Doing a bit of a rewind on a post from 2009 because I was thinking of the late Don Coley, who passed away in 2013, and the magical world he created in Marion, Alabama:
Don was an artist and an encourager of other artists. He made what made him happy.
He sold other people’s art, his art, plants from the yard, and antiques and junk he’d found everywhere
It was a vibe.
Don:
…and one of his pieces showing the little town and the cotton fields all around
I actually bought my George Kornegay piece from Don
Don painted a lot, but closer to our visit, he’d been given a kiln as was digging clay, making his own pottery
Another of Don’s ;arger paintings here.
I remember thinking I’ll just take this cabinet and everything inside it (and I think there was a Nicola Marschall painting in this room too
One of the funniest things is that Don sold a Venus de Milo statue to a gentleman who owns a gas station, and they placed it between the pumps (those old ’70s analog pumps: the numbers that roll). Av’s friend Al Benn did a story about it in 2007 because a woman would come by at night and dress the statue:
Perry County’s Venus de Milo lives between two gas pumps and has had her armless, near-naked body draped in everything from a colorful boa to a maternity outfit.
Unlike the original Venus, which is on display at the Louvre in Paris and attracts thousands of tourists each year, the one here is outside a convenience store where folks drop by to get some hoop cheese, saltines and RC colas.
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The mystery clothier began adding some color to the gray statute about two weeks after her arrival, initially draping a pink-and-yellow boa around her neck.
After that, Venus wound up in a one-piece orange bathing suit. A few weeks later, she was decked out in a maternity outfit, complete with pillow. Soon, a larger pillow was added, apparently by someone who wanted to show her “progress.”
Then, the “blessed event” arrived — a “baby” with bright yellow hair, chubby cheeks and a green dress. She was carefully placed in a metal carrier and draped around Venus’ neck.
Jerry Siegel, a well-known photographer who grew up in Selma, took this image of the Venus de Milo, which is beyonnnddddd. I’m almost positive it appears in his Black Belt Color book, the works of which were an exhibit at the Georgia Museum of Art at UGA.