The African American Artists exhibit at the Eastern Shore Art Center is by far the largest collection of its kind displayed at the same time in the same place anywhere on the Gulf Coast. For far too long African American visual artists have languished on the back burners waiting for inclusion in the mainstream galleries, museums, traveling exhibitions and the private collections of art lovers nationwide. Of course a few made it to the forefront, but the numbers pale in comparison to the larger picture. The purpose of this exhibit is to give a wee peep into a world of talent awaiting discovery by the world at large.

Works displayed cover every conceivable genre including oils and acrylics on canvas, house paint on wood, embroidery on canvas, clay sculptures, wood sculptures, found metal assemblages, wood carvings, print making, mud cloth clothing, semi precious stones jewelry and incredible quilting.

Contributing artists range from the icons like Clementine Hunter, Mose T (Tolliver), Jimmy Lee Sudduth, and Bernice Sims. Clementine Hunter, born in 1886, recognized as the first Black female primitive painter by Look Magazine in 1952. Hunter was honored in 1955 with the first one-man show by a Black artist at the New Orleans Museum of Art. Mose T, born in 1919, is considered one of the most widely known self taught artists in the U.S. with works on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institute, The American Folk Art Museum in New York and The High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Jimmy Lee Sudduth, born in 1910, painted using mud and clay colored with berries, leaves, soot and coffee grounds while using his fingers as brushes. Bernice Sims, known as the Grandma Moses of her time, started painting after graduating from high school at age 52. Her painting of the Edmund Pettus Bridge was included in the Civil Rights series of the postage stamps by the Post Office.

Lonnie Holley, Charlie Lucas and Betty Sue Matthews are all geniuses at taking found, discarded objects and artistically transforming them into works that radiate with intensity and unusual power. Then there are the present day superstars like Michael Banks, Chris Clark, Athlone Clarke, Maurice Cook, Clifton Pearson, and Missionary Mary Proctor. And the stars on the rise like BJ Cooper, Sonja Griffin Evans, Booker T. Foster and Paige Summers. Quilters include Elmira Sanders, Yvonne Wells, and China Pettway and Mary Ann Pettway of Gees Bend.

Some of the exhibiting artists are professionally trained while others are completely self taught but they all defy categorization. This exhibit will be on display through the month of April.

ESAC will commemorate Fairhope’s Centennial with this special exhibit. Local artists will decorate a series of panels with scenes from Fairhope’s past based on photographs supplied by the Fairhope Single Tax Corp. Participating artists include Susan Alsup, Pat Buttarazzi, Debbie Kingrea, Bill Harrison, Stacey Howell, Phyllis Horne with Bayside Academy students, Nancy Raia/Michael Johnson, Ron Thomson, Mark Will, Shawn Johnson with Fairhope Middle School and Felicia Olds with Fairhope High School students. Following the exhibit, the Centennial panels will be placed around downtown Fairhope.