GMOA Receives SEMC Awards!

Last week, the Georgia Museum of Art won nine awards at the Southeastern Museums Conference annual meeting in Baton Rouge, La. This unprecedented number of honors included an Award of Excellence for the exhibition “Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection,” as well as a number of other publications, some of which were also related to the exhibition.

GMOA received a Gold in the Books and Catalogues category for its hardcover “Lord Love You” exhibition catalogue. Golds were also awarded for the exhibition’s rack card and poster, and the opening reception invitation received an Honorable Mention.

Other publication awards included a Silver for “The South in Black and White: The Graphic Works of James E. Routh Jr., 1939–1946” and an Honorable Mention for the “Corpus of Early Italian Paintings in the North American Public Collections: The South.” An Honorable Mention was also given to the museum’s 2008-2009 Annual Report.

A full news release about the SEMC awards can be found on our website.

Because we can't get enough

Fans of “Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection” and “Amazing Grace: Self-Taught Artists from the Mullis Collection,” this article from the New York Times about another self-taught artists, Vollis Simpson, may be of interest.

Simpson, 91, of Lucama, N.C., is a retired farm-equipment repairman turned artist. Simpson received no formal training for his creations; he attended school through the 11th grade and then went on to join the U.S. Army Air Corps. It is easy to see how his sculptures evolved from his repair business, which, in turn seems to have grown from a childhood talent for fixing things that served him through his time in the armed services, after the war and now in his artistic expression.

At first Simpson did not consider what he was doing “art.” His son, Leonard Simpson, said, “He just did it for enjoyment.” Now his works are selling for thousands of dollars, and he is receiving recognition for his place in the genre of “American homemade art by self-taught practitioners.”

Rebecca Alban Hoffberger is one of Simpson’s supporters. Back in the mid-1990s she was forming the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, and she decided that Simpson was the perfect artist to supply the museum with its signature piece. That piece is called “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness,” and it is a 55-foot tall, 45-foot wide, 3-ton whirligig.

Simpson’s whirligigs bring back memories of the works of R.A. Miller, whose work was on exhibition last year at the Lyndon House Arts Center in a show organized by the Georgia Museum of Art.

Photos: Jeremy M. Lange for The New York Times

4 More R.A. Millers

Our online collection of R.A. Millers has expanded! Steve Moorman sent us four images from his personal R.A. Miller collection, and they have been added to our flickr gallery. We are still on the lookout for more images, so send in yours to gmoapr at yahoo.com.

Athens-Clarke County Senior Outreach

The Lord Love You-themed Senior Outreach Program continued yesterday, at the Athens Community Council on Aging, where public relations coordinator Jenny Williams assisted with the program and took these wonderful photos of R.A. Miller-inspired work created by seniors. Click above to check out the slideshow.

Photo Round-up

We have photos from several events over the past week that we'd like to share with you...

The Greene County Senior Center's visit to Lord Love You as part of Senior Outreach.



This week's Thursday Tour at 2 of Lord Love You, given by Paul Manoguerra.



And some photos from the most recent Collectors' event, also yesterday.



Keep checking our Flickr page. We put new images up regularly, and we've been trying to make sure everything's tagged and organized.

GMOA in the News

Flagpole's Rebecca Brantley has a great review of the Lord Love You exhibition in this week's paper. Thanks, Rebecca! If any of you haven't made it to the exhibition yet, please try to. You have another month or two. And don't forget about Paul's Thursday tour at 2 p.m. this week!

More R.A.'s

Ray Channell sent us four more images for the Flickr gallery of R.A. Millers, which is up to 55 pictures. We'd like to keep it growing, so please send yours in to gmoapr at yahoo.com.

Ray writes, "I got to visit with Mr. Miller at his home sometime in the Fall of 2003. He was very personable and chatty. He showed me and my friend around and inside his house, answering questions and telling stories about his art and some pieces that were gifts from other artists. I got him to tell me the Blow Oscar story. 'He never stopped to see if I needed anything, he just blew the horn and waved.' Janice also got a really nice whirleygig, a green cut-out dog, and a cut-out chicken. At least two other rectangular 'roofing tin' pieces were gifted." Click through to see some of his other information about the images he sent, including why the devil above has two mouths...

Mark Your Calendars

Thursday, Sept. 10, may be a few weeks away, but you should go ahead and make a note that, at 2 p.m., Paul Manoguerra, curator of American art, will be giving a public tour of Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection, at the Lyndon House Arts Center. Paul ran the staff and some docents through the exhibition right after it opened (as the slideshow above documents), and while his wall text and the exhibition catalogue are wonderful, the opportunity to hear him expand (on, for example, Bireley's Orange) and the chance to ask questions are very special.

GMOA in the News

Today's issue of Flagpole, the alternative newsweekly in Athens, features some familiar-looking devils...

Another R.A.!

We got a really cute new R.A. Miller image today from Tori James, who is all the way over in South Bend, Ind. Tori writes, "A few years ago I traded one of my own mosaic outsider art creations for this RA Miller piece. I had no background information on the artist, I just liked his funky mojo."

Our R.A. Miller Flickr gallery just keeps growing. Send us your images to gmoapr at yahoo.com.

R.A. Miller Flickr Gallery and GMOA in the News

Peter Loose just sent us 20-odd images of his R.A. Millers to add to the online gallery we've been compiling. Please, if you have an R.A., send us a picture of it. His work is so widespread, across the state and the country, and he was so prolific than a full catalogue of it is impossible, so we're trying to do the best we can to show a representative range of his images online.

We also got a nice post and link about the Lord Love You exhibition here, from Detour Art Travels blog. We're sad they missed the opening reception, but we hope they come back and see the show, which is up until Oct. 24.

Lord Love You Teacher Packets and Evening for Educators

One of the clearest ways in which you can see the outreach aspect of the Georgia Museum of Art's mission is in the museum's work with educators, which includes Suitcase Tours (given by docents to elementary school students), teacher workshops, senior outreach projects (we have several of these coming up associated with Lord Love You) and the packets put together by the department of education to help teachers incorporate the museum's exhibitions and/or permanent collection while meeting state-mandated educational standards. The newest teacher packet addresses the exhibition Lord Love You, with a series of full-color reproductions of images from the exhibition and many, many different suggestions for using these images to teach language arts, art and more, for grade levels from K through 12. You can read more about and download the teacher packet at this link, as well as the one based on the museum's permanent collection.

In conjunction with the teacher packet, the museum has also organized its regular Evening for Educators, to be held this Wednesday, Aug. 19, from 4 to 6 p.m., at the Lyndon House Arts Center (293 Hoyt St.). Educators for grades K–12 are invited to join their colleagues for a wine and cheese reception and view the exhibition Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection with curators and docents. Attendees will also have the chance to sign up for the new teaching packet in conjunction with the exhibition and browse in the LHAC shop for copies of the exhibition catalogue, posters and related materials. We hope to see many teachers, and we're sure that by Wednesday most of them could use a glass of wine.

Lord Love You photos

We had a fabulous turnout for the opening reception at the Lyndon House on Saturday, and some great photos are below in a slideshow.



The exhibition seems to be attracting a lot of positive reaction from a wide range of patrons, including local photographers and curators' kids. Please don't think it's over and done with just because we had the reception, though. Lord Love You will be on view through Oct. 24 at the Lyndon House, which is open Tuesday and Thursday noon to 9 p.m. and Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. We have many other events associated with the exhibition, including Evening for Educators this Wednesday from 4 to 6 p.m. and a public tour Thursday, Sept. 10, at 2 p.m. with curator Paul Manoguerra that you really don't want to miss. Thanks to everyone who came, ate, drank and socialized!

GMOA in the News

The Banner-Herald has a very nice article today about Lord Love You, by correspondent Chris Starrs. Good quotes from Jenny, Paul and Carl! We hope this article gets locals excited about the exhibition, which runs through Oct. 24 at the Lyndon House.

Don't forget about the opening reception tomorrow from 6 to 8 p.m.!

Lord Love You visual tour

Slideshow tour of the exhibition Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection.

New Podcast

It's been forever since we last put up a podcast, but when Paul Manoguerra, our curator of American art, interviewed Carl Mullis and Durwood Pepper for the Lord Love You exhibition catalogue, we thought it would be a great opportunity not only to record the conversation for transcription, but also to put it up on our Web site for the public to download and listen to. Well, it's finally up, complete with a smooth introduction added by our intern John Keith. Click here to go to the podcast page on our Web site or here to go directly to the mp3 of the interview.

A Week of Folk Art

Barbara Hutsell Stutz sent us images of her R.A.'s to add to our Flickr set over the weekend, and we marked a few others as favorites on Flickr.

If you're into folk art, you really should go check out Folk Fest, which is the world's largest folk art show and sale, featuring 100 galleries and dealers from around the United States, and runs Friday through Sunday in Norcross. Admission is $15 on Friday, but if you mention GMOA, you get a free T-shirt.

Our opening reception for Lord Love You is Saturday, from 6 to 8 p.m., at the Lyndon House Arts Center, and is free. Come hang out, eat some bbq, see the exhibition and check out the shop, which will be carrying several of the museum's catalogues (including Amazing Grace and Lord Love You) as well as the limited-edition poster for the exhibition. We'll remind you again, but go ahead and mark it all in your day-planner.

GMOA in the News

R.E.M. was also nice enough to post a news story on their Web site about the opening of Lord Love You. It includes a link to the "Left of Reckoning" video, which we're working on screening during the opening reception next Saturday.

GMOA in the News

Kristen Morales has a great story about the opening of Lord Love You in the Gainesville Times that features quotes from both Paul Manoguerra (our curator of American art and of this show) and Carl Mullis (the collector).

And R.E.M., which contributed some funds toward the show and catalogue, has also been kind enough to plug it on their Web site. Thanks!

Seven Chinese Brothers

We thought you'd enjoy seeing R.E.M.'s video for "Seven Chinese Brothers," which features the band on R.A. Miller's whirligig-filled hillside, in preparation for the opening of the exhibition this Saturday.