The Clarion (Winter 1987/1988)

THE CLARION AMERICA'S FOLK ART MAGAZINE The Museum of American Folk Art New York City WINTER 1988, Vol. 13, No. 1 $4.50

KELTER-MALCE

A•N•T•I•Q•U•E• S 361 Bleecker St / New York City 10014 / 212-989-6760

PATRIOTIC CRIB QUILT, 1910-1920 Stars and Stripes and a Proud Eagle 28" x 38", Found in Ephrata, Pennsylvania We are always interested in purchasing patriotic quilts.

All photos promptly returned.

The Tugboat AUGUSTUS and crew of Boston, Massachusetts as painted by J.M. Nickerson in 1906.

This tug was built in Bath, Maine in 1887 for C.H. Trickey of Dover, New Hampshire and was originally named the COCHEO. Its home port was Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In the early 1900's its home port was changed to Boston and in 1906 the name was changed to the AUGUSTUS. (more information is available)

KENNETH IDA MANKO PO. Box 20, Moody, Maine 01051 207-646-2595 3

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Table rug, wool applique, C. 1840, New England.

SUSAtiL d rARRiSp ANTIQUE QUILTS.FOLK ART•AMERICAN INDIAN ART

390 BLEECKER ST, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK 10014 (212) 645-5020 4

Drawings: Bill Traylor

Paintings: Horace Pippin

Monuments: William Edmondson

February 1988

2" 1 Horace Pippin, The Getaway, ca. 1939. oil on canvas. 24" x 35/

Janet Fleisher Gallery 211 South 17th Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19103 212/545-7562 5

AMERICAN cANTIQUESG&QUILTS 835 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK,N.Y. 10021 TELEPHONE(212)988-2906

English chintz central medallion quilt. Circa 1830-1840. 104 x 104 inches.

We are always interested in purchasing exceptional quilts and Americana, collections or individual pieces. Photographs returned promptly.

6 Exhibiting at the Winter Antiques Show, New York City.

STEVE MILLER • AMERICAN FOLK ART •

17 East 96th Street, New York, New York 10128.(212)348-5219

BY APPOINTMENT ONLY

A happy child, New England, circa 1835, pastel on paper.

16

ROBERT E.

NNAMA MBAEKERS INC. EAST HAMPTON, NEW YORK

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MAILING ADDRESS: PO. 1014, WAINSCOTT NEW YORK 11975

THE CLARION AMERICA'S FOLK ART MAGAZINE The Museum of American Folk Art New York City

Winter 1988

Volume 13, No. 1 FEATURES Jeanne Marie Carley

CONNECTICUT'S POTTER MEAD

30

A Legacy in Stoneware Michael Bird and Terry Kobayashi

THE DISCOVERY OF THOMAS MAC DONALD

37

Canada's Elusive Portrait Painter SPECIAL SECTION FOLK ART ENVIRONMENTS Daniel C. Prince

ENVIRONMENTS IN CRISIS

44

Elaine Wintman

SEYMOUR ROSEN AND SPACES

47

Saving Our Sites Tom Patterson

ST. EOM'S PASAQUAN

52

A Promising Future Daniel C. Prince

HOWARD FINSTER'S PARADISE GARDEN

56

A Plan for the Future

DEPARTMENTS MINIATURES

14

DIRECTOR'S LETTER

17

LETTERS

22

BOOK REVIEWS

61

MAJOR DONORS

64

MUSEUM NEWS

66

NEW MEMBERSHIP

70

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

72

Cover: Detail from the exterior wall of St. EOM's house at the environment Pasaquan, Marion County, GA.Of it, he said,"That road goin'off in the distance to the horizon in them paintin's on the walls here represents perspective — goin' off into the future toward the sun, like I did as a young lad:' Photo by Jonathan Williams, from St. EOM in The Land ofPasaquan (courtesy of The Jargon Society).

The Clarion is published four times a year by the Museum of American Folk Art, 444 Park Avenue South, NY, NY 10016; 212/481-3080. Annual subscription rate for members is included in membership dues. Copies are mailed to all members. Single copy $4.50. Published and copyright 1987 by the Museum of American Folk Art,444 Park Avenue South, NY, NY 10016. The cover and contents of The Clarion are fully protected by copyright and may not be reproduced in any manner without written consent. Opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the Museum of American Folk Art. Unsolicited manuscripts or photographs should be accompanied by return postage. The Clarion assumes no responsibility for the loss or damage ofsuch materials. Change of Address: Please send both old and new addresses and allow five weeks for change. Advertising: The Clarion accepts advertisements only from advertisers whose reputation is recognized in the trade, but despite the care with which the advertising department screens photographs and texts submitted by its advertisers, it cannot guarantee the unquestionable authenticity of objects of quality or services advertised in its pages or offered for sale by its advertisers, nor can it accept responsibility for misunderstandings that may arise from the purchase or sale of objects or services advertised in its pages. The Museum is dedicated to the exhibition and interpretation of folk art and feels it is a violation of its principles to be involved in or to appear to be involved in the sale of works of art. For this reason, the Museum will not knowingly accept advertisements for The Clarion which illustrate or describe objects that have been exhibited at the Museum within one year of the placing of the advertisement.

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THE CLARION

For Collecting, Decorating •&• Gift-giving

Didi Barrett, Editor Faye H. Eng, Anthony T. Yee,Art Directors Marilyn Brechner, Advertising Manager Willa S. Rosenberg, Assistant Editor Craftsmen Litho,Printers Nassau Typographers, Typesetters

MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK ART Administration Dr. Robert Bishop, Director Gerard C. Werticin, Assistant Director Cheryl Hoenemeyer, Controller Lillian Grossman, Assistant to the Director Mary Ziegler, Administrative Assistant Barry Gallo, Reception Richard Griffin, Office Manager Jerry Torrens, Assistant Clerk

Collections & Exhibitions Elizabeth Warren, Curator Michael McManus,Director ofExhibitions Ann-Marie Reilly, Registrar Dawn A. Giegerich, Assistant Registrar Stacy C. Hollander, Assistant Curator ofCollections Joyce Hill, Consulting Research Curator Mary Black, Consulting Curator

Departments Didi Barrett, Director ofPublications Beth Bergin, Membership Director Carolyn Cohen,Director ofSpecial Events Marie S. DiManno,Director ofMuseum Shops Susan Flamm,Public Relations Director Barbara W. Kaufman-Cate, Director ofEducation Johleen Nester, Director ofDevelopment Edith Wise, Director ofLibrary Services Janey Fire,Photographic Services

Programs

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Barbara W. Kaufman-Cate, Director, Folk Art Institute Phyllis A. Tepper, Registrar, Folk Art Institute Dr. Marilynn Karp,Director, New York University Master's and Ph.D. Program in Folk Art Studies Dr. Judith Reiter Weissman, Coordinator, New York University Program Karla Friedlich, Coordinator, Great American Quilt Festival 2 Irma J. Shore, Director, Access to Art Cecilia K. Toth, Kennetha R. Stewart, Co-Chairs Friends Committee Jill Rigby, Exhibitions Previews Coordinator Susan Moore,Junior League Liaison

Museum Shop Staff Caroline Hohenrath, Sally O'Day, Rita Pollitt, Managers Jeanne Carley, Sheila Carlisle, Elizabeth Cassidy, Rick Conant, Dorothy Gargiulo, Elli Gordon, Karen Johnson, Eleanor Katz, Annette Levande, Victor Levant, Arlene Levey, Katie McAuliffe, Nancy Mayer, Pat Pancer, Marie Peluso, Myra Shaskan, Rose Silece, Claire Spiezio, Doris Stack, Mary Walmsly, Maura Walsh, Gina Westby, Doris Wolfson.

Museum of American Folk Art Book and Gift Shop 62 West 50th Street New York, NY 10112 212/247-5611

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Decorated dome top chest, 10"x 24"x 13" in red, yellow and blue paint on a black ground, Worcester, Massachusetts, circa 1835.

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"DICK" A 19th century hooked rug from New England.

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We are always interested in purchasing good American hooked rugs, samplers and guilts.

Photos will receive our prompt attention.

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MINIATURES

"An American Sampler: Folk Art from the Shelburne Museum"is on view at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC through March. Featured are

highlights from Electra Havemeyer Webb's remarkable Vermont-based collection...

• Twenty-four quilts reflecting

Lt Ctooti“Iltags Evititiitioto Earl Cunningham, the Florida folk painter who died in 1977, had a reputation as a curmudgeon. The only reason he agreed to sell Marilyn Mennello her first painting in 1969 — despite his sign saying "Not for Sale" — was that he was sure she'd never come back with the $500 in cash which he demanded. Well, Cunningham sure underestimated Marilyn Mennello and her appreciation for his art. Not only did she return to Cunningham's St. Augustine second-hand shop, the Over-Fork Gallery (he thought the name would be more effective than Fork-Over Gallery), but the Winter Park, FL,collector and her husband, Michael, now own 350 Earl Cunningham paintings, and continue to seek out more. It was Cunningham's wish, says Mrs. Mennello, that the paintings all stay together.

The Mennellos have been equally tenacious in exhibiting Cunningham's work. In 1986

14

they organized an exhibition for the Museum of American Folk Art. Sixty-six paintings, along with Cunningham's desk, paints and brushes, have toured the country and will be at the Daytona Museum of Arts and Sciences from April 9 to May 31, 1988. Another twenty paintings are on view at the State Capitol Building in Tallahassee in the boardroom of the Office of the Commission of Education. Yet another forty have been toured by the Southern Arts Federation. And the Mid America Arts Alliance in Kansas City will travel a group of forty to sixty paintings in 1988 and 1989. "We brought them together so the world could see them;' says Mrs. Mennello, who has done a remarkable job meeting that goal.

Summertime at Fort San Marcos; Earl Cunningham; Circa 1970; Oil on masonite; 22/ 1 2"x 30/ 1 2 "

"Improvisation in AfricanAmerican Quiltmaking" will be on view through February 28, 1988, at the San Francisco Craft and Folk Art Museum at Fort Mason...

• The first major exhibition of works by the black American folk artist "Joshua Johnson: Freeman and Early American Portrait Painter;' mounted by the Maryland Historical Society and Colonial Williamsburg, will be at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center from January 17 to May 15, 1988 ...

• "An Art of Deception: American Wildfowl Decoys;' from the collection of the Museum of American Folk Art, can be seen from January 30 to April 17, 1988, at the New York State Museum, Albany...

As part of a tour throughout the South, "Baking in the Sun: Visionary Images from the South" will be at the City Gallery of Contemporary Art, Raleigh, NC, through February

Mrs. John Moale and her Grandaughter Ellin North Moale; Joshua Johnson; 1798-1800: Oil on Canvas

1988, and at the Alexandria Museum Visual Art Center, Alexandria, LA, from March 26 through April 30, 1988...

Two exhibitions growing out of the Michigan Quilt Project remain on view through January 30, 1988, at the Michigan State Museum, East Lansing, and at the Michigan Historical Museum,Lansing...

Two exhibitions of contemporary expressions in Native American art both run through March 6, 1988 — "What Is Native American Art?" at the Heard Museum, Phoenix, and "Lost and Found Traditions: Native American Art 1965-1985" at the Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC.

Tont Alit/Poem AO osspook The role of American folk art in the development of modern art — and the impact folk art still has on contemporary artists — will be explored at a symposium sponsored by Hirsch] & Adler Folk in conjunction with their exhibition "Source and Inspiration: A Continuing Tradition:' Promising a lively exchange of ideas, the symposium — to be held January 24, 1988, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Hunter College — will include speakers Jean

Lipman, Sidney Janis, Brice Marden, Philip Pearlstein, Richard Tuttle, Michael Hall, Jan Nadelman and John Laurent. The latter two are the sons of Elie Nadelman and Robert Laurent, respectively. A reception at the Hirschl & Adler Folk gallery will follow the symposium. Tickets, at $10 each, are available through Hirschl & Adler Folk, 851 Madison Avenue, NY, NY 10021, tel. 212/988-3655.

The Clarion

The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center. gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Wilson.

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We are very pleased to announce the opening of our second gallery at

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This new gallery will afford our current and future clients and friends a comfortable and convenient facility in which to view the finest American Folk Art and Furniture.

LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR DR. ROBERT BISHOP

Winter 1988

Left to Right, Top Row:Katie McAuliffe, Doris Wolfson, Terri Naglack, Marie Poluso, Dorothy Gargiulo, Gina Westby, Sally O'Day, Marie DiManno, Caroline Hohenrath. Seated: Pat Pancer, Doris Stack, Eleanor Katz, Mary Wamsley, Elena Gordon, Annette Levande, Maura Walsh. Not Pictured: Elizabeth Cassidy, Rick Conant, Karen Johnson, Arlene Levey, Nancy Mayer, Rita Pollitt, Myra Shaskan, Rose Silece, Claire Spiezio, Monica Wellington.

librarians, both of whom served for many years as editors of the American Library Association's Guide to ReferMa/PUV :010qd

It may not be generally recognized that the ability of a museum to serve the public is dependent not only on the efforts of trustees and professional staff, but on the vital contributions of volunteers. I do not believe there is an area within our Museum operations, including collections, development, exhibitions, educational programs and publications, that would be wholly possible without the commitment and creative involvement of volunteers. It is with this in mind that! wish to highlight the work of these important members of the Museum of American Folk Art family.

Volunteers have always taken a prominent role in the day to day operations of the Museum Shop, now located at 62 West 50th Street, opposite Radio City Music Hall. Museum Shop personnel not only provide expert sales assistance and effect transactions with customers, but frequently serve as the Museum's liaison with the public, providing information about exhibitions, educational programs and special events. Marie DiManno, Director of the Museum Shop and I are greatly indebted to the wonderful staff of the Museum Book and Gift Shop. The volunteer coordinator Sally O'Day, and managers, Caroline Hohenrath and Rita Pollitt, work tirelessly with our volunteers. It is with much appreciation that we convey our thanks to all for their essential role played in the success of this unique shop.

Some months ago I donated to the Museum's Library the information files which I had built up over the years to provide background and source materials for my books and research publications. Reorganization ofthose files, which consist of magazine and newspaper clippings, news releases, photographs, pamphlets and similar sources of information, is being undertaken on a volunteer basis by Rita Keckeissen and Eugene Sheehy, two former Columbia University reference

Museum volunteers Phyllis Tepper, left, and Bernice Cohen.

ence Books. Contents of the files are being rearranged in three broad categories: Material relating to folk art in general; information on individual artists, particularly folk art practitioners; and material regarding furniture. When refurbishing of the files is completed, the Library will have yet another valuable resource to offer members, Museum staff and Institute students. Edith Wise, the Museum's Librarian and I, are especially grateful to Gene and Rita for their important professional contribution. Gene has provided guidance to us in several other important ways, as well, including the drafting of some fundamental policy statements about Library operations.

Phyllis Tepper is one of our long standing volunteers. She became registrar of the Folk Art Institute at its 17

,S71

LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR

inception. Prior to that she was a weekend docent, having joined the Docent Program at the very beginning.

She has also served as secretary of the Friends Committee in the past. As registrar at the Institute she develops and maintains student record forms — recording grades and other pertinent information. She supervises registration under the direction of Barbara Cate, and acts as liaison with the staff for the Institute. She also handles student inquiries and problems, or directs them to the proper authority. Phyllis maintains fee records for the Institute and handles all the correspondence and filing.

Bernice Cohen has been a volunteer for six years. Initially, she was the receptionist on Mondays at the offices on West 53rd Street. She also worked in

the shop at Christmas time. She has continued to make herself useful in the Park Avenue South offices performing various administrative details for the Folk Art Insitute, the New York Quilt Project and the Access to Art Program.

She is kept busy with general office duties and assists with registration for the Institute and many other similar kinds of activities.

The Museum of American Folk Art Friends Committee is our longest standing support organization and through the years has played an important part in developing ongoing programs that enhance the Museum's efforts, taking an especially active role in our fund-raising special events. The executive committee of the Friends Committee is comprised of the following officers:

A formal presentation of the Friends Committee's Quilt to Dr. Robert Bishop. From, left; Dr. Bishop, Cecilia Toth. Kennetha Stewart and Marsha Moore.

18

Kennetha R. Stewart and Cecilia K. Toth — Co-chairpersons Howard Fertig — Treasurer Julia Weissman — Secretary We illustrate this Director's Letter with a special quilt made by members of the Friends Committee and donated to the Museum at the occasion of the first Great American Quilt Festival.

This handsome textile was first suggested by Myra Shaskan and members Nancy Brown, Dianne Butt, Irene Goodkind, Phyllis Tepper, Cecilia Toth and Jane Walentas who commissioned Marsha Evans Moore to execute this treasure which was designed by Kennetha Stewart. The quilt was first displayed at the Quilt Festival in 1986 and is currently part of an exhibition of quilts organized by the Museum of American Folk Art for presentation in Bolivia by the United States Information Agency.

In the past, our Docent Program proved to be an important way of bringing large numbers of volunteers to the Museum where they served as a resource for the dissemination of information to exhibition visitors.

In the next issue of The Clarion we will announce an exciting new exhibition space where a volunteer docent program will again be an important part of the basic daily operation. Plans for this educational project are currently being discussed with Museum friend, Debbie Dunn. More specific information is available to those who wish to consider participation in our new Docent Program.

If you live in close proximity to New York City why not consider becoming a volunteer and support the Museum's efforts. Your personal participation would expand our capabilities and at the same time provide you with personal satisfaction in knowing that you have helped preserve America's great folk heritage. For more information telephone Phyllis Tepper at the Folk Art Institute at 212/481-3080.

The Clarion

Bruce Brice David Butler Henry Darger Minnie Evans Rev. Josephus Farmer Rev. Howard Finster Clementine Hunter Sr. Gertrude Morgan Popeye Reed Nellie Mae Rowe J.P. Scott James "Son Ford" Thomas Mose Tolliver Bill Traylor Fred Webster Chief Willey Luster Willis Estate of Charles Hutson and others

CLEMENTINE HUNTER "Small Boy with Blocks," oil on watercolor paper, 1945 12" x 14" signed

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LETTERS

AFRO-AMERICAN ART I would like to correct a factual error in my article "Another Face ofthe Diamond" in the Fall 1987 issue of The Clarion (Vol. 12, No. 4, p. 50). George Liele, the ex-slave from Georgia who was a missionary in the Caribbean during the late eighteenth century, worked in Jamaica, not Trinidad. He brought Baptist Protestantism to the island in 1787 and was later joined by many slaves who had fled to Jamaica from the U. S. after the Revolutionary War, accompanying British loyalists.

The Black Baptists (Revivalists) of Jamaica are a charismatic group often compared with the Spiritual Baptists of Trinidad. Both sects are regarded as important examples of African influence on Protestant Christianity and have certain African-derived ceremonial rites in common. See Slave Religion by Albert Raboteau,Religious Cultsofthe Caribbean by George Eaton Simpson, and The Development of Creole Society in Jamaica 1770-1820 by Edward Brathwaite.

Judy McWillie Department of Art The University of Georgia Athens, GA

Congratulations on publishing the groundbreaking article "The Other Side of the Diamond" by Judy McWillie in the Fall issue (Vol. 12, No. 4). Self-taught art is a serious field and almost any article that emphasizes the se22

riousness of that field is immediately valuable. The image of the self-taught artist in America as a naive-sweet-elderly-primitive human being must die a hard and violent death. The best way to bring this about is to simply tell the truth.

McWillie focuses vividly on that parallel language of human morality that runs through the work of these Southern visionaries but that also runs through all truly inspired art, trained or untrained. McWillie runs strong in the track forged bravely by Robert Farris Thompson in which the truth is more apt to be perceived if one is open enough to shift perspective and run counter to officially held misconceptions.

McWillie is not afraid to discuss the directly spiritual on its own terms rather than rationalize it to a supposedly nonbelieving public. It is enough for her that this comes from carefully worked out systems of belief that have become syncretized through time. To me this is religion at its best, a personally worked out system that can bend and relate to the immediate struggles of cultureclash in the twentieth century.

We are all contextualized within our society and so are our creative visions; she warns that if we do not automatically contextualize we will lose a good amount of the truth in a work of art. This has been said before but never so clearly.

There are, however, a few places where I feel the article comes up short. The issues are large and a letter to the editor cannot possibly get to all of them; but, by stating the most

important ones the others can be deduced. The first is McWillie's statement that, "Butler instinctively rejected the Western notion of art as an enterprise within the wordly order!'I can't go far enough to disagree with this. We don't want to wind up arguing about the relative values of words, but "art" is only a word. Basic fieldwork in cultural anthropolgy teaches one to learn and seek out the language^ and value systems of the people one is recording. I have never met an artist in any of my time in the field who did not have a personal network of aesthetic judgments. Research by others in Africa has shown that very specific guidelines are set down — either personally or tribally — in the creation of a work, and that there is a fairly equal distribution of criticism between the perfect melding together of form and function at the highest level. There is a message and there is a way that message is put across. Just because David Butler calls his pieces "spirit shields" does not mean more aesthetic elements didn't come into play as well. Religious ecstasy does not preclude the possibility of art. McWillie obviously does not like the word "art:'I sympathize. I also realize that for better or worse it exists.

I don't think we need to send scattershots about labels anymore. That is a critic's game and we need to devote full attention to the work. Without examining fieldnotes it is impossible to determine whether a meaningful substitute for the word "art" was sought with each artist. The original meaning of art was closer to what these artists

are doing so it is we, not they, who have subverted the word.

There are also certain statements that are so general as to detract from the otherwise high tone of the article! "Those who entered public life, like David Butler, were reluctant to establish prices for their works, leaving such decisions to others:' This is a dangerous generality.

There are artists who, entering public life, were able to learn to swim between the sharks and art pigs and learn when they were being ripped off. I think this is a case-by-case situation. Butler got ripped off but Elijah Pierce exercised more control.

I also disagree with Eugene Metcalf's interpretation of the connection between the AfroAmerican art and jazz and blues. He says that the music is "imparting meaning and harmony to an otherwise disconnected ... experience'? Disconnected? From what? The notion of improvisation in outsider art which has been covered before

by Thompson,et al., is a truism that runs through both black and white art. But to say that a musical form imparts meaning is belittling to the content.

Again it is always form that is emphasized by the art establishment. The blues form holds the meanings that are already in the music,providing a mere shell of containment. The force is in the content which is why the free jazz player or the poet can break the form and still maintain the essence.

McWillie's insights and research into spiritwriting, etc. are nothing short of genius. She is laying the groundwork we will all have to follow. But I The Clarion

LETTERS

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TA G.1444 Revi4 (ilie4,,,, esite Aia€4,Pcfrte,vit4,,t, firmly believe that more is going to have to be said about the concept of personal style.

Robert Farris Thompson,Karen McCarthy Brown, McWillie, and others have effectively dealt with large segments of humanity, finding those golden chords running through the work. But no one has yet focused on individuals other than as illustrations of larger themes. Personal style is the factor that renders one person's spiritwriting art and another's artifact. We can listen to ten thousand blues players and then hear the one who, through a particular shake oftimbre,transports us into new realms.

Part of the article talks about stupid outside pressure put on an artist to change his style.

Creating for the market implies a cop-out on the artist's part. I have never seen an outsider artist sell out and create something so devoid of his personal style that it can be questioned. It is the integral choice of the artist anywhere. The marketplace must figure into research as much as any survival factor. I've not seen a true artist tamper with his own style in order to create something marketable, but I have seen them practically emotionally destroyed by the idea.

It is important that we have come to realize and recognize the "flash of the spirit:' We must not however make certain folklorists' basic mistakes of becoming so staid and inflexible that our concepts cannot change and grow. I suggest the possibility that there is a point when all races are capable of perceiving "flash of the spirit:' That to make a spiritual point and to Winter 1988

break the viewer out of one reality into the next "flash of the spirit" is a necessary element.

To some people it comes from their roots, to others no less serious it can be learned and acquired. Look at all the unexplored Native American influence on black religion. The beauty of this field is its fluid nature. It is constantly growing as we learn more. As long as there are people out there like Thompson and McWillie putting themselves scholastically on the line to teach us, we have another stab at humanistic enlightenment. Thanks again for a great article.

LATIN AMERICAN & HAITIAN FOLK ART .

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AUSTRALIAN FANS

THE HEART OF THE TREE Work in Paper and Paper Mache Thursday, January 7- Sunday, February14

Several months ago I received my first issue of The Clarion. I was delighted — it is interesting. informative and beautifully presented. My husband and I are both artists and although our own work is definitely modern.

I am fascinated by folk art, especially American. I look forward to receiving many future issues.

THE DIVINE IMAGE Religious Folk Art of the Season Thursday, February 18- Sunday, April 13 ARTISTS UNDER THE INFLUENCE . . .

American Artists Inspired by Latin American & Haitian Folk Art Thursday, April 7 - Sunday, May 22

Louise Taylor Chadstone, Australia

THE CLARION welcomes letter on all issues related to American folk art. Correspondence should be addressed to The Clarion, Museum of American Folk Art, 444 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10016. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

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131 SPRING STREET A NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10012 A (212)431.-0144 I

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Quilts & Country Antiques 12300 Glen Road Potomac, MD 20854 (Near Washington, D.C.) By appointment (301)948-4187

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GALLERY 314 Occidental Ave S Seattle, WA 98104 (206) 467-8283

"Devil", R.A. Miller

24

CHARLES BUTLER (1902-1978) A collection of recently discovered carvings by a Southern Black Folk Artist

AMERICAN PRIMITIVE GALLERY Mon.-Fri. 10a.M.-5:30 p.m. or by appt.

Aarne Anton (212) 239-1345 242 West 30th St., N.Y., N.Y. 10001

EPSTEIN/POWELL 22 Wooster St., New York, N.Y. 10013

By Appointment(212)226-7316 Jesse Aaron Steve Ashby Peter Charlie William Dawson Charlie Dieter Mr. Eddy Antonio Esteves Howard Finster Victor Joseph Gatto (Estate) Clementine Hunter S.L. Jones Justin McCarthy Sister Gertrude Morgan Emma Lee Moss Inez Nathaniel Old Ironsides Pry Nellie Mae Rowe Jack Savitsky Clarence Stringfield Mose Tolliver Luster Willis and others

Emma Lee Moss (18" x 131/2", Oil/Bd)

Outstanding Copper Weather Vane 33" wide x 22" high • 19th Century similar to the Fox Hound Weather Vane attrib. to J. W. Cushing & Sons, Waltham, Mass.

Folk Art Gallery 1187 Lexington Avenue, New York, 10028 (Bet. 80th & 81st Sts.) •(212) 628-5454

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THE

AMES GALLERY OF

AMERICAN

FOLK ART

2661 Cedar Street Berkeley, California 94708 415 845-4949 • Concurrent with the changing exhibits, our extensive collection of tramp art, quilts, cookware, folk painting and sculpture are always on view.

Phone or write for exhibit information, hours, or appointment.

Thomas Langan.Pelicans cedar, leather ,lead. 24-w

T.P LANCIAN american folk art gallery 92 Forest Avenue - Locust Valley,New York 11560 •(516)671 - 5875 — Tues.- Sat 11-5 27

Fine Arts of Ancient Lands Inc. 12 EAST 86 STREET NEW YORK, N.Y. 10028 SUITE 1431 (212)249-7442

Mayan Moldmade Figure Maize Lord on monster throne Late Classic 600-900 AD Peten Region 8/ 1 2 by 5"

C 1986 John Bigelow Taylor

By Appointment

BRITISH NAIVE PAINTING

PATRICK BYRNE JOHN'S DREAM GOUACHE ON PAPER SIGNED

RONA GALLERY 28

/ 1 2 WEIGHHOUSE STREET LONDON W1Y 1YL, ENGLAND TEL: LONDON 491-3718

A SMALL GROUPING FROM OUR EVER CHANGING STOCK OF ANTIQUE SHORE BIRDS AND FISH DECOYS AUTHENTICITY GUARANTEED

10626 MAIN STREET (N.Y. 5) CLARENCE,NEW YORK 14031

MULESKINNER 18th 19th & 20th CENTURY DECORATIVE ARTS

PHONE (716) 759-2661 RONALD KORMAN. PROP

MAIN STREET ANTIQUES and ART Colleen and Louis Picek Folk Art and Country Americana SIgb'Yalvi

(319)643-2065 110 West Main, Box 340 .0* West Branch, Iowa 52358 On Interstate 80

Send a self-addressed stamped envelope for our monthly Folk Art and Americana price list

Three interesting early 20th C. polychrome painted folk carvings.

Approximate height,61 / 2".

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CONNECTICUT'S POTTER MEAD

Passing through Greenwich, Connecticut on the Boston Post Road, the traveler cannot miss the towering spires of the Second Congregational Church on the crest of Putnam Hill. But few today know that one of Connecticut's first potters lies buried beside this historic 282-year-old church.

The inscription on the 160-year-old tombstone of Capt. Abraham Mead (1742-1827), a Revolutionary War patriot, is barely discernible and can be identified only by the adjacent stones of his wife, Keziah, and their daughter, Deborah. Two sons, Zophar and Isaac, and two infant daughters are also buried nearby.'

Potter Mead's gravestone may be obliterated by the harsh elements, but his gray salt-glazed stoneware remains in museums and private collections as a tribute to his craftsmanship. His folk art pottery, with its charming cobalt blue designs, is owned by the Brooklyn Museum and three Greenwich museums, Bruce, Putnam Cottage and Bush-Holley House. In addition, two pieces in the National Museum of American History, part of the Smithsonian Institution, are thought to be by Mead,and nine examples are illustrated in the Index of American Design. Mead pieces are also pictured in Ramsay's American Potters and Pottery, Lura Watkins' Early New England Potters and Their Wares, and Three Centuries of Connecticut Folk Art. More of his work will be shown in a planned Index ofAmerican Stoneware by Dan Bruhns.

Potter Mead, the twelfth child (eleventh son) of Ebenezer II and Hannah Brown Mead, traced his lineage to William Mead of England, who came to America in 1635 via the Massachusetts colony. One of the original 42 land proprietors of Stamford, Connecticut, William died there about 1663. One of his sons, John, eventually settled in Greenwich in 1660.

The progenitor of the Greenwich Meads,John Mead was one of the"men of property and character" who requested the separation of Greenwich from Stamford at the first Town Meet30

A LEGACY IN STUN EWARE

by Jeanne Marie Carley

Jug; Connecticut;18th century; Saltglazed stoneware; Three-gallon size; Dan Bruhns collection. Example of fish scale and triangle/dot design.

ing held in 1664. His son, Ebenezer I, bought the last Greenwich acreage owned by the Indians along Long Island Sound. To this day, Mead is one of the most common names in Greenwich.

In addition to several sites named Mead, there are three Mead cemeteries and some of the other graveyards are filled with Meads.

Abraham's mother, Hannah, of Rye, New York, was a descendant of Peter Brown, who came from the ancient town of Rye, Sussex, and emigrated to the colonies on the Mayflower.

Abraham Mead may be obscure today, but in the Revolutionary period and throughout his long life, he was a prominent citizen of Horseneck, the original name for central Greenwich.

He grew up on Horseneck Plantation, which was deeded to the first settlers by the Indians for 25 English coats. When the Horseneck Fields were divided among these residents in 1669, the Mead family became the owners of all the land along the Long Island Sound from the Mianus River in Cos Cob Harbor to the Byram River bordering New York State. This included Indian Harbor where Abraham lived and worked as a potter.

When he was a young man, probably around 14 years old, Mead became apprenticed to a Dutchman named Adam Staats, considered to be Connecticut's first stoneware potter. Staats set up a kiln around 1750 just south of the Davis gristmill on the western side of Indian Harbor, which became known as Chimney Corner. Recent research indicates that while Mead was working for Staats, the Dutchman was a tenant potter on Mead land. There is no record of Staats owning any property in Greenwich, nor was there any sale recorded. Furthermore, a 1765 land deed shows that Ebenezer, Abraham's father, transferred Chimney Corner to his son as a gift.'Most likely, Staats had died by this time and Abraham had taken over the business. Perhaps this 50-acre parcel was a wedding gift for Abraham's marriage in January 1764 to Keziah, the 21-year-old daughter of The Clarion

Captain Isaac Howe and his second wife, Keziah Mead. (This was one of several marriages between these two families.)

Staats, who emigrated from Holland, had lived in South Amboy, New Jersey on Cheesequake Creek, one of the earliest stoneware pottery centers, and source of the fine "white" body clay for the New York-New Jersey coastal area.'

A story is told in several Greenwich histories about the clever young Mead who experimented while his master was away getting clay. Like most early potters, Staats was secretive about his salt-glazing technique, but Abraham observed him closely at work. Upon his return, the Dutch potter found Mead throwing salt into the kiln and is said to have exclaimed, "He's got it! He's got it!" When Mead's apprenticeship was over, according to the accounts, Staats made him a partner.

Swampy as Chimney Corner was, it would have been ideal for operating a pottery since it was located on the creek that flowed to the millpond. The potter could utilize the woods for his kiln fires and the water to mix his clay. Since there were no other farms downstream, the smoke would not damage neighboring property and fires, a common hazard with potteries in those days, could easily be extinguished. Most importantly, access to Long Island Sound made it convenient to ship in the clay and to transport finished pots which were sold along the Sound.'

Although no known pottery of Staats has been found, it is presumed that he, like Mead, produced functional and durable gray stoneware thrown by hand on a potter's wheel. These pots were sold in abundance to the farmers and merchants of the Greenwich area and most likely to residents of Manhattan and New Jersey as well. This pottery included jugs for cider, whiskey and vinegar, cream and butter pots, preserve and pickling jars, cream and buttermilk pitchers and the chamber pots so essential to every household, tavern, and shop of the era. Merchants stored foodstuffs and other goods in Winter 1988

stoneware; tradesmen utilized them for turpentine and acids; taverns stored spirits in coolers,jugs, and bottles, and served drinks in mugs and tankards.

Mead also made some non-production items which he dated: batter jugs, liquor flasks, and small vase-shaped jars, as well as mortars and pestles. But other common utilitarian wares such as butter churns, kegs, harvest jugs and pudding and bread pans have not been found in any Mead collection to date.

According to a surviving bill of sale, Mead sold 67 pots and jugs (from 1/2 gallon to 3 gallon),24chamber pots and a quart mug to one Adam Keeling in 1785 for more than six pounds.'

From an undated kiln plan drawn by Potter Mead and now in the possession of his descendant, John Mead, it appears that he fired his stoneware in an elongated brick-lined, wood-burning groundhog kiln. Stoneware was baked at extremely high temperatures — 2,300°F, and the process was long and tedious, lasting up to ten days.6 Typical of most eighteenth century stoneware potters, he finished his wares

Crock; Connecticut; 18th century; Salt-glazed stoneware; Two-gallon size;John Meadfamily collection. An example of double spiral and diamond/dot design.

with salt-glazing — throwing salt into the kiln during its most intense heat. As a result of the salt vaporizing and combining chemically with the silica in the clay, a hard vitreous glaze with the pebbled look of orange peel was formed. While making the vessel easy to clean, the crystalline structure of the glaze also gave a visually appealing texture enhancing its opaque appearance. The interiors were left unglazed.

Like most early pottery, Mead's work was characterized chiefly by its beauty of form, reflecting the styles of the Rhenish potters that were known from Germany to England as early as the fifteenth century. Undoubtedly, Staats had been trained or influenced by such craftsmen, either in the Netherlands or in this country, and passed on his techniques to his apprentice.

Mead's forms were the ovoid style commonly used by colonial potters up to the mid-nineteenth century, when they became more cylindrical. The contours of his well-balanced shapes are free-flowing, rising gracefully upwards from the base to a high shoulder and narrowed neck and rim. The sides of his jugs taper sharply from a broad waist to a small neck with shaped rim.

Below the waist, the sides taper to a plain or incised base. Mead's large storage vessels are well proportioned with gently swelling sides and wide mouths. His rims, typically, both flared and rolled, but flattened on top, are similar to others of the period. However, he didn't make the high, wide collar-like rims or tooled necks associated with the Manhattan potters, Crolius or Remmey, who were both German immigrants.

Mead's double loop crock handles also resemble others of his time. He shaped the early vertical or "ear" type, which extended outward, as well as the free-standing horizontal ones popular around 1790. Typically, none of his handles touch the side of the pot.

Whenever he made vertical handles, whether doubles for crocks or batter 31

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Potter Mead's potting shed is pictured on the Greenwich historical map above. Today, nothing remains to show that stoneware production was a thriving colonial industry here. There is no evidence of a kiln on Chimney Corner Lane, only the sweeping lawns of luxurious waterfront homes.

Undoubtedly, the kiln was dismantled, probably near the end of the nineteenth century, as several fragments were saved. They were given to the Mead family and provide clues to its original site. A yellowed note attached to a fragment owned by John Mead is dated September 20, 1909, and captioned, "Held House, Indian Harbor."

There is a small sketch of the mansion facing the inlet with an arrow drawn in. It reads.

"Compliments of an old schoolmate to Mrs. Oliver D. Mead. (formerly Clarinda Scofield). The high evergreen tree where the arrow point marks the site of the kiln.

Louise Tierney."(Oliver Mead was Potter Mead's grandson, Zophar's son.)

More fragments, discolored by cobalt blue slip, were given to the Greenwich Historical Society by Meads. The words, "For Isaac Mead, Compliments of Jet Tierney," are written on a slip of paper on one of the chunks. Jeremiah Tierney, whose wife Louise Held inherited a share of the Harry Held estate in 1896, lived on the Chimney Corner property. Their grandson, Judge William Tierney, now 80 years old, recalls living there as a young boy, but remembers no kiln or shards.

By 1900, most of Indian Harbor was owned by E.C. Benedict, a wealthy friend of President Grover Cleveland, who also bought Chimney Corner in 1911. After his death, the Benedict Realty Co. sold it in 1925 to Clarence Young,followed by a succession of owners. Its present owner, a Stamford lawyer who has lived there since 1975, was unaware of the historical pottery once on his land.

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jugs, or single jug handles, he usually carved a single groove and sometimes twisted the handle. Potter Mead attached his handles below the neck where he incised a series of lines or ribs. These reverse curves were matched by a narrow band of incised lines at the base, something not all his competitors did. Another notable Mead trademark was his decoration around the handles.

There are other characteristics which are typical of early stoneware, but which have never been identified with Mead. For example, after 1800, potters commonly glazed their interiors with brown Albany slip glaze. Other potters made brown stoneware or mixed their clays, and used dark green and manganese brown slip decoration. The Manhattan and South Amboy craftsmen, who flourished in the nineteenth century, applied incised and stamped designs, filled with cobalt blue slip.

Some, like Warne and Letts of South Amboy, used extensive coggle wheel design. The Greenwich potter was known to have experimented with a coggle wheel on only two jugs. They bear the markings "A.M." and "1791," to note the pottery's closing, but no other ornamentation.

Unlike Crolius and Remmey, Mead didn't sign his work with his name or town,except for a few initials and dates during the last three years of the pottery. Nonetheless, there are characteristic marks in Mead's work which help in attribution.

What distinguishes Mead's craft most from other early stoneware are his attractive blue designs brushed freehand onto these early forms. Before firing, he applied cobalt blue slip to his pottery in patterns that varied from simple stylized designs to an occasional decoration which was notably elaborate or whimsical for that period.

Potter Mead's distinctive motifs were: 1) A double spiral or scroll combined with dots in a diamond shape or with dotted circles; 2) A spiraling feathered or notched watchspring; 3) A simple double scroll; and 4) A straight The Clarion

row or triangular-shaped series of dotted circles or semi-circles. These are either joined to resemble fish scales or are separated by curving lines and triangles of dots.

Easily recognizable, Mead's large crocks consistently display a blue spiral extending downward from the terminal ofeach handle with a"2" usually found between them. Likewise, the spirals on one of his cup-shaped potties extend sideways from the handle to look like "eyes." He decorated handles on another potty with a triple fish scale design. (Chamber pots were in fact, rarely embellished.)

The only motif that was not unique to Mead was the watchspring spiral, which was derived from the Germanic tradition. It is frequently associated with Mead's contemporaries at the James Morgan pottery at Cheesequake and with the Ringoes manufactory near Flemington, New Jersey (Hunterdon County). Adam Staats' brother is reputed to have been one of several potters who worked for Morgan, which might explain the watchspring connection. In Morgan's examples, however, the coils are larger, not feathered, and have more turns than Mead's watchsprings.'

Three generations of the John Peter Kemble family (of German descent) produced pottery at Ringoes, which was discovered in the 1950's and eventually excavated. New Jersey stoneware collector James Brown, who helped dig the site, said he found fragments with "barbed coils," as well as green-glazed stoneware and slip-decorated redware.

The "barbed coils" described by Brown closely resemble the feathered watchsprings on Mead's work.

As a result of the similarity in styles, Mead ware has become confused with Cheesequake pottery. In fact, Brown owns a crock with watchspring series nearly identical to several Mead pieces.

Attributed to Morgan, it was exhibited as an example of New Jersey pottery at the New Jersey State Museum in 1972.

However, Brown now believes the Morgan attribution is probably incorrect, Winter 1988

and that the piece is more likely to be by Mead or Kemble.

The confusion is further exemplified by the inclusion of a mug dated 1773 and another crock with watchspring in the New Jersey exhibition. Even at the time of the exhibition the mug was attributed by one expert, a Canadian,to Mead. More recently, several collectors have identified both pieces as work by Mead. Nonetheless, both pieces, currently in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, are still officially attributed to James Morgan.

According to ceramics authority, Ellen Denker, former assistant curator at Trenton, it is difficult to determine who made eighteenth century pottery unless it comes directly from an archeological site, or has been kept by a descendant. She says that more comparative study needs to be done in order to better recognize individual pottery styles.

Despite his remarkable stoneware legacy, Abraham Mead is actually best known in Greenwich history for his memorable exploits in the Revolutionary War. A hotbed of rebellion against

Miniature Jug; Connecticut; 18th century; Salt-glazed stoneware; 4" high;John Meadfamily collection. An example of watchspring design.

George III, the town was frequently sacked and looted by British troops from nearby Westchester County. Soldiers were often quartered among the people, and local Tories plotted against the patriots. Even Silas Davis, Mead's neighbor, ground grain for the Redcoats. Homes were attacked, including General John Mead's,stores plundered, and livestock slaughtered.

The potter, like many of his relatives, was trained in the militia and by 1774, was commissioned captain of the Middle Company in the Town of Greenwich. Soon after the Lexington Alarm of April, 1775, he helped General George Washington defend New York on the "Brooklyn front", in Long Island, and on Harlem Heights, now Washington Heights. In 1776, he fought in the Battle of White Plains,in which his troops suffered many losses.

As a member of the Committee of Safety from December,1777 to the end of the War, Captain Mead averted capture and death several times by taking alternate routes back to his home.

After the War, Mead resumed making pottery. By this time, Greenwich had become a center of agricultural and shipping activity as packet boats laden with local produce sailed weekly from its harbors to New York. Undoubtedly, his stoneware found a market with both the farmers and tradesmen who lined up to barter on the Mianus River docks.

Since hand-thrown stoneware mugs or "drinking cans" were used in almost all colonial taverns and public houses, it seems probable that Mead made them for the Ebenezer Mead Tavern (1696 to 1882), founded by his forbear, and the Knapp Tavern, erected in 1731. Now known as the Putnam Cottage, the Knapp Tavern on the Boston Post Road survives as an historical museum operated by the Putnam Hill Chapter of the D.A.R. It owns a Mead crock and several shards of stoneware and redware recently discovered when ground was dug for new water lines.

By 1787, Potter Mead had been elected town treasurer, holding that post for 10 years. According to local probate 33

records, Abraham was involved in executing wills and taking estate inventories during this time. He also continued to buy and sell property between 1784 and 1795, including the estate of his brother's widow.'

Abraham's character is revealed by two episodes related in the history of the Second Congregational Church, which was built for Horseneck residents in 1705. A loyal supporter, he served as deacon and treasurer. In fact,

he was known as "Deacon Mead' which distinguished him from the many other Meads, including another Abraham, in town. While services had been disrupted during the upheaval of the War, the old church survived. However, a debt of30 pounds remained, and with its members impoverished, there seemed no way of paying this mortgage.

It was "Deacon Potter" Mead who came to their aid, baking a load of

pottery and selling it on both sides of the Sound,to pay the debt. This was the very church where George Washington stopped to view Greenwich in October, 1789 on his triumphal post election tour of New England. The President admired the vista, according to his diary, but found the road to be "hilly and immensely stoney and trying to wheels and carriage."'

Again in 1799, the potter helped rescue the church. Deacon Mead asked

COLLECTIONS OF MEAD WARE John Mead and his sister, direct descendants of Abraham's son, Isaac, own 21 pieces of Mead ware, the largest surviving group.

Seven pieces of the Mead Family Collection were published in Antiquarian Magazine in March,1930, when they were owned by their grandfather, Augustus.' These pieces and two others were illustrated for the Index of American Design. They can be attributed to Potter Mead only through evidence offamily tradition corroborated by the fact that three ofthem are marked with initials and dated 1791. A ciderjug is marked A.M. with a coggle wheel,a vase is signed I.M. and ajar is initialed H.L. in blue cobalt slip.

When Augustus Mead was interviewed for the article in 1930, he identified I.M. as his grandfather, Isaac, but did not know the identity of H.L. Another piece marked H.L., and identified as having belonged to Hannah Lewis, a minister's wife, was given to the Brooklyn Museum in 1942 by Mrs. Luke Vincent Lockwood of Greenwich.'It is likely the H.L. on the jar owned by the Meads stands for Hannah Lewis, as well.

A unique motif was applied to the small 6/ 1 2inch jar made for the potter's son — a series of blue dots in diamond shapes nearly covering the vase. Added to the date and initials are a series offour watchsprings on one side and fish scales on the other side. Blue bands encircle both top and bottom. There are a few other pieces with this diamond/dot design, but so far, no examples are known to have this specific pattern with watchsprings.

The most distinctive and most valuable piece in the Mead Collection is a small ornate liquor flask similar to one in the Bruce Museum. They are both dated 1789 and are decorated with a heavy cobalt blue design. The John Mead canteen has a notched watchspring design encircling the date whereas the Bruce flask is decorated with a circle of fish scales separated by slashes. It is likely that these highly decorated flasks were made as special commemorative pieces, possibly in honor of Washington's visit to Greenwich in 1789." These round-shaped flasks differ from the oval flattened bottle forms that were made by Mead's contemporaries, such as Crolius. However, both were probably made to fit inside a pocket or saddlebag, to be refilled at taverns or farms.

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Storage Jar;Connecticut; Dated 1791; Salt-glazed stoneware;6/ 1 2"high;John Mead family collection.

Madefor Isaac Mead, this piece exhibits watchsprings, fish scales and diamond/dots.

Spirits Flask; Connecticut; Dated 1789; Saltglazed stoneware; PA" high; Collection of the Bruce Museum; Gift of Winfield S. Mills. An example offish scale design — double spiral on reverse side.

Batter Jug; Connecticut; Dated 1790; Salt-glazed stoneware; 13" high; John Mead family collection.

An example offish scale design.

The Clarion

for volunteers to rebuild the drafty, leaking old meetinghouse. He solicited donors of timber and stone and workers with carpentry and masonary skills.

When they didn't cooperate, the story goes, he held firm, saying, "A new church must be built if it takes every dollar I've got."

Little more is known of "Deacon Potter" Mead's later activities since no diaries or account books have been found. But, according to family tradi-

tion, he quit making pottery in 1791 and no one appears to have taken his place.

No evidence is found to show that Mead had an apprentice, but he may have been assisted by his sons. Judging by their extensive land owning, Abraham's sons seemed to have been more interested in farming than in producing pottery.

By this time, Potter Mead was nearing 50. He was involved in real estate and in community activities and didn't

Another unusual vessel displayed in John Mead's home is a large fish scale decorated batterjug, dated 1790, with two handles and a spout for pouring pancake batter. Griddle cakes were eaten throughout the day and batter was left rising in the jug. A saltglazed stoneware example from this period is a rarity today. Except for two other Mead batter jugs, no others frdm this period are known to exist.

The family collection also includes various ovoid jugs, cream pots and preserve jars, a tiny jug-shaped pitcher, decorated chamber pots, and a plain mug. They are decorated with the traditional Mead motifs of notched watchsprings, double spirals, and fish scales. Several were acquired from other family members and have firing defects. John Mead believes they were kept in the family for that reason.

Private Connecticut Collection — about 12 pieces all acquired from the Mead family or the original Zophar Mead/Pryor home.

They include the following: • a gallon jug (marked A.M., 1791 by coggle wheel); two small jars (marked I.M. and H.L., both dated 1791) and batter jug (dated 1790). Decorated similarily to examples in Mead family collection • two-gallon crocks with watchspring and double spiral motifs • a half-gallon pitcher with triangle of dots and ribbing around shoulder, a pint jug, chamber pot with fish scales and undecorated mortar and pestle in tankard shape.

Dan Bruhns Collection — 8 pieces bought from dealers: • three-gallon jug trimmed with fish scale triangles interspersed with triangles of dots, grooved and twisted handle • two-gallon crocks with double spiral motifs, horizontal handles and rolled rims • one-gallon crocks with notched watchspring and double spiral, vertical handles, flared rims, heavy ribbing at shoulders.

Bruce Museum —3 pieces donated by Winfield Mills, associated with Mead family: • circular flask, fish scale and slashes encircling 1789, double spiral on other side, dots on shoulder and neck • small ovaljar, dated 1791 on one side, double spiral on other side,

Winter 1988

need any additional income. He probably had less energy, as well, to continue the physically demanding work involved in making and selling pots.

Whatever the reason, Mead's will, filed after his death, makes no mention of the clay works!° In 1792, records show that Mead helped build a home for his eldest son, Zophar, on Field Point Road across from Indian Harbor. This colonial clapboard, and its farm buildings, still

flared mouth • cream pitcher, double coil and triangular fish scales on body and extending from rim, spout outlined and dotted. Handle missing and body restored.

Bush-Holley House(Greenwich Historical Society)— 3 pieces from Mead family donors: • two-gallon crocks: 1) double spiral with small double fish scale extending downward, horizontal handles, flared rim; 2) dated 1791 below shoulder ribbing, with fish scale row, horizontal handles and rolled rim • ovoid two-gallon jug with sparse touches of cobalt blue at neck and base of handles.

Smithsonian Museum — exhibited in New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, 1972.

From John P. Remensnyder Collection: • mug, watchspring design, dated 1773,ridged bands with double blue stripes around top and bottom. Attributed to Mead • one-gallon crock with double plain watchspring, grooved vertical loop handles with double spirals around terminals.

Attributed to James Morgan of South Amboy.

The Brooklyn Museum — donated by Mrs. Luke Vincent Lockwood.

• small oval jar, dated 1791, initials H.L., fish scale and dots.

Decoration described as "black slip" by the museum.

The Putnam Cottage, The D.A.R. Museum in Greenwich, town historian William E.Finch,and New Jersey collector James Brown each own nearly identical numbered two-gallon crocks.

All three crocks have four notched watchsprings,flared rims,and horizontal handles with spirals around the terminals. Mr. Finch owns a medium sized batter jar with spout, a single missing handle, and wide mouth. It is decorated with a double plain watchspring and triangles of dots.

The remaining four known Mead pieces are two owned by Connecticut antiques dealer Lewis Scranton, and one each owned by a Massachusetts collector, and a Texas collector/writer.

All bear similar characteristics to the Mead ware described here.

35

exists on Pear Lane and was inhabited

by Zophar's descendants until the present generation. Mrs. Lydia Lester, Potter Mead's direct descendant, sold the home to Samuel Pryor. At this time, some Mead pottery was acquired by others outside the family, including the Pryors. Later, as a result of the Pryor estate sale, more Mead ware found its way into private collections, including those owned by town historian, William E. Finch,former curator of the Greenwich Historical Society.

When Abraham was 69, he made several important real estate transactions. The first of these was his sale in 1811 of "Brickkiln" on Chimney Corner, an estimated 15 acres, to Ephraim Mead for $1,050." The same week, Mead also divided his Horseneck Field property west of Indian Harbor. Isaac received about 50 acres near Banks Cove in the northern area and Zophar was given the southern section along Long Island Sound. (In addition, Zophar bought 150 acres from Isaac for $100 and another 150 acres from Abraham for $500.) The same day, Potter Mead paid $500 to each of his sons for "land, premises, and appurtenances on Horseneck." One can assume, therefore, that he lived there until his wife died in 1826. Then it is known he lived with Isaac until his death the following year in December, 1827.12 Although more has been learned about Potter Mead and many examples of his work discovered recently, questions still remain. Why did a prosperous landowner operate a pottery?

Was he actually influenced by Staats or could he have discovered the South Amboy designs himself? Are all of the known pots by Mead or could some have been made by Staats? And where are the examples made prior to 1789?

The views of Mead scholars and collectors on these points sometimes differ. Indeed as time passes, answers may become more remote. Nonetheless, with new information being discovered, Potter Mead's stoneware will be better recognized and preserved for future study.

36

Like other early folk art, Potter Mead's work is an expression of our cultural heritage in which artisans carried out European traditions, but adapted their craft to meet the simpler, rural life-styles of the New World. His utilitarian stoneware may lack the sophistication and refinement of porcelain, but each handmade piece speaks of the character and vitality of this early era in America's past. His pottery is appreciated for its harmonious form,its appealing designs, its age, and rarity.

Moreover, collectors share an enthusiasm for a craftsman whose patriotism and generous spirit was matched by his creative ability. Deacon Potter's life tells a story about sense of duty and love of country, church, and family. In serving his community and country so • well, Potter Mead has left an important record of the past, as well as an impressive contribution to American art.

Storage Jar; Connecticut; Dated 1 x 1791; Salt-glazed stoneware; 64 4"; Collection of the Brooklyn Mu1 4/ seum;Gift ofMrs.Luke VincentLockwood. The H.L. is thought to standfor Hannah Lewis, the original owner.

The design isfish scale and dots.

Jeanne Marie Carley, a Rye, New York, writer, is studying at the Folk Art Institute, the Museum of American Folk Art's certificate program.

NOTES 1. The two small gravestones beside Keziah are undecipherable.The Mead genealogy lists a daughter, Deborah, who died at seven months, followed by Deborah, who lived to maturity. Another daughter, Esther, not mentioned in the genealogy, was buried on Mead property earlier, and may be another infant.

Her gravesite is referred to in an 1811 land transfer from Abraham to his son, Isaac as a future burial ground for his family and descendants. This wish was never carried out since all family graves are in the church cemetery. Isaac's stone is set a distance apart from the others.

2. Greenwich Land Records, Greenwich Town Hall.

3. Watkins,Lura Woodside,Early New England Porters and Their Wares, Cambridge Harvard University Press, 1950.

Staats was married in New York in 1744, worked in Pennsylvania from around 1748, moved to Rye, N.Y., and then to Greenwich. He originally brought his clay from Huntington, Long Island, where he had a five-year contract, to be renewed if he settled there.

He never moved, but was thought to have purchased his clay thereafter from South Amboy. His son was apprenticed in 1769 to his brother, Peter, in Norwich, Ct., and later opened a pottery in Stonington, which was continued by his descendants.

4. There were no local Fairfield County newspapers nor city directories in the 18th century so ads are not available to confirm where he might have sold pottery. None are found in Manhattan weeklies for Mead or Staats.

5. Bill ofsale owned by John Mead;copy in Greenwich Historical Society archives.

6. Kiln plan owned by John Mead. The oven was 2feet; the / covered with earth and measured 18x151 2feet in the rear.

1 flueway was 20 feet in front and 9/ 7. Information from Monmouth County Historical Association, New Jersey, collection and 1955 catalogue; New Jersey State Museum 1972 catalogue; private collections and books on pottery. Interview with Ellen Denker.

8. Mead managed the estate for Sarah, widow of Jonas Mead and sister of his wife, Keziah. He was named guardian of their three young sons in 1791.

9. Washington's diary reads: "The superb landscape which is to be seen from the meetinghouse is a rich regalia."

10. Connecticut State Library, Genealogy Room.

11. Greenwich Land Records. Ephraim, whose property adjoined his to the south, was probably the son of Abraham's brother, Deliverance. The deed refers to land south of the Silas Davis Mill, the preRevolutionary gristmill. Later, Mead sold Ephraim more land.

12. Mead genealogy states Keziah died in 1846 (she would have been 103), but tombstone reads 1826(83 years).

13. Stow, Charles Messer, "The Deacon Potter of Greenwich," Antiquarian Magazine, March, 1930.

14. Mr. Lockwood, whose ancestors lived on Indian Harbor, was an authority and author on colonial furniture. He was a trustee for the E.C. Benedict estate which owned Indian Harbor and Chimney Creek in the early 19th century.

15. The other possibility: the Mead's 25th wedding anniversary. The genealogy gives two different dates for their marriage — 1764 under Abraham,and 1765 under Keziah.

The Clarion

Canadian art historians have for many years been puzzled by the elusive identity of a watercolor artist who may very well be considered the country's finest folk portrait painter. While some of his works have been represented in various Canadian art publications,' there has been in these earlier references no identification of the artist himself.

The earliest mention of any painting by this itinerant practitioner is made by the late Dr. J. Russell Harper in his monumental Painting in Canada (1966), a historical treatise remarkable both for its impressive breadth and for its popularity as a textbook in Canadian university classrooms. Harper's history contains a color plate of a family portrait of a Fredericton family, accompanied by the comment, "Dozens of itinerants were traveling throughout the Maritimes, as indeed they were on the move in other parts of Canada, painting innumerable portraits of quality. Of one, J. MacDonald [sic], nothing is known but his name on a little gouache, painted in Fredericton in 1837.'

In 1973, Dr. Harper organized an important traveling exhibition of Canadian folk art, circulated under the aegis of the National Gallery of Canada. At this time, attention was drawn to three additional paintings by MacDonald, those of Diama Lawson, Eliza Jane McNally and the Tilleys. The initial "J" was corrected to the first name of Thomas. Although there was still no biographical information, the working period of the artist was now extended to cover the dates 1825-1837, on the basis of dates and signatures appearing on the paintings. By 1985, subsequent publications served to expand the inventory of known portraits from four to eleven, but, again, without reference to the artist.

It was the good fortune of the authors of this article, also long frustrated in previous attempts to determine the connection between paintings and painter, to have at last discovered the identity of Thomas MacDonald while undertaking research in New Brunswick in the summer of 1987. Following archival work in Fredericton and Saint John, as well as interviews and correspondence with persons living along the St. John River in areas where MacDonald is believed to have painted, has come a Winter 1988

THEDISCOVERY OF THOMASMACDONALD CANADA'SELUSIVEPORTRAIT PAINTER

by MichaelBird and Terry Kobayashi

John and Eliza Guiou and their Son Wilmot; March 3, 1837; Gouache on heavy paperboard; 8/ 1 2 x IOW! Mr. and Mrs. Guiou are shown as having attained means early in married life (united July 21, 1835 at Queensbury). Although thefull-sleeved costume ofEliza Jane had gone out of Vogue a year earlier than the time of the portrait. John's high pants, cut-awayjacket and plaid cravat are thoroughly up-to-date.

Cravats had by this time become emblems of current taste, and it is reported that "some dandies were alleged to spend a whole morning in the arrangement oftheir cravats"(James Laver, A Concise History of Costume: Thames and Hudson, 1979:p. 160). Notable by its pattern in this picture is the expensive and colorful ingrain carpet, in contrast to the economical painted canvas floor coverings seen in other paintings.

37

breakthrough in the mystery enshrouding this peripatetic practitioner.

Thomas MacDonald, a Loyalist of Scottish-American background, was born in New Brunswick in late 1784 or early 1785. His birth-date is determined by several records, notably a handwritten work, Burials of Gagetown Anglican Church, 1841-1900.3 In the list of interments for the year 1862 is to be found the reference to "Thomas MacDonald, age 77, James Neales, Rector.' Although the age of this individual was the only one found to fit the time within which the artist worked, a clear connection with the executor of the fine portraits and family records found along the St. John River was still wanting. This link at last presented itself in an oblique manner. While much

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1 2:' Samuel Leonard Tilley and Elizabeth Ann They, Watercolor and ink on paperboard;6 x7/ The portrait ofSamuel and Elizabeth Ann Tilley was probably painted at Gagetown in 1830 or 1831,just prior to the Tilleyfamily move to Saint John, where Samuel was apprenticed to an apothecary. In later years, Samuel Tilley was to achievefame as New Brunswick's leading Father ofConfederation. It was he who proposed the term "Dominion"for the new Canadian confederation. He is shown wearing the high pants and shortjacket of the time, while Elizabeth Ann's light-weight white dress is much in the early Regency taste.

38

The Clarion

Ern of the census information of Queens County is missing (and the entirety of such information for Gagetown, where at least one portrait was painted), lists of householders' families and tenants offered an unexpected insight. There, in the household of Francis Woods (1822-1894), following the information recording the husband, wife, five children and seven servants of the Woods family, appeared the name ofa lodger — Thomas MacDonald. The entry, in full, reads, "Thomas MacDonald m[ale] Lodger Scotch 76[age] Painter Church of England."5 At the age of 76 in 1861, this MacDonald (the spelling of the name frequently vacillated between "Mc"and "Mac")appears to be the one recorded in the Gagetown church book a year later. Woods became a member of the House of Assembly in 1874, elected on the issue of non-sectarian schools, which he favored. The family home still stands today in the village of Welsford, Petersville Parish, Queens County, southwest of Gagetown.

Subsequent examination of census returns for 1851 was successful in ascertaining MacDonald's earlier location at two places in parishes slightly south and east of Gagetown. Indeed, it would seem that MacDonald's changes of address must have challenged the census takers to keep up with his whereabouts. At one point he was classified as a "lodger" in the home of Joseph A. Fowler's family, where his name follows that of George Fenwick, an apprentice(Fowler was a carpenter, domiciled in Upham Parish, King's County).6 In the same year (1851), MacDonald was a lodger residing with the elderly widower Abraham Grey in Springfield Parish, King's County.' In all three instances, MacDonald has his occupation recorded as "painter," even though he had most likely not had a commission for many years.

Where MacDonald resided in his earlier years is not altogether clear, although we are not without suggestions on the matter. In placing his signature on the reverse side of a family register executed by him in 1830, MacDonald also inscribed "Hemstead", a variant spelling of Hampstead, a reference to either the parish or village situated on the west side of the St. John River just below Gagetown. Place Winter 1988

Miss Diama Lawson; January 7, 1825; Watercolor and ink on wove paper;8/ 1 2x6/ 1 2'!

The earliest-known example ofMacDonald's work, this portrait exemplifies the "staged" nature ofmuch of academic andfolk portrait painting of the early nineteenth century. The sitter holds objects in both hands(a book and a handkerchief), and the sewing articles on the grain-painted candlestand attest to her skills at embroidery. Recurring elements are the paintedfloor covering(with its eight-pointed rosettes in diagonal squares, similar to those in other works)andfringed draperies whose deep red and gold colors are in keeping with an evolving tastefor darker colors, gradually replacing the lighter hues ofthe early Regency period.

Miss Charlotte Bell; July 6, 1825; Watercolor and ink on wove paper;8/ 1 2x 6/ 1 2"; Collection of the Queens County Museum, Gagetown.

In this early MacDonald painting, the sitter wears a "high-stomacher" dress with high waist (directly beneath the breasts), characteristic of the beginning of the Regency period, and popularized in the 1809 edition of Ackermann's Repository. Also associated with this earlier phase is the preferencefor white draperies and blue or white costume, colors which distinguish this portrait from later examples. The ornamental comb and threads tied across the forehead are simple decorative aspects of an otherwise plain look associated with prevailing interpretations of classical ideas ofpurity.

39

names in New Brunswick, such as Hampstead and Long Island are, of course, highly reminiscent of the New York state background of many settlers along the St. John River.

MacDonald's association with Loyalist families with whom he sometimes lived and for whom he painted several portraits suggests the possibility of an American Colonial background. Interestingly, there is record of an older Thomas MacDonald, perhaps father of the artist, who purchased land in New

Brunswick at a place called Long Island, just opposite the village of Hampstead, in 1786.8 This same Thomas MacDonald "of Hampstead (New Brunswick)" sold two lots to John Colwell on April 23, 1788.9 Excluding other MacDonalds on the basis of genealogical examination and interviews with two persons who have done exhaustive investigation of these families,' leaves a settler who does not appear in the genealogical work to date, but who established himself precisely

Mrs. Ann Hayward; Watercolor and ink on wove paper; 73/4 x The date of this portrait is most likely some time after 1830, at which time the leg-of-mutton, or gigot sleeves had gained acceptance(and before their almost overnight disappearancefrom fashion books in 1836). Accompanying these developments is the decorative collar and cap.

Miss Eliza Jane McNally;1833; Watercolor and 2x 1 ink on wove paper;9/ MacDonald painted this individual twice — as a single woman at the age 0126 in 1833, and, later, as a housewife and mother at the age of 30 in 1837. She is depicted as a person of means, reflected in her dress with full-blown leg-ofmutton sleeves, capelet, necklace and brooch, and tied hair with elaborate curls and ornamental comb. She holds a closed book and a handkerchiefwith her initials embroidered in the lower corner. As in the other interior settings, there is a notable absence of perspective (table and chair legs are flush with the baseboard). The eightpointed rosette, here shown as a decorative motif on the paintedfloor covering, is a trademark of MacDonald's work (almost like the rabbit foot used by Erastus Salisbury Field, or the cat in paintings ofJoseph H. Davis), appearing even at times as a border motif 40

The Clarion

G71 in the geographical centre of the region in which the painter worked. The artist was likely born either at Saint John or on Long Island, depending upon whether the older MacDonald remained in the port city of Saint John for sometime,or moved onto his land prior to taking title in 1786 (a common occurrence). The father may very well have been the Thomas MacDonald who is listed among passengers of the ship Montagu, reaching Canada from Westchester County, New York, in 1783."

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Like other itinerant folk portraitists of his time, Thomas MacDonald followed the convention of placing sitters in staged settings, with the familiar "props" (books, flowers, fruit, timepieces) used to signify wealth, learning and other manifestations of status. With the single exception of a child placed in a garden-like environment, subjects are depicted in interior settings; they are shown as smart, voguish representatives of middle and upper class culture whose ideals were defined by the

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Mrs. Ann Barker, Elizabeth and John C. Barker;February 9,1832;Watercolor and ink on paperboard; 101/4 x 12/ 1 4"; Collection of The Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton.

In his portrait ofdescendents ofBarker Loyalists from Rowley, Massachusetts, who settled at what is today known as Barker's Point at Fredericton, Thomas MacDonald places Mrs. Barker with her two children Elizabeth(born March 14,1829)and John C.(born October 20, 1831). Here, thefourmonth-old John holds the printed handkerchief which reappears in several ofthe paintings.

Ann S. Smith; Watercolor and ink on wove 1 4'.' paper; 7/ 1 2x 6/ The ambiguous depiction ofchildren is apparent in the costume of the young Ann Smith: The medium-high waist and widened skirt along with puffed sleeves suggest adult fashion, while the pantalettes are uniquely worn by children. The striking similarity ofthis portrait to the picture of the much-younger Elizabeth Barker suggests a tendency on the artist's part toward cliche depictions just short of the use of "stock bodies:' To date, this is the only known outdoor portrait

by MacDonald.

Winter 1988

1

Greco-Roman tastes of the Regency Period. Costume, furnishing and drapery together impart classical sobriety as they attest to the attentiveness of these New Brunswick settlers to the latest fashions popular in England (particularly the "pure" approach to Classical Antiquity, in marked contrast to the more encumbered Renaissance styles of France). It is not clear whether in all cases MacDonald's paintings register the decor actually found in substantial homes of the day, or whether the artist's familiarity with fashion publications or guide books such as Ackermann's Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions and Politics led him to create stock settings.

His somewhat eccentric treatment of drapery arrangements and the inclusion of strongly American or Canadian painted chairs, rather than European forms, suggests a mixture of "book" influences and natural observation.

MacDonald's paintings are marked by strong conventionalization of subject matter, especially with respect to interior decor, costume, and held objects. Interior decor serves for the most part to instill that sense of rational calm associated with the Enlightenment and its classical manifestations in early nineteenth century art and architecture. In the simplest backgrounds this mood is set by the geometry of windows (in six of the portraits); in more elaborate examples, it is an atmosphere imparted by the formality of fringed draperies and fluted columns or pilasters. The late eighteenth century predilection for white (associated with classical statuary) is echoed in lightercolored costume, white drapery and the suggestion of marble architectural detail. One painting shows a costly woven carpet in the parlor of the Guiou home, while most of the interiors feature less expensive painted floor coverings, suggested by a simple repeating pattern of stencilled motifs.

Costumes reflect the "Regency" fashion popular in England and emulated in Canada in the early decades of the nineteenth century. Earlier styles are seen in the high-waisted dresses of Charlotte Bell or Diama Lawson. The changing style away from the "vertical ideal" is evident in lower waists, greater ornamentation and the ever-widening 41

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Merritt Family Record; June I, 1830; Watercolor and ink on wove paper;125/8 x 11/ 3 4'.'

The role offamily portraits as recordsfor posterity is echoed in thefamily registers meticulously lettered and painted by many itinerant artists. MacDonald has printed the names ofthe parents and children born in 1827 and earlier, while another hand continues the list through 1835(the entriesfrom numbers 10-19 are a 20th-century updating done by relatives living in Ontario). Thefigures ofMoses and Jesusflanking the Holy Spirit serve to connectfamily genealogy with Judeo-Christian history, reflecting a tradition of linking heavenly and earthly dimension in records of birth, passage, death and family history. The Merritts were New York State Loyalists who settled along the St. John River near Hampstead.

3 4x Miss Ruth Peters Merritt; June 3, 1830; Watercolor and ink on wove paper; 7-/ As the younger oftwo sisters(eleven years), the sitter is shown in a simple print dress and short hair, with beads strung on a ribbon tied at the back. Complementing the draperies in the previous illustrations is a fluted column or pilaster. As in Miss Lawson's portrait, both hands hold objects, in this case a standardized rose-and-tulip combination common to several ofthe paintings, and a printed handkerchief (yellow with red daubs, a pattern similar to those in imitation Cashmere shawls manufactured at Paisley and immensely popular during the period).

42

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The Clarion

"leg of mutton" sleeves on the dresses of Ann Hayward or Eliza Jane McNally.

The use of "stock" articles, a device later used by photographers, is readily apparent in the repeated floral varieties (roses, tulips, stylized flowers and other types), as well as books. The same yellow-and-red printed handkerchief is held by four sitters, including baby John Barker.

Like his American counterpart Joseph H. Davis, MacDonald utilized decor to give definition to his subjects.

In reference to the controversy over the use of "stock bodies" by folk portrait painters, it would appear that MacDonald on occasion came close to caricatured treatment, particularly the figures of Elizabeth Barker and Ann S. Smith. While Joseph Davis embellished his interiors with a flamboyance of sumptuous detail, his figures tend toward the flatness of an artist more at home with the techniques of profile than full-bodied portraiture. Thomas MacDonald's work lacks the exuberance of the New England artist, yet the controlled delicacy of his simple interiors and the graceful handling of fullfrontal or three-quarter view of his various subjects gives them a measured elegance of their own.

In addition to portrait painting, MacDonald also executed family registers for residents ofthe lower St. John River area, displaying the same meticulous attention to calligraphy evident in several of the paintings. The two presently known examples, done for the Merritt and Wiggins families of Queens County in 1830 and 1832 respectively, employ the convention of linking genealogy to spiritual history by situating the family record beneath a pictorial representation of Moses and Jesus as representatives of Jewish and Christian history, law, love and truth. The Merritt family record includes the names of the two sisters whom MacDonald painted only two days after completion of the family register (June 1 and June 3, 1830).

From records examined, it appears that Thomas MacDonald was landless (he paid no taxes), without descendents, left no will and was buried without gravemarker — in a word, he appears to have been destitute. His payment for painting was, in all likeWinter 1988

lihood, the lodging provided him by various families along the St. John River and its surrounding lakes and tributaries. It is the survival of his portraits and related works which instill in contemporary viewers an urgent desire to know more about the man who created these fine works.

Michael Bird and Terry Kobayashi are leading authorities on Canadian folk art. Authors of numerous books on the subject, their most recent titles are Folk Treasures ofHistoric Ontario, with Elizabeth Price (Ontario Heritage Foundation, 1985), and A Compendium of Canadian Folk Artists (Boston Mills Press, 1985). Bird, a specialist in religion and art, teaches in the Religious Studies Department, University of Waterloo, and Kobayashi is department head at Eastwood Collegiate Institute in Kitchener, where she teaches art.

NOTES 1. J. Russell Harper, Painting in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1966), and A People's Art(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1974) as well as the catalogue ofthe exhibition, titled People's Art, published in 1973. Other illustrations appear in Michael Bird, Canadian Folk Art(Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1981), Barbara and Henry Dob-

son, A Provincial Elegance (Kitchener, Ontario: Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, 1982), and Terry Kobayashi and Michael Bird, A Compendium of Canadian Folk Artists(Erin, Ontario: Boston Mills Press, 1985).

2. Harper, Painting in Canada, p. 106.

3. Burials ofGagetown Anglican Church, 1841-1900.

New Brunswick Provincial Archives, Fredericton (Item C-28). Initially New Brunswick was part of Nova Scotia; it was made a separate province in 1783.

4. Ibid. The date of burial is given as May 30.

5. New Brunswick Census Returns (1861): Petersville Parish, Queens County (Part 3): Entry #516.

6. New Brunswick Census Returns (1851): Upham Parish, King's County 7. New Brunswick Census Returns(1851): Springfield Parish, King's County 8. Land Grants: 1765-1900 (Item F 277), New Brunswick Provincial Archives. In 1786 some 761 acres of land were deeded from King George III to a group of 38 purchasers, among them appearing the names of a Thomas MacDonald and families whose portraits were eventually painted by the artist.

MacDonald acquired Lots 17,65 and 66 along with other settlers anticipating the prospect of flat, fertile farmland (which later had to be vacated due to repeated flooding).

9. Register of Deeds for Queens County (Book C: Number 427) 10. Mrs. Claire Pugsley of MacDonald's Point and Mrs. Marion Gilchrist Reicher of Fredericton 11. D.G. Bell, Early Loyalist Saint John (New Ireland Press: 1983), p. 220.

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Wiggins Family Record; 1832; Watercolor and ink on wove paper; 125/8 x 11/2"; Collection of New Brunswick Provincial Archives.

Theformat ofthis register is virtually identical to that ofthe Merritt record. The Holy Spirit has here been replaced by the All-Seeing Eye ofGod, and the domed church has given way to a basilica-type with tower and spire at the entrance. The Wiggins' were among Loyalists from New York State who established themselves along the Grand Lake in upper Queens County, east ofFredericton.

43

U1s1 Special Section — Folk/Art Environments

Environments Large-scale sculptural sites by non-professional artists — often referred to as grassroots or folk/art environments — are not unique to the twentieth century. The merchant "Lord" Timothy Dexter created quite a stir in eighteenth century Newburyport, Massachusetts, by having local ship-carver Joseph Wilson top the dozens of columns around his estate with full-sized carved and painted statues of famous figures — Washington, Jefferson, Napoleon, and the like — as well as Dexter, himself.

Nor are such expressions specific to the United States. Le Palais Ideal in Hauterives, France, is one of the most spectacular environments anywhere. Built by a retired postman, Ferdinand Cheval, the site is a fantastic maze of shrines, tunnels and towers set on a small country lot.

Nonetheless, enough folk/art environments have emerged in twentieth century America — including Simon Rodia's Towers in Watts, California; the Orange Show in Houston, Texas; and Fred

Smith's Concrete Park in Phillips, Wisconsin — to constitute a phenomenon. Once only known to local residents, many of these environments are now nationally recognized. Films have been made about Cal and Ruby Black's Possum Trot, Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village, Chief Rolling Mountain Thunder and others. Rev. Howard Finster's Paradise Garden was featured in a recent rock video. James Hampton's Throne is on view in the lobby of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American Art, in Washington, D.C. And Kea Tawana's Ark in Newark, New Jersey, was a national news story for months last year when its survival was first threatened.

Folk/art environments, to paraphrase the definition used by the preservation group SPACES (see box, page 47), are handmade, personal spaces, usually monumental in size, frequently constructed of found materials — often those discarded by others.

These environments can be indoors or outdoors, urban or rural,

American folk art rivals classical and contemporary artistic expression when the artist pushes his materials, technique and sense of content to their limits. The implicit risks of such endeavors are nowhere more evident than in the modern folk environment. Here an artist devotes a great deal of time and energy to the transformation of his home, or immediate surroundings, into a unified work of art.

The meaning of this form of art is often obscured by the use of massive amounts of found objects, a seemingly improvisational method, and a style that defies standard categorization.

Simply, most folk art environments don't look like anything most people are used to seeing. Yet, folk environments are of a size not easily ignored.

At the very least they become controversial, often provoking aggressive stands by building inspectors and local 44

The Clarion

Special Section — Folk/Art Environments

in Crisis secular or religious. They are generally developed without benefit offormal plans,located next to the home or business ofthe maker, and formed of several component parts. Many of the creators — who tend to see their work as personal expression, not art — are middle or old aged. Most had no training in art, design, or construction.

These folk/art environments are part art, part architecture and part performance. While they reflect one person's desire to shape, perhaps to control, his or her own landscape, they also communicate a message — to the artist's immediate community and to the casual passerby. Some environments — like Rod Rosebrook's fence of soldered ranching tools in Oregon — suggest an embracement of communal values. Others appear to be more confrontational. However, more research is needed to understand the meanings of environments which seem to be purely idiosyncratic.

by Daniel C. Prince

The following special section looks at folk/art environments in America today. The first article "Environments in Crisis" focuses on three sites, which as we went to press, were in serious risk of destruction: Trapper John's Lodge, just outside of Los Angeles; Holyland in Waterbury, Connecticut; and Kea Tawana's Ark in Newark. A companion piece looks at the feisty, California-based organization SPACES, pioneers in the effort to recognize and preserve folk/art environments. The next article "St. EOM's Pasaquan: A Promising Future"looks at the plan, which involves a local museum, for saving an extraordinary site in rural Georgia.

And the final story reports on a brand new, still-evolving plan — teaming the local historical society, leading citizens and the Finster family — for the restoration and preservation of Rev. Howard Finster's Paradise Garden.

Didi Barrett Editor

government officials, and generally confounding the neighbors.

Debate over public art has been raging around the country. Many of the issues that arose in the struggle over Richard Serra's "Tilted Arc" in New York City have ramifications in the battles being fought to save folk environments. One difference is that while they are clearly public presences, these environments are generally very private statements. Few self-taught art-

Far left, Trapper John Ehn with one of his Wild West characters. Left, Ehn's vignette, "Pioneer Mother and Family," expresses his strongfeelings aboutfamily, as well as characterizing his admirationfor the pioneer spirit that won the West.

ists have access to the kind of major league support that turned out for Serra.

Yet often it is just that kind of highly organized political appeal that is necessary to make authorities understand that there is, indeed, public appreciation for folk environments as an important form of American artistic expression.

The three environments this article will look at reflect a range of the problems facing this field. Trapper John's Lodge in Sun Valley, California, must now be moved from its site because of increased expenses for the family and encroaching development.

The physical, and logistical details of removing huge objects is compounded in the case of Kea Tawana's 100-foot Ark in Newark, New Jersey. Here an artist's personality, a transitional ghetto community, and the opposition of local bureaucracy have made for a volatile dispute. Equally disquieting is the at45

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Special Section — Folk/Art Environments

mosphere surrounding Holyland USA in Waterbury, Connecticut, where the lifework of John Greco is at the center of interpretive battles between factions of the local Catholic community.

Trapper John's Lodge John Ehn created his environment of 27 larger-than-life cement statues, a replica of Boot Hill (with descriptive tombstones), and various assemblages to enhance his stucco motel built in the shadow of the Verduga Mountains that ring Southern California's San Fernando Valley. When Ehn first conceived of his project, nearby Burbank was still orange groves. This was the Wild West to John Ehn, a former trapper from Michigan, and he populated his lodge with the kinds of legendary characters one would expect to hear about at a backwoods campfire.

Since then the site has been honored by the State of California with landmark status. Artifacts from the environment, including Trapper John's remarkable "memory board:' inspired by treasure piles Chippewa Indians kept in their huts, have been shown in exhibitions at the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara, California, and at the Oakland Museum. And articles about Ehn and the site have been widely published.

However, the timeless feeling of the Wild West has now fallen prey to the sound of planes landing at the everexpanding Burbank Airport. What was once a sleepy agricultural community has now given way to condos and shopping malls — and become the butt of Johnny Carson's jokes. No joke are the major financial burdens such as the cost of a new sewer line and upkeep on the 80-unit motel. These have been compounded by the large inheritance taxes levied since Ehn's death in 1981 and have forced the reluctant family to give up their old home and relocate, explains Rosemary Farish, the daughter who has run the Lodge for the past 21 years.

The surviving four children are tremendously sad about the decision.

Their affection for their buckskin46

The entrance to Old Trappers Lodge in Sun Valley, CA.The motel and folk/art environment are being threatened by encroaching development.

garbed father, always ready with a tall tale, and for the extraordinary environment they grew up around, remains strong. Farish, committed to her father's construction methods and paint mixtures, has worked with art restorers over the years to keep up the site.

Indeed, Ehn's offspring are in fact part of the site. Their faces are immortalized by life casts of such colorful characters as Clementine,Lovely Louise and TwoGun Rosie.

John Ehn,born in 1897, was a rugged individualist who crossed the country thirteen times as a "wildlife control specialist" and wrote of his adventures in such publications as Fur, Fish and Game, Fur Trade Journal, and Trapper's World. This part of his life ended in March 1941 when he married Mary Gonyon, and built the motel in Sun Valley. He began the environment ten years later after commissioning an artist to sculpt his portrait. After watching the man at work for three days, Ehn began to try his own hand. Thus began a 25-year project that resulted in a series of twenty-foot high concrete tableaus

including "The Battle;' showing a life and death struggle between pioneer and Indian, the "Pioneer Mother and Family:' and "The Kidnapping:' a story from Mormon history. Rosemary Farish notes that her father never tried to fix interpretations on his vignettes; there may be as much autobiography as history in these images.

The scenes of struggle depicted by Ehn are analogous to the family's current struggle to find an appropriate site for the environment. In November, the Burbank Airport took a renewable sixty-day option to buy the property for $2.3 million, at least half of which would be needed for inheritance tax and the relocation of the residence motel's 400 tenants.

Relocation of the site remains an unresolved question. John Ehn's family, along with Seymour Rosen and the organization SPACES, has been exploring the alternatives. Their preference is for the site to remain together in a good, guarded setting that will be open to the public. There are two projects nearby that fill the bill. Disney is building a The Clarion

Seymour Rosen and SPACES: Saving Our Sites

by Elaine Wintman There are a lot of wonderful things on the landscape — huge, handmade, unusual. Sometimes you come across one and it's a grotto; sometimes it's a miniature village in a backyard. Sometimes it's almost 100 feet tall and sometimes it's fifteen feet under the ground. It may be constructed of glass bottles, hubcaps, concrete or seashells. It may pop up in the middle of a city or in a rural area. It's hard to describe exactly what it is, but when you see one, you know it's special.

"There's magic in these places:' says Seymour Rosen, Director of Saving and Preserving Arts and Cultural Environments (SPACES), the only national organization devoted to the identification, documentation and preservation of large scale sculptural environments. "These sites deserve to be saved, and the people who built them should be honored while they are still alive Indeed, many of the creators of folk/art environments are in their seventies and eighties. Their works often represent a lifetime's effort. When an artist grows old, dies,or moves,a site can quickly become vulnerable to deterioration, vandalism, or redevelopment. Unless an enlightened family, determined individual or dedicated local group resolves to preserve the work, both the site and information on the work and maker tend to get lost.

Rosen, who founded the Southern California-based non-profit organization ten years ago, is a dedicated crusader. He is the first to tell you he would rather be traveling the country, meeting the people who make these large scale sculptural environments, taking photographs of the sites — maybe even building one himself. More often than not, however, Rosen and his staff can be found in the SPACES office initiating letterwriting campaigns; answering inquiries from museums,state arts councils and historic preservation groups; and fundraising to meet the organization's shoe-string budget. The activities ofSPACES are supported by the L.J. Skaggs and Mary C. Skaggs Foundation, numerous volunteers, public and private funding and membership.

Despite its modest resources. SPACES has had an impressive success record in its advocacy and public education efforts and in the documentation and preservation of sites around the country. In the 1950s. members of the SPACES board of directors were actively involved in the fight to save Simon Rodia's Towers in Watts, probably the most famous folk art site in the United States.

In 1978, SPACES initiated a precedent-setting thematic proposal which identified, and subsequently honored, ten "Twentieth Century Folk Art Environments in California" for nomination by the State of California to the National Register of Historic Places.

With initial funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, SPACES conducted a survey which identified approximately 250 environments around the United States. SPACES maintains an archive of relevant material, including photographs, site plans, oral histories, and related documents. Currently seven of these sites are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Others have been recognized with state landmark status.

Rosen writes and lectures extensively, participates in and organizes exhibitions to bring attention to both the genre of folk/ art environments and to specific sites. In a recent survey, the first of its kind, SPACES identified the exhibitions mounted over the

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last two decades which included the work ofartists who build large scale folk/art environments. They found more than sixty-five such exhibitions — the majority of which occurred in the last five years.

Most important, more than 1.5 million people saw these exhibitions; many, no doubt, were exposed to folk/art environments for the first time.

The risk in showing pieces of an environment in an exhibition is the implicit suggestion that pieces can, or should, be removed. It has always been the goal of SPACES to preserve environments in the context in which they were built. Recognizing that it is not possible to preserve all sites, the organization has begun to work with collectors, when appropriate, to preserve artifacts that would

SPACES Director Seymour Rosen, right, with artist Jesse Howard. otherwise be destroyed. Ideally, Rosen stresses, when artifacts are exhibited they will be contextualized by the inclusion of photography, biography, site plans and history.

While SPACES is a pioneer in the effort to preserve these sites, it no longer functions alone. Private organizations such as the Kohler Foundation in Wisconsin, the Orange Foundation in Texas, Preserve Bottle Village and the Art Beal Foundation in California, The Jargon Society in North Carolina and the Kansas Grassroots Art Association(KGAA)have been instrumental in documenting, preserving and restoring local sites. SPACES continues to be dependent on a growing national community of volunteers. Field workers around the country collect information for SPACES's computer database. The organization has developed a form for collecting information on sites which they send out on request.

As the built environment becomes more densely developed and more homogenous,these environments, if they last, will stand out even more than they do today as monuments to their creators, to the human spirit, and to individuality and place. "Documentation efforts need to expand:' Rosen emphasizes,"or these works will live only in the memory of those fortunate enough to come in contact with them firsthand. There is a lot of work to be done. But it is not impossible' For membership or other information contact SPACES at 1804 North Van Ness, Los Angeles, CA 90028; tel. 213/463-1629.

Elaine Wintman is the former assistant director of SPACES, a writer and arts administrator whose first love affair with this stuff began with the Paper House in Pigeon Cove, Massachusetts. Her favorites now also include Annie Hooper's Bible Stories in North Carolina and Helen Martin's Owl House in New Bethesda, South Africa.

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facility in Burbank and Gene Autry is opening a Western history museum in Griffith Park. Rosen is hoping local city councilman Joel Wachs can be pursuaded to actively participate in bringing about a satisfactory solution.

Less of a problem is moving the statues — some of which weigh three to four tons. An angel with a hoist and tackle, in the form of Edmund Lohr of Carnevale and Lohr, has expressed interest in the family and their plight.

Lohr, whose firm moves marble statuary for such clients as the Getty Museum, assesses Trapper John's material as "far more resilient than a 4,000 year old statue of Zeus that we've moved seven times without incident:' While preservation is important, moving the site into cold storage is not a preferred alternative. As this article went to press, the future of the site remained in limbo, and the search continued for a custodian with the vision of, say, Trapper John Ehn. Kea Tawana's Ark Kea Tawana, has built a 100-foot long, 40-foot wide boat which rises above the Humanity Baptist Church in the middle of Newark's Central Ward. Its survival the last five years parallels the kind of ingenuity and street smarts that has allowed her to survive in a slum that rivals any of the worst examples of urban desolation. The area remains as it was in the aftermath of the 1969 riots which razed much of Newark. Despite the fact that Kea may have spent much of the last twenty years salvaging elements of old Newark to build her remarkable Ark — which some have described as a symbol of urban preservation — she now finds herself in the way of the forces that want to rebuild that slum, and destroy her creation in the process.

Newark Mayor Sharpe James, and a government-sponsored partnership called New Communities Estates, is trying to tear down what is left of the old neighborhood, and build new housing as a first step in revitalizing the Central Ward.

Tawana, a self-styled structural 48

engineer who has supported herself doing construction jobs, is actively resisting this effort to change her neighborhood into a "set of boxes!' Simply put, she is fighting City Hall, returning any harrassment she receives in force.

She has continually lodged complaints about New Communities buildings that were not up to code, and has gone to the press with her story. In response, the public officials have made the most thoughtless statements. Indeed, it is not only the feisty, colorful personality of Kea Tawana, but also the contrast of local officials parading their wounded dignity, which has won this story national coverage.

Tawana describes herself as the daughter of a Japanese woman and an American GI who came to the United States with her father after World War II. A stocky figure with powerful hands, Tawana explains that she passed as a man for the last thirty years, revealing her true gender only two years ago. A natural performer with a penchant for speechmaking,she clearly enjoys the publicity surrounding her situation. Nonetheless, she concedes the fight with the city has cost her a year's work on the Ark. She knows she doesn't have the resources to keep up the struggle indefinitely.

For its first five year's Kea's Ark, as the structure has come to be known, was on an adjacent abandoned lot.

When the city reclaimed what was, in fact, its property in April 1987, Tawana, alone, over a four day period, moved the Ark and all her belongings.

The Ark was hoisted onto telephone pole rollers, and hand-cranked with jacks 65 feet to the church parking lot next door, where it currently remains.

This feat not only satisfied the demand of the city, but proved that the craft was vehicular — thus not subject to building codes.

Following attempts by health inspectors to condemn the site as an open dump, Kea accepted $700 in aid from a hastily formed group called Friends of Kea's Ark and hired dumpsters to haul away excess lumber and other items not integral to the Ark. All these efforts

have only managed to buy Tawana time.

At this point New Communities has designs on the church parking lot as well. A recent court decision gives Tawana until the end of February 1988 to move the Ark again.

The scope of such a move is evident in a description of the Ark. The boat is framed with 80 tons of timbers from 54 buildings she had been commissioned to dismantle. An expert in salvage, she has another 20 tons of finishing lumber picked from more than 300 abandoned buildings. Piled on the hull and decking are another 20 tons of "parts:' These include paving stone ballast, piping, two generators, and an electrical relay board which was formerly part of a downtown elevator. Decorative objects abound, stored by the self-described "packrat:'Like most environmentalists, Kea recycles found objects, turning thick counter top glass from a bank into portholes. The jackstafffrom the Castle Morro will hold a chandelier salvaged from Loew's Newark Theater.

Tawana uses nineteenth century shipbuilding techniques, and structural engineers confirm that many of her ideas will indeed "hold water!' Her iron-reinforced bulkhead would probably cut through ice as well as waves.

The five waterproof compartments and five levels of decking reinforce the craft to the point that it is overwhelmed by its "structural integrity:' Tawana is determined that her design sense be respected. Like many other self-trained people, she values her experience. She began, she says, as a "gofer" at construction sites as early as 1949. She subsequently worked at the Brooklyn Shipyards and at the 1964 World's Fair in New York where she became inspired to build the Ark. From 1973 to 1981, she says, she ran "sea tests" on ten different models. Her attempt at the final version caps 40 years of studying ship plans and reading her nautical library which now includes 2,400 books.

Kea Tawana does not identify her Ark with the Bible story. In fact, it's not clear that "Ark" is actually her term — though it does work nicely with NewThe Clarion

ark. Her boat, she says, is "a vessel to be lived on at sea, and not used for transportation ofcargo and passengers:' The notion of moving her Ark is not particularly daunting to Tawana. However, when she speaks of various schemes — for example, a helicopter airlift of the boat to Staten Island — even her supporters become disconcerted.

Some members of Friends of Kea's Ark are frankly overwhelmed by the scope of this next phase. They would rather see the Ark resituated nearby in Newark — and perhaps opened as a public site — an alternative they see as financially viable.

Because the Ark is not rooted to its spot, it raises questions about the environment's relationship to its surroundings. Is it a product of the community? Does it belong in Newark since

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Photo: C Ben Apfelbaum

Special Section — Folk/Art Environments

Above, Kea Tawana, whose 100 foot-long construction, below, has become the subject of heated controversy in Newark, NJ. Tawana is expected to move her Arkfrom its current site by the end ofFebruary.

its many artifacts come from the city?

Or since it's a boat should it be set to sea? Is it seaworthy, and does that matter? Is the Ark of Newark's Central Ward a sign of renewal for this neighborhood or is it just one individual's personal statement? Kea Tawana has extended her personal ambiguity to her creation.

Further, since Kea Tawana is very much alive, and is clearly capable of working on her own, how much involvement should there be from the community, from the city, or from her supporters? Could she, or would she, work with partners if an acceptable plan to keep the Ark in Newark were devised?

By keeping these questions in the air, Tawana has created a dynamic interplay of personal, communal and govern-

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Holyland USA In the center of Waterbury, Connecticut, is Pine Hill, which overlooks the downtown business area, the surrounding brass foundries, and the well-trafficked intersection of Route 8 and Interstate 84. At the peak of the hill is a 56-foot tall Cor-ten cross with pink fiberglass interior panels that light up at night. The huge cross is what most people think of when Holyland USA is mentioned. In fact, it is only one part of the 17-acre tract that is the country's largest folk environment.

Built by John Greco, a pious local attorney, it was a 30-year project that took thousands of man hours, dollars and tons of concrete. Greco commissioned all the work, and personally supervised when not directly lending a hand. Aside from the monumental construction, he bought the religious figures from the Vatican Pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair, imported whole shipments of religious ornamentation from Italy, and surrounded all of this with enough trees, bushes and flowers to fill five large nurseries.

When John Greco died in 1986, he left the local Catholic community with a huge financial, organizational and philosophical problem. Though he willed the site to the Archdiocese of Hartford, the Archbishop declined to take control and the site shifted to two lay organizations, The Holy Family Retreat League and ultimately the Campaigners for Christ.

Greco had founded the non-profit proselytizing agency, Campaigners for Christ, in the late 1930s. The Campaigners brought the message of brotherly love and integration to the South. But by the early 1950s this had become too dangerous for Greco, and in Pine Hill he found a higher calling. Once he started working on Holyland, he had 50

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mental forces. At the center of all this is her site, her self-expression, her personality reaching into the world. The ability to build something that transforms not only a physical place, but people's way of thinking, as well, is the root of her art.

Above, the three-dimensional panorama of Old Jerusalem created by lawyer John Greco, below, as part of his site Holyland USA, in Waterbury, CT.

breached from this organization, angering many of his brethren with his departure.

The Campaigners have since been reconstituted under the auspices of a teaching order of nuns, the Sisters of Fillipini, who have officially "closed" the Holyland site. Stung by critical news stories as a result of her move.

Sister Angela Bulla, the Mother

Provencial of the Order, and Chairwoman of the Campaigners, ordered a "press moratorium to give the site some peace" Clearly the Sisters of Fillipini, though they talk of "turning it into a single, peaceful park' have neither the financial nor organizational resources to administer Holyland. Outside help is essential. Though not formally authorized, Bill Hegg and Steve Butler, a pair of local construction workers, and a crew of volunteers spend ten to 12 hours a day on weekends painting, repairing and helping the part time gardener hired by the Campaigners. Despite these admirable efforts, though, the site continues to deteriorate. Furthermore, the methods of these well-meaning volunteers are clearly not those of art restorers — or of Greco — and their reliance on paint handouts has led to confusing color combinations. Since there are experienced hands in the folk preservation field that could help, it is a shame that expertise cannot be employed to guide these enthusiastic workers.

In the meantime, however, a more ambitious "restoration" plan has been undertaken by a group called FMA Partnership and authorized, it turns out, by the Archdiocese of Hartford. This The Clarion

Special Section — Folk/Art Environments

plan calls for the preservation of the large cross and the Old Jerusalem section. Much of the rest of the site — about 60 per cent — would be destroyed. This plan, which comes with a $5 million price tag calls for 23 new exhibits to replace Greco's work. Regarding the implimentation of this plan, Archbishop John F. Whealon, who designed the new exhibits, candidly admits that he "can influence the Sisters of Fillipini, who are under my auspices, but I can't make decisions for the Campaigners:' There are many unanswered questions about this plan. The Archdiocese says it will not directly fund Holyland.

Yet the plan is too ambitious for a smaller or less prestigious institution.

Appraising the local situation, Archbishop Whealon sees few alternatives in Waterbury, saying, "the appeal of Holyland is not strong in a town with social problems and economic difficulties:' There is a wide gap between local support and a $5 million plan.

In the eyes of the Archdiocese, however, the problem with Holyland has more to do with changing church doctrine than it does with economics. In its density and exuberance, the site does not meet the mandates of the Vatican II Council which calls for a streamlining of the physical symbols of the church.

"John Greco represents the beautiful piety of a past age, and as much as I admire this, the site would have to be updated to conform to modern teachings;' says the Archbishop. "Even if funds could be made available to restore Holyland in its present form, this would not be acceptable to the Archdiocese:' A good look at Holyland shows it to be immense, heavily ornamented, and anything but the approved, modernized presentation of church teachings. Passing through the elaborate front gate, the visitor is immediately struck by a picture postcard view of Old Jerusalem with a deceiving two-dimensional appearance. Working from a postcard image, Greco achieved this look by putting smaller buildings — three to four feet — at the base and working up Winter 1988

to 20 to 30 foot structures at the summit. The cross is at the crest. The reversal of normal perspective disorients the viewer and the effect is of a Medieval city where pilgrims would wind through the streets on their way to the shrine. In fact, the ascent to the cross is steep. There are 40 different paths that lead up the hill through displays such as a lifesize Calvary, diorama of Old Bethlehem and nearly 800 shrines and other constructions.

Even more remarkable than the size and complexity of the site, is the elaborate terracing required to construct this environment. Greco was able to buy this rocky, wind swept place for $7,000 in 1956 only because it was completely eroded. During his first four years of work,thousands of tons of cement and gravel were laboriously placed to divert the direct assault of the elements. Thousands of trips up and down the hill showed Greco where the water courses flowed, and how to alternately build watersheds and mazes of drainage to diffuse the force of the torrents. Once the runoff was controlled, the structures could be built.

Even the irrigation for the landscaping was worked out. The shrubbery further stems the flow, and provides windbreaks that protect the structures, and funnel the wind up and over the top of the hill. At the bottom of the hill, the wide asphalt parking lot, which acts as a moat, and the 100 yard tunnel called the Catacombs complete the delicate balance.

Thus, the FMA plan might actually put the site in physical jeopardy. While Archbishop Whealon's learned contribution is appreciated, perhaps it can work with Greco's original design, rather than by supplanting it. An attempt to save, and restore, the site as an interdenominational shrine could have a number of positive results: The opening of the site, and the start of favorable, rather than negative publicity; the potential for tourism and visits by pilgrims (The Ave Maria Grotto in Alabama, a Catholic retreat, has become self-supporting by appealing to all religions.); the inclusion of the

Waterbury community in the process of reconstruction; and the availability of funding from agencies like the Chamber of Commerce, as well as state and federal agencies.

To have national appeal, the board of this non-profit should be headed by an august Catholic leader like Archbishop Whealon, and include clerics of other denominations, as well as educators, civic leaders, preservationists and corporate heads. It should be a wellrounded and powerful group, and even at that its resources will be taxed. As a practical first step, this group should begin by recognizing that it is a better understood and far less expensive process to maintain and restore, than to destroy and construct a new, vastly altered site. Furthermore to fulfill an inspired artist's dream can be spiritually rewarding for everyone involved.

Preservation is an essential aspect in the understanding of folk art environments. It is critical that these sites be stabilized for further analysis, and for future appreciation — in different times and on different terms. Recognizing these folk environments as a vital part of our national heritage is a task that lies under the physical act of preservation.

The settlers who came to this country to express their religious freedom, the builders whose handcrafted designs led to our economic success, the pioneers seeking new frontiers to conquer, and the artists looking for new visions are all represented in the work of folk environmentalists. Their art seeks to communicate on an ideal level, apart from commercial considerations and social constraints. In rising above accepted limitations, the work of selftaught environmental artists shows the fundamental spirit that informs all great art.

Daniel C. Prince, a sculptor, published his first article on folk environments in American Art Review in 1975. His work has since appeared in the magazines Americana and Art and Antiques, and in the books Americana:Folk and Decorative Arts (Watson-Gupthill) and Personal Places: Perspectives on Informal Art Environments(Popular Press). The latter offers a good overview of folk environments in the United States.

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St. EOM's Pasaquan: A Promising Future

by Tom Patterson

The late "Saint EOM" (pronounced Ohm),of Marion County, Georgia, was one of America's most extraordinary outsider/visionary/folk artist-builders.

His colorful, flamboyant environment of exotic concrete structures, called Pasaquan, was built over a 30-year period on four acres in the piney, redclay countryside. It ranks as one of the wonders of the vernacular architecture world, in the same league with Simon Rodia's Watts Towers, S.P. Dinsmoor's Garden of Eden and only a few others in the United States. But ever since St. EOM's suicide at age 77 in the spring of

1986, a cloud of uncertainty has hung over this little-known environmental masterpiece in the middle of nowhere.

The terms of the artist's simply-worded Last Will and Testament have yet to be carried out, and the fate of the Pasaquan compound remains undecided.

Born into a poor sharecropper family in Marion County in 1908 and given the name Eddie Owens Martin,this restless country boy lit out for the Big City at the tender age of 14. He spent most of the next three and a half decades — from 1922 to 1957 — in New York, eking out a living first as a street-hustler, and later

as a gambler, small-time marijuana dealer and psychic tea-leaf reader. A series of visions which he claimed to have experienced in the late 1930s led Eddie Martin to begin a self-guided study of ancient and tribal cultures — their religions, rituals, traditional costumes and artwork — which was to occupy him for the rest of his life.

During one of these visionary experiences a mysterious voice instructed him to change his name to "St. EOM" and found a new religion called "Pasaquoyanism."

At about this same time in his life, St. EOM began to paint and draw. By his early thirties he had transformed himself into an eccentric autodidact philosopher, scholar, mystic and artist.

After a year-long stint in Lexington, Kentucky's federal narcotics prison in the early 1940s (the penalty he paid for possession of six marijuana joints), St. EOM returned to New York and found work as a fortune-teller in a 42nd Street tearoom. His long hair pulled up in a topknot and crowned with a bright

St. EOM,above, in Pasaquan, his environment in Marion County, GA, in 1984. Right, panoramic view ofthe Pasaquan court.

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turban, his dark beard spilling over the front of an exotically embroidered shirt, he relied solely on his intuition and his inner "psychic screen" to divine his customers' futures. Outside the tearoom, he lived as a recluse, holed up in his West 52nd Street hotel room,"lit up high and workin' on paintings of ancient cultures."

The year 1950 witnessed the death of St. EOM's mother, the only member of his family that he cared for. Seven years later he returned to Georgia to claim his inheritance — a small, wood-frame farmhouse and four acres about four miles outside the sleepy little town of Buena Vista, Georgia. Having returned to his roots, he quickly established a reputation as one of the most unusual fortune tellers in the Southeastern U.S., and he began to transform the house and grounds into a richly ornamented, one-man Pasaquoyan monastery.

With the help of a few young novice laborers, he built a series of walls and ceremonial-looking outbuildings and

Winter 1988

decorated them with exquisite reliefs and murals in carnivalesque colors. At semi-regular intervals along the walls, and occasionally standing detached like huge, phallic, concrete Buddhas, are a series of Pasaquoyan totems with large, multiple faces. Many of the lower walls are crowned by elongated, sculpted rattlesnakes, symmetrically curved in mid-undulation. Mandalas, sun and moon symbols, stylized spaceships and "atom smashers" are also recurring motifs. St. EOM called the place Pasaquan," after the idiosyncratic religion which he spent most of his life formulating. He said the name meant "the place where the past and the present and the future and everything else comes together." He continued to alter and add to the compound until his self-appointed death. At high noon on April 16,1986, he shot himself cleanly in the right temple with a .38-caliber revolver.

The brief suicide note was ambiguous:"No one is to blame but me and my past." But the apparent motive was despair over the declining state of his

health. During the last five years of his life he had been plagued by heart ailments, kidney and prostate problems, and an occasional affliction ofthe inner ear. He saw more hospital rooms and operating tables than he cared to during those years; and he became dependent on the powerful drugs which were prescribed to ease his discomfort and help him sleep. The prospect of becoming an invalid seemed to haunt him, fiercely independent individual that he was. His suicide followed, and was probably triggered by, a week-long stint in the hospital for minor kidney surgery and recuperation.

The Last Will and Testament of Eddie Owens Martin was drawn up, signed and witnessed on December 11, 1984, while he was in the hospital for similar physical problems. It names two alternate recipients of the compound, four acres, and all of the artist's other property (including thousands of drawings, paintings and freestanding sculptures created over a period of almost half a century). The first of these is the Marion County Historical Society, an organization which had virtually ceased to exist by the time the will was drawn up. According to the terms of the will, if the historical society "should not be in existence" at the time of the artist's death, the entire estate is to go to the Columbus Museum in Nearby Columbus, Georgia.

Cliff Hollis, a banker in Buena Vista, was the last president of the Marion County Historical Society, elected sometime between 1982 and 1984 (he says he can't remember precisely when it was). Regarding the current status of the organization, Hollis says, "The Society has been defunct for two or three years at least. We never did really get the thing off the ground. There was some talk of reviving it after Eddie Martin's death, but that hasn't happened yet, and I don't think it's going to happen. I think everybody who was involved in the Society realized that we wouldn't have the capacity to take on a project of this magnitude. I hope the Columbus Museum will be able to do something about saving the place."

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Special Section — Folk/Art Environments

At this writing, a year and a half after the artist's death, the estate has yet to be settled. According to Buena Vista attorney Wayne Jernigan, who drew up the will and is its executor, the extensive delay has been the result of complications involving St. EOM's tax status.

The artist apparently never paid any income tax, and all of his business transactions with his fortune-telling customers were in cash and unrecorded. In accordance with his legal obligations as the estate's executor, Jernigan notified the Internal Revenue Service shortly after St. EOM's death.

The IRS subsequently sent investigators to Marion County to interview Jernigan and others who had known the artist during the last seven years of his life, in order to arrive at a working estimate of the artist's annual income during this period. (Seven years is the limit on which the IRS can demand payment of back taxes.) Jernigan's own estimate of St. EOM's income from 1979 through his death is $9,000 a year, and within a few months of his death Jernigan filed with the IRS a request for an "early determination" on the amount of back taxes and penalties owed, based on that figure. At this writing, Jernigan is still awaiting a response to his request.

Fortunately,the tax situation does not put Pasaquan at risk. Thrift was among St. EOM's virtues, and by the time of his death he had amassed life savings that amounted to about $100,000.

Should the IRS grant the requested "early determination," based on Jernigan's estimate of the artist's income for those seven years, these savings should be more than sufficient to cover the IRS bill, attorney's fees, estate taxes and any related expenses. The remaining funds would in that case be conveyed, along with the rest of the estate, to the apparent heir — the Columbus Museum.

Fred Fussell is the Chief Curator at the Columbus Museum. An artist himself, with a special interest in traditional and non-traditional folk art and craft, Fussell has been a longtime admirer of St. EOM and his work, and is the most 54

vocal local advocate for the preservation and long-term maintenance of the Pasaquan site. Shortly after St. EOM's death, with Wayne Jernigan's permission, Fussell supervised the cataloguing of all of the artist's freestanding works, which were then moved off the site and placed for safekeeping in storage at the Columbus Museum.

Fussell has discussed the impending inheritance with members of the museum's board and directorial staff, and he reports that "our people are becoming more sympathetic to the idea of taking on the responsibility for the place." He adds that "the board hasn't made a formal decision on the matter, and probably won't until the tax questions are finally settled and the terms of the will are carried out. I feel optimistic about the outcome at this point." Speculating about what the museum might do with the site after coming into possession of it, Fussell mentions the hiring of a full-time caretaker and making provisions for public access to

Pasaquan. He also raises the possibility that for at least part of each year the site could function as a kind of artist's retreat, with three to five resident artists at any one time accepted on an application-and-review basis.

Fussell and others interested in the site's preservation are well aware that the most crucial issue in the scenario over the long haul is its physical maintenance. St. EOM did a commendable job of keeping the place in shape while he was alive — repainting extensively every five years or so, demolishing severely defective structures and rebuilding or repairing sections when it seemed necessary. But it has been almost five years since the last major paintjob, and numerous signs of deterioration have accumulated over that period.

The only professional art conservationist so far to have examined Pasaquan with an eye to its restoration needs is Mark Kingsley, of Greensboro, North Carolina. After a recent visit to The Clarion

Aaprisi JaSod p mom

Special Section — Folk/Art Environments

Above, sweeping view of Pasaquan, St. EOM's vividly painted architectural environment in rural Georgia.

St. EOM in The Land of Pasaquan,

by Tom Patterson, with photography

by Jonathan Williams, Roger Manley and Guy Mendes, and foreword by John Russell, is available for $30, plus $2 per copy for postage and handling, from the Museum of American Folk Art Book and Gift Shop, 62 West 50th Street, NY, NY 10112, and The Jargon Society, 1000 West Fifth Street, Winston-Salem, NC 27101.

The Pasaquan Preservation Fund of the Columbus Museum welcomes support and assistance. Inquiries and tax-deductible contributions should be directed to Fred Fussell, Chief Curator, The Columbus Museum, P.O. Box 1617, Columbus, GA 31902.

Winter 1988

the site, Kingsley noted as the most serious problems the cracks that have appeared in the cement at numerous points, and the whitish "efflorescence" that has seeped out of these cracks — an effect of acid rain reacting with the lime in the cement. Continuous exposure to the elements causes this limey substance to gradually seep downward, hardening into a filmy residue. As it builds up, it obscures the lower painted areas. Kingsley suggests a fairly simple though painstaking procedure for repairing the damage and halting this deterioration: 1) Clean all the accumulated residue from under and within the cracks, and inject an acrylic glue into the cracks to seal them; 2)repaint each structural section of the compound after cleaning and sealing the cracks, using the same colors of Sherwin-Williams exterior housepaint which St. EOM consistently used; 3)coat each repaired and repainted section with a waterresistant acrylic varnish. Other less widespread defects in the compound include rotting or termite-infested wooden beams and lintels, and a few broken patches in the cement-covered brick walls, which will require replacement.

As soon as the transfer of the estate is completed, and assuming that the Columbus Museum's Board of Directors will support the project, Fred Fussell hopes to engage the services of an art conservationist, possibly Kingsley, to conduct a thorough assessment of the site and prepare a structure-by-structure estimate of restoration and maintenance costs. As for the funds that will be required to restore and maintain the site, Fussell hopes that there will be remaining money in the estate to be used for this purpose after payment of back taxes and penalties; he also plans to apply for foundation and government funds to support the project. In addition, he mentions the possibility of selling some portion of the vast collection of St. EOM's freestanding work in order to raise additional funds for the project. The Columbus Museum has already established a special account, consisting so far of only a few small

individual contributions, to be used for preserving and maintaining the site. In addition, a portion of the sales of this writer's own recently published book on the artist will be set aside by its publisher, The Jargon Society, to augment the museum's special fund.

From the standpoint of those who want to see St. EOM's Land of Pasaquan preserved as the important American landmark it is, there are a number of hopeful signs. But for the moment this brilliant-hued monument to one stubborn individual's creativity and determination remains deserted, although not unguarded. Almost immediately after the artist's death, Wayne Jernigan hired Scotty Steward to serve as caretaker of the site until the estate is settled. Steward, in his late twenties, grew up in the country near Pasaquan and worked for St. EOM as groundskeeper, cook, housecleaner and occasional apprentice builder during the last few years of his life; he, too, has a strong interest in seeing the site preserved. He takes his interim caretaker's role very seriously; like St. EOM before him, he is assisted in his task by two mean-when-necessary guard dogs of German shepherd lineage.

In a brief article on St. EOM and his work that appeared in Smithsonian magazine in 1983', the artist offered a gloomy forecast for his creation saying "people will come and deface this when I die. And then everything I've done will be forgotten." Although St. EOM made his living for more than 40 years by foretelling the future, it looks as if his old friends and other admirers might just prove him wrong on that particular prediction.

Tom Patterson has been researching and writing about outsider/folk/visionary art since the mid 1970s. For the past three years he has been directing a project to research and document visionary folk art in the South for The Jargon Society. Patterson is the author ofSt. EOM in The Land of Pasaquan, recently published by The Jargon Society.

NOTE I. Robert Crease and Charles Mann. "Old Masters of Backyard Art." Smithsonian Magazine. August, 1983.

55

Ern Special Section — Folk/Art Environments

Howard Finster's Paradise Garden: A Plan for the Future

by Daniel C. Prince The most remarkable work produced

by Rev. Howard Finster, one of America's foremost folk artists, is the four and a half acre site known as Paradise Garden, adjacent to his Summerville, Georgia, home. Started in 1971 as a drainage project and junkyard for Finster's bicycle and appliance repair business, Paradise Garden has emerged as a religiously inspired environment reflecting Finster's fierce fundamentalist faith and his extraordinary sense of aesthetics.

Because he has had an Apocalyptic vision, Finster will only be content when work on the Garden is finally done. He speaks of a reservoir of water that is cracking through to the molten metal core of the earth. As Finster began work, he was haunted by the notion that each atom bomb test had widened the crack and brought calam-

ity closer. He took the scraps from his repair shop, reworking them at a handbuilt forge. Out of this came a 40 foot pyramid of metal, and a church made from scrap. Vying with images of death and destruction were expressions of man's redemption.

The Garden took further shape in the late 1970s with instructional signage, the rebirth of a meandering stream that ran through the site, and winding pathways encrusted with artifacts. Educational displays stressed that man could be saved. The Garden became a site for pilgrimages which ended with salvation. The final piece to the puzzle was the Church of American Folk Art. Formerly a Baptist church on an adjoining lot, the structure was rebuilt by Finster to serve as his ministerial headquarters and house his growing collection of art and memorabilia.

TUutt THE PIECES YU it ARE* mlYNY AhD PUT Tk4E1.1 OGATHER BY NIGHT AhD DAY, l4Asi4ED 111 RAIN,DRIED BY%

Instructional signage from the Bible is part of Rev. Howard Finster's Paradise Garden in Summerville, GA.

56

As the environment has evolved Finster has confronted a series of trials and tribulations. His neighbors criticized him. Vandals destroyed his work, taunted him and even fired weapons into the site. Natural deterioration has made upkeep a difficult task. Almost as damaging are the souvenir-seeking crowds of admirers, many attracted by Finster's growing international fame.

They take away parts of the Garden, as well as distract Finster from his environmental work.

Ironically, however, this popular attention may well be credited with bringing salvation to the Garden. Finster's celebrity — appearance on the Johnny Carson Show, inclusion in the Venice Biennale, record album cover and featured role in a rock film — has led the local Chamber of Commerce,as well as Finster's neighbors, to see him in a new light. A sign was recently erected at the entrance to Summerville welcoming visitors to the hometown of Rev. Howard Finster. What's more, employees of the Georgia Bureau of Tourism, having toured the site, now tout it as one of the state's attractions.

So positive are the local feelings these days that leading citizens have taken key roles in still-developing plans for the preservation of Paradise Garden.

Catalyst in this scheme is John Turner, a San Francisco writer and photographer, who recently visited Summerville to wrap up twelve years of research for an upcoming book on Finster. He queried Beverly Finster, Howard's daughter, about preservation plans. When she reported that there had been vague talk in the community he set out to galvanize support.

A key aspect of these plans is the active involvement of Rev. Finster. Too often, preservation efforts begin after the artist has died, and the artist's intent can get lost in the shuffle. Finster, of course, is in the best position to determine which of the Garden's many phases over the last fifteen years should be the final form. He can prioritize the work which will largely entail replacing lost or vandalized signs and sculpture, repatching cement pathways, undamThe Clarion

Special Section — Folk/Art Environments

ming a stream, bringing structures up to building and safety codes, and finishing incomplete projects. There is good photographic documentation of the Garden at various stages to help in the process.

To free Finster from the physically demanding maintenance tasks, Beverly Finster has agreed to coordinate the effort. Beverly not only worked on the Garden, but is a talented painter in her own right. Perhaps because she didn't want to remain in her father's shadow, she struck off, went to college, and graduated with a degree in social work.

Finster respects his daughter's independence. And her love of the Garden is evident, despite a certain tone of objectivity. "I can be an intermediary to deal with activities being planned for the Garden and make Daddy's wishes known!' she says. "But to save the Garden, well, it's going to take more than my work and the rest of the family's!'

John Turner found there was, in fact, plenty of community support for the preservation effort. The outline of a practical plan emerged. Monies would first be solicited on the local level to buy the site for the Chattooga County Historical Society. This active group is led by A.J. Strickland, retired head of the locarschoolboard. One of Finster's earliest defenders, Strickland is convinced that the project has significant educational value to the region and that appropriate program funding will be forthcoming.

Fay and Sue Hurley, local bankers whose financial judgments are well respected, are equally supportive. Sue Hurley estimates "that with the number of visitors arriving, if admission were charged, this would be enough to offset maintenance costs ... There should be enough push in the local community, through individuals and their contributions, to buy the site outright!' she contends.

Another key player is Bobby Lee Cook, a nationally known criminal attorney with broad political contacts across the state. Cook has agreed to handle the legal matters surrounding the preservation plan, including the transfer of the site to the historical society, the society's obligations to Finster, and guarantees for the future of the site.

Most important, however, is the impact on Finster, himself. At 71, he no longer has the energy he once had. His flourishing painting career — dominated by a steady flow of commissions — forced him in recent years to neglect the Garden more than he'd like.

"Daddy is really revved up about getting back to the Garden. It's his first love, and he's lost a lot of time on it' says Beverly Finster. "The plans we've made will free him from any concerns with money,and he can finish his vision of what God wants him to do here at home!'

American Folk Art Sidney Gecker 226 West 21st Street New York, N.Y. 10011

(212)929-8769 Appointment suggested

EXTREMELY RARE SPREAD-WING ROOSTER WEATHERVANE Circa 1880. Very Fine original condition.

Patina is a blend of oxidized copper with old gilt; 20 inches high.

(Subject to prior sale)

Winter 1988

57

The Art ofAmerican Cooking From the folk art that surrounds you, to the culinary art that's before you,the American Festival Cafe is an ever-changing celebration of the best of Americana.

TEDDY BEARS Hand made and signed

by Anne Hosmer

prices and sizes on request

41111114 The Gallery of Folk Art 111 Washington Street Marblehead, MA 01945 617-631-1594

'SOLDIERS TRADING CONTRABAND" This is one of five primitive paintings by an unknown Fredericksburg, Virginia limner, which the gallery is offering for sale.

Festival Cafe American at Rockefeller Plaza An Ever-Changing Celebration of American Cooking.

20 West 50th Street. Reservations:(212)246-6699.

58

Fine American and European Fttintings and Drawings Fine Art Appraisal Restoration Estate and Trust Consultant Specializing in 18th, 19th and Early 20th Century Paintings

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MAILING ADDRESS: 367 WEST HILL ROAD STAMFORD,CONNECTICUT 06902 (203)357-7723 59

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THE HIGH TOUCH NEWSLETTER of contemporary folk art

Personal vignettes of folk artists, topical news, calendar, commentary, new finds and new directions in 20th century folk art.

Amply illustrated. Four issues per year, $12.

Standing Mustached Man, John Vivolo, 1976. Painted wood, height 291 / 2".

Folk Art Finder, 117 North Main, Essex, CT. 06426.

Phone 203/ 767-0313.

An affectionate group portrait of 15 craftspeople who live and work in the Catskill Mountains Illustrated with nearly 50 photos(16 in color), critically acclaimed writer Jane Smiley's joyous celebration of Catskill crafts focuses on the men and women who have sustained the region's artistic heritage, making distinctive ceramics, stained glass, handwoven cloth, ornate handmade furniture, dollhouses, miniatures, and carved wood decoys.

7" x 9Âź ". $19.95, now at your bookstore, or send check or money order to Crown Publishers, Inc., Dept. 679, 225 Park Ave. South, N.Y., N.Y. 10003.

Please add $1.50 postage and handling. N.Y. and N.J. residents, add sales tax.

CROWN PUBLISHERS Inc.!

Old Friends, Fresh Perspectives a new look at Cooperstown's folk art collection.

Announcing the publication of Folk Art's Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association, which is the first catalog of the Association's renowned collection of American folk art. Available in hard cover and soft cover, the 225 page catalog contains biographies of known artists and extensive information on and illustrations of all 158 folk portraits in the collection. Of the 158 photographs, 46 are in color.

62 West 50th Street 247-5611 Monday-Saturday 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m

Across from Radio City Music Hall

Table of Contents + Preface & Acknowledgements + "Folk Art at Fenimore House: A Historical Note by Dr. Louis C. Jones & Agnes Halsey Jones + "The Gunn Legacy" by Amy McKune + On the Use of the Catalog + Identified Artists + Unidentified Artists + Index To order, write: Fenimore Book Store, NYSHA, P.O. Box 800, Cooperstown, New York 13326.

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BOOK REVIEWS

PERSPECTIVES: ANGLES ON AFRICAN ART

by James Baldwin, Romare Bearden, Ekpo Eyo, Nancy Graves, Ivan Karp, Lela Kouakou, Iba N'Diaye, David Rockefeller, William Rubin, Robert Farris Thompson.

Interviewed by Michael John Weber. Introduction by Susan Vogel 196 pages, 110 illustrations, 80 in full color Published by The Center for African Art, New York and Harry N. Abrams, 1987 845.00 hardcover What an idea! Ten prominent people concerned in some way with African art are each shown photographic images of Subsaharan objects. Each chooses ten which they find aesthetically or intellectually challenging. An exhibit and a book is then produced of these hundred objects accompanied by the experts' commentary on what guided their choices. The result: A book which demonstrates that people of probity and power can string out the platitudes with the best when asked questions like "Why did you like this one?" It is difficult to imagine how the participants permitted this banal work to reach the stage of an exhibition — and the catalogue here under review.

The intent of the project — a laudable one — was to shake up the usual way in which the stylized objects of Subsaharan peoples are approached by something like the "blind testing," used by advertising agencies and sociologists. The photos ofthe objects were shown to the experts without any aesthetically coded information.

Choice was to be made on the basis of the aesthetic impact of the object, or to be more precise, the photograph of the work. We are not told who made the initial choice of the two hundred works from which the hundred were chosen. Nor are we informed of how the criteria for carrying out the photography were arived at—nor who made such decisions.

Clearly the procedure was far from blind, for the format chosen already determined a great number of the most important aesthetic factors entering into the judgement.

But the disservice to the participants occurred in the way in which the interviews were carried out and edited. The reactions of these men (and one woman) is set forth in such a way that it is clear that little subtlety or thoughtful consideration was given to this Winter 1988

dimension ofthe project. If anyone is asked, off the cuff, to discuss how they make value judgements of any work of art — folk, popular or sophisticated — little of the process by which they learned to make those judgements will emerge. Taste, along with all features of culture, is part of a learned process which involves those matters which are "actively forgotten" — that is, stored in our memory of learning to be a community member, but constructed of such common experiences that everyone agrees not to discuss the subject. This is true of any kind of conventional activity, even one as simple as learning not to talk when others are holding forth. This is such a deep part ofour system of manners that we feel free to discuss the rule only when it is broken, and only then, to children with whom we are on family standing. All culture is built on thousands of such qualitative judgements that we contract with each other not to talk about; they become a part of our second nature.

These features of our second nature are, by definition, so much a part of ourselves that we come to think of them as natural, a facet of what it means to be a member of the human community. For some, learning to go to museums and to contemplate objects directly with regard to what we can learn or get from them is part of our second nature, and therefore not discussable except in conventional exclamations. Apprehensions of beauty are a fit subject of discussion only under conditions oflicense, and then guided by those with expertise. Most art-lovers, even those most intensely interested in developing their eye, find it difficult and even embarrassing to account for their taste.

Fortunately, our system of good manners provides them with the conversational point of retreat: "I like what I like. It's a personal response. Something in the object just reaches out and grabs me." But everyone knows that this is nothing but a hedge, a ploy used by people who are not accustomed to talking about the making of such choices, and who therefore recognize that their explanatory vocabulary does not provide them with a style answerable to the power and beauty of the objects themselves.

This show indulges in cultural naivete, then, which says that the apprehension of beauty evinces something natural to the viewer. Such an argument presumes that

each artistically stylized and crafted object emits signals of beauty and power that are to be shared by all viewers. The ability to apprehend and discuss, with appropriate eloquence, these aureatic qualities, is an artificially encouraged cultivated gift.

This exhibition and catalogue dramatizes that collectors and artists are not necessarily eloquent in accounting for their taste. No one bothered to think through the matters of how to encourage those who are not used to being called to account for their tastes or their perceptions. Even more fully, the intellectual validity of the premise of the project was never thought through. This is evident not only in the depth and subtlety of the questions asked the participants, but in understanding the kinds of choices dictated by using two dimensional glossy photographs ofthis range ofcrafted object. This failure becomes evident from the first words of the introduction. Susan Vogel draws on Robert Goldwater's discussion of the problems of presenting stylized objects from another culture, in which Goldwater sees a choice between showing a work unadorned so that the viewer may apprehend its integrity directly, or following an "anthropological nostalgic impulse" in contextualizing devices, those "artificial props" such as "maps and photographs and texts [commonly used as] aids to understanding:' The argument is skewed as soon as terms like nostalgia and artificiality are drawn upon.

In a burst of poetic steam, Vogel argues that, "The time has come to accept what African reality is, to surrender at last the nightmare-dream of dark otherness, and to look at African art the way we look at all other art." That calls for the domestication of the art-objects in the half-lit environment of the museum and other such four-walled spaces, by putting the art on pedestals or in display cases or, achieving even greater distance, reproducing and intensifying this framed effect by returning to the presentational medium of photography.

This show makes claims for a uniqueness that is unwarranted: After all, many of the new art museum spaces whose openings we have celebrated in the last five years have been devoted to presenting African, Oriental, and Oceanic arts in precisely this hushed and visually hypnotizing fashion. This mode of presentation is excessively 61

BOOK REVIEWS

nostalgic and artificial in its own right. The manner in which the objects are encountered, and the system of sentiments drawn upon in such a museum viewing, are our own. There is nothing new here in this sentimental celebration ofthe ways in which Westerners make aesthetic choices of what to collect, curate, exhibit. As a Westerner trained in these cultural practices, I am not calling down a plague on museums that mess around with the arts of the otherwise underpowered and underrepresented peoples. I only wish to point out a failure of the framers of this show to understand the cultural limitations under which they were working, a failure which encouraged them to make claims that won't bear up under scrutiny. More than this, the sheer puffery on behalf of connoisseurship broadcast by such an exhibit encourages a kind of pride in ownership that is unbecoming in this supposedly post-imperial age.

This failure to see the problem in the complexity the subject deserves is made abundantly evident because the book is framed by the remarks of two masters — Ekpo Eyo and Robert Farris Thompson — who,in fact, lead us away from the immediate aesthetic impact of the objects and remind us of the world of meanings and feelings out of which they emerged. Eyo,an ethnographer and archaeologist from the Calabar area of Nigeria, brings together an accumulation of experience with African images with a fine eye for the details of meaning and sensation, and a steady voice appropriate to the task. He sets forth his program efficiently: "Appreciating a work of art must be at two levels: the level of instant aesthetic impulse and the level of understanding the context. ... I don't think one is more important than the other." The statement neatly sets aside the straw dogs of sublime aestheticism, on the one hand, and severe contextualism on the other. All of his remarks proceed in this commonsensical direction, carefully laying by other ghosts, such as the distinctions between art and craft, beauty and moral rectitude, tribalism and universality.

Robert Thompson, a powerful performer in drum and dance and language as well as a subtle iconographer of Yoruba, Cross River and Bakongo traditions, insists that these objects demand that we understand the systems of meaning in which they arose.

62

Thus, he relates a work to cultural systems: of movement(dance, wrestling, administering medicines and healing gestures, for instance)as well as to the coded meanings of colors, shapes, and textures within specific groups. Thompson's forte lies in drawing forth the powerful intellectual and spiritual understandings which occur when one kind of substance (cowry shells, iron, mirror) is embedded in or overlapped by a master material such as native woods, clay, ivory.

But between the elegant words of these two lie all too many trivial ones, often from the mouths of those whom in other contexts we take very seriously indeed. Witness, for instance, William Rubin, the maven of primitivism in modern art, who conveys nothing in his remarks so much as an overconcern with establishing the fineness of his own ability to use his eye. In matters of criticaljudgement,especially with regard to objects he has favored with personal ownership, he confesses to being a critic: "I am heartless. I make no allowances. Those guys have to be as good as Picasso or Brancusi or they don't interest me." Unfortunately he is not so demanding with his own prose. "This piece . " he says of an unsettling Grebo mask,"has a very particular relationship of the top part to the bottom part."

In contrast to this hard language, David Rockefeller alerts us to the fact that he found most of the pieces that he chose beautiful, fascinating, evoking a contemporary feeling. Most of his remarks are devoted to briefly comparing these objects with ones he has bought. I was particularly taken with his indication of which of these works would "look very good in a modern apartment or house."

Of the rest of the interviewees, only the artists Nancy Graves and Lela Kouakou have developed ways of talking about art, any art, that adequately responds to the works themselves.

I am not arguing that we need no further exhibitions and studies of why Westerners of probity, power and taste are attracted to certain objects which come from outside our own culture. Exhibitions of this sort, in fact, may be a good way to explore in public how works of art are decontextualized, turned into wholly aesthetic objects for the purpose of displaying the power and the taste of those bringing them together. How

have collectors and connoisseurs affected the contemporary engagement with art objects made in Africa? This unformulated question is one on which these experts would certainly have significant thoughts, if not collectively, at least as individuals involved in this engagement.

—Roger D.Abrahams Roger D. Abrahams is a Professor ofFolklore and Folklife at the University of Pennsylvania, and presently serves as chair of the Centennial Coordinating Council of the American Folklore Society which will celebrate its centennial in 1988— 89.

HARLEM RENAISSANCE: ART OF BLACK AMERICA Introduction by Mary Schmidt Campbell; Essays by David Driskell, David Levering Lewis, and Deborah Willis Ryan 200 pages, 140 illustrations, 55 in color, 59 in duotone and photographs. Chronologies of the artists and selected bibliography also included.

Published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, 1987 $35.00 hardcover Harlem? Renaissance? What was it? Where was it? Who was involved? Why was it significant? Responding to these seemingly simple inquiries, The Studio Museum in Harlem undertook an ambitious exhibition early in 1987; this book accompanied the exhibition which had as its foundation recent studies of the individual artists' works.

This exhibition of one hundred and fifty representative works by Black American artists, is the first to attempt to capture the essence of the period between 1919 and 1929, when Harlem, a small piece of real estate north of 110th Street in New York City, hosted a creative Renaissance. Sculptor Meta Warrick Fuller, painter and book illustrator Aaron Douglas, and painters Palmer Hayden and William H Johnson are the artists from diverse backgrounds who are brought together because of their depictions of the Black American experience. The documentary photographs ofJames Van Der Zee capture ordinary street scenes as well as special occasions and portraits of young and old, known and anonymous men and women. Carl Van Vechten, a patron of the The Clarion

G7M

BOOK REVIEWS

Harlem Renaissance, is represented by his photographs of the artistic community and local celebrities. Together with the introductory text and essays, the illustrations and photography serve up a thoughtful presentation of an era well worth examining. Each author's individual insights into the climate and atmosphere of the times and the motivating forces affecting the cultural community are factually presented and very provocative and help the reader form a good understanding of the material.

In her introductory essay, Mary Schmidt Campbell sums up the unifying spirit among the artists represented: "Each developed a vital aspect of the Renaissance ethos — be it glorification of Black American's African heritage, the tradition of Black folklore, or interest in the details of Black life:' Campbell continues by asking the viewer"... to consider the urgent issues of cultural identity and social and political tensions so often

implicit in their images:' Prior to this time, most artists portraying the Black community were White. During the Harlem Renaissance, Black artists produced a body of work offering simple and direct images of their own identity.

Prior to this time little was known of Black visual artists because most were not fortunate enough to afford or have financial sponsorship to study in Paris, the center of the art world. So Harlem became the cultural center of Black America; novelists, poets, musicians, entertainers as well as artists all began to enjoy the supportive climate there. Many visual artists, trained in a fine art tradition, began to explore more naive or primitive styles in their work. They felt it better expressed the deep emotions they felt for their subject. In some cases, these artists were criticized for being too commercial — that is for pandering to the marketplace. (It is worth noting that the

interest by these Harlem artists in AfroAmerican folk art and traditions was concurrent with the discovery of early American folk art by the modernist painters and sculptors in New England and New York.)

While the book is over-sized and handsome, it does provide an intelligent discussion of the period, and the wonderful photographs serve to augment the text. Oh that other authors of coffee-table books would see fit to use this as an example to follow!

During the Harlem Renaissance the artists who achieved international importance became identifiable with an American cultural phenomenon of the 1920's and in today's world the folk artist is likewise achieving an identity of equal importance.

—Willa Rosenberg Willa Rosenberg is Assistant Editor of The Clarion and has completed the certificate program at the Museum's Folk Art Institute.

Robert Cargo and Dau.

FOLK ART GALLERY Southern, Folk, and Afro-American Quilts Antiques•Folk Art

Kathy Schoemer American Antiques and Decorations Route 116 at Keeler Lane North Salem,New York 10560 914/669-8464 Wednesday thru Sunday,12 to 5

Winter 1988

Sybil Gibson, Cat, ca. 1980, tempera on paper, 18 314- x 23 7/8'.

2314 Sixth Street, downtown Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35401 Open weekends only and by appointment

Home phone 205/758-8884 In New York area call 201/654-8690 Saturday 10:00-5100, Sunday 1:00-5:00

63

MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK ART BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Executive Committee Ralph Esmerian President Frances Sirota Martinson Esq. Executive Vice President Lucy C. Danziger Vice President Karen S. Schuster Secretary George F. Shaskan, Jr. Treasurer Karen D. Cohen Judith A. Jedlicka Theodore L. Kesselman Susan Klein Kathryn Steinberg

Members Mabel H. Brandon Florence Brody Daniel Cowin Barbara Johnson, Esq. Margery G. Kahn Alice M. Kaplan William I. Leffler George H. Meyer Cyril I. Nelson

Cynthia V.A. Schaffner Ronald K. Shelp Bonnie Strauss Maureen Taylor Robert N. Wilson Trustees Emeritus Adele Earnest Cordelia Hamilton Herbert W. Hemphill, Jr. Louis C. Jones Jean Lipman

NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL

Frances S. Martinson Chairman Mary Black Gray Boone David Davies

Howard M. Graff Lewis I. Haber Phyllis Haders Barbara Kaufman-Cate Robert Meltzer

Paul Oppenheimer Alfred R. Shands, III Randy Siegel Hume R. Steyer

CURRENT MAJOR DONORS

The Museum of American Folk Art thanks its current major donors for their generous support: Over $20,000 *American Express Company Judi Boisson Mr. & Mrs. Frederick M. Danziger Mrs. Eva Feld Estate of Morris Feld Foundation Krikor Foundation Tarex *IBM Corporation Jean and Howard Lipman

64

National Endowment for the Arts New York State Council on the Arts *PaineWebber Group Inc. *Philip Morris Companies Herbert and Nell Singer Foundation, Inc. *United Technologies Corporation Estate of Jeannette B. Virgin Mrs. Dixon Wecter *The Xerox Foundation

The Joyce & Daniel Cowin Foundation Inc. Craftsmen Litho Adele Earnest Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies Joseph Martinson Memorial Fund The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation *Restaurant Associates Industries, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. George E Shaskan, Jr. Ronald K. Shelp Mr. & Mrs. Robert Steinberg Barbara and Thomas W. Strauss Fund

$10,000 —$19,999 Amicus Foundation *Bankers Trust Company Mr. & Mrs. Peter Cohen

$4,000 —$9,999 The Bemhill Fund

The Clarion

CURRENT MAJOR DONORS

*Bristol-Myers Rind Mrs. Martin Brody *Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A. Christie's *The Clokeys Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Edgar M. Cullman EA.O. Schwarz Edward A. Fox, Student Loan Marketing Association Colonel Alexander W. Gentleman Richard Goodyear *Hoechst Celanese Corporation *International Paper Company Foundation Barbara Johnson, Esq. Kallir, Philips, Ross, Inc. Raymond Kane Mr. & Mrs. Robert Klein George Meyer The L.J. Skaggs and Mary C. Skaggs Foundation Sotheby's Squibb Corporation Norman & Rosita Winston Foundation

$2,000— $3,999 George & Frances Armour Foundation Catherine G. Cahill *Chemical Bank *The Coach Dairy Goat Farm Country Home *Exxon Corporation Janey Fire Morris Greenberg Neil Greenberg Stanley Greenberg Justus Heijmans Foundation *Manufacturers Hanover Trust *Marsh & McLennan Companies Christopher & Linda Mayer *McGraw-Hill, Inc. *Metropolitan Life Foundation *Morgan Stanley & Co., Incorporated New York City Department of Cultural Affairs *New York Telephone Company *Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation *J.C. Penney Company, Inc. *The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. Marguerite Riordan *The Rockefeller Group, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Safra Robert T. & Cynthia V.A. Schaffner *Schlumberger Foundation, Inc. Mrs. Richard T. Taylor *Time Inc. William Wiltshire III

$1,000 —$1,999 *The Bank of New York *Bill Blass, Ltd. *Bloomingdale's Winter 1988

*Chesebrough-Pond's Inc. *Con Edison *Culbro Corporation Joseph F. Cullman 3rd *Daily News Mr. & Mrs. Richard Danziger Mr. & Mrs. Alvin Deutsch Virginia S. Esmerian John L. Ernst Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Ferguson Mr. & Mrs. Walter B. Ford II *Gannett Foundation Emanuel Gerard Judith A. Jedlicka Theodore L. Kesselman Susan Kudlow *Macy's New York Robert & Betty Marcus Foundation, Inc. Marstrand Foundation Helen R. & Harold C. Mayer Foundation Meryl & Robert Meltzer Steven Michaan *National Westminster Bank USA *Nestle Foods Corporation New York Council for the Humanities *The New York Times Company Foundation, Inc. Mattie Lou O'Kelley Geraldine M. Parker Mrs. Dorothy H. Roberts Mrs. John D. Rockefeller III Jon & Sue Rotenstreich Foundation Rev. & Mrs. Alfred R. Shands III Ruben and Harriet Shohet Mrs. Vera W. Simmons Philip & Mildred Simon Mrs. A. Simone Mr. & Mrs. Stanley Tananbaum H. van Ameringen Foundation Anne Vanderwarker David & Jane Walentas *Wertheim Schroder & Co. Robert N.& Anne Wright Wilson

$500 — $999 Nancy S. Ames American Stock Exchange Louis Bachman The Bachmann Foundation, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Frank Barsalona David C. Batten Beaulieu Vineyard Edward J. Brown Colgate-Palmolive Company Codorniu U.S.A., Inc. Judy Angelo Cowen The Dammann Fund, Inc. David Davies Mr. & Mrs. James DeSilva, Jr. Marion & Ben Duffy Foundation Mr. 8z Mrs. Alvin H. Einbender

Mr. & Mrs. Lewis M. Eisenberg Richard C. & Susan B. Ernst Foundation Jacqueline Fowler Cordelia Hamilton The Charles U. Harris Living Trust Denison H. Hatch Joyce & Stephen Hill Cathy M. Kaplan Mary Kettaneh Jana K. Klauer Mr. & Mrs. Ronald Lauder Wendy & Mel Lavitt William I. Leffler Helen E. & Robert B. Luchars Hermine Mariaux Robin & William Mayer Gael Mendelsohn Louis Newman — in memory of Paul Roberts Leo & Dorothy Rabkin Joanna S. Rose Richard Sabino Mrs. Joel Simon Smith Gallery Mr. & Mrs. P. Solomon Robert C.& Patricia A. Stempel Mrs. Anne Utescher Robert W.& Marillyn B. Wilson Marcia & John Zweig

The Museum is grateful to the CoChairwomen of its Special Events Committee for the significant support received through the Museum's major fund raising events chaired by them.

Cynthia V.A. Schaffner Karen S. Schuster

The Museum also thanks the following donors for their recent gifts to the Permanent Collection and Library: Robert Bishop Mary Bromham Daniel & Jessie Lie Farber Laura Fisher Friends Committee Hirschl & Adler Folk Jean Lipman(Promised Gift) J.C. Penney Melvin Simon & Associates Peter Socolof Foster E. Vogel

*Corporate Member 65

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MUSEUM NEWS

FALL ANTIQUES SHOW

FOLK ART EXPLORERS Become a Folk Art Explorer and join Museum members on the special day trips offered free to Sustaining Members ($250 and above), and at a cost of $55 to Members in other categories. A Philadelphia tour will leave New York City at 8 A.M. on Wednesday, April 13, 1988 and visit the renowned University Hospital Antiques Show in the morning. Following lunch, a visit to an extraordinary private collection outside of Philadelphia is planned. The bus will return at about 7 P.M.

Be sure to save the date Thursday, May 19, 1988, when the Museum will sponsor a New York City house tour.

This special opportunity to visit three private city homes and view magnificent and diverse art collections should not be missed. The tour is free of charge to all Patron Members ($100 and above) who are members in that category before April 1, 1988. Space is limited for both tours, so please remember to register early by calling Beth Bergin at the Museum at 212/481-3080.

Folk Art Explorers on a recent trip visiting Kea Tawana's Ark in Newark.

THE NEW YORK QUILT PROJECT Attention all quilt collectors! Plan to participate in The New York Quilt Project, dedicated to the discovery, documentation and preservation of quilts made in New York state prior to 1940.

Phyllis A. Tepper, Project Director, reports that arrangements have been made for the first two of many Quilt Days to be held throughout the state in the coming months. Quilts will be viewed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 26, 1988, at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY,and Saturday, April 23, 1988, at SUNY, Stony Brook, NY. The most exceptional of these quilts will be

66

included in an exhibition and accompanying book which will be organized by the Museum of American Folk Art. There are plans, as well, to establish a permanent archive at the Museum.

Those with quilts — or information about quilts — made in the Empire State prior to 1940 are urged to bring them, and any pertinent documentation, to the Quilt Days.For further information,or if you are unable to attend a Quilt Day, please contact The New York Quilt Project, Museum of American Folk Art, 444 Park Avenue South, NY, NY 10016, tel. 212/481-3080.

The ninth annual Fall Antiques Show opened at Pier 92 on October 21, 1987 with a gala first night preview to benefit the Museum. The Museum exhibition "Silhouettes in America 1790-1840:' created by Blume J. Ram,added to the interest of the evening with fifty important examples of the three major American silhouette types.

The Museum wishes to thank Reliance Group Holdings, Inc. and Kathryn and Robert Steinberg for underwriting this year's opening benefit party. Others who helped to make the evening such a success are Benefit Committee CoChairmen Cynthia V.A. Schaffner and Karen S. Schuster and Walking Tour Chairmen Davida Deutsch and Helaine Fendelman.

Many thanks to Myra Shaskan for her many hours spent ticketing and to Hildegard Vetter Jones for her organization of the volunteers. As usual, the Museum Shop Staff under the direction of Marie DiManno, made a significant contribution to the Museum by working long hours throughout the show.

We offer our appreciation to Eng and Yee Designs, Inc., David Ziff Cooking, Inc., flowers by Frank Mullaney, music by Debbie Gilwood and producer of the Fall Antiques Show, Sanford L. Smith.

Many thanks also to the following volunteers: Tom Cuff, Howard and Florence Fertig, Marsha Evans Moore, Kennetha Stewart, Lee Kogan, Dianne Butt, Cecilia Toth, Alice Sinkoff, Alice Hoffman, Cadie Voss, Maryann Warakomski, Sheila Steinberg, Alexandra Worme, Florence Cohen, Marjorie Nezin, Eloise Julius, Sheila Brummel, Julia Weissman, Mary Ann Steiner, Maura Walsh, Jill Rigby and Lee Lippe.

The Clarion

.stm MUSEUM NEWS

Left: Benefit Committee Co-chairmen Karen S. Schuster and Cynthia V.A.Schaffner, with Sanford L.Smith,producer ofthe Fall Antiques Show (standing), and Museum Director Robert Bishop; Below:A prospective customer admiring textiles with dealer Mary K. Darrah at her booth.

Photos: Mara Kurtz

Above:Director Robert Bishop, Barbra Streisand and a friend pause to share a moment at the Show. Right: Trustees Bonnie Strauss and Kathryn Steinberg with Peter and Karen Cohen, who is also a Trustee of the Museum.

Left: Randall Morris, left, Bert Hemphill, right, andfriends,join Carl Hammer in examining the pieces in his booth. Above: Betty Ring, Wendy Lavitt, Judith Weissman and Blume Rifken are all smiles as they autograph copies of their recent books at the Fall Antiques Show's opening night party.

Winter 1988

67

MUSEUM NEWS

ACCESS TO ART Kitty Carlisle Hart, Chairman of The New York State Council on the Arts, has agreed to become an Honorary Board Member of Access to Art. Project Director, Irma Shore is also pleased to welcome Patricia Beattie and Michael Naranjo to its growing list of Advisory Board Members who share the goal of opening the arts to the blind and visually impaired.

Ms. Beattie, a Community Consultant for the American Foundation for the

.• A.

NEW TRUSTEES Ralph Esmerian, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of American Folk Art, has announced the appointment of four new members of the Museum's Board of Trustees: Florence Brody, Daniel Cowin, George H. Meyer and Ronald K. Shelp. Florence Brody has been a trustee of Joseph Papp's Shakespeare Festival for the past eighteen years and brings with her fundraising expertise.

Daniel Cowin is a Director of Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc., a consultant to Goldome Bank, and also a trustee of the International Center for Photography.

Together with his wife Joyce, Mr. Cowin has been a member of the Museum's Friends Conunittee since its inception.

George H. Meyer is the senior partner in a Bloomfield Hills, Michigan law firm, where he specializes in publishing and art law. A trustee of the Detroit Science Center and board member and general

FILM FESTIVAL counsel of the Detroit Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Mr. Meyer is the editor of Folk Artists Biographical Index, recently published by Gale Research Company in association with the Museum of American Folk Art. Mr. Meyer has served on the Museum's National Advisory Board. Ronald K. Shelp is President and Chief Executive Officer of both the New York City Partnership and the New York Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Chairman of the World Environment Center, Mr. Shelp sits on the Boards of the International Peace Academy and the Corporate Fund for the Dance. He is a member of the Advisory Board ofthe Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies and the Overseas Development Council and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Explorers Club.

TAKING LICENSE Awareness offolk art as an expression of American culture in the twentieth century continues to expand in numerous and sometimes unusual ways. Museum member and faithful advertiser Leslie Eisenberg is helping spread the word every time she drives her automobile.

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Blind in the Mid-Atlantic Region, has long been active in organizations serving the disabled, and currently is working on a permanent exhibition of tactile models of major Washington, DC buildings and monuments. A native New Mexican sculptor who works in bronze, Michael Naranjo has long been recognized in his field, and has graciously consented to join the Artists in Residence Advisory Board.

Look for Leslie on the highways and around New York City; you'll know her by her FOLKART license plate.

Mark your calendars for March 11, 12, and 13, 1988 when the Museum and the Donnell Library Center are planning The Museum of American Folk Art Film Festival. Opening night is Friday from 6 to 10 P.M. The program will focus on the works of prizewinning filmmakers Allie Light and Irving Saraf, whose subjects include Calvin Black, Grandma Prisbrey, Harry Lieberman, Minnie Evans and Chief Rolling Mountain Thunder. Saturday hours are 10:30 A.M. to 4:40 P.M. The presentations will include surveys of folk art in museum collections; topics to be explored are the Shakers, Grandma Moses, Black folk art and pottery. On Sunday, the Festival will run from 1:30 until 4:30 P.M. Pat Ferrero's "Quilts in Women's Lives" and "Hearts and Hands" will highlight an afternoon of films on quilting.

Admission to the Film Festival, to be held at the Auditorium of the Donnell Library Center, 20 West 53rd Street, New York City, is free of charge; seating is on a first come basis. The Film Festival is being made possible by support from The New York Council for the Humanities and Film/Video Arts, which is funded by the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Clarion

THE

THE

SAN FRANCISCO

LOS ANGELES

SHOW

SHOW

SUM 311.1X31

Sunday, March 20, 1988

0

Photo Courtesy ofSteve Berger. San Francisco

Tarahumara Mask — Cceirey Lees

100 DEALERS EXHIBMNG: African American Folk American Indian Eskimo Himalayan Indonesian Oceanic Hours Sat. 12-7 Sun. 12-5 Adm.54.00 $3.50 with card

Oriental Philippine Pre-Columbian South American Spanish Colonial Tribal Asian Western American

50 DEALERS EXHIBMNG:

Antiques Antiquities Artifacts Beadwork Bronzes Carvings Costumes

Feathenvork Jewelry Masks Rugs Textiles Weapons Weavings

Caskey Lees P.O. Box 244 Venice, CA 90291 (213) 396-0876

PREVIEW OPENING SATURDAY 10 AM —$15.00 PER PERSON

African American Folk American Indian Eskimo Himalayan Indian Indonesian Oceanic Hours: Sun. 10-5 Adm.$4.00 53.50 with card

Oriental Philippine Pre-Columbian Santa Fe Slyle South American Spanish Colonial Tribal Asian Western American

Antiques Antiquities Artifacts Baskets Beadwork Carvings Costumes Feathenvork

PREVIEW OPENING SAM — $15.00 PER PERSON

Furniture Jewelry Masks Quilts Rugs Textiles Weapons Weavings Caskey Lees P.O. Box 244 Venice,CA 90291 (213)396-0876

FOLK & ETHNIC ARTS

Custom Made Stretchers for displaying Quilts & Hooked Rugs Rag Carpets sewn together for Area Rugs

Pie Galinat 230 w 10th St ,n.y ,ny. 10014 (212) 741 - 3259

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OUR INCREASED MEMBERSHIP CONTRIBUTIONS JULY-OCTOBER 1987

We wish to thank the following members for their increased membership contributions and for their expression of confidence in the Museum: Dr. Judith Aikawa,Phoenix, AZ Judy Alender, Cayucos, CA Nancy Ames, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. Darwin M. Bahm, New York, NY David J. Bernstein, Arlington, MA Jane Bescherer, Wilton, CT Mrs. Joyce Besner, N. Hollywood, CA Sheila Brummel, Roslyn Heights, NY Heidi G. Crane, New York, NY Sylvia Elsesser, Sausalito, CA Marjorie Eyrick, New York, NY Jack W. Field, Franklin Park, NJ Mrs. Diana Flatto, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. A. Bernard Frechtman, New York, NY James & Lora Gelbort, Chicago, IL Mrs. Theodore Greenebaum, Scarsdale, NY Averill Scott Harris, Pineville, PA

M. Anne Hill, New York, NY Beverly R. Hilts, Arcade, NY Mrs. Norman Jeter, Hays, KS Mr. Robert Kahn, Philadelphia, PA Margaret & Robert Kelly & Family, Jackson, MI Laurie Lederman, New York, NY Les Leveque, New York, NY Ann K. Lowder, Columbus,OH ME & Mrs. Jerry Magnin, Beverly Hills, CA Harriet Marple & Steffen Plehn, Washington, DC Ms. Hillary Martin & Bruce Kanfer, New York, NY Bunny Mautner, New York, NY Ed & Nancy McElfresh, St. Paul, MN Gael Mendelsohn, Hastings on Hudson, NY Angie Mills, Chicago, IL Blanche Moss,Los Angeles, CA Patricia & Joseph Narciso, Hoboken, NJ Mr. & Mrs. Kal Noselson, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. Arthur E O'Day, New York, NY Susan L. Post & Michael R. Jeffords, Champaign,IL

Mr. & Mrs. F.F. Randolph Jr,New York, NY Jackson Reynolds, Lebanon, OH Mt & Mrs. George Ritchie, New Canaan, CT Chuck & Jan Rosenalc, Tesuque, NM James Rubin, New York, NY Richard Sabino, Stockton, NJ Jo Sanders, W. Nyack, NY Babs Simpson, New York, NY Mt & Mrs. Herbert Singer, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. P. Solomon, New York, NY Susan R. Sweatland, Pittsfield, MA Morton Swinsky, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. Robert Tardell, Morganville, NJ Peter H. Tillou, Litchfield, CT Mr. & Mrs. Steven Vagnino, St. Louis, MO Caroline Vetterling, Houston, TX Mrs. Milo Waldes, Roslyn, NY William Woys Weaver, Devon,PA Meryl Weiss, Hillsborough, NC Bernice Braid Witkovsky, Brooklyn, NY Susan Mongerson Wunderlich, Lake Forest, IL Elizabeth K. Yaffa, Armonk, NY Pamela Yardeni, Hewlett, NY

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OUR GROWING MEMBERSHIP JULY-OCTOBER 1987

The Museum trustees and staff extend a special welcome to these new members: Philip W. Abell, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. Davis H. Abrams, Atlanta, Georgia Pamala Adamski, New Brunswick, NJ Mt Yasuhito Arai, Tokyo, Japan William S. Arnett & Family, Atlanta, GA Jacqueline M. Atkins, New York, NY Charles Auerbach, Akron, Ohio Barbara Balik, Sherman Oaks, CA Walter W. Bamlett, Sparta, Ont., Canada Eric Barnes, Columbus, Ohio Betty Friess Baumer, Oconomowoc, WI Brenda M. Bean, Charlotte, NC Raine Bedsole, San Francisco, CA Mrs. Edgar Berner, Bronxville, NY Vicki Bessey, Waterville, ME Shirley & George Bianco, New York, NY Jeanne Bornstein, New York, NY Mrs. Cynthia Bowers, New York, NY Peter Brains, Guttenberg, NJ Audrey Broner, Brooklyn, NY Ruth Brown, Atlanta, Georgia 70

Harris C. Brustein, MD,New York, NY Judy Burch & Family, Richmond, VA Cathy Carron, New York, NY William Caskey, Venice, CA Louise Clark, Lumberville, PA Barry M. Cohen, Alexandria, VA Lin W. Coleman, New York, NY Jill Collins, Arlington, VA Columbia College Library, Chicago, IL Maryellen Conefry, Hopewell, NJ Gene Conley, Wilbraham, MA Susann Craig, Chicago, IL Mary Daas, Grosse Pointe, MI Ilene Danchig, New York, NY Mrs. Richard K. Day, Vienna, VA M.H. Decker, Wyoming, OH Hana Demetz, Bethlehem,PA Van Der Veer Varner, New York, NY Linda DeVittorio, S. Norwalk, CT Mike DeWitt, Somerville, MA Geralyn DiMango, Fresh Meadows, NY Sue Diehl, Boston, MA Julia J. Dodge, San Francisco, CA

Barbara Doherty, Kennebunk Port, ME Robert Doster, Lancaster, S.C. Deanna Draze, St. Ignace, MI Theresa B. Duenzl, North Bellmore, NY Susan & Tom Dunn, Tuckahoe, NY Deborah Dwyer, Brooklyn, NY Thomas E. Bolger, New York, NY Richard Edson, Baltimore, MD Margaret B. Emmons,Finksborg, MD Janet Hannah Eskridge, Lincoln, NE Mr. & Mrs. Thomas G. Ferguson, Parsippany, NJ Joann Fielder, Maplewood, NJ Catherine Fleischmann, New York, NY Rena Bass Forman,Piermont, NY Colin Fox, New York, NY Michele Fox, San Francisco, CA Les & Sue Fox & Family, Midland Park, NJ The Frameworks, Palo Alto, CA Gary L. Francione & Anna Charlton, New York, NY Robert A. Frederick, Smithtown, NY Freie Universitat Berlin, West Germany The Clarion

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OUR GROWING MEMBERSHIP

Sarah Frost, Norfolk, VA Jay Furman, New York, NY Edwin F. Gamble, Brunswick, ME Renee & Frank Gardner & Family, New York, NY Alma H. Gates, Washington, DC Marilyn Gellert, Wyckoff, NJ Sheila Getto, Middleton, WI G. Gierke, M.D., Greenville, SC Vivian Gill, Brooklyn, NY Robert Glickman, New York, NY Glorious Clutter, Cold Spring Harbor, NY Richard Goodyear, Grosse Pointe Farms, MI Mariko Gordon, New York, NY Robert M. Greenberg, New York, NY Arthur Greenblatt, Detroit, MI Myra E. Greenfield, St. Louis, MO Mr. & Mrs. A. Gruber & Family, New York, NY Stephen M .Guenther, Chicago,IL Ms. Toby Haberman, Detroit, MI Dr. & Mrs. E.B. Hall, Albuquerque, NM Steven C. Halvorson, San Francisco, CA Retha Handa, Bonsall, CA Fran Haney, Las Vegas, NV Pria E. Harmon, Waban, MA Martha Hawkes, Siletz, OR Patricia Healy & Family, Bedford, NY Susan Herold, New York, NY Amy Hiatt, Weston, MA Leslie Tell Hillel, Chappaqua, NY Patti M. Himes, Longwood,FL Anita Himsworth, Plandome, NY C.A. Porter Hopkins, Cambridge, MD Matt & Stephanie Howard, Brooklyn, NY Roy Hsu, Montville, NJ Miss Louise Hudson, New York, NY Hudson Library & Historical Society, Hudson,OH Stephen Huneck, St. Johnsbury, VT Luanne Isherwood, Darien, CT Ms. Evelyn Jablow, New York, NY Gordon Jensen, Davenport, Iowa Stephen Johnson, Venice, CA David Johnson & Terri Brady, New York, NY Mrs. Elizabeth L. Johnston, Bethesda, MD Mrs. Evelyn S. Jones, Hanover, PA Madeline Joyce, Ridgefield, CT Susan Fernald Joyce, Nantucket, MA Marcia K.H. Kanners, Birmingham, MI B.H. Kassner, New York, NY Bonnie Lynne Katz, New York, NY James 0. Keene, Birmingham, MI William I. Kent, Norfolk, VA Elizabeth Knec, Bayonne, NJ Arlene J. Kollinger, New York, NY William D. Krahling, Champaign,IL Michael Kraus, Creston, OH Ronald P. Kriss, New York, NY Dr. Steve Kritsick, Olivebridge, NY Thomas Labruna, Hanover, NH Karen H. Lafemina, Brooklyn, NY Winter 1988

Bibi Lamborn, Washington, DC Beth Lauren, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. Stephen E. Laurens, Cincinnati, OH Mrs. Fred Levinger, Barrington, RI David Liddle, Balmain, Australia Andrew H. Lin, Greenwich, CT Dr. R. Suyanne Low, Vancouver, B.C., Canada Lawrence B. Lusk, San Francisco, CA Marc Leavitt Malcos, Boston, MA Susan W. Manes, Washington, D.C. Christine Mannix, Columbus, OH Lucille Maresca, New York, NY Steve Marshall, River Vale, NJ Susan Taylor Martens, Urbana,IL Doug Martin, New York, NY Donald E. Mayoras, Bryn Mawr,PA Mrs. G. Barry McMennamin, New Canaan, CT Selma Mead, Arlington, VA Wilbur Meese,Indianapolis,IN James Melson, New York, NY Phyllis H. Merz, Baltimore, MD Sophann Messina, Mendham, NJ Victoria Miller, Alexandria, VA Anne Miller, Louis, KY Maureen C. Mingle, New York, NY Joni A. Mitchell, Lititz, PA Patience F. Moll, Old Lyme, CT Jaime L. Morton, Casa Grande, AZ Donald F. Moylan, M.D., Birmingham, MI Bruce W. Murphy, Rhinebeck, NY Andrew C. Myser, Friday Harbor, WA Mariann Nesfield, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. Allan P. Newell, Hammond, NY Corinne M. Oats, Jamaica Estates, NY Dr. & Mrs. Ed Okun, St. Louis, MO Stacy Ossorio, Greenwich, CT Bill Owens, Hayward,CA Carol E. Parker, Mixed째 Park, NY David Petruzelli, Passaic Park, NJ Bruce R. Pfau, East Haddam, CT Marilyn A. Pfiefer, New York, NY Clarence W. Pico, Litchfield, CT Miss Shirley Pincus, Philadelphia, PA Mr. & Mrs. Frank S. Pollack & Family, Highland Park, IL Mrs. C. Reynolds Pratt, New York, NY Faye Prewitt, New York, NY Mary Jane Proctor, Roswell, GA Queens Boro Public Library, Jamaica, NY La Verne Rahlf, Glasgow, Montana James Regan, Unionville, OH Susan Richbourg, Toledo, Ohio Richard & Blume Rifken, Manlius, NY Frances N. Rinas 8z Family, Roslyn, NY Marion Robertshaw, Yardley, PA Ruth C. Rogers & Family, New Holland,PA Toni Ross, New York, NY Irving Saraf, San Francisco, CA Brigitte Schluger Gallery, Denver, CO Gleniss Schonholz, New York, NY Thomas Schultz, Walpole, MA Betsy Schwartz, Pittsburgh, PA

Mrs. Henriette Schwartz, New York, NY Shelley Seldin-Bautista, Hartly, DE Dorlene V. Shane, Coral Gables, FL M. Scott Shiveley, Beaver Falls, PA Joanne & Frederick Siegmund, New York, NY Cynthia K. Slyker, Benicia, CA Sherwood Small, Summit, NJ Mrs. Philp T. Smith, Summit, NJ Mr. & Mrs. Herbert E. Solomon, Jamaica Estates, NY Lisa H. Sorensen, New York, NY Daphne Yvonne Spry, Paddington, Australia Paige Elizabeth St. John, Sagaponack, NY Ruth Stalker Antiques, Westmount, Quebec, Canada Jane Stanley, New York, NY Pamela N. Stark, New York, NY Doria Steedman, New York, NY Marianne R. Steiner, New York, NY Ruth Steinhagen, Berrien Springs, MI Mr. & Mrs. Robert B. Stephens, Potomac, MD Linda L. Stickelmeyer, Sharpsville, PA Rae Stone, Northbrook, IL Mr. & Mrs. Lawrence Suslow, Armonk, NY Jamye L. Sutter, Kennesaw, GA Adelle M. Taylor, Dallas, TX Jeanne Teper, Brooklyn, NY The Tartt Gallery, Washington, DC 20009 Janeth L. Thoron, New York, NY Gail Andrews Trechsel, Birmingham, AL R.S. Tucker & Family, Argyle, Texas Judy Turner, Nashville, TN Don Tuttle, Berkeley, CA Pat Twente, Brooklyn, NY Tyndale Lamps, Chicago, IL Charles Umstott, Newport News, VA University of Rochester Library, Rochester, NY Patricia Van Note, Flushing, NY Karin Van Valkenberg, Seattle, WA Marsha Varbalow, Cheltenham, PA Eileen T. Varley, Chattanooga, TN Arline E. Vogel, New York, NY Amy Wagner, New York, NY Bud Ward, Oceanside, NY Donald Warning & Family, New York, NY Lynn Warshow, New York, NY Ann M. Wechsler & Family, New York, NY Richard J. Wehle, Buffalo, NY Robert Weiss, Sonoma, CA Maryann White, Dalton, MA Mr. Jerry Whitman, Grosse Pointe Farms, MI Mrs. George H. Wilder, West Orange, NJ Larry Williams, Hollywood, CA Lynda J. Williams, Silver Springs, MD M.S. Wilson, Boston, MA Mary Ann Wolf, Roslyn, NY George W. Worthington & Family, Rye, NY Terry Wright, Colombia, SC Mrs. Lori Yaspan, Island Park, NY Ray York, New York, NY Jane Zager, Wayne, NJ Mr. & Mrs. John F. Zweig, Maplewood, NJ 71

TheLittle Red School

by Janis Price Oil on canvas 40"x 40"

JAY JOHNSON America's Folk Heritage Gallery

JAY JOHNSON

RUBENS TELES

1044 Madison Avenue New York, N.Y. 10021 Daily, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

(212)628-7280

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

All Of Us Americans America Hurrah American Antiques & Folk Art American Festival Cafe American Primitive Gallery Ames Gallery of American Folk Art Mama Anderson Ruth Bigel Antiques Robert Cargo Folk Art Gallery Cavin-Morris, Inc. Crown Publishers Leslie Eisenberg Folk Art Gallery Epstein/Powell Fine Arts of Ancient Lands, Inc. M. Finkel & Daughter Janet Fleisher Gallery Folk Art Finder Folk & Ethnic Arts Show — Los Angeles 72

59 13 59 58 25 27 10 20 63 15 60 26 26 28 12 5 60 69

Folk, Ethnic & Textile Arts Show — San Francisco 69 69 Pie Galinat The Gallery of Folk Art 58 Gallery Mayo,Inc. 58 Gasperi Folk Art Gallery 19 Sidney Gecker American Folk Art 57 23 The Grass Roots Gallery 20 Pat Guthman Antiques 21 Phyllis Haders Hirsch]& Adler Folk Inside Back Cover 72 Jay Johnson Kelter-Malce Inside Front Cover 2 R.E. Kinnaman/B A Ramaekers T.P. Langan American Folk Art Gallery 27 Main Street Antiques and Art 29 Ken & Ida Manko 3

9 Frank Maresca/Roger Ricco 24 Mia Gallery 1 Steve Miller 29 Muleskinner Antiques New York State Historical Association 60 12 Robert F. Nichols 15 Nonesuch Gallery 4 Susan Parrish 10 Primitivo 59 Prince Art Consultants Rona Gallery 28 24 Stella Rubin Back Cover John Keith Russell 63 Kathy Schoemer 16 David A. Schorsch 8 Sweet Nellie 11 The Tartt Gallery 13 Tavelli Gallery 6 Thos. K. Woodard The Clarion

851 Madison Avenue,'NeW'York, New York 10021 (212) 988-FOLK

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SPRING STREET,SOUTH SALEM, WESTCHESTER COUNTY, kY. 10590 (914)763-8144 • TUESDAY-SUNDAY 10:00-5:30