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.
I was contacted by E.T. Wickham’s great-granddaughter earlier this year about a project she’s working on, and have been watching this talk she gave on his sculptures
in part: “E.T. Wickham: The Intersection of Family and Preservation” by Brittany Wickham Walker
In the back woods of Palmyra, Tennessee, a small community southwest of Clarksville, dozens of concrete statues line a road near the Cumberland River. Although many of these sculptures have been vandalized since their creation in the mid-1900s, they play an important role in the settlement and identity of the area. These sculptures were created by Enoch Tanner Wickham, a self-taught artist who created nearly forty concrete works during the last twenty years of his life, using only the materials around him. Although his period of artistic significance lasted less than twenty years, Wickham’s work had a notable impact on his community. His formal education ended in the sixth grade, but his knowledge of and interest in American history and politics inspired his work. His sculptures included politicians, religious figures, wildlife, American presidents, and soldiers. A descendent of one of the first families to settle in Montgomery County, Wickham was surprisingly liberal for his age and location, inspired by figures like John F. Kennedy. The artist had a reputation of being a mischief-maker, often playing practical jokes on his conservative (and not receptive) Palmyra neighbors.
I visited this environment a few years ago — here are some of the images
I finished reading Wayne Flynt’s new Afternoons with Harper Lee (here signed at Alabama Booksmith, here at Bookshop, here at Amazon) about a week ago; in it, she mentions Truman Capote, whom she played with as a child (he lived with his Faulk family in Monroeville in a house by the Lee home). The Faulk home is no longer, and on the site now, a dairy bar. A historic marker stands:
and reads in part: Capote himself lived in this home between 1927 and c. 1933, and for several years spent his summer vacations here. Two of the Faulk sisters operated a highly successful millinery shop located on the town square. The third sister, affectionately known as “Sook,” was the inspiration for characters in the Glass Harp, The Thanksgiving Visitor, and A Christmas Memory.
Nelle Lee mentions to the Flynts one day that Sook was her favorite of the Faulks, and made her out to be a poorly educated but faithful Baptist except when she would sample the moonshine whiskey used in her fruitcakes — and that those fruitcakes truly deserved all the praise heaped upon them.
The accents here are just not right, but I’ve clipped the scene in ACM where Sook brings her ingredient shopping list:
These cooler temps do indicate that it’s fruitcake time, because a proper fruitcake requires weeks of maturing…letting the alcohol mellow out some.
I make quickie fruitcakes — cupcakes! — the night before they’re enjoyed, and the alcohol has not mellowed out. It’s THERE. (Hi, if you’re one of those people who’s going for wine-level descriptors of the complex flavors that come with cakes that have set for weeks, that’s great too, but just get started early). And here’s the most important, important, important thing about fruitcakes no matter what you’re going for: only put in what tastes good that you’d eat on your own otherwise. Citron peel? No thanks. Make these like a crabcake: only enough filler to hold things together. A good fruitcake has all the yummy bits — pineapple, cherries, golden raisins all generously bathed in whiskey plus pecans, even chocolate chips if you like. It’s so customizable. Here’s my recipe.
As always, all images unless otherwise noted copyright Deep Fried Kudzu. Like to use one elsewhere? Kindly contact me here.
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Purchased Wayne Flynt’s new book, Afternoons with Harper Lee, this week at Alabama Booksmith which has a stunning attribute: every book there is signed by the author and sold at the regular publisher’s price. And they’ll ship. Before it was this way, I got an amazing collection of (unsigned) Eugene Walter books that were almost impossible to get anywhere else.
“I know when they took him to the hospital, when he was dying and they were carrying him into the hospital and on the way in, one of the nurses asked him if he was allergic to anything and he said ‘only one thing…Fob James,’” said Haines with a chuckle at the joke at the expense of Alabama’s former Governor.
The Scottsboro Boys Museum reopened this week and I attended the dedication and ribbon cutting. Will make a post later this week (and the exhibits are new and fabulous).
At the NYT: How Did a Minister Come to Own Hundreds of Edward Hoppers? An exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art exploring Hopper’s vision of New York has also rekindled questions about how a Baptist minister came to own so much of his art.
Saw this Edward Hopper, his 1962 ‘New York Office’, at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts last year. Part of the permanent collection there since 1989.
In Helvetia, West Virginia, from the Johnson City Press: The fresh flowers that grace each table at The Hűtte, the collection of black-iron skillets purchased over the years at estate sales, and the meticulously waxed floors are all testament to the enduring lessons and influence of Eleanor, who insisted on being called “Műtter,” to honor her father’s family heritage and her adopted hometown’s reason for being.
…Although the population of Helvetia has remained below 100 people for years, Eleanor felt it was the center of the universe. “Thank G-d, it’s not easy to get here. It’s just wonderful,” she said.
Some 85 people live there today, and they celebrate their life together often, bringing home-baked cakes to the annual community ramp dinner in the spring and roasting a whole pig in a pit in the fall.
Several of the recipes used at The Hűtte came from families in the community. From the umlaut in the name of the business to the sauerkraut served with a dill pickle slice on top, the menu strongly reflects the Swiss-German heritage of Helvetia.
The aroma of frying potatoes is ever present in The Hűtte’s kitchen as cooks prepare order after order of rosti, a Swiss potato dish fried in butter in one of those black-iron skillets.
At the National Gallery of Art in DC, through March 26, 2023, Called to Create: Black Artists of the American South. The 40 works include those by Gees Bend Quilters, Thornton Dial, Lonnie Holley, Joe Minter, Joe Light, Ronald Lockett, Purvis Young, Nellie Mae Rowe, and Georgia and Henry Speller.
At West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Inside Appalachia: This week, we travel to Charleston, West Virginia, to learn about the importance of funeral singers to Black communities (& more)
David Zwirner Gallery in NY has an exhibit of (mostly) never-before-seen images by William Eggleston, William Eggleston: The Outlands, on view through December 17.
From the press release: A photograph of a glass of iced tea resting on a table in a diner seems to almost self-consciously reference Eggleston’s now iconic image of a drink resting on an airplane tray table, also taken during this period. A photograph of a blue 1956 Dodge station wagon appears to have been captured on the same street and from the same low vantage point as Eggleston’s well-known image of a tricycle, which donned the cover of William Eggleston’s Guide.2 A view of the corner of a graffitied interior, drenched in a deep pinkish-red hue, brings to mind another of the artist’s best-known images, depicting a lightbulb projecting from a bloodred ceiling. Familiar yet startlingly fresh, these images conjure a sense of déjà vu–like reverie, reflecting the poignancy of Eggleston’s artistry.
Here, a few Egglestons from an exhibit at the Ogden in 2017
and here, from the Memphis Brooks, also from a 2017 visit
Great time last weekend horseback riding with an adventure group I lead. Recommend Rusted Roof Barn at Oak Mountain State Park. Had TWO huge wins last week. Such really terrific things, both of them, and each are embargoed for a few days but will absolutely show up here when they can be announced. Everyone’s doing great and enjoying autumn. Hope you are too. xoxo!
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