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USA
South
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Memphis, TN
Yard Show - Hawkins Bolden
1914-2005
Environment, spiritual and protective messages
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Information:
September 10, 1914- January 2005
Memphis, Tennessee
Hawkins Bolden’s small urban home was squeezed between a car wash and a tall brick privacy wall; shadowed by the wall was a room-size garden that Bolden loved and protected from harm by "scarecrows" that he made from found objects. His scarecrows are attached to posts; their faces are made from punctured pans, washtubs, and coffeepots that are alleyway finds, and old rags hang from them to blow in the wind. Yet when his assemblages are spotlighted in white-walled rooms, they bear a clear resemblance to modern abstract sculpture.
Bolden, who was half Creole and part American Indian, was blinded in a baseball accident when he was eight years old and never saw his amazing creations. "I been gardening since I was nine—it’s all I can do," he claimed. "My little nephew told me that if you make eyes in a bucket with a screwdriver, that’ll keep the birds away."
Bolden’s scarecrows are intended to be placed outside, but many buyers prefer to display them indoors as sculpture. Collectors who come to folk art from a modern or fine art perspective believe in Bolden’s sculpture as art; each collector will have to make his or her own decision as to where his work best fits.
*this entry was taken from: Rosenak, Chuck and Jan. Contemporary American Folk Art: a Collector’s Guide, p. 78-79. Abbeville Press, New York. 1996
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Bibliography:
"Contemporary American Folk Art - A Collector's Guide" Chuck and Jan Rosenak, Abbeville Press, 1996.
"Testimony: Vernacular Art of the African-American South: the Ronald and June Shelp Collection", Cronwill, Danto, Gaither, Gundaker and McWillie, 2001.
"Next Generation Southern Black Aesthetic", Sims, Lowery/Adrian Piper.
Slotin Folk Art Auction Catalog, Masterpiece Sale, November 4, 2006
"20th Century American Folk, Self Taught, and Outsider Art" by Betty-Carol Sellen, Cynthia J. Johnson, Neal-Schuman Publishers, New York, 1993.
"Souls Grown Deep: African American vernacular Art of the South", Vol 2, Arnett, et al, 2001.
"Self Taught, Outsider, and Folk Art—A guide to American Artists, Locations and Resources" by Betty-Carol Sellen with Cynthia J. Johnson, 2000.
"The Intuitive Eye, The Mendelsohn Collection" by Ricco/Maresca Gallery, 2000.
"American Self-Taught Art: An Illustrated Analysis of 20th Century Artists and Trends with 1,319 Capsule Biographies" by Florence Laffal and Julius Laffal, 2003.
"Self-Made Worlds: Visionary Environments" by Roger Manley and Mark Sloan, Aperture, New York, 1997.
Southern visions: shared experiences and individual expressions are revealed in a current museum show featuring 27 black Outsider artists from the Deep South - Grass-Roots Art - Exhibition - Review "Art in America, July, 2003 by David Ebony, Kate Wodell |
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Credit: Slotin Folk Art |
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The Solar System
Metal and carpet fragments. 21" w x 22" h
Credit: Slotin Folk Art |
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Face Hawkins Bolden Face. Tin and rubber. 5" w x 10" h. Provenance: Ben Apfelbaum.
Credit: Slotin Folk Art |
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Metal Assemblage
Hawkins Bolden Metal Assemblage. Found metal objects with rubber hose. 34" w x 26" h.
Credit: Slotin Folk Art |
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Fan with Can
Plastic, tin can, carpet remnants. 25" diameter.
Credit: Slotin Folk Art |
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Assemblage
Metal, wood and cloth. 28 x 24
Credit: Slotin Folk Art |
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Two Sculptures
Leather, rubber wire and metal. 14 x 14.5 and 9.5 x 16
Credit: Slotin Folk Art |
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Assemblage with 6 Circular Focal Points. Created mostly from metal. 25" w x 28" h. Excellent example of Bolden's work.
Credit: Slotin Folk Art |
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