Twenty-plus years of documenting the South's vernacular art, visionary environments and traditions….plus modern art exhibits, Faulkner and Eudora, and This Week's Various. Welcome.
A rewind from July 2020:
In north Alabama around Hazel Green, there’s Butter-N-Egg Road (which at another part of the road is called Butter And Egg Rd on a different sign) and there’s also
Butter and Egg Grocery with the analog gas pumps
not too far from there, the Lickskillet Mini Storage in the community of…Lick Skillet.
BTW, there’s also a Butter and Egg Road in Troy, Alabama and the story is that it’s where farmers would sell their goods on the way into town and the name stuck.
Mickey Mouse, in a lawnmower, up a pole
Also, USA
Warrior AL, 2019.
(Mickey’s since been replaced)
above: a Doubletree cookie
When we all stayed home in 2020, Hilton must have had the idea to help make things a little easier on all of us because they released the recipe to their Doubletree Hotel cookie — the warm treat that we can enjoy upon check-in.
I made cookies, bars, pastry, pies, cakes, candy, and goshamighty the breadddd during that time. This week for daytime garden club (FPGC) I decided it was time to give it a go, as they’re different enough: chocolate chips sure, plus walnuts and oats, and they’re sweetly familiar too.
Two batches were baked and the key is to underbake, underbake, underbake. If these come out of the oven when they’re ‘done’ like a traditional chocolate chip cookie, they seem a little tough (maybe because of the nuts and oats) but take them out a couple or three minutes early and they set up really nicely.
A big hit. I followed the recipe exactly and it can be found here at the Hilton website. Enjoy!
For daytime garden club this week, I also made a pasta salad, Nutella twists, churro crackers (which also made an appearance at a parents supper dessert potluck at the boys’ school), roast beef croissants (with strawberry jam and arugula), peanut butter cup fudge based on the NYT Cooking recipe (which I thought maybe wasn’t quite as elegant as the other dishes there, but seriously who doesn’t love Reese’s cups so I went with it this once and it was the best fudge I’ve ever made), and shortbread.
Pic above from a visit with Joe last year.
Can’t wait to celebrate Joe next month. A million thanks to Tyler Jones at 1504.
In Birmingham, an exhibit called ‘Joe Minter is Here’ is opening October 3 and running through October 20 with hours Thursday – Saturday: 10a-6p and Sundays 1-5p.
Marc Steel Company
600 6th Ave South
Birmingham, Alabama
Details and registration: joeminterishere.com
To learn more and register for special events, visit JoeMinterIsHere.com
Produced by 1504. Presented by Create Birmingham. In partnership with Navigate Affordable Housing Partners. Made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts, SouthArts, Alabama Humanities Alliance, and the Bruno Foundation.
From the promo: For decades, people have traveled from around the
world to visit his sacred art environment, “African Village in America,” where he has used discarded materials to chronicle the Black experience. Today, his work can be found in the most prestigious collections in the country, from The
Metropolitan Museum of Art to the National Gallery, but this will be his first solo show in his hometown. Located at a historic warehouse in his Titusville
neighborhood, this immersive exhibit will be a landmark moment to celebrate Joe Minter, introduce his story to new generations, and highlight the importance of preserving cultural heritage.
Now through October 14, an exhibit, Joe Minter. Under the Stars, Under the Sun is on at March Gallery in NY.
At Meer: Joe Minter’s paintings are made, quite literally, under the stars and sun. He prefers to paint outdoors under the auto shed attached to his home, a shaded spot with a light breeze and a direct view of the front gate to his property, the point of arrival for guests wanting to visit The African Village in America. Like his sculptures, the paintings are didactic and narrative-driven, intended both to puzzle and educate. Minter has been sporadically painting since the 1960s, only beginning to do so in earnest in 2021. This return to painting at nearly 80 years old can most simply be explained by every great artist’s desire to innovate and explore.
BTW, they also have available pieces by Richard Dial and Ronald Lockett.
from a 2009 visit
The late artist L.V. Hull’s home-studio in Mississippi has been added to the US’s National Register of Historic Places—a first for an art environment created by an African American, and the first time a Black female visual artist’s home-studio has been recognised as nationally significant (rather than just significant to its home state).
…Annalise Flynn, an independent curator involved in advocating for the site. “The fact that this is going to remain a cultural asset within the state of Mississippi is really exciting, and I hope more people start to invest in things like this within other small communities.”
Flynn, who manages the Kohler Foundation’s Spaces Archive, connected Smith with the philanthropic organisation, which in 2022 conserved about 850 pieces of Hull’s art that had been stored in the local city hall’s basement. The Kohler Foundation then donated the works to the Arts Foundation of Kosciusko. Although none of Hull’s art is currently installed on the house itself, there are plans to show it as part of the Legacy Center, and an exhibition of her work will open next year at the Mississippi Museum of Art.
Free Bible, Bankruptcy Welcome
Shelbyville TN, 2008.
You must be logged in to post a comment.