Permanent Collection Gift 2009

In November 2009, the Gadsden Arts Center received a generous gift to its Permanent Collection: 15 pieces of Vernacular art and 2 historically significant works from the prestigious collection of Lou and Calynne Hill. Ten of the sixteen works included in the gift were exhibited in the Vernacular Art from the Hill Collection exhibition on display at the Arts Center this past fall. Donated works include the infamous Godzilla sculpture by O.L. Samuels, four works by the nationally acclaimed artist, Thornton Dial, Sr., an early watercolor painting by Dean Mitchell, and a tapestry painting by Chief Oloruntoba. In addition, 15 works of art are on loan, scheduled to be gifted to the Center in late 2010.  The next gift includes works by Mose Tolliver, Henry Speller, Joe Light, Edward Mumma, Lonnie Holley and Ronald Lockett. By the end of 2010, the Gadsden Arts Center will steward a 34 piece collection of Vernacular art to package and travel to art museums around the country. Our sincere thanks to Lou and Calynne Hill for this generous contribution to our region’s cultural community!

For information about the Gadsden Arts Center Vernacular Art Traveling Exhibition, please contact Curator Angie Barry at (850) 875-4866 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Thornton Dial, Sr.

Big Black Bear Trying to Survive, 1993

mixed media, 48” x 36”

Gift of Lou and Calynne Hill, December 2009
2009.1.1

This artist, Thornton Dial Sr., is the most famous vernacular artist from the Southeast, and his work has shattered the art world’s notion of “folk” and “outsider” art. Big Black Bear Trying to Survive is typical of the large sculptural assemblages he was creating in the 1990s. These works are intricate, thoughtful compositions always contain a message, often dealing with race and inequality in America and male-female relationships. These large-scale works are created with items Dial would find in his yard or in the trash. Dial liked to create his artwork with materials others have thrown away. Big Black Bear Trying to Survive is composed of various scrap metal, carpets, and trash bags and depicts a large black bear laying on its side intently staring out at the viewer. The Gadsden Arts Center exhibited this work in the exhibition, Vernacular Art from the Hill Collection, August 28–October 25, 2009.

Dial was born in Alabama in 1928 and is an artist who began with little exposure to the formal art world. He is one of twelve children and never knew his father. His family made their living sharecropping, and he grew up helping out on the farm. Dial went to school on and off for a few years, but dropped out completely after he was ridiculed for being 13 years old in the 2nd grade. Instead of going to school, Dial snuck off to work different odd jobs including carpenter, house painter, cement mixer, and ironworker. Dial says he was always making art and expressing his ideas; however, he didn’t know it was art until he met William Arnett in 1987.

Arnett is an art dealer and collector from Atlanta, Georgia, who traveled throughout the Southeast meeting and discovering artists like Thornton Dial. This type of art, known as “self-taught”, “folk art”, “outsider art”, or “vernacular” was unknown to the larger art community and was not truly considered “fine” art until artists like Thornton Dial exhibited at museums like the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and the Whitney Museum of Art in New York.

Thornton Dial is now in his 80s, and although he doesn’t create his large sculptural paintings anymore, he still draws and paints works on paper continuously. He is an artist who has created art his entire life, from a deep-rooted need to “make things”, and who didn’t know that he was making “art” until late in his life. Although Dial has never had any education or art training and is from a rural town in the Deep South, his work touches on themes of racial inequality, struggles in a modern world, and relationships between men and women, themes that resonate with audiences around the world.

Thornton Dial, Sr.

Everything is Under the Black Tree, n.d.

paint on plywood, 48” x 31.5”

Gift of Lou and Calynne Hill, December 2009
2009.1.2

Thornton Dial, Sr. is a prolific artist and has mastered many media. Everything is Under the Black Tree is a painting of a large white fish surrounded by a flowering black tree against a yellow background. The fish has blue and pink flowers and a face in profile painted on its side. The collectors had this piece in their collection for at least twenty years, and we can estimate it was created in the 1980s, before Dial began his large sculptural assemblages and his drawings on paper. This style seems more rigid than his later painting style, and the large number of images and forms squeezed into one piece is like a precursor to Dial larger, form and image filled sculptural assemblages. Dial’s drawings and paintings on paper, which he began painting in the 1990s, have less figures and animals filling the space.

Thornton Dial, Sr.

Life Go On, 1990

watercolor on paper, 22.5” x 30”

Gift of Lou and Calynne Hill, December 2009
2009.1.3

This work is a painting of the upper torso of a nude female executed in colors of purple, blue, red, and green. Two tigers, on either side of the woman, may be trying to comfort the woman by placing their paws on her shoulders. Two large trees flank the woman’s head, while one large blue bird flies above her head, and a small bird hides behind one of the tigers.

Thornton Dial began painting and drawing images of women on paper after an exhibition of his work in 1990 called Ladies of the United States, at Kennesaw State College in Marietta, Georgia. An art critic wrote that Dial couldn’t draw and made women look ugly, which was particularly hurtful to Dial, as he has a huge respect for the female race. He was raised by women, and believes women carry strength, power, and love. Dial says that man would lose his “struggle” without women’s strength and love. Now in his 80s, Dial still draws and paints on paper, primarily images of women with animals and nature.

Thornton Dial, Sr.

Fishing for Love, 1990

watercolor, ink, pencil, crayon on paper, 22.5” x 30”

Gift of Lou and Calynne Hill, December 2009
2009.1.4

Fishing for Love is an image Dial has reworked in several of his drawings on paper. In this version, a large pink fish hangs upside-down while flanked by women on either side. One woman, with long brown hair, touches the fish’s face, which also holds another woman’s face. In the upper left corner, another female watches the scene.

Thornton Dial, Jr.

untitled, n.d.

mixed media, 39” x 48”

Gift of Lou and Calynne Hill, December 2009
2009.1.5

This assemblage, by Thornton Dial, Jr., depicts an image of a large blue butterfly on a flower, with insects sporting human faces flying nearby. A large tree branch, carpet and scrap metal were attached to the plywood support and painted with saturated primary and secondary colors. The Gadsden Arts Center exhibited this work in its exhibition, Vernacular Art from the Hill Collection, August 28–October 25, 2009.

Thornton Dial Jr. is a son of Thornton Dial, Sr. who was born in 1953 in Bessemer, Alabama. In 1986, inspired by his father’s art, he began creating artwork of his own. Dial Jr. works in several mediums including painting, sculpture, and assemblage. He prefers to paint with oil-based enamel house paint, which he considers to be a basic material, as opposed to using “artist’s paint”, or more traditional materials. His assemblages are made from found and purchased materials, and his sculptures are made from cut and molded sheet metal and iron.  Dial’s paintings are characterized by the use of strong colors, bold lines, and often repetition to emphasize his message.  He uses animals and nature in his work to symbolize social conditions within modern society. Much of his work focuses on the relationships between blacks and whites, as well as man’s relationship to nature. Over the years, Thornton Dial Jr. has gained much recognition for his art and has exhibited around the country.

O.L. Samuels

Godzilla, n.d.

paint on wood, 29” x 84” x 23”

Gift of Lou and Calynne Hill, December 2009
2009.1.6

Godzilla is a 7-foot tall sculpture carved by Tallahassee artist O.L. Samuels. This imaginary creature is made from a discarded telephone pole and is part of a husband and wife set of these beasts. Godzilla is the female, and her husband, according to the artist, “now lives in Atlanta, Georgia”. The Gadsden Arts Center exhibited this work in the exhibition, Vernacular Art from the Hill Collection, August 28–October 25, 2009.

O.L. Samuels was born in Wilcox County, Georgia, on Nov. 18, 1931. The artist left home when he was eight years old and worked various odd jobs around the country including farmer, professional boxer, and tree surgeon. While working as a tree surgeon in 1982, Samuels was seriously injured and had to spend a lengthy recovery in a wheelchair. The accident sent him into a deep depression, until he remembered his grandmother’s advice to carve wood whenever he was down. This was the beginning of Samuel’s artistic career. Samuels works mainly with found wood such as tree trunks, roots, and old wood furniture, which he will carve for months at a time. Although color-blind, Samuels paints several layers of wild, expressive colors, “using every color so he doesn’t leave any out”. He is known for his imaginary images, dreamlike figures, and mythical creatures, each of which comes with a story about its existence. His work often has a spiritual message, as Samuels became a lay minister later in life.

O.L. Samuels lives in Tallahassee with his wife, using his living room as a workshop. He is considered one of the most talented self-taught artists in America by museums across the country. Samuels’ work is part of several permanent collections, including the Arkansas Arts Center and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.