Praise House – Sun Shadows
Praise House – Sun Shadows
The idea for the Praise House – Sun Shadows project began for me after I had visited the Wallace House Plantation in Harpersville, Alabama, and witnessing a dance performance entitled Migratuse Ataraxia. The performance motivated me to consider, how an antebellum site such as a plantation house, could lead to new understandings of African American lives histories and stories. I began by questioning how the enslaved community might have found spiritual comfort from their lives of toil and pain.
The SECAC Artist fellowship has enabled me to fulfill a dream of constructing a site specific sculptural consideration of such a place. The second phase of my Fellowship process will move toward the construction of a permanent structure on the grounds of the plantation.
The project entitled Praise House – Sun Shadows – considers the origins of black gathering and worship places (brush arbors, groves in the woods and Praise Houses) where the enslaved community could be themselves.
This project honors the spiritual practices of the enslaved community and the still present descendant community of Creswell in Harpersville, Alabama.
The SECAC Artist fellowship has enabled me to fulfill a dream of constructing a site specific sculptural consideration of such a place. The second phase of my Fellowship process will move toward the construction of a permanent structure on the grounds of the plantation.
The project entitled Praise House – Sun Shadows – considers the origins of black gathering and worship places (brush arbors, groves in the woods and Praise Houses) where the enslaved community could be themselves.
This project honors the spiritual practices of the enslaved community and the still present descendant community of Creswell in Harpersville, Alabama.
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installation shot of Praise House CAD Drawings - 2021, done in collaboration with Creature
Creature is a Birmingham-based Architecture and Construction company. Creature’s collaboration with Tony Bingham’s “Praise House” project is part of the company’s Architect + Artist Community Cultivation Program which seeks to elevate our local community in practical ways involving our expertise. Creature is providing material from their fabrication shop, drafts of the project, manual labor, and consultation within the areas of design, construction and custom fabrication. Devin Virdell, Creature’s Woodshop Manager, is managing the materials and the welding labor for the steel screen. Dylan Braziel, an Architectural Designer at Creature, is providing the architectural drafts, construction expertise, and manual labor on the construction of “Praise House.” Alex Hamady, also a Creature - Architectural Designer provided 3D renderings based on Dylan’s architectural drawings of the “Praise House”. It is a fundamental value for Creature to participate in cultivating the arts community in Alabama. Creature is honored to collaborate with Tony Bingham on the “Praise House.” |
installation shots of Scotts Grove Church group at Easter (Memories of Sanctified Hill - December 1973, Cumberland, Kentucky) - 2021
CNC plasma cut hot rolled Steel from photograph, marble stones, Aunt Daisy’s vessels, cotton, water from Julia Chin Slave House site at Blue Spring Branch, Georgetown, KY |
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Four Vessels for Aunt Daisy
Four Vessels for Aunt Daisy, presents the objects and artifacts of Aunt Daisy O’Neal of the Creswell Community in Harpersville, Alabama. Born in 1875, Aunt Daisy’s life connects us of the generation of individuals born during the Reconstruction era in Alabama. Through examining her artifacts, we learn of the skills likely passed down to her from enslaved family members. Evidence of her mastery of the crafts/art of quilting, hat making and a handmade church fan are on display in the exhibition. As part of a farming community, Aunt Daisy raised and picked cotton and other crops for food. Yet, she would set aside some of the cotton to use as a lining for her quilts. Of the two quilts in the exhibition, we can examine the patterns and designs made from the scraps and fabric strips used to construct the quilts. Quilt designs can also inform us of both an urgency employed in their making, and when times were better, the designs reflect an attention to detail.
As quilters often trade colorful scraps of fabric with each other, the quilts stand in as historic representations of the members of her community. I never had a chance to meet Aunt Daisy, but I am inspired by her life, as she is a reflection of the faith and values of her community. A community connected as descendants of the enslaved families from plantations like the Wallace House.
Her letters to family remind us of those who participated in the Great Migration, to places where they found greater opportunities to realize fuller lives. However, some like Aunt Daisy, chose to stay on the land. Their faith enabling them to endure the trials of living in the Jim Crow south.
I am honored to know about people like her, and I am inspired to make objects that remember their past and present moments.
As quilters often trade colorful scraps of fabric with each other, the quilts stand in as historic representations of the members of her community. I never had a chance to meet Aunt Daisy, but I am inspired by her life, as she is a reflection of the faith and values of her community. A community connected as descendants of the enslaved families from plantations like the Wallace House.
Her letters to family remind us of those who participated in the Great Migration, to places where they found greater opportunities to realize fuller lives. However, some like Aunt Daisy, chose to stay on the land. Their faith enabling them to endure the trials of living in the Jim Crow south.
I am honored to know about people like her, and I am inspired to make objects that remember their past and present moments.
