Earlier this year, we visited Pasaquan outside Buena Vista, Georgia (well, actually didn’t go inside since we were there on an ‘off’ day) but nevertheless got these pics. The site is open every first Saturday, April – November, so if you’d like to go, next month is the time. It’s on Eddie Martin Road.
The site was created by Eddie Owens Martin, 1908-1986 (Georgia, both) who started the environment here in 1957, walked around in robes (if anything) and had serious ‘big hair’, and went by the name ‘St. EOM’. After having sowed wild oats in NYC where among other things he made money as a fortune teller, he returned home to these four acres of land with the little house you can see in the picture below.
He established his own religion, Pasaquoyanism, cobbled together from other ideas but replete with symbolism of big hair, ultimately fashioned a faith to fill his own void. That void was never completely filled. He ultimately took his own life, and was sadly only widely recognized as an artist posthumously.
—
The Canadian show Jason McCoy Eats America, visited Pasaquan this year:
https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10202017417257194
—
Art by St. EOM at the High — been in love with this since I first took this pic several years ago:
—
Artists for Pasaquan will be November 2 and 3 this year:
BTW, what they’re calling ‘cosmic pickles’ above = koolickles!
—
Kohler visited Pasaquan recently and discussed preservation. From the Pasaquan site:
Terri Yoho, Executive Director, and Dan Smith, Senior Preservation Coordinator of the Kohler Foundation, spent two days touring Pasaquan and other art facilities located in the west Georgia region…
…Should the Kohler Foundation decide to undertake the restoration of Pasaquan, they would assume ownership of the art site, expend the funds, time, and expertise to restore the site, and then re-gift it to a recipient arts organization. That organization has not yet been selected. The recipient arts organization must agree to maintain the site into the future before any conservation work by Kohler could happen.
—
This (as above) is how Kohler was able to help with sites like Kenny Hill’s sculpture garden in Chauvin, Louisiana — once the restoration was underway, the property was gifted to the nearby Nicholls State University.