Detail View: University Art Galleries (UMassD): George and Helm Spelvin Folk Art Collection

The George and Helen Spelvin Folk Art Collection

January 31 - March 12, 2009

2009

University Art Gallery (UMass Dartmouth Galleries)

Beauvais Lyons, The Hokes Archives, University of Tennessee

This exhibition will survey the creations of eleven different artists in the collection. Examples include enamel painted records by Lucas Farley, Arthur Middleton's painted portraits of American Presidents, numerous "limberjack" puppets by Lester Dowdey, velvet paintings of brides by Charlotte Black, flower paintings on book pages by Emma Whorley, and some of the best examples of "mug jugs" by North Carolina potter Rufus Martinez. E. B. Hazzard's "alien communication device," made of over 300 flattened tin cans on a modified tent pole structure and Max Pritchard's hand-printed religious tracts on cereal boxes are also represented in the collection. The show also includes the inter-racial rag doll friendship chain by Loretta Howard, whose grandfather was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Over the past twenty-five years, when they were not busy with their jobs as a schoolteacher and an insurance agent, Helen and George Spelvin have devoted their energy to the study and collection of visionary folk art. Today, when there is a renewed enthusiasm for folk art, the Spelvin Collection is certain to make a significant contribution to this growing field. While a small number of works from their collection have been loaned to museums, including the Smithsonian Institution and the Erie Museum of Art, no comprehensive public showing of their collection has ever taken place. This exhibition is on a national tour after having been first presented at Carnegie Mellon University in January and February of 2001.

Folk Art

http://www1.umassd.edu/cvpa/universityartgallery/past/2009/spelvin.cfm

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George and Helm Spelvin Folk Art Collection

mixed media

Beauvais Lyons created a fictitious couple, the Spelvins, and documented their background and interest, and further made all of the work of the 11 artists in their collection in varying styles that reflect the differing attitudes and backgrounds of these imaginary artists. The exhibition includes introductory and biographical text panels with black and white photographs of the collectors and artists. Known to many from his works of archaeological parody over the past 25 years, folk art represents a fairly new thread in Beauvais Lyons' work. However, regardless of its subject, this new work continues his interest in calling into question the authority of the museum, as well as the credibility of biography. For inattentive viewers, this show may be easily mistaken for the real thing. For those who look closely, this show offers a provocative critique of the field of contemporary folk art. Here is a press release within this press release that presents the exhibition as a genuine undertaking:

In 1997, the Spelvin Collection was donated to the Hokes Archives at the University of Tennessee. The Spelvins bequeathed their collection to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville to "serve as a creative resource for research and teaching." The collection is comprised of more than 900 art objects, many of which are undocumented in the world of folk art. The national touring exhibition presenting the collection was assembled by Beauvais Lyons, Director of the Hokes Archives and an Ellen McClung Berry Professor of Art.

http://web.utk.edu/~blyons/spelvin.htm

http://www1.umassd.edu/calendar/?ek=14402