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REFLECTIONS ON LONNIE HOLLEY AND INTUIT
REFLECTIONS ON LONNIE HOLLEY AND INTUIT
by Alison Amick
Lonnie Holley (American, b. 1950). Riding Through My Roots Too Fast, 2004. Old motorcycle frame, found wood. Courtesy of The Arnett Collection.
Since its founding in 1991, Intuit has asked its visitors to consider the possibility that creativity can be found in the most unexpected of places.
From its early pop-up exhibitions (prior to gaining a permanent site) to exhibitions traveling the globe (think Chicago Calling: Art Against the Flow), the museum has pondered the role of the artist, the importance of place, the circumstances which led an individual to begin creating, and how we, as a society, have come to know work that was made sometimes in secret and, certainly, outside the bounds of the traditional art world and market.
Each year, Intuit honors an individual who has made a contribution to the field of outsider art with its Visionary Award. This year, and for only the second time, the award was given to an artist—Lonnie Bradley Holley. Born in Birmingham, Ala., in 1950, Holley was the seventh of 27 children. His early childhood was spent away from his family in a series of homes and, eventually, the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children at Mt. Meigs, before he was ultimately reconnected with his family. He settled back in Birmingham after spending time working in Florida and Ohio.
Though not trained as an artist, tragic necessity moved Holley toward this path. When his sister lost two children in a house fire, Holley carved headstones for them out of sandstone. This call to creativity did not go unanswered. His lived experiences provided fuel for his art making: his explorations of creek beds and the discarded items he found at the local drive-in theatre as a youth must have taught him to observe: what do we throw away, or no longer consider of worth? How, as a society, do we measure value? Since 1979, Holley has continued to make and gain international recognition for his artwork: sculptures, paintings, prints, photography, music and, now, film. Holley’s property was turned into a large art environment, which was subsequently destroyed in 1997 due to runway expansion plans for the Birmingham Airport.
Lonnie Holley. Riding The Threads That Held Us Together, 2018. Burned sewing machine, burned quilt parts and fabric, thread, wooden box. Courtesy of The Arnett Collection.
In 2007, Holley completed a two-week residency at Intuit—the museum’s first (followed by Kevin Blythe Sampson’s residency in 2013). Holley sent materials in advance and, after his arrival, joined Chicago artist Lucy Slivinski, who also utilizes found materials in her art work, on quests to abandoned lots and a junk yard in search of materials for use. Guests, including schoolchildren, were able to watch and participate as Holley’s site-specific installation took form in the museum’s main gallery.
In an October 2020 interview with Matt Arnett at Intuit, Holley noted the impact of his Chicago residency. “That allowed me to really, really learn and grow to appreciate the streets, the sounds, the traffic, the transportation for humans here, the amount of steel that had been used by the city to build such a city, and also it allowed me to do some research on materials up and down the alleys, the ditches and the creeks and think hard about their flotation and how the water could carry them to another plain of the land. So it was a lot of study during the period that I was here.”
Lonnie Holley, an artist who selects and assembles found objects as part of his practice, challenges the viewer to make connections through his juxtaposition of materials which may, at first glance, seem unexpected or unrelated. New meanings emerge, poetic reflections and powerful statements of past and present, the personal and historical, social observation and commentary, completed with the improvisational spirit found also in his music. What does it mean to create, to have a vision, and how can Intuit serve as a place of creative work, to show art as living and breathing and as relevant to our times? At this moment, our society grieves—for the loss of Black lives, loss due to COVID-19, and loss of a way of life with opportunities to connect in person. Many among us have experienced feelings of tension, anxiety and frustration. Lonnie Holley is an artist who has recognized the power of the broken and discarded and the possibilities of transformation. This freshness of vision and ability to see beyond what is—to what is possible— are lessons that never lose their value.
Lonnie Holley. You Alley Thing, 2007, Mixed media, 52 × 61 × 16 in., Collection of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, gift of Lonnie Holley, 2007.7.1
Holley’s work is in the collection of major museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Milwaukee Art Museum, American Folk Art Museum and Museum of Fine Arts Houston. He has been the recipient of prestigious fellowships, including from Joan Mitchell Foundation (2005) and Robert Rauschenberg Foundation (2014). Since his first exhibition at Intuit, Holley has returned, performing and exhibiting here during Post-Black Folk Art in America, 1930–1980–2016.
Lonnie Holley. Weighed Down By the Hose, 2008. 32 x 43 x 58 in. Found rocking chair, old quilt, heart-shaped box, rubber hose. Courtesy of The Arnett Collection.
Installation view of Lonnie Holley: Artist in Residence at Intuit, 2007. Intuit hosted Holley over a two-week period as he installed site-specific works created during his residency. Courtesy of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art.
Special thanks to Jan Petry, Cleo Wilson and Lucy Slivinski for discussing the exhibition at Intuit. For more on Lonnie Holley, see the following sources, which were consulted in this writing:
“Lonnie Holley: The Best that Almost Happened,” in Paul Arnett and William Arnett, eds. Souls Grown Deep, vol. 2, Once That River Starts to Flow (Atlanta: Tinwood Books, 2001), 538 – 573.
Do we think too much? I don’t think we can ever stop. Lonnie Holley, A Twenty-Five Year Survey (Birmingham, UK: Ikon Gallery, 2004).
Mark Sloan, ed. With essays by Bernard L. Herman, Theodore Rosengarten, Mark Sloan, and Leslie Umberger. Something to Take My Place: The Art of Lonnie Holley. Charleston, South Carolina: Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, College of Charleston, School of the Arts, 2015.
Matt Arnett interview with Lonnie Bradley Holley, with an introduction by Martha Henry. October 12, 2020. Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art (youtu.be/ H0AHXEYRse8)
www.soulsgrowndeep.org/artist/lonnieholley www.lonnieholley.com www.bittersoutherner.com/lonnie-holleyone-mans-trash-is-anothers-salvation
Lonnie Holley. Untitled (slag sculpture), n.d. Sculpture on slag, 10½ × 15 × 8¼ in. Collection of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, gift of Robbe and Larry Beuscher, 2019.5. Photo by John Faier
Lonnie Holley. Untitled (slag sculpture), n.d. Sculpture on slag, 10½ × 15 × 8¼ in. Collection of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, gift of Robbe and Larry Beuscher, 2019.5. Photo by John Faier
