones of Bynum, NC covers his yard with chainsaw creatures he calls "critters" that are decorated with "found" materials such as bottle caps, glitter, and house paint. I asked Clyde once what drove him to obsessively create these unique "critters." He looked at me and said that he had all these stories and creatures in his head, and he woke up every morning and just "had to unload it," somehow free them from his imagination and give them a life of their own. Another great artist is Jake McCord from Thomson, GA who paints bright scenes of children and animals. I asked Jake once what inspired him to paint. He looked at me and said, "it just come into my mind."
Like Jake, many folk artists don't even bother sketching out an idea before they create; they just pull their ideas straight from their minds and put them directly on whichever media is available. Jimmy Lee Sudduth, for example, is so compelled to create that he will use any medium in his presence to get his idea across. In all the years I've known Jimmy Lee, I've seen him use such found materials as plywood, barn doors, mud, soot, mustard, and even his finger as a brush to convey the lively stories burning to get out of his memory. Purvis Young of Miami, for example, uses any canvas he can find from cardboard boxes pulled out of dumpsters to cookie sheets and scrap linoleum. I've even seen him frame a painting with scraps of old carpet. As you can see, these artists aren't really concerned with the media they work with, nor are they driven by the prospect of commercial success. In fact, these works are extremely personal to them, and they often have a difficult time parting with their expressions of memory and experience. Above all else, these folks want to make sure their creations find a good home with a person worthy of owning a part of their most personal experiences.
To me, folk art is a shared experience, a story passed down, a life captured in art, and we have much to learn from it.
