Re: Pasaquan & Saint EOM

[Zod The Mighty]

On Friday, June 24, 2005 at 11:40:55 PM UTC-5, Will Dockery wrote:
>
> Pasaquan and Saint EOM:
>
> <http://www.pasaquan.com/>
>
> <http://www.rawvision.com/back/steom/steom.html>
>
> ----
> Posted on Wed, Jun. 22, 2005 from
> <http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/>
>
> Peace, love and art
>
> Eddie Owens Martin had a vision of a place packed with peace and love
> and art, a place where race did not matter and for that matter, neither
> did sex. It was a place with lots of love.
>
> "Lots of love, lots of peace," says Fred Fussell of the Pasaquan
> Preservation Society, the Marion County group now charged with keeping
> Martin's vision alive years after the artist passed on. "There would be
> no discrimination of any kind," Fussell says of Martin's vision.
> "Everybody would be interested in the arts, and in peace and love and
> all that."
>
> So there should be lots of peace, love and art to enjoy Saturday as the
> preservation society reopens Martin's place to the public. The 7-acre
> art compound has been off-limits to all but special tour groups for
> three years now, which may explain recent shortages of peace and love.
>
> Deep in the pines outside Buena Vista, Pasaquan is the realization of a
> vision Martin had in New York in the 1930s, while ill and running a
> fever. He saw a tall trio from the future who told him they came from a
> place called Pasaquan, where the past, the present, the future and
> everything else all come together. They told him to go home to Georgia
> and "do something." He did.
>
> The son of a white sharecropper, Martin had left home after seeing his
> daddy kill a puppy a black family had given the 14-year-old Eddie.
> Eventually he drifted to New York City and found a new family among the
> castaways of Greenwich Village. He sucked up the city's art culture and
> became a flamboyant character, calling himself "St. EOM" after his
> feverish vision of the future.
>
> Then he came home to Georgia, to do something. He built Pasaquan out of
> an 1880s farm. He raised walls of concrete around it, and built faces
> and symbols and figures into the walls. He made them shine in bright
> colors with oil-based house paint.
>
> In 1986 the artist and fortune-teller saw that an illness was going to
> kill him, so he killed himself first. He left behind not only 15,650
> square feet of painted art that forms Pasaquan's outer shell, but also
> more than 2,000 individual pieces of art: oil and watercolor paintings,
> ink and pencil drawings, sculptures and costumes.
>
> He left it all to the Marion County Historical Society, which in 1987
> tried to give it to the Columbus Museum, which in 1989 turned it down.
>
> Since then, Martin's work has been exhibited in the National Museum of
> American Art, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Museum of American
> Folk Art, The Library of Congress, the Contemporary Arts Center in
> Seattle and other institutions.
>
> Art more easily endures in a museum or gallery than out in the woods.
> Maintaining a place made out of peace, love, concrete, metal, wood and
> house paint is a challenge.
>
> Part of the reason the preservation society is inviting the public back
> to Pasaquan 10-4 p.m. Saturday is not only to make a few bucks --
> admission will be $5 for all who aren't children age 5 or younger --
> but also to publicize its plight.
>
> Formed within the Marion County Historical Society in the early 1990s,
> the preservation society took possession of Pasaquan in 2003. It has
> picked up a few grants to do some repair and repainting, but it hasn't
> the estimated $1.5 million needed to fully restore and preserve
> everything Martin left behind.
>
> The organization hopes that again having public events at Pasaquan will
> be good public relations, teaching people about the place and its
> meaning.
>
> The folks familiar with it never seem to lose interest. Fussell says
> they ask about it a lot, and call to try to set up special visits --
> everyone from Columbus State University art students to soccer teams.
>
> "There was a woman from LaGrange who brought a group of graduating high
> school seniors as her graduation gift to one of the girls," he says.
> "The girl got to invite 10 of her friends to come along. We've had
> several classes from LaGrange College and from CSU to the place."
>
> Recently the sponsor of a soccer team in Columbus for a tournament
> tried to take some players out to tour Pasaquan but couldn't fit the
> trip in.
>
> Preservationists hope reopening Pasaquan on the last Saturday of each
> month this summer will help reconnect people with Martin and his work.
> "The ultimate goal is to have the place pretty much restored if we
> possibly can and open on a regular basis, almost a daily basis, by the
> Fourth of July, 2008, which would be Eddie Martin's 100th birthday,"
> Fussell says.
>
> It would honor the life of a poor farm boy who left home with nothing
> and came home with a vision.
>
> "I built this place to have somethin' to identify with, 'cause there's
> nothin' that I see in this world that I identify with or desire to
> emulate," Martin once told a biographer. "Here I can be in my own world
> with my temples and designs and the spirit of God."
>
> His world of peace, love and art still awaits the future out in woods
> near Buena Vista. And where else around here now can you find peace,
> love and art all in one place?
>
> -Tim Chitwood

Another relevant Tim Chitwood article....

[NancyGene]

On Thursday, July 28, 2022 at 6:48:03 PM UTC, Will Dockery wrote:

> To correct Nancy Gene's error, this is where Charles Fowler works, as curator of Pasaquan home of the legendary artist, the late Eddie Martin.
>
There is no curator of the Pasaquan junkyard. Fowler is the caretaker there. He doesn't make enough money doing that to move out of his parents' house. Not a success story to enshrine on AAPC.

[W.Dockery]

NancyGene wrote:

> On Thursday, July 28, 2022 at 6:48:03 PM UTC, Will Dockery wrote:

>> To correct Nancy Gene's error, this is where Charles Fowler works, as curator of Pasaquan home of the legendary artist, the late Eddie Martin.
>>
> There is no curator of the Pasaquan junkyard

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Again, you've made the same error, Nancy Gene. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Pasaquan isn't a "junkyard":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasaquan

"Pasaquan is a 7-acre (28,000 m2) compound near Buena Vista, Georgia. It was created by an eccentric folk artist named Eddie Owens Martin (1908–1986), who called himself St. EOM. An internationally renowned art site, it consists of six major structures including a redesigned 1885 farmhouse, painted concrete sculptures, and 4 acres (16,000 m2) of painted masonry concrete walls. In September 2008, Pasaquan was accepted for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Pasaquan was restored by the Kohler Foundation and Columbus State University between 2014 and 2016..."


"President Jimmy Carter visited the site in the early 1980s. In 2015, the Pasaquan Preservation Society won the Governor's Award for the Arts and Humanities for its work on Pasaquan. In 2016, CNN recommended Pasaquan as a tourist destination. In 2019, Atlanta recommended Pasaquan as a folk art destination..."

"In 2004, the Pasaquan Preservation Society solicited the Kohler Foundation for help in maintaining Pasaquan. The project was accepted in 2014. The Kohler Foundation collaborated with Columbus State University to restore Pasaquan's art. After two years of work, the site was re-opened to the public on October 22, 2016..."

HYTH and HAND.

[Will Dockery]

Charles Fowler live at 8pm discussing Pasaquan:

https://www.facebook.com/stories/1671420249618439/UzpfSVNDOjc1NDUwODI1ODkyNDU3Nw==/?view_single=1&source=shared_permalink

[W.Dockery]

Michael Pendragon wrote:

> On Thursday, July 28, 2022 at 4:25:17 PM UTC-4, Will Dockery wrote:
>> NancyGene wrote:
>>
>> > On Thursday, July 28, 2022 at 6:48:03 PM UTC, Will Dockery wrote:
>>
>> >> To correct Nancy Gene's error, this is where Charles Fowler works, as curator of Pasaquan home of the legendary artist, the late Eddie Martin.
>> >>
>> > There is no curator of the Pasaquan junkyard
>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>
>> Again, you've made the same error, Nancy Gene. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>
>> Pasaquan isn't a "junkyard":

> Not to a pissbum who lives in a shed.


Or to art lovers and critics around the world.

See below.

>>
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasaquan
>>
>> "Pasaquan is a 7-acre (28,000 m2) compound near Buena Vista, Georgia. It was created by an eccentric folk artist named Eddie Owens Martin (1908–1986), who called himself St. EOM. An internationally renowned art site, it consists of six major structures including a redesigned 1885 farmhouse, painted concrete sculptures, and 4 acres (16,000 m2) of painted masonry concrete walls. In September 2008, Pasaquan was accepted for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Pasaquan was restored by the Kohler Foundation and Columbus State University between 2014 and 2016..."
>>
>>
>> "President Jimmy Carter visited the site in the early 1980s. In 2015, the Pasaquan Preservation Society won the Governor's Award for the Arts and Humanities for its work on Pasaquan. In 2016, CNN recommended Pasaquan as a tourist destination. In 2019, Atlanta recommended Pasaquan as a folk art destination..."
>>
>> "In 2004, the Pasaquan Preservation Society solicited the Kohler Foundation for help in maintaining Pasaquan. The project was accepted in 2014. The Kohler Foundation collaborated with Columbus State University to restore Pasaquan's art. After two years of work, the site was re-opened to the public on October 22, 2016..."

And so it goes.

[W-Dockery]

Michael Pendragon wrote:

> On Thursday, July 28, 2022 at 4:25:17 PM UTC-4, Will Dockery wrote:

>> NancyGene wrote:
>>
>> > On Thursday, July 28, 2022 at 6:48:03 PM UTC, Will Dockery wrote:
>>
>> >> To correct Nancy Gene's error, this is where Charles Fowler works, as curator of Pasaquan home of the legendary artist, the late Eddie Martin.
>> >>
>> > There is no curator of the Pasaquan junkyard
>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>
>> Again, you've made the same error, Nancy Gene. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>
>> Pasaquan isn't a "junkyard":

> Not to a pissbum who lives in a shed.

Or to the enlightened art lovers

[General-Zod]

Will Dockery wrote:
>
> Charles Fowler live at 8pm discussing Pasaquan:

> https://www.facebook.com/stories/1671420249618439/UzpfSVNDOjc1NDUwODI1ODkyNDU3Nw==/?view_single=1&source=shared_permalink

Cool....

[W.Dockery]

Good evening, agreed.

[Will Dockery]

On Saturday, August 13, 2022 at 6:45:32 PM UTC-4, vhug...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Saturday, August 13, 2022 at 12:25:40 AM UTC-4, FAKE Conley Brothers FORGED:
> >
> > Pasaquan is actually EOM's mother's place which EOM moved into
>
> In other words he inherited it, fool...!
>
> *************************************************
>
> > > > Kaleidoscope interview with local artist Charles Fowler
> > > >
> > > > As I wrote earlier, Rusty and I prefer the location shoots, which get more interesting effects, such as this one filmed in the work studio of Charles Fowler:
> > > >
> > > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHWM3xu9I0w&t=10s
> > > >
> > > > "KALEIDOSCOPE" with host Will Dockery. Special guest, sculptor, artist, musician Charles Fowler. "KALEIDOSCOPE" is an art show featuring local artists/writers/musicians/crafts people/poets/photographers from the Chattahoochee Valley and surrounding areas. Created and produced by Rusty Wood for EATV Channel 7, Phenix City Cable-TV.
> > > >
> > > > Presented for your enjoyment and scrutiny.
> > > >
> > > > .
> > >
> > > Charles Fowler at Pasaquan...
> > >
> > > https://www.thecolumbusite.net/post/finding-fowler-meet-the-curator-of-pasaquan
> > >
> > > ******************************************************
> > > If you’ve heard of Pasaquan, chances are you’ve heard of Charles Fowler. The caretaker of Pasaquan, Charles is eclectic, magnetic, and charismatic without even trying. The first time I went to Pasaquan I was going as a photographer who just wanted to take a few shots and leave. I arrived and was greeted by Charles. He asked my group if we wanted to hear the story of Pasaquan and we said sure. I remember sitting in the front room surrounded by Eddie Owens Martin’s work, and I felt something I’d never experienced before. I was completely engaged. With the artwork, of course, but more importantly, with Charles. The way he told the story of St. EOM, the passion he had behind work that wasn’t even his own, his ability to connect with me, a complete stranger, evoked a sense of excitement and curiosity. I went to Pasaquan to indulge in a photo shoot, and left finding a story I knew I needed to tell.
> > > ********************************************************
> > > Great write-up on Pasaquan? in The New York Times...
> > >
> > > http://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/13/books/philosopher-of-the-far-out.html?src=pm
> > >
> > > SAINT EOM wrote:
> > > Eddie Owens Martin
> > >
> > > Maybe some good can come out of this pain ridden life, Eddie would've
> > > wanted it that way.
> > > Indeed... and here's what the New York Times write-up had to say about Eddie
> > > Owens Martin's works that hang in the Library of Congress, the Museum of
> > > Modern Art, and in the Smithsonian Museum of American Art...
> > >
> > > ----------
> > >
> > > "...MOST of the life of Eddie Owens Martin, a k a St. EOM, affirms the
> > > resilience of the human spirit without necessarily paying it any
> > > compliments... In 1957, Martin inherited part of the family farm in Marion
> > > County, Georgia... far-out philosopher and visionary artist and architect.
> > > In all three pursuits, he displayed a creativity, pertinacity and human
> > > decency one would not have predicted, as if some kernel of spiritual grace
> > > long carried by his reprobate self had burst and flowered. Such things are
> > > not unknown. Other so-called outsider artists, like St. EOM's fellow
> > > Georgian the Rev. Howard Finster and (greatest of them all) Sam Rodia of
> > > Watts Towers fame, have been lumpen types who unclenched mysterious powers
> > > late in life. But St. EOM's case has an extra measure of the uncanny..."
> > >
> > > [...]
> > >
> > > "...The alternately seductive and challenging, eloquent and profane, oddly
> > > black-inflected voice that speaks from the pages of ''St. EOM in the Land of
> > > Pasaquan.'' It was a voice that got its owner out of tremendous amounts of
> > > trouble, and it became a hypnotic instrument. St. EOM's fragrant and
> > > harrowing account of his cracker childhood is a small Southern classic. In
> > > more discursive passages, the voice lends almost equal persuasiveness to
> > > words of hard-earned wisdom and theories for which ''crackpot'' seems an
> > > epithet too mild."
> > >
> > > [...]
> > >
> > > "St. EOM's phantasmagorically designed and decorated little estate is a
> > > knockout. Its chockablock proliferation of exotic forms and motifs - Indian,
> > > American Indian, Easter Island, Islamic, mandala and arabesque and totem and
> > > pagoda - ought to be just a colorful mess, but somehow it appears to possess
> > > a lovely, rhythmical order. St. EOM was a deliberate man and a
> > > perfectionist, capable of tearing down to start again. His work displays a
> > > tension between molten fantasy and cool discipline. The visual splendor of
> > > the place he called Pasaquan, though plenty eccentric, is no more to be
> > > patronized than the Pasaquoyan ever permitted himself to be..."
> > >
> > > "...But what an American life!" It's true. There is no cog on the ratchet of
> > > American rugged individualism beyond that of St. EOM, and his disaffected
> > > creative drive is archetypal for much that is strong in American art.'"I
> > > built this place to have somethin' to identify with," he said, in a sort of
> > > pledge of unallegiance befitting an Abstract Expressionist, "Because there's
> > > nothin' I see in this society that I identify with or desire to emulate."
> > > Inevitably, such extreme alienation is paired with an opposing hunger for
> > > recognition, spelled out by St. EOM with his usual directness:''I wanna
> > > prove to society that even though I've been ostracized all my life, I have
> > > good qualities and good potential.'' He played life's game with some strange
> > > cards, but proved in the end to hold a full deck..."
> > >
> > > -Peter Schjeldahl in The New York Times
>
>
> **************************************

Again, good find.