Center: Charlie Lucas, In Honor of My Great-Grandfather, a Wheel Within a Wheel (I Had to Go Into It to Unlock It to See the Spirit of My Grandfather, the Wrench Was the Tool to Unlock It); mixed-media found object sculpture.
Charlie Lucas and Yvonne Wells: What I Knew How To Do takes its name and inspiration from a quote by Maya Angelou. The quote reads, “I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.” The exhibition of works by two self-taught Alabama legends focuses on their mutual love of storytelling, which both artists use to share family histories, biblical and spiritual parables, and Civil Rights and American history. This exhibition was organized by the Shelby County Arts Council and curated by Paul Barrett.
from the exhibition text
Yvonne Wells, Sewing Patriotism, 2001-11; quilted fabric and mixed-media. Photography by Jerry Siegel. All images courtesy the Wiregrass Museum.
Foreground: Charlie Lucas, Dancing Shoes; painting on board with artist’s garden hose frame.
Charlie Lucas, The Two Sisters that Went to Church Every Sunday (One of Them Could Not Hear or See, and They Lived on 075 Road, the Street Was 9B and the House Number Was 27); mixed-media found object assemblage. Photography by Jerry Siegel.
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Hanging installation: Charlie Lucas, Do You Hear Me Moaning?, mixed-media found object sculpture (6 elements).
In this essay for our 2022 theme Invasive Species, Allison Young speaks with artist Hannah Chalew about pollution and waste as new ways of thinking about art making.
Criticism is often misunderstood as a form of combat – the writer against their subject. The 2022 Art Writing Incubator will focus on how considered, measured criticism can be an act of communion between artists and critics.
