Main Street Museum: On Our Way

Someone who plays music is a musician. Someone who acts is an actor. And, someone who makes art is an artist. Often times artists who have not received a formal artistic education are labeled as “self-taught”, “folk”, “visionary”, or “outsider”. While these terms may offer some loose categorization, they also raise important questions: ‘outside of what?’, or ‘when or where do you learn?’. These terms often end up excluding artists from important conversations and how experiences can be represented through the visual arts. Minnie Adkins, Clinton S. Ford, and Marion Line are all artists whose talents and expressions are unique and full of individual craftsmanship.

These three artists’ practices are informed by personal experiences and varied interests. For Adkins the natural world, biblical stories, and animals; Ford the memories and experiences serving on the European front during World War II; and for Line the narratives and memories of rural living. Through these pieces pulled from the LCVA’s permanent collection we can witness artistic journeys of internal experiences
inspired by the external world.

Pictured:

Clinton S. Ford, 508th Marching to Entrucking Point after Battle of the Bulge, 1997, acrylic on canvas with glitter, Gift of the artist’s son, Clinton S. Ford, Jr. Virginia Artists Collection 2006.17.11