Joe Minter
{{Short description|American artist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2019}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Joe Minter
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_name = Joe Wade Minter Sr
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1943|3|28|mf=y}}
| death_place =
| birth_place = Birmingham, Alabama
| training =
| nationality = American
| field =
| movement =
}}
Joe Minter (born March 28, 1943) is an African American sculptor based in Birmingham, Alabama.{{cite web |title=1943 – JOE MINTER |url=http://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/artist/joe-minter |website=Souls Grown Deep}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/garden/joe-minters-african-village-in-america.html|title=Joe Minter's African Village in America|last=Tortorello|first=Michael|date=April 24, 2013|work=The New York Times|access-date=21 March 2019|issn=0362-4331}} His African Village in America, on the southwest edge of Birmingham, is an ever-evolving art environment populated by sculptures he makes from scrap metal and found materials;{{Cite web |last=Times |first=Birmingham |date=2021-10-14 |title=Artist Joe Minter's renowned "African Village in America" in SW Birmingham |url=https://www.birminghamtimes.com/2021/10/inside-joe-minters-renowned-african-village-in-america/ |access-date=2022-09-24 |website=The Birmingham Times |language=en-US}} its theme is recognition of African American history from the first arrivals of captured Africans to the present. Individual pieces from Minter's thirty-year project have been in major exhibitions in the United States and are in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others.
Early life
Minter was born in Birmingham, Alabama, the eighth child into a family of ten. His father was a mechanic during World War I, but after the war, was unable to find a job in his field. Minter's father instead worked for thirty years as caretaker of a white cemetery. Joe Minter attended local Birmingham schools, was drafted in 1965 and discharged in 1967. After the military, Minter took a series of low-paying jobs, from dishwasher at a drive-in, to messenger and orderly hospital work. Minter also worked in metals, constructed school furniture, did work on cars, and with crews building roads. As a result of his fabrication work, Minter got asbestos dust in his eyes in the 1960s and ‘70s. Minter had one eye operated on to mediate the asbestos; however, he wouldn't let the doctors operate the other eye. Minter never lost the feeling of grit in his eyes and was forced to retire. Upon retiring, Minter rediscovered an artistic practice dormant since childhood.{{cite web|url=http://spacesarchives.org/explore/collection/environment/jo-minter-african-village-in-america/|title=Joe Minter, African Village in America {{!}} SPACES|last=Hernández|first=Jo Farb|website=spacesarchives.org|access-date=March 21, 2019|archive-date=October 23, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191023073539/http://spacesarchives.org/explore/collection/environment/jo-minter-african-village-in-america/|url-status=dead}}
Artistic practice
=''African Village in America''=
Located on the southwest edge of Birmingham, Alabama and begun in the late 1980s and built over the course of thirty years, Minter's African Village in America is part sculpture garden, part history museum, and part memorial. The African Village in America is an ever-evolving art environment, populated by sculptures made from scrap and found materials from footwear, lawn decorations, toys, old sporting equipment, to baking utensils, and more.{{cite web |title=African Village in America |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/african-village-in-america |website=Atlas Obscura }}{{cite web |last1=Minter |first1=Joe |title=Four Hundred Years of Free Labor, 1995 |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/653741 |website=metmuseum.org}} Although Minter's sculpture have a variety of themes and influences, from one commemorating the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting to one dedicated to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, Minter's overriding message is to provide a recognition for the 388,000 Africans shipped in bondage to America, and to their descendants who helped to build and defend America. The sculptures in the African Village in America tell the stories of African-Americans over the centuries, from the griots and warriors of West Africa to the deadly 1963 bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church.
{{multiple image
|direction=vertical
|image1=JoeMinter'sAfricanVillageInAmerica1.jpg
|image2=AfricanVillageInAmerica2.jpg
|footer=Two images of Joe Minter's African Village in America, a half-acre visionary art environment in Birmingham, Alabama. Scenes include African warriors watching their descendants’ struggles in Alabama, tributes to black scientists and military leaders, recreations of the epic civil rights confrontations in Alabama, and biblical scenes.}}
=Exhibitions=
- 2022 – Called to Create: Black Artists of the American South – National Gallery of Art – curated by Harry Cooper{{Cite web |title=Called to Create: Black Artists of the American South |url=https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2022/called-to-create.html |access-date=2022-09-24 |website=www.nga.gov}}
- 2019 – Whitney Biennial – Whitney Museum of American Art – curated by Rujeko Hockley and Jane Panetta{{cite web|url=https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2019-Biennial|title=Whitney Biennial 2019|website=whitney.org}}
- 2018 – History Refused to Die: Highlights from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation Gift - Metropolitan Museum of Art{{Cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2018/history-refused-to-die|title=History Refused to Die|website=metmuseum.org|access-date=21 March 2019}}
- 2018 - Revelations: Art from the African American South - de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA{{Cite web|url=https://deyoung.famsf.org/exhibitions/revelations-art-african-american-south|title=Revelations: Art from the African American South|date=2017-08-04|website=de Young|language=en|access-date=2019-09-12}}
- 2018 - Joe Minter: Once That River Starts to Flow - Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta, Georgia{{Cite web|url=https://atlantacontemporary.org/exhibitions/joe-minter|title=Joe Minter|last=Studio|first=Familiar|website=Atlanta Contemporary|language=en-us|access-date=2019-09-12}}
- 2017 - The Road Less Traveled Exhibition Series. American Sites: Art Environment Photography - The John Michael Kholer Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI{{Cite web|url=https://www.jmkac.org/exhibitions/theroadlesstraveled/scruton.html|title=John Michael Kholer Arts Center Exhibition The Road Less Traveled|last=|first=|date=|website=John Michael Kholer Arts Center|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803095045/https://www.jmkac.org/exhibitions/theroadlesstraveled/scruton.html|archive-date=August 3, 2020|access-date=September 12, 2019|url-status=dead}}
- 2015 - History Refused to Die - Alabama Contemporary Art Center, Mobile, AL{{Cite web|url=https://blog.calarts.edu/2015/05/06/tom-leeser-creates-video-installation-for-joe-minters-african-village-in-america/|title=Tom Leeser Creates Video Installation for Joe Minters African Village in America|last=|first=|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=September 12, 2019}}
- 2014 - When Stars Begin to Fall: Imagination and the American South - Studio Museum in Harlem, New York{{Cite web|url=https://studiomuseum.org/exhibition/when-stars-begin-fall-imagination-and-american-south|title=When the Stars Begin to Fall|date=2017-09-11|website=The Studio Museum in Harlem|language=en|access-date=2019-09-12}}
- 2007 - Alabama Folk Art - Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama{{Cite web|url=https://www.outsiderartfair.com/artists/joe-minter|title=Joe Minter - Artists - Outsider Art Fair|website=www.outsiderartfair.com|access-date=2019-09-12}}
- 2004 - Coming Home: Self-Taught Artists, the Bible, and the American South - Art Museum of the University of Memphis, Memphis, TN{{Cite book|title=Coming home! : self-taught artists, the Bible, and the American South|date=2004|publisher=Art Museum of the University of Memphis|others=Crown, Carol., Doss, Erika, 1956-, University of Memphis. Art Museum., Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts., American Bible Society. Gallery.|isbn=1578066581|location=[Memphis]|oclc=53896594}}
= Permanent collections =
- National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.{{Cite web |title=Artist Info |url=https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.51828.html |access-date=2022-09-24 |website=www.nga.gov}}
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.{{Cite web|url=https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/dreamer-109633|title=The Dreamer|website=Smithsonian American Art Museum|access-date=21 March 2019}}
- Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA{{Cite web|url=https://deyoung.famsf.org/press-room/fine-arts-museums-san-francisco-make-historic-acquisition-62-works-african-american-art|title=Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Make Historic Acquisition of 62 Works of African American Art from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation|date=February 2, 2017|website=de Young|access-date=21 March 2019|archive-date=November 30, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130053817/https://deyoung.famsf.org/press-room/fine-arts-museums-san-francisco-make-historic-acquisition-62-works-african-american-art|url-status=dead}}
- High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA{{Cite web|url=https://high.org/collections/chains-in-paradise/|title=Chains In Paradise|website=High Museum of Art|language=en-US|access-date=2019-09-12}}
- Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL{{Cite web|url=https://www.artsbma.org/collection/63-foot-soldier/|website=www.artsbma.org|access-date=2019-09-12|title='63 Foot Soldiers | Birmingham Museum of Art}}
- Minneapolis Institute of Art{{Cite web|title=Joe minter {{!}} Minneapolis Institute of Art|url=https://collections.artsmia.org/search/Joe%20minter|access-date=2021-02-06|website=collections.artsmia.org}}
= Selected publications =
- Finley, Cheryl; Griffey, Randall R.; Peck, Amelia; Pinckney, Darry. My Soul Has Grown Deep: Black Art from the American South. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018{{Cite book|title=My soul has grown deep : Black art from the American South|others=Finley, Cheryl,, Griffey, Randall R., Peck, Amelia,, Pinckney, Darryl, 1953-, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)|isbn=9781588396099|location=New York|oclc=1022075437|date = May 21, 2018}}
- Anglin Burgard, Timothy (Editor), Thornton Dial (Contributor), Lonnie Holley (Contributor), Joe Minter (Contributor), Lauren Palmor (Contributor). Revelations: Art from the African American South, Prestel, 2017{{Cite book|title=Revelations : art from the African American South|last=Burgard, Timothy Anglin|others=Dial, Thornton,, Pitkin, Stephen,, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum|isbn=9783791357171|location=San Francisco, CA|oclc=982465355|year = 2017}}
- Horace Randall Williams (Author), Karen Wilkin (Author), Sharon Holland (Author), William S. Arnett (Introduction), Bernard Herman (Contributor). History Refused to Die: The Enduring Legacy of African American Art in Alabama, Tinwood Books, 2015{{Cite book|title=History refused to die : the enduring legacy of the African American art of Alabama|others=Arnett, William S., Bickford, Laura (Editor), Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts,, Alabama Contemporary Art Center,, Printed by the Prolific Group|isbn=9780692365205|location=[Montgomery, Ala.]|oclc=909397263|year = 2015}}
- Crown, Carol, ed. Coming Home: Self-Taught Artists, the Bible, and the American South, Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2004
- Conwill, Kinshasha; Danto, Arthur C.;Testimony: Vernacular Art of the African-American South. Harry N. Abrams, 2002{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/testimonyvernacu0000unse|title=Testimony : vernacular art of the African-American south : the Ronald and June Shelp collection|date=2001|publisher=H.N. Abrams in association with Exhibitions International and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture|others=Conwill, Kinshasha., Kalamazoo Institute of Arts.|isbn=0810944847|location=New York|oclc=46366258|url-access=registration}}
- Arnett, William and Paul Arnett, eds. Souls Grown Deep: African American Vernacular Art of the South, vol. II, Atlanta: Tinwood Books, 2001{{Cite book|title=Souls grown deep : African American vernacular art of the South |date=2000 |publisher=Tinwood Books |others=Arnett, Paul., Arnett, William.|isbn=0965376605|edition= 1st |location=Atlanta, Ga.|oclc=44496372}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/artist/joe-minter soulsgrowndeep.org – artist profile]
- [https://hyperallergic.com/444221/history-refused-to-die-highlights-from-the-souls-grown-deep-foundation-gift-metropolitan-museum-of-art-2018/ Outsider Art Comes to the Metropolitan Museum – Hyperallergic]
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Category:African-American artists
Category:American contemporary artists
Category:American outsider artists