Coastal Traveler - Winter 2008 - (Page 44)

coastalart Adam & Eve By Sasha Wolfe $1300 for “Adam and Eve” by Thad Cherry. Available at Just Folk Gallery, located south of Santa Barbara in Summerland 2346 Lillie Ave. 805.969.7118 www.justfolk.com Just Folk Gallery One evening in the late eighties, auctioneer-turned-folk artist Thad Cherry came up with an idea for his next creation. He envisioned Adam and Eve, anatomically correct and complete with moving parts, engaged in less than pious activity under an apple tree. “This is one when my mind was dirty and I got to thinking I should make an Adam and Eve,” he remembers. “I wanted to use the cranking mechanism, and I thought of what I could do with it.” The answer came in the form of a piece which, when activated, brings a brass rod phallus into contact with a supine first mother. Though untitled, it bears the inscription: “Don’t (heart) under the apple tree with anyone else but me.” The figures were hand-carved from scrap and driftwood using a Case pocketknife. Though he considers himself mechanically inclined, Cherry said that it took him almost ten hours to perfect the device. The crankshaft and push rod are made from brass welding rods and brass washers, and the offending metal, though it appears to be jutting from the Adam figurine, actually originates in Eve. The base of the piece and the accents are covered in brightly colored house paint, and the work was forged in the 30-by-30-foot space occupying the first floor of a commercial building in Waverly, Virginia that serves as the artist’s workshop. Folk art, sometimes called outsider art, is described by a spokesperson from Christie’s New York as “art created by insane, institutionalized, unschooled and other ‘culturally isolated’ individuals.” Many of the American folk artists, especially in the Southern movement, are ex-cons, retirees, or mentally challenged community members. Their vision is sometimes attributed to supernatural communion, and the work is often considered too marginal to be marketable. Susan Baerwald, co-owner of Just Folk, became interested in folk art because of its distinctive character, and her appreciation for the struggles of the people who create it. In 2002 she and her business partner Marcy Carcy began buying pieces from Slotin auctions in preparation for the gallery opening. Since its debut four months ago, the movable Adam and Eve figure has inspired mixed feelings among visitors. “Some people are amused by it, everybody looks at it, a lot of people are horrified by it,” said Baerwald. “I’ve chosen to have it in the gallery because it makes me smile.” In 2003 Christie’s became the first major auction house to host an outsider art sale. The works, which came mainly from the collection of advertising guru Robert Greenberg, fetched $1.1 million. Seventyeight percent of the collection sold, proving that there is a growing interest in Americana. According to Steve Slotin, producer of Folk Fest and Slotin Folk Art Auctions, the trends in folk art collecting are moving towards African American art, highly decorated furniture, and work created by the homeless and disabled. 44 coastaltraveler winter http://www.justfolk.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Coastal Traveler - Winter 2008

Coastal Traveler - Winter 2008 Contents Coastal Hotel Coastal Adventure Coastal Gambler Coastal Rider Coastal Skier Coastal Art Santa Barbara Pismop & Avila San Luis Obispo Big Sur Carmel Monterey Santa Cruz San Francisco Sausalito Mill Valley Stinson Beach Bolinas Olema Point Reyes Station San Geronimo Fairfax Iverness Marshall, Tomales Sebastopol Petaluma Sonoma Coast Redwood Coast Napa Map

Coastal Traveler - Winter 2008

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