Art
The Art of Thornton Dial by Joanne Cubbs at the High Museum
The exhibit Hard Truths: The Art of Thornton Dial opened up at the High Museum with a lecture by Joanne Cubbs on November 1st.
With the artist in the audience, Cubbs gave an overview of Thornton Dial’s work and tried to place it in a category.
When asked, Joanne Cubbs said she would categorize this art as contemporary modern art. Many try to place it in folk art or African American yard art. She even went further to point out comparisons to Pollock.
Thornton Dial is not a man of letters and is illiterate, but he holds a life time of experiences and has a voice that addresses many of the racial divisions found in this nation. His work also speaks to inequity and the horrors of war.
In the accompanying catalog, Dial is quoted as saying, “All truth is hard truth. We’re in the darkness now, and we got to accept the hard truth to bring on the light. You can hide the truth, but you can’t get rid of it. When truth come out in the light, we get the beauty of the world.”
From the African American tradition that slaves had their possessions on hand to escape to freedom at any moment, Dial takes many found items and changes them to fit a new purpose in art.
Dial’s work was on the rise in the 1990’s, but Morley Safer of 60 Minutes did a scathing piece that portrayed the artist in a bad light. This negative publicity hurt his acceptance into the art community. But now, there is a reexamination of his work.
These pieces are quite large and are full of emotion and very powerful. They speak to tragedies–one labeled “The Last Day of Martin Luther King,” a portrait of Christ’s Last Supper and the Crucifixion, serves as a metaphor of Kings impeding death.
The black Mickey Mouse symbolizes the chain of capitalism and how globalization holds this iconography back.
A very powerful piece, “Don’t Matter How Raggly the Flag, It Still Got to Tie Us Together” is made from a mattress, coils, chicken wire, clothing, can lids, found metal, plastic twin, and wire, colored with the patriotic colors of red, white, and blue.
From Bessomer, Alabama, Dial is in the heart of the civil rights struggle. He addresses the atrocities of slavery, Jim Crowism, segregation and the current state of race relations.
This artist also takes a page from the southern tradition of “yard art,” where found objects are reconfigured to make a statement. They are half buried to show the return to the earth.
Cubbs also shared that Dial’s work is also made in the same vein as modern expressionism.
Not only is Dial’s art larger than life–I liked it because it was green. It was fun to see how these mash-up of modern capitalist discarded items are reconfigured to stimulate your mind’s eye on the larger issues of our day.
Hard Truths is on exhibition at the High Museum of Art through March 3rd, 2013
For details and information visit: www.High.org
Follow Dr. Wilson Trivino on Twitter@T4Vista
A rainy day in Sedona? What are we going to do. Everything we have planned is outdoors. I am pretty sure that is why people come to Sedona, for the beautiful OUTDOOR activities, like hiking, biking, Jeep tours, viewing the red rocks and photography.
What to do, what to do.
Oh, I know. I had the privilege of meeting some great artists that work in fire and glass! The perfect indoor activity when your outdoor plans are washed away!
The Melting Point in Sedona, conveniently located across the street for the Whole Foods (two birds with one stone, yeah!), is a group of artist focusing on creating and teaching others how to create as well.
When we entered the facilities, it was like entering a fine arts gallery. So many beautiful works of glass art. Jordan Ford is the general manager and one of the Artists. He came out of the workshop and told us the rules, then brought us into the fold.
We were about to become glass blowers!
Jordan had a love for the natural world from a very early age. He went on to study geology in college but that is when he discovered glass. He currently has Bachelor’s Degrees in both Earth Science/Geology and Visual Arts/Glassblowing.
Jordan says , “It’s the process of blowing glass that drives me. I find the physical act of making glass so overwhelmingly fascinating. I approach most of my work with a consideration for the more classical techniques – it’s the framework that I use as a jumping point for experimentation.”
Not only is Jordan incredibly talented, he is really personable and extremely funny. He made everyone in the room feel at ease and we all often irrupted in bouts of laughter.
Another artist that was helping us is Austin Littenberg. Austin became interested in the art of glass blowing at age 16 after watching a documentary. He spent over 12 years developing his craft and learning the technical precision needed to work at this level.
Austin views the many ways Art presents itself and is in tune with it all, and it shows.
Clearly these two artist love what they do, and I for one am grateful for their expertise and their willingness to show the world their art.
They worked with us to create a beautiful cactus, complete with three flowers, one for each kid, and a Sedona rock like base. We loved the patience they showed and the skill to make us feel at ease. We never felt like we were about to do something we just couldn’t. It felt like we had been doing this before. That is the measure of a true instructor.
Our work of art was complete and we left there feeling accomplished and quite honestly, amazing!
Both Austin and Jordan have remarkable skills but also wonderful comedic timing. They were a absolutely pleasure to meet and I look forward to keeping up with their art in the future.
If you find yourself in Sedona and want to meet some really wonderful people, stop by The Melting Point and say hello! While you’re there, blow some glass!
How could I forget one of them most important things; They have a studio dog! Austin brings his sweet baby girl to work with him and she is an angel! We loved her! Make sure you give her some love when you visit!
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