Free Bahamian Day With Special Amos Ferguson Tour
Sunday, May 27, 2012 3:00 PM
The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas
Since our traditional “Free Bahamian Day” (third Sunday
of every month) fell on a day when we were still installing the show,
Sunday, May 27th, will be free for Bahamians. At 3 pm there will be a
short walking tour through the gallery with visiting scholar, Stephen
Savage. Savage's tour will offer further insight into the workings one
of our great Bahamian Master painters, including snippets from Savage's
own films and interviews with Amos Ferguson.
In the near future, visitors can look forward to Bahamian Outsider's
catalogue, which includes an introductory essay by Savage.
Savage is a professional and editorial photographer, artist and
educator. He teaches at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama. He has
edited several books and was awarded the Visual Arts Fellowship in
Photography from the Alabama State Council on the Arts in 2001. During
the 1994 Smithsonian Folk Life Festival in Washington, D.C., he sought
out Amos Ferguson and other artists from The Bahamas. Over the next five
years, Savage visited with Ferguson many times to photograph his work
and interview him for a definitive history of the man.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Bahamian Outsider: Sneak Peek #2
We are one week away from the official exhibition opening of Amos Ferguson: Bahamian Outsider. In honour of our upcoming show, the NAGB team wants to share another some close-ups of pieces in the show AND and shots of actual paintings.
IMPORTANT: Once the show has opened, if you can match all of the close-ups with the actual pieces, you win special Amos Ferguson merchandise!
We now present Sneak Peek #2 (the first one was on FB!). We hope you enjoy!
Sneak Peek Close-Ups:
Remember, if you can give us the names of these piece, once the show has opened, you win Amos Ferguson merchandise!
Sneak Peek Paintings:
Junkanoo Cow Face Match Me If You Can, 1990
Amos Ferguson: Bahamian Outsider opens Thursday, May 24th 2012 6:30PM to 8:30PM.
IMPORTANT: Once the show has opened, if you can match all of the close-ups with the actual pieces, you win special Amos Ferguson merchandise!
We now present Sneak Peek #2 (the first one was on FB!). We hope you enjoy!
Sneak Peek Close-Ups:
Remember, if you can give us the names of these piece, once the show has opened, you win Amos Ferguson merchandise!
Sneak Peek Paintings:
Amos Ferguson
House Paint on Board
36 x 30 in.
National Collection
The Bussett And The Monkey, 1990
Amos Ferguson
House Paint on Board
36 x 30 in.
National Collection
With over 200+ pieces and 30+ artists represented, Bahamian Outsider
promises views of never-before-seen Amos Ferguson paintings and
sculptures, and 2 smaller exhibitions that attempt to redefine the
notion of the Bahamian landscape and Bahamian intuitive art.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Upcoming Exhibition: Amos Ferguson, Bahamian Outsider
Click above for details.
The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas
is extremely pleased to be staging a large-scale retrospective of one
of the masters of the Bahamian art scene: Amos Ferguson. Born in Exuma
in 1920 and passed away in Nassau in 2009, Ferguson is well known beyond
the Bahamian shores for his brilliantly colored scenes of Bahamian life
and illustrated Bible stories. Aptly entitled "Bahamian Outsider," this show aims to firmly establish this self-taught artist into the firmament of great Bahamian and international artists.
This exhibition not only presents over 100 of his paintings, many of which are precious early works out of private collections that have remained long-unseen, but will also show Ferguson's glasswork, ceramics and interest in the creation of objects for daily use.
Despite great international success in his lifetime, Ferguson remained on the fringes of Bahamian culture for many years. Ferguson executed his naive, folksy works with outdoor house paint on humble cardboard; untrained and not part of any organized art network, he can hence be described as an "intuitive" or "outsider" artist. An obsessive producer, driven by faith and visions, over his life Ferguson accumulated an extensive oeuvre of uniquely styled depictions, replete with his very own brand of title spelling.
Not only is The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas re-opening the upstairs ballroom for this exhibition, which extends the gallery space by almost one third. This has given us the opportunity to re-display many works from the National Collection.
In order to parallel Ferguson's work on an art historical level, the downstairs exhibition will contextualize his practice within the "Outsider Artist" genre, clarifying what is an "outsider" or "intuitive" artist and examining this movement within the Bahamian art landscape. Examples of other "outsiders" are Joe Monks, Reverend Mervin Thompson, and Wellington Bridgewater, which will reveal this tradition to be a strong part of Bahamian culture. Contrasts will also be made with other established Bahamian artists such as Rolfe Harris and Eddie Minnis to illustrate clearly the difference between "self-taught" and "intuitive."
Finally, an interactive space has been designed to recreate the ambiance of Ferguson's studio. Visitors will be able to try to "Paint like Amos" and thus disprove a long-standing bias against the work of one of our greatest Bahamian master painters - that "a child could do that".
Amanda Coulson,
Director
The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas
This exhibition not only presents over 100 of his paintings, many of which are precious early works out of private collections that have remained long-unseen, but will also show Ferguson's glasswork, ceramics and interest in the creation of objects for daily use.
Despite great international success in his lifetime, Ferguson remained on the fringes of Bahamian culture for many years. Ferguson executed his naive, folksy works with outdoor house paint on humble cardboard; untrained and not part of any organized art network, he can hence be described as an "intuitive" or "outsider" artist. An obsessive producer, driven by faith and visions, over his life Ferguson accumulated an extensive oeuvre of uniquely styled depictions, replete with his very own brand of title spelling.
Not only is The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas re-opening the upstairs ballroom for this exhibition, which extends the gallery space by almost one third. This has given us the opportunity to re-display many works from the National Collection.
In order to parallel Ferguson's work on an art historical level, the downstairs exhibition will contextualize his practice within the "Outsider Artist" genre, clarifying what is an "outsider" or "intuitive" artist and examining this movement within the Bahamian art landscape. Examples of other "outsiders" are Joe Monks, Reverend Mervin Thompson, and Wellington Bridgewater, which will reveal this tradition to be a strong part of Bahamian culture. Contrasts will also be made with other established Bahamian artists such as Rolfe Harris and Eddie Minnis to illustrate clearly the difference between "self-taught" and "intuitive."
Finally, an interactive space has been designed to recreate the ambiance of Ferguson's studio. Visitors will be able to try to "Paint like Amos" and thus disprove a long-standing bias against the work of one of our greatest Bahamian master painters - that "a child could do that".
Amanda Coulson,
Director
The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas
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