July 18, 2017
This summer students from York West End and Kinterbish Junior Highs spent six weeks studying the work of Alabama artist Lonnie Holley. Holley was born in Birmingham in 1950, began exhibiting his work in the 1980s, and now lives and works in Atlanta, GA. Holley uses primarily found materials to make sculptures, paintings, performances, music, and other artworks that defy categorization. Students used elements of art, concepts and skills related to Holley’s work, and a classroom stockpile of found materials to create individual and collaborative sculptures.
The students’ first project was wire assemblages inspired by Lonnie Holley’s Memorial at Friendship Church. Much like a two-dimensional collage, an assemblage reconfigures the three-dimensional materials to create an artwork. After a few introductory contour drawing exercises, students used their creativity and spatial reasoning skills to create wire faces and other shapes. Adding the wire silhouettes, found materials, and paint to a cardboard background, they successfully produced small-scale, Holley-esque works to grace the gallery walls.
The students’ second project was a collaborative one! Students were asked to imagine their future and their hopes –not only for themselves but also for their friends, family and community. Students wrote these messages down and created small sculptural bundles in the tradition of totems, objects which historically symbolize a person, group of people, or family. All the bundles were tied to a metal grid to create an artwork that reflects the class’s study of Lonnie Holley’s visual style, his very personal themes, and their own experiences.
At the heart of Lonnie Holley’s work are found materials that provide, conceptual richness and visual interest. These ideas inspired the students’ last project. They used the classroom stockpile of found materials to build free-standing, unique sculptural works on wooden bases. After studying and discussing Holley’s work and basic elements of art, students cut, pasted, engineered, conceptualized, and experimented in the spirit of Holley to create an expression of what they learned this summer.
The summer session finished up with an opening and exhibition in CCA’s Altman Riddick Gallery! Thanks to the 21st Century Summer Enrichment Program, the Sumter County Board of Education, Kinterbish Jr. High School and York West End Jr. High School, and all of the teachers, parents, and students who made this work a success!