The Whole Art Nebula

Minnie Evans is considered an outside or outsider artist. An outsider artist is an artist that has had no formal training. They are self-taught. The term outsider is in reference to being outside of traditional academic instruction. Minnie Evans, herself, was very far from traditional.

She didn't start drawing until she was 43 when a voice told her she must “draw or die.” On Good Friday, 1935, Minnie unknowingly embarked on her new passion, and created her first drawings - two small pictogram-like works. Both are now in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American art.

Source Material:

Anthony Petullo Art Collection: https://www.petulloartcollection.org/minnie-evans/

“Aspects of Minnie Evans” by Nathan Kernan: On Paper, Vol. 1, No. 6 (July -August 1997), pp. 12-16 (5 pages), Published by: Art in Print Review

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Trust me, I'm working to get the next episode out. In the meantime I couldn't wait to put out this quick announcement. I just wanted to tell everyone that we now have a MERCH STORE! Woohoo! Check it out now and represent the podcast that represents you and your interests. 

For the next month, get 10% off your purchase by using the code: NEWTWAN

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Until the next episode...

Henry Jones III, is back to help me talk about a specific work by Elizabeth Catlett. The sculpture it titled, "Homage to Black Women Poets." To view the work, please go to the website, TheWholeArtNebula.com. If you haven't listened to the episode on Elizabeth Catlett, please go back and listen to that episode when you get a chance.

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Elizabeth Catlett lived a life creating work that addressed gender, racial and class inequities. In 1971 she wrote, “Art for me now must develop from a necessity within my people. It must answer a question, or wake somebody up, or give a shove in the right direction—our liberation.”

Source Material:

· Elizabeth Catlett @ MIA: https://collections.artsmia.org/art/7890/sharecropper-elizabeth-catlett

· A History of African-American Artists: From 1792 to the Present, Romare Bearden & Harry Henderson, 1993, Pantheon, pp. 418-426

· Elizabeth Catlett @ Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture: https://www.lewismuseum.org/elizabethcatlett/

· Elizabeth Catlett @ MoMA: https://www.moma.org/artists/1037

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Today we're joined by Henry Jones III and we're taking a deeper look and sharing our perspectives on a painting by John T. Biggers titled, "Shotguns."

TheWholeArtNebula.com

A Fat Slice of Cake: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCubSSuvmvefVB4FPBJi7uIQ/videos

Two Three: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14965900/?ref_=nm_knf_i1

The motifs that John Thomas Biggers loved to explore centered around harvesting, planting, baptism and other rituals of rural Black communities. Also, he loved telling the story of the root system, the connectors of Black American life to the Motherland – whose children are the Earth’s caretakers.

TheWholeArtNebula.com

Source Material:

· Encyclopedia.com – John T. Biggers: https://www.encyclopedia.com/african-american-focus/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/biggers-john-t

· A History of African-American Artists: From 1792 to the Present, Romare Bearden & Harry Henderson, 1993, Pantheon, pp. 447-453

· UNESCO: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Glossary:United_Nations_Educational,_Scientific_and_Cultural_Organization_(UNESCO)

· About Susan McAshan: https://cswgs.rice.edu/sites/g/files/bxs3966/files/2020-11/McAshan%20Bio.pdf

Sculptor and ceramicist, Carroll Harris Simms, was born on April 29, 1924 in Bald Knob, Arkansas. A city that was named after a treeless rocky ridge that served as a landmark to pioneers. 

Simms identified three major turning points in his development as a sculptor, “First the realization of certain permanent values which relate to the integrity of my grandparents inclusive of church folk and neighbors surrounding the environment of my early childhood, second, studies at the Toledo Museum of Art; Hampton Institute; Cranbrook Art Academy and in Africa and Europe - third, working at TSU and at the same time being allowed the privilege of creating art for the community.”

Source Material:

https://www.cranbrook.edu/

· A History of African-American Artists: From 1792 to the Present, Romare Bearden & Harry Henderson, 1993, Pantheon, pp. 447-453

· https://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:BqDUSGYi@1/Carroll-Harris-Simms-b-1924

· The University Museum at Texas Southern - https://www.umusetsu.org/carolsimmssculpture

· Tributes.com http://www.tributes.com/show/Carroll-Harris-Simms-87792109

·  Carroll Harris Simms, TSU professor and sculptor, dies at 85, Houston Chronicle https://www.chron.com/entertainment/article/Carroll-Harris-Simms-TSU-professor-and-sculptor-1710079.php

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Alma Thomas was a curious and ever-expanding woman who painted in her kitchen. She was both a cheerleader and mentor for many young artists and instrumental in getting them recognition. She encouraged them to “get in the mainstream.” Slowed slightly by arthritis and a failing heart, she focused on what she could do with one solitary intense color and rolled around and blew through new ideas.

She learned from everything she did.

“I’m still developing,” she used to say.

To visit our website go to: https://thewholeartnebula.com/2022/09/09/alma-thomas-part-ii/

To support and learn more about Kobina Wright, go to: https://kobina-wright.pixpa.com/

Source Material:

· “Art expert reflects on his work in DC at the nation’s first private gallery owned by African-Americans” by Katherine Saltzman https://thedcline.org/2019/02/26/art-expert-reflects-on-his-work-in-dc-at-the-nations-first-private-gallery-owned-by-african-americans/

· A History of African-American Artists: From 1792 to the Present, Romare Bearden & Harry Henderson, 1993, Pantheon, pp. 447-453

· About Lois Marilou Jones: https://americanart.si.edu/artist/lo%C3%AFs-mailou-jones-5658

· NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/apollo11.html

Alma Woodsy Thomas was born on September 22, 1891, in Columbus, Georgia. This was 26 years after the Civil War. She would go on to help children explore the world of art and imagination and continue to educate herself in multiple disciplines.  It wasn't until after she retired that she began to consider herself an artist, although, in my opinion, she has been one all along.

This is the first part of the life and work of Alma Thomas, from her birth to the education that would set her on the path to becoming the legend she is today and some of the events that sculpted this path.

Our website: TheWholeArtNebula.com

Sources: 

Duncanson accomplished a great deal having succeeded living as an artist as a Black man in a time of slavery. We have to look at his life as a whole to really be able to understand what a powerhouse he was and how phenomenal his achievements were not just as a pre-war Black Cincinnatian, but in the whole art nebula.

Among the many sources used was the book, A History of African-American Artists From 1792 to the Present by Romare Bearden and Harry Henderson.