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

Photos from Recent Events

We want to share some recent photos taken during the 5th-grade tours at GMOA's exhibition Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection, which was on view at the Lyndon House Arts Center through October 24. We also partnered with the the Lyndon House Arts Center on Scare Up a Harvest: Help the Hungry, an event at which patrons had the opportunity to create their own scarecrows while collecting canned goods for the Junior League of Athens' signature project, Food 2 Kids. Enjoy the photos!

Last chance to see the R.A. Miller exhibition

Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection has been on view at the Lyndon House Arts Center since August 8, and the exhibition’s last day is this Saturday, October 24. Go while you still can!

The exhibition features 83 paintings, drawings, sculptures, wind ornaments and whirligigs created by the Georgia self-taught artist Reuben Aaron “R.A.” Miller. His art is inspired by nature, popular culture and his personal life. His work shows bold colors, humorous themes and fun designs.

“This exhibition presents both typical and unique images by R.A. Miller, an important figure among the South’s contemporary self-taught artists,” said Paul Manoguerra, curator of American art and of the exhibition.

Today at Lunch

Looking for something to do at lunch today? Judith McWillie, professor at UGA's Lamar Dodd School of Art, will present a Lunch and Learn program, "Cuba Si: Affinities Between the Vernacular Arts of Cuba and the American South," at the Lyndon House Arts Center from noon to 1 p.m. today in conjunction with the GMOA exhibition Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection. McWillie, who is a marvelous speaker, began noticing major similarities between Cuban and American Southern vernacular art, and this discussion enables her to present her findings in an informal setting. We hope to see you over there today, as this is the last official event associated with the exhibition, which is not to say it's your last chance to see it. Lord Love You will remain up at least a few more weeks (a little longer if we're able to negotiate such--those devils sure will go nicely with Halloween), so if you haven't had a chance to see it yet, please do make your way over to the LHAC and check it out.

GMOA in the Blogs

Deirdre Sayre has a nice post about the Lord Love You exhibition, complete with an image of her own R.A. Miller.

Addition to R.A. Miller Online Gallery

We received six new images today to add to our R.A. Miller online gallery. The images were submitted by Patrick Allen, who works at the UGA Press, and his pictures were taken at Miller's property when he visited the artist back in November of 1990. Allen shared a very moving story with me from that visit where Miller told him of a tornado that hit his home when he was child. He recalled how his mother, who was widowed at the time, sent the children out to pick up the pieces of the home that had been scattered about after the tornado hit. From those pieces, the family rebuilt their home in Rabbittown, Ga., where Miller lived till he died in 2006. You can view all of Allen's pictures in our Flickr gallery .

Family Day: Whirligigs

This past Saturday, September 19, the Georgia Museum of Art and the Lyndon House Arts Center hosted a Family Day event in conjunction with Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection in one of the craft rooms at the Lyndon House, where the exhibition is also located. Families began arriving a bit before 10 a.m. and were directed upstairs to where Lord Love You is displayed for a gallery activity. After receiving inspiration from R.A. Miller’s whirligigs, the families came back downstairs to make whirligigs of their own. Check out our flickr gallery for more images from Family Day.

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.

Greene County Senior Outreach

More great images from our Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection Senior Outreach Series. This time the images are from the Greene County Senior Center.

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.

iPhone loves GMOA

Todd Rivers, our head preparator, mentioned that, if you search "Athens, GA" on the iPhone, the first thing that comes up is the museum's calendar page of events, complete with the R.A. Miller Thursday tour at 2. Here's the evidence.

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!

Upcoming Events at the Lyndon House Arts Center

Three great events are coming to the Lyndon House Arts Center on September 19, and one of them is our very own GMOA Family Day. From 10 a.m. to noon, you can learn about the folk art of R.A. Miller, look at the Miller exhibition and then create your own whirligigs (examples shown below) inspired by the exhibition!

Another event, the Gypsy Artist Market, will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the same day, also at the Lyndon House. You’ll be able to find eclectic wares from many artists at this open-air market. There’s a link to the flyer below. In addition to Family Day and the Gypsy Artist Market, the Lyndon House Art Expo will also be happening (during the same time frame as the Gypsy Market). Local artists will be showing their art, from quilting to photography and floral design. There will also be activities for kids. Admission is free for everything! The Gypsy Artist Market is looking for artists to participate. Market spaces are $15-$30 each, and the deadline to reserve a space is September 10. More information can be found on the flyer. 

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...

Opening Reception Images

Bob Clements sent us a few more photos from the Lord Love You opening reception, which everyone agreed was extremely successful and fun. These dancing kids kind of capture the free spirit of the evening.

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.