George Paul Kornegay (November 23, 1913 – June 3, 2014) was an American

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

and

outsider art Outsider art is art made by self-taught or supposedly naïve artists with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrates e ...

ist, and minister in the

African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

, who created a large Christian visionary environment with found objects near Brent, Alabama.

Early life and career

Kornegay was born on 23 November 1913 in

Bibb County, Alabama Bibb County is a county in the central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama. The county is included in the ARC's definition of Appalachia. As of the 24th decennial 2020 census, its population was 22,293. The county seat is Centreville. The ...

, the second of ten children of Will and Sue Kornegay.Souls Grown Deep Foundation
Rev. George Kornegay , Souls Grown Deep Foundation
accessdate: March 10, 2017Services Held in Loving Memory of Rev. George Paul Kornegay

, accessdate: March 15, 2017 His father worked as a farmer, miner, and barrel maker, and his mother looked after their children. Kornegay attended the Alabama Mission School in Brent until the tenth grade, but had to leave school and help his father in

sharecropping Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...

. His father later bought 28 acres of land near Brent, Alabama and a two-story house from a

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

, Charles Hogan, for $100. The property was situated on a Native American burial ground and Kornegay recounted that his daughter could "hear voices out here talking but she can't tell us what they're talking about. This is one of them places where you can come when you're feeling bad and go away lifted up. They all say this is a sacred place." Kornegay worked at a steel mill, Century Foundry, in

Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...

and later described his working life as "From a plow to a preacher, from a preacher to a steel mill, from a steel mill to a veneer mill. Double shifts I worked. And a cotton sack, and a plow, and a saw mill, and a paper mill, and all that stuff: had to make a living for my people".

Marriage and religious calling

Kornegay married Minnie Sue Tubbs on August 9, 1932, and they had 12 children; eight boys (Arthur Paul, George Jr., Earvin, Arthur Lee, Joel, Benjamin, Donald, and Ronnie) and four girls (Gloria Jean, Dorothy, Donna, and Annie). He felt a "divine calling" to become a minister and said that at first he was "...afraid of it, but God, he stayed at me. I ask him to give me these signs if this is what he mean for me. And he sent them. And the end of it come from a choir of angels come to visit my house. Come from the east into the house, go down the hall, go around my bedroom. And then leave to the west". Kornegay spent many years as a minister in the

(A.M.E. Zion), where he was affectionately known as "Big Daddy". Kornegay preached in the A.M.E. Zion churches at Grove Hill, Cottage Hill and Marietta for over fifty years.

Art practice

In 1960, Kornegay began to create a large narrative artwork (or "visionary environment") on a two acre site on a hill near his house using paintings, found objects and sculpture, but only worked full time on the project after his retirement in 1980. Kornegay gave several names to his visionary environment including ''The New Jerusalem'', ''Seven Holy Mountains'', ''Art Hill'', and the ''Sacred Mountain''. He had been inspired to create the work after a dream in which a vision from God told him that he would be better able to communicate his religious messages this way.Reverend George Kornegay — Shrine
Reverend George Kornegay — Shrine
accessdate: March 10, 2017 Kornegay had originally intended to sculpt a face onto a red rock but he felt compelled not to and was told to "Say, Upon this rock I'll build my church the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I'll give you the key to the kingdom but what you find on earth shall he found in heaven, what you loosen on earth shall he loose in heaven, and this was my beginning. I love this because this is the beginning, and all of this is going to have an end". Having only intended to sculpt the rock, Kornegay was told by God to "Go further" and he asked God to "Tell me how when I get up in the morning". The next day he was compelled to "Put a piece here, put a piece there, put a piece over yonder. Go back and get that; never throw nothing away...So I fixed it up his way. I spaced it, you know, with the eye God give me. Everything got a place. I told them, "I can see more with my eyes closed than they can see with their eyes open." So God gave it to me, and I'm going to use it till I die". Themes in Kornegay's artwork included his Native American ancestry, African traditions, and apocalyptic Christian visions and passages from the Bible, including the

Last supper Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...

and several crucifixions. Kornegay's African heritage was reflected in his creation of bottle trees and objects reminiscent of spiritual

Nkisi or (plural varies: , , or ) are spirits or an object that a spirit inhabits. It is frequently applied to a variety of objects used throughout the Congo Basin in Central Africa, especially in the Territory of Cabinda that are believed to conta ...

. He was interviewed by William Arnett for Arnett's Souls Grown Deep Foundation in 1997 and 1998. Arnett made a

gentleman's agreement A gentlemen's agreement, or gentleman's agreement, is an informal and legally non-binding agreement between two or more parties. It is typically oral, but it may be written or simply understood as part of an unspoken agreement by convention or th ...

with Kornegay for him to keep his artistic creation ''

in situ ''In situ'' (; often not italicized in English) is a Latin phrase that translates literally to "on site" or "in position." It can mean "locally", "on site", "on the premises", or "in place" to describe where an event takes place and is used in ...

'', and not to sell to collectors. Arnett photographed the collection before its dispersal.Washington Post
Bill Arnett won’t shut up. His stunning African American art collection is why. - Washington Post
accessdate: March 10, 2017 Kornegay died a

centenarian A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100 years. Because life expectancies worldwide are below 100 years, the term is invariably associated with longevity. In 2012, the United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living cente ...

on 3 June 2014; he was predeceased by his wife, and his daughter Donna Lee, and survived by his 11 children, 30 grandchildren, and 45 great-grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kornegay, George Paul 1913 births 2014 deaths 20th-century American painters African-American centenarians African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church clergy American centenarians American folk artists Artists from Alabama Men centenarians American outsider artists Painters from Alabama People from Bibb County, Alabama Religious artists 20th-century African-American painters 21st-century African-American people