James ‘Son Ford’ Thomas: The Devil and His Blues "a must see." - The New York Times

James ‘Son Ford’ Thomas: The Devil and His Blues "a must see." - The New York Times

“James ‘Son Ford’ Thomas: The Devil and His Blues” at New York University’s 80WSE Gallery is an inspirational show about the perseverance of art, and the tragedy of inequality. But it is also a thing of joy: It brings the work of a wonderful and underappreciated artist to the fore.

Lonnie Holley Is The Most Genuine Performance Artist In The Mother Universe — The Huffington Post

Lonnie Holley Is The Most Genuine Performance Artist In The Mother Universe — The Huffington Post

"I'm gonna get your garbage, your trash, your debris," Lonnie Holley says before a crowd gathered to hear him perform at the American Folk Art Museum as part of the ongoing exhibition "When the Curtain Never Comes Down."

Alabama Man Feted Around the Globe, Forgotten at Home – AL.com

Alabama Man Feted Around the Globe, Forgotten at Home – AL.com

In New York this week, at a posh Wall Street restaurant where Pharrell Williams sang for celebrities invited by Alicia Keys and Karl Lagerfeld, actor Hill Harper introduced a special honoree: Bessemer artist Thornton Dial.

 

And back home, the people said . . . who?

From the Deep South, an Overlooked Chapter in Art History - Hyperallergic

From the Deep South, an Overlooked Chapter in Art History - Hyperallergic

Is Bill Arnett enjoying the last laugh?

 

For five decades, the Atlanta-based writer, curator, and collector has researched and collected a vast array of art forms from around the world. During the latter part of his career, he has given particular attention to a diverse body of formerly overlooked artworks from his home region, the Deep South of the United States. Currently, Arnett and his collaborators are enjoying a moment of satisfaction and recognition—call it a moment of vindication—most of them never dreamed they would ever see.

The Met Embraces Neglected Southern Artists - The New Yorker

The Met Embraces Neglected Southern Artists - The New Yorker

One afternoon last week, as pre-Thanksgiving snow whitened Central Park, Sheena Wagstaff was in her office at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she chairs the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, reflecting on a major gift that the Met had just accepted: fifty-seven paintings, drawings, mixed-media pieces, and quilts by thirty African-American artists from the South.

For Met Museum, a Major Gift of Works by African-American Artists From the South — The New York Times

For Met Museum, a Major Gift of Works by African-American Artists From the South — The New York Times

The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced Monday that it had received a major gift of 20th-century works by African-American artists from the South, including 10 pieces by Thornton Dial and 20 important quilts made by the Gee’s Bend quilters of Alabama.

Souls Grown Deep Foundation Donates 57 Works to Metropolitan Museum of Art

Souls Grown Deep Foundation Donates 57 Works to Metropolitan Museum of Art

Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, announced today that 57 works by contemporary African American artists from the Southern United States have been donated to the Museum by the Souls Grown Deep Foundation from its William S. Arnett Collection. In addition to paintings, drawings, and mixed media works by acclaimed artists such as Thornton Dial, Lonnie Holley, and Nellie Mae Rowe, the major gift includes 20 important quilts dating from the 1930s to 2003 that were created by women artists based in the area around Gee’s Bend, Alabama.

Mr. Dial Has Something to Say

Watch now online

 

This four-time Emmy-winning film follows the life of artist Thornton Dial, and Bill Arnett, an art collector who discovered him. Through their experiences it examines the issue of racism and classism in Western art, and asks the question: What is art and who decides? This film won numerous industry accolades, including 4 Emmys, a CINE Golden Eagle Special Jury Award for best arts film nationwide, and a major grant from the NEA. It appeared at numerous film festivals to standing ovations, and traveled with the United Nations International Film Festival.

Lonnie Holley, the Insider’s Outsider - The New York Times Magazine

Lonnie Holley, the Insider’s Outsider - The New York Times Magazine

One night in October, just a couple blocks from Harvard Square, a young crowd gathered at a music space called the Sinclair to catch a performance by Bill Callahan, the meticulous indie-rock lyricist who has been playing to bookish collegiate types since the early ‘90s. Callahan’s opening act, Lonnie Holley, had been playing to similar audiences for two years. A number of details about Holley made this fact surprising: He was decades older than just about everyone in the club and one of the few African-Americans. He says he grew up the seventh of 27 children in Jim Crow-era Alabama, where his schooling stopped around seventh grade. In his own, possibly unreliable telling, he says the woman who informally adopted him as an infant eventually traded him to another family for a pint of whiskey when he was 4.

Lonnie Holley's "Keeping a Record of It" Best Music of 2013 - The Washington Post

Lonnie Holley's "Keeping a Record of It" Best Music of 2013 - The Washington Post

"... a free jazz fever dream from the deep South, a babbling Baptist sermon from deep space, a lullaby for the end of the world, a songbook that’s frequently beautiful and occasionally frightening."