Hawkins Bolden (1914–2005) was an American artist known for his "scarecrow" assemblages made from pots, pans, leather belts, rubber hoses and other found materials.

Early life

Bolden was born in the Bailey's Bottom section of

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. His childhood passion was baseball. While a baseball accident, though, left him blind at the age of eight, he became adept at working with his hands and making things from what he found in his Memphis neighborhood.

Career

Bolden recalled starting to make faces around 1965 from found objects. His sculptures were made entirely from found material, and in addition to the "scarecrows" for which he is best known, he worked with other forms, assemblages, and tableaus, much of it put in his yard. In 1997, Bolden participated in the show ''Passionate Visions of the American South'' opening at the

New Orleans Museum of Art The New Orleans Museum of Art (or NOMA) is the oldest fine arts museum in the city of New Orleans. It is situated within City Park, a short distance from the intersection of Carrollton Avenue and Esplanade Avenue, and near the terminus of the ...

. Following his death in 2005, the hundreds of works that filled his yard were dispersed. Bolden was one of four subjects of the 2011 documentary ''Make'', which also included Ike Morgan,

Royal Robertson Royal Robertson (20 October 1930 – 5 July 1997), also known as the self-proclaimed Prophet Royal Robertson, was an American artist. Early life and marriage Born in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, on 20 October 1930, Robertson spent almost his e ...

and

Judith Scott (artist) Judith Scott (May 1, 1943 – March 15, 2005) was an American fiber sculptor, born with Down Syndrome and deaf. She was internationally renowned for her art. In 1987, Judith was enrolled at the Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland, Californ ...

. His works have sold at various auction houses, including Christies. The

American Visionary Art Museum The American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) is an art museum located in Baltimore, Maryland's Federal Hill neighborhood at 800 Key Highway Maryland Route 2 (MD 2) is the longest state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The route runs fro ...

contains permanent collections of his works. Bolden's works are also included in the collections of The Smithsonian Museum of Art,

, The High Museum, the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

American Folk Art Museum The American Folk Art Museum is an art museum in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, at 2, Lincoln Square, Columbus Avenue at 66th Street. It is the premier institution devoted to the aesthetic appreciation of folk art and creative expressions of ...

John Michael Kohler Arts Center The John Michael Kohler Arts Center is an independent, not-for-profit contemporary art museum and performing arts complex located in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, United States.National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

Exhibitions

* ''Tactile Visions'', Ricco/Maresca Gallery, New York, NY, November 14 - December 7, 1991. * ''Hawkins Bolden - Scarecrows,'' SHRINE, New York, NY, April 9 - May 15, 2021. * ''Seated,'' Institute 193, Lexington, KY, January 12 - March 26, 2022. * ''Called To Create: Black Artists of the American South'', National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, September 18, 2022 – March 26, 2023.

References

External links

Hawkins Bolden Insight - Souls Grown Deep
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolden, Hawkins Outsider artists American artists 1914 births 2005 deaths Blind artists Recycled art artists Scarecrows Sculptors from Tennessee Artists from Memphis, Tennessee Contemporary sculptors 21st-century American sculptors American blind people American artists with disabilities