Charles Gillam Sr.

Charles Gillam Sr. (born 1945) is a self-taught woodcarver and mixed-media artist from New Orleans. He is the founder and director of the Algiers Folk Art Zone & Blues Museum in New Orleans.

Biography

Charles Gillam Sr. was born in 1945 in rural Louisiana, and raised in the Ninth Ward neighborhood of New Orleans.[1] He learned to paint by watching street artists in the French Quarter where he shined shoes with his brother.[1] He received his first commission from the House of Blues who hired him to create a wood bust of the notable Blues musician, Charlie Patton, the "father of Delta Blues."[2] Since that point onward, every House of Blues in the United States has one of his carvings.[3] In 2000, Gillam, along with folk artist Dr. Charles Smith, founded the Algiers Folk Art Zone & Blues Museum.[1] The Algiers Folk Art Zone & Blues Museum is a community-based art collective that features regional folk art and teaches the importance of recycling to children.[4] Every November, the Museum hosts an annual Folk Art Festival which raises funds for self-taught artists and celebrates New Orleans food, music, and art[5][6]

Artworks

Charles Gillam Sr. is mostly inspired by the culture of his hometown. His primary subject matter is New Orleans's Culture, Jazz and Blues artists.[1] He often uses driftwood found in the Mississippi river for his sculptures.[7] Over the last decade, he has created over 100 busts of famous Jazz musicians including portraits of Louis Armstrong and Aaron Neville.[8] Gillam also creates art using found objects turns them into portraits of Blues men, paintings, and carved heads of New Orleans musicians.[9]

"Ain't That a Shame"

"Ain't That a Shame" is an acrylic painting on wood featuring Fats Domino playing piano on the roof of his flooded studio. The small 24"x14" work was created in 2005 and Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.[10]

Collections

His work is held in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and the National Blues Museum.[10]

References
  1. Congdon, Kristin (2012). American Folk Art: A Regional Reference. ABC-CLIO. pp. 194–196. ISBN 9780313349379.
  2. "Folk Art Zone / Blues Museum". Spaces Archives. 2016-02-04. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
  3. Valence, Kari Eve (July 17, 2019). "Charles Gillam Sr.'s folk art brings 'life' to city at Algiers Point museum". The New Orleans Advocate. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
  4. Folk Art Zone and Blues Museum - Interview with Charles Gillam, retrieved 2021-04-23
  5. Hastings, Anne Elise. "Photos: Algiers Folk Art Festival Celebrated Local Artisans Of All Kinds". OffBeat Magazine. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
  6. FolkArtZone. "Algiers Folk Art Festival on Saturday, November 12 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Folk Art Zone". Retrieved 2021-05-13.
  7. "Creole artists meld spiritual roots with individual style". Tulane News. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
  8. Sellen, Betty-Carol (2016). Self-Taught, Outsider, and Folk Art. McFarland. p. 162. ISBN 978-0786475858.
  9. Sellen, Betty-Carol (2002). Outsider, Self‐Taught, and Folk Art Annotated Bibliography: Publications and Films of the 20th Century. McFarland. p. 340. ISBN 978-0786410569.
  10. "Ain't That a Shame". National Museum of African American History and Culture. Retrieved 2021-05-13.

Image of Charles Gillam Sr

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