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 Orange Hill presents new work by folk artists, O.L. Samuels and John Henry Toney. O.L. Samuels' fantastical wood sculptures complement John Henry Toney's imaginative drawings. Born in 1931 in Wilcox County, Georgia, O.L. Samuels worked on farms, among many other jobs, and later became a boxer in New York. He returned to the South and became a tree surgeon. He began carving wood after a fall from a tree, which hurt his leg and landed him in a wheelchair for almost three years. O.L. took the advice of his great-grandmother, a former slave, who said, "when the mind get tangled up, when they get worried, she did not have the word, they call it 'depressed' today, people carve on a spool and it helped." Despite being color-blind, he uses a painted finish to decorate the carvings. He combines paint, glitter, sawdust, and glue into a secret formula, which he then applies to his sculpture. His carvings are inspired by his active imagination, and he creates real and fantastic animals and people. John Henry Toney was born in 1928 in rural Russell County, Alabama. He attended school through the seventh grade near Seale, Alabama. He lives in an old trailer on ten acres of land bordered by a large swamp. When John Henry was working in the cotton mill nearly forty years ago, he drew a picture of his boss. According to John Henry, the boss fired him because he did not like the picture. With that discouragement, he quit drawing until, in 1994, while plowing a field he found a turnip that looked like it had a face and he drew it. "That face in that turnip was a sign to me, " he says, "and I knew the Lord wanted me to draw again." His drawings are inspired by his surroundings or the bible, and they have a very distinctive line and form. He creates repetitive undulating lines to produce his bosomy, "Fancy Women," animals and farm equipment. On his works he also includes his name, phone number, and often the year that his driver's license expires. About Orange Hill Art Orange Hill Art is an Atlanta-based gallery specializing in folk and self-taught, outsider art from across the globe. The mission of Orange Hill is to create a portal between the "outside" and the mainstream in art and life. Orange Hill was awarded its first accolade for "Best Presentation" at the Slotin Folk Fest in 2004. The gallery is managed by, director Brandi Iryshe and founder Robbi Raitt. For more information, please visit www.orangehillart.com or call 404.215.2100. |
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