Beverly Buchanan (1940-2015)
South Florida Hurricane Repair, 2009.
About:
The sharecropper’s shack, a disappearing fixture in the rural southern landscape, is often associated with poverty, but Buchanan saw it as an enduring image of vitality and creativity that is animated by the hopes and dreams of its inhabitants. By depicting vernacular architecture and its environment, Buchanan, who lived and worked in Georgia for much of her adult life, constructed a narrative that serves as a metaphor for the triumph of the human spirit over poverty and adversity. Although academically trained, Buchanan utilized the tools often associated with the self-taught artist, such as inserted text, found objects, and loosely applied vibrant color, to create the visually rich textures of the humble, yet complex, structures in her drawings, sculptures, prints, and photographs.(text New Georgia Encyclopedia)
Narrow Doors, 2009.
Painter’s Cabin, 2008.
Statement:
“My work is about, I think, responses. My response to what I’m calling ‘groundings,’” states Buchanan. “A process of creating objects that relate to but are not reproductions of structures, houses mainly lived in now or abandoned that served as home or an emotional grounding. What’s important for me is the total look of the piece. Each section must relate to the whole structure. There are new groundings, but old ones help me ask questions and see possible stories as answers. Groundings are everywhere. I’m trying to make houses and other objects that show what some of them might look like now and in the past.”
Studio/Home 2008.
Untitled, 2009.