Joe Minter, His Vision Of The Oil Spill, & His New Show

Yesterday I went and visited with Hilda and Joe Minter for a while; I had something I thought Joe could possibly use for his sculptures and when I got there, he showed me a piece inside his home that he made with some bottlecaps I had brought over earlier this year – this face with the bottlecaps + chain for hair + Coke bottles and case:

Well, Joe makes tribute or memorial vignettes in his art environment (African Village in America) and I was certain he had done something about the oil disaster. Sure enough:

It reads,

Save Us 2010″.

Here on the right is the barrel plus a black tarp to represent the oil and all the animals representing all the suffering of marine life:

The left has a representation of the drilling rig. Joe adds a couple of plastic bottles with a mixture added to reinforce that oil and water literally don’t mix:

Afterwards, we just talked and walked around; I had never noticed these oxen before (you could come here every day for a month and see something new each time):

Here’s Moses with his staff, “Let My People Go” and wearing broken chains with locks at the bottom:

Some of my favorite pics taken previously:

We later started talking about the show that’s opening this weekend at the Hoover Public Library. This is one of the smaller pieces that will be on display for sale – an airplane:

One piece that won’t be at the library but he would love for more people to be able to view is this crucifix:

Joe loves visitors; you can drop by to see him at the end of Nassau Avenue SW in Birmingham. If his truck is in the driveway, it’s a good sign that you can get a tour.

The reception for Joe and Hilda is this Sunday, June 27 from 3p-5p at the Plaza Art Gallery and Reading Garden at the Hoover Public Library. The show will go through Saturday, July 31.

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A set of my pics of Joe’s art environment over the past several years is here on Flickr.