10 minute read
The Works: New Jefferson School exhibit highlights work of 11 artists.
stage
Elf: The Musical. See listing for Friday, December 16. $10-20, 2:30pm. Four County Players, 5256 Governor Barbour St., Barboursville. fourcp.org
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outside
Jolly Holly Trolley. See listing for Saturday, December 17. Free, noon. The Downtown Mall. friendsofcville.org Veritas Illuminated. See listing for Friday, December 16. $10-15, 5:15pm. Veritas Vineyards and Winery, 151 Veritas Ln., Afton. veritaswines.com
etc.
Daily Tour of Indigenous Australian Art.
See listing for Wednesday, December 14. Free, 10:30am and 1:30pm. Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of UVA, 400 Worrell Dr. kluge-ruhe.org The Holiday. Two strangers connect online and swap houses as a means of escaping from the stresses of their lives. $10, 12:30pm. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, 5th Street Station. drafthouse.com
Monday 12/19
music
Baby Jo’s. Tunes from the seven-piece, New Orleans-inspired boogie and blues band. Free, 6:30pm. The Whiskey Jar, 227 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. thewhiskeyjarcville.com Beleza Duo. Funkalicious samba soul. Free, 7pm. South and Central Latin Grill, Dairy Market. southandcentralgrill.com Gin & Jazz. Brian Caputo Trio performs in the hotel lobby bar. Free, 5:30pm. Oakhurst Hall, 122 Oakhurst Cir. oakhurstinn.com
Tuesday 12/20
music
Berto. Enjoy the sounds of Brazil, Spain, and Latin America with Berto Sales. Free, 7pm. The Bebedero, 201 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. thebebedero.com Thunder Music Karaoke. Show off your vocal chops, or just come enjoy the evening. Free, 9pm. Holly’s Diner, 1221 E. Market St. 234-4436 The Lint Collectors. Grooves and leads from resident shredder Evan Sposato and friends. Free, 9pm. Rapture, 303 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. rapturerestaurant.com
classes
Cookie Decorating & Tabletop Wreath Class.
Kid-friendly cookie decorating and a mini-holiday table decor workshop for parents. $125, 11am. Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards, 5022 Plank Rd., North Garden. pippinhillfarm.com
outside
Playdates at the Playscape. See listing for Friday, December 16. $20, 9:30am. Wildrock, 6600 Blackwells Hollow Rd., Crozet. wildrock.org Veritas Illuminated. See listing for Friday, December 16. $10-15, 5:15pm. Veritas Vineyards and Winery, 151 Veritas Ln., Afton. veritaswines.com
etc.
Daily Tour of Indigenous Australian Art.
See listing for Wednesday, December 14. Free, 10:30am and 1:30pm. Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of UVA, 400 Worrell Dr. kluge-ruhe.org Family Game Night. Enjoy dinner, refreshing cocktails, mocktails, and beers, and play a variety of games for all ages, including corn hole, jumbo Jenga, cards, and more. Free, 5pm. Dairy Market, 946 Grady Ave. dairymarketcville.com
Shared experience
‘Of Another Canon’ brings 11 acclaimed artists together at JSAAHC
By Sarah Sargent
arts@c-ville.com
Untrained and subject to the dual, almost insurmountable, constraints of economics and Jim Crow, the artists on display in “Of Another Canon: African American Outsider Art” at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center possessed a creative fire. Despite cruelly stacked odds, Mozell S. Benson, Rudolph Bostic, Bessie Harvey, Anderson Johnson, Mary Proctor, Bernice Sims, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Annie Mural Tolliver, Mose Ernest Tolliver (aka Mose T), and Ruby Williams persevered in their art, creating work that brims with raw authenticity, joy, and passion.
With the show’s title, the curators place the work, from the collection of Richard and Ellie Wilson, in its own alternate, yet equally valid canon to that of Western art history. They also raise questions about the term “outsider art.”
While it’s a generally accepted way to refer to art made by self-taught artists who operate outside the traditional art world, in this case, the work speaks not just to the individual artist’s experience, but to similar experiences shared by a large group of people. It was a 1982 exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery, “Black Folk Art in America, 1930–1980,” that played a significant role in elevating the art of self-taught African American artists and creating a market for their work. Nearly all the artists represented in this show are now featured in major museum collections. Mose T is widely known, and Williams, who sold her paintings off the back of a truck along with her produce, was the subject of an extensive New York Times obituary in August of this year. With this recognition, I wonder if the artists benefited in any substantial way from their artwork. It’s likely they did not, but it gives me hope that other, similar artists coming up behind them will.
Entering the gallery space, the eye is immediately snagged by Williams’ electric “Piano Playing Cow I Give Better Buttermilk.” I’m betting Picasso, who reputedly once said, “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child,” would envy this odd-footed orange bovine sporting black and white keys running along its back and a toothy, mask-like face. Nearly as riveting, “Ms Bonnie Bon Bonnie with Purse” is a simple composition made exceptional by her weird and wonderful hands.
Mose T, Sudduth, and Johnson share a similar approach. For the most part, they rely on vibrant color and bold shapes to render figures against flat expanses of pigment or just plain plywood—as in the case of “Self-Portrait with Willie Mae.” T’s so-
COURTESY OF THE JEFFERSON SCHOOL AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE CENTER
Mose T’s unique style of painting often uses house paint on plywood, as in “Portrait of a Woman with Baby” and “Figure with Birds.”
phisticated sense of color and composition is laid bare in this painting and in his “Portrait of a Woman with Baby.” A similar sensibility is echoed in the work of Sudduth, who used a combination of house paint and mud from his yard to create his jaunty self-portrait, and his likeness of a girl sporting a stylish hat and holding a violin. Annie Mural Tolliver (T’s daughter) and Sims take this approach and expand it into spiritual and narrative directions. Tolliver’s stylized “Garden of Eden” employs a dramatic palette and striking arrangement of forms, while Sims’ “Edmund Pettus Bridge,” painted from memory (as was all her work) with childlike simplicity, is made more powerful knowing the artist was an eyewitness to the seminal event.
Harvey’s “Garden of Eden,” the only sculpture in the show, is made from a tree root. The label describes how root sculpting plays an important role in African American vernacular art. Here, Harvey daubs paint across the surface, and uses the longest root for her serpent. It seems to veer like a malevolent tube man toward the viewer. Harvey takes advantage of a knob in the wood to form the nose, adding stuffed animal eyes surrounded by painted lashes, a row of pearls for teeth, and a jaunty orange earring. This almost human face is creepy, thanks largely to the teeth, with a totemic quality that suggests a spiritual purpose.
Bostic’s “Egyptian Scene” and “Garden of Eden” take us even further into visionary territory. The first, a tondo painted on the cover of a flour container (Bostic worked at a baking company), is studded with Egyptian iconography that identifies the reclining figure as a dying pharaoh. Bostic mixes his colors to add volume and highlights, and to produce a range of hues that tend toward the richer jewel tones. Indeed, the works, with figures outlined in a Sharpie, resemble stained glass. The second painting, on a rectangular piece of cardboard, features an ornate composition, chockablock with the wonderfully rendered animal and human cast of the Judeo-Christian origin story. Bostic tops it off effectively by creating a trompe-l’oeil gilded frame with yellow squiggles on a black border.
Other artists also used materials that were at hand and free—odd bits of plywood, leftover house paint, a tree root, or worn-out clothes. Though employed out of necessity, these humble materials have a grittiness that add both visual and emotional weight to the work. In addition to information about the works, the accompanying labels also provide brief accounts of the artists’ lives. They were universally challenging, rife with enormous obstacles. And yet, from these terrible circumstances art was produced—a vital outlet for the artists and a record of their existence. It’s an extraordinary testament to the creative drive and to the resiliency of the human spirit.
The od T i p to s o r 3r A nu 12 Days of Christmas Specials!
We are looking to give back to our community while spreading cheer this holiday season! Each day, there will be a new, single-day special. These specials are good for orders placed on the day of the deal, and can be applied to same-day or future-date orders.
For more information on any of these specials, please call us at434-365-9200 or stop by at2171 Ivy Rd. Suite 8(In the UniversityShopping Center with Papa John’s)
Monday, December 12: Donate a toy tous for Toys for Tots, get a 2-rose bud vase in the color of your choice.
Tuesday, December 13: Donate underwearand socks in new and unopened packaging to us to benefit Do Good Cville and receive a FREE floral wrap valued at $20
Wednesday, December 14: All plush is 50% off
Thursday, December 15: 25% off all liveplants
Friday, December 16: FREE delivery,up to 10 miles, on any same-day or future order
Saturday, December 17: 50% off all floralwraps
Monday, December 19: 10% off ANY FlowerBar subscription for 2023
Thursday, December 22: For every order placed,we will make a $3 donation to the Central Virginia Chapter of the American Red Cross in Charlottesville, VA
Friday, December 23: Receive a freeupgrade on any floral or gourmet item
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