PERMANENT COLLECTION
The Gadsden Arts Center has several outstanding works of art on permanent loan or as part of the permanent collection. The Center is in the process of expanding the collection through the generous donations of local art colletors.
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Mary Proctor
Once Again I Fall Down…, 1997
mixed media, 14.5” x 19”
Gift of Lou and Calynne Hill, December 2009
2009.1.10
This mixed media relief image portrays a male figure kneeling with his hands clasped in prayer against a purple and yellow-splotched sky. A spiritual passage is written in black around the figure and reads, “ Once again I fall down on my knees praying, Lord Lord Lord have mercy please. I’m a big boy now. When I was a child moma taught me to pray she said it will be a day you’ll get down and knell out with moma. Lord that day is here.” It is signed, “Missionary Mary Proctor”. The Gadsden Arts Center exhibited this work in the exhibition, Vernacular Art from the Hill Collection, August 28–October 25, 2009.
Mary Proctor is a self-taught visionary artist who lives in Tallahassee, Florida. After her grandmother, aunt, and uncle were killed in a tragic fire in 1995, this self-described “junk dealer”, was devastated by her loss. Soon after, according to Proctor, as she sat in her backyard, a bright light appeared and a voice spoke to her, telling her to find a salvaged door in her yard and paint an image of a lady on this door. She followed the directive and found relief and purpose for her life in creating art that expresses her Christian beliefs and lessons taught to her by her grandmother. Mary sees herself as a missionary and uses her art to spread her message, often writing verses from the Bible and other inspirational messages on her paintings. Incorporating objects from her junkyard into her work, she creates three-dimensional paintings that speak to the hearts of those that view them. “Missionary Mary” Proctor has found God’s purpose for her, peace from her past, and a mission in life.
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Works on Loan:
Florida Shirt
Leo McMillan
mixed media
On loan from the artist
This large-scale mixed media sculpture represents all things associated with the state of Florida, included dolphins, oranges, flamingos, NASA, snakes, alligators, and more while posing as a “Florida Shirt”. Artist Leo McMillan teaches 3D Design and Art Tools and Techniques at Florida State University and has maintained a professional art studio for thirty years. He is a past recipient of an Individual Artists Fellowship from the State of Florida and was one of three artists chosen statewide to design a monumental sculpture for the front of the State Capitol. Currently, McMillan resides in Quincy, and sits on the Gadsden Arts Center Exhibition Committee.
 Ichiboku Sculptures:
Natabori, Mongaku, Yama Uba
Mark Lindquist
wood
On loan from the artist
Mark Lindquist has been an innovator and leader in the field of woodturning/sculpture since the late 1960s. Lindquist's thirty-plus years of contributions to contemporary art have altered the direction of woodturning and sculpture worldwide. Through exhibiting, writing and teaching, Lindquist was instrumental in bringing about the acceptance of the craft of woodturning as a serious art form, and inspired and nurtured the followers of this fledgling movement. Mark Lindquist's sculpture has evolved out of his art historical studies and his mastery of, and experimentation with, the craft of woodturning. Beginning in the late 1960s, he developed many of the techniques and aesthetic concepts which underlie the current studio woodturning movement, including the use of flawed materials (especially spalted wood), the application of modern abrasive technology, and the integration of Japanese ceramic sensibilities.
These sculptures are from one of Lindquist’s several series of sculpted wood. Ichiboku, literally "one tree," is a type of Japanese sculpture made from a single block of wood. This technique flourished in the ninth century when a spirit of religious revivalism prevailed, and the spirit of the tree was invoked to lend strength to the image carved from it.
Lindquist’s works have been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the world, and have been acquired by prestigious museums such as the National Museum of American Art of the Smithsonian, the Art Institute of Chicago, the White House Collection of American Craft, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the High Museum in Atlanta, and numerous other public and private collections.
In September of 2010, the Gadsden Arts Center will host and exhibition that explores the 40-year evolution of Lindquist’s work, from wood vessels and furniture to large-scale totems to abstract photography.
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Gadsden Arts, Inc.