.. Athlone Clarke was born in Jamaica in 1956 and immigrated to the United States in 1985. During the mid 80's he made his living as a free-lance writer and also painted during this period. In the years that followed his writing established a relationship with his visual work and eventually gave birth to an exciting, colorful, mixed media off-spring. This artist believes that the language of art does not always have to be cloaked in professorial codes that are cleverly hidden in intimidating abstractions, nor does it always have to be safe and comfortable. He thrives on experimentation and is a firm believer that there is no “have to” in art. His mixed media journey allows for a rich amalgam of found objects that seem to have chosen him to interpret their stories, in as much as he has chosen them. Clarke states that at the end of the day, "the work should be capable of standing completely on it’s own, and therefore more eloquent than anything that could be written describing it". ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AVAM exhibit celebrates the rugged individualist "Flight School" by Athlone Clarke, (paint and mixed media collage of found objects) (Courtesy of the artist, Photo: Dan Meyers)--- By Tim Smith | tim.smith@baltsun.com Baltimore Sun reporter--- October 1, 2009--- "It's going to be a challenge for a lot of people," says Roger Manley, gesturing to the invigoratingly eclectic collection of material he curated for the American Visionary Art Museum's new exhibit, "Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness." "It's a little tougher show than some of the previous ones." The museum is famed for its focus on artists who lack formal training but are loaded with motivation and imagination. This show celebrates that concept of rugged individualism in a big, involving way. "For the first time in history, a country was founded where the emphasis was put on individual people doing what they felt was right," Manley says. "[Displaying] art by eccentric people is an entirely appropriate way to look at how and why America was founded." Commanding attention on one wall is a piece constructed of metal, paint, rope and carpet by Alabama-based Thorton Dial Sr. called "Eve and Adam Still Waiting for Christmas." Within the huge, abstract creation are forms that suggest red, white and blue Christmas trees, a totally individualistic splash of Americana that finds a counterpoint in a large evocation of the Statue of Liberty created out of driftwood by a severely arthritic former carpenter in Louisiana named Adam Morales. The use of written language crops up in several objects in the exhibit, nowhere more forcefully than on dozens of signs that line the entrance hall of the museum. They contain angry, block-lettered messages made over many years by Missourian Jesse Howard, protesting one slight after another by neighbors and governments. "He was one of the all-time great cranks," Manley says. "His work is one of the best examples of free speech run amok. This tells people right away that there will be some strange stuff in this show." Strange, and potentially controversial. Among the most provocative items are by Suleiman al-Nadhi, Detainee No. 511 at Guantanamo, where he was sent after his arrest more than seven years ago in Afghanistan. His decoratively designed thank-you notes were made for his Atlanta-based lawyers. "As far as I know, this is the only art to come out of Guantanamo," Manley says. There are several large paintings by Ala Bashir, Saddam Hussein's personal physician. The darkly vivid "Journey" shows a nearly skeletal figure with a ravenlike bird against a forbidding, desolate landscape. Other pieces in the exhibit confront contemporary issues in bold style, among them Jim Bloom's "Abu Ghraib Saturday Night" and "Go Back to Gay Town," with their bold lines and bold colors conveying the rawness of hate and violence. Issues of civil rights are raised repeatedly in the exhibit, from Japanese-American internment camps to racial struggles in the South. There are lighter elements, too, including the startling creations of Texas-born Richard McMahan, who has painstakingly re-created, in miniature, thousands of art masterpieces he has seen in old magazines or library books. A plentiful sampling is displayed in a wall-full of doll house-size cases. "A museum within a museum is fun to see," Manley says. There's New Jersey-born illustrator Renaldo Kuhler, who created his own imaginary country called Rocaterrania, tucked between the border of New York and Canada, and has produced a huge quantity of works revealing its Eastern European-looking residents, buildings and language. Georgia Blizzard, a chronically poor woman of Irish and Apache descent, taught herself to make clay pottery without a potter's wheel. Her remarkably accomplished works contain what Manley describes as "tragic expressions of her life." There are quilts by undocumented workers in California, showing very different worlds and the often cruel border in between, and a huge, exceedingly intricate and eventful hieroglyphic-style drawing by Frenchman Jean-Pierre Nadau that takes the viewer on a journey from Manhattan to Long Island and back again (and finds the "Vampire State Building" on the return). The late New Yorker Dick Lubinsky, a schizophrenic and hoarder, is revealed to have been a superb craftsman who produced distinctive drawings with considerable emotional content. Paintings by playwright Clifford Odets, in their first-ever museum outing, open another window into his creative energy. Andrew Romanov, the California-based grandnephew of Czar Nicholas II, is represented by "Shrinky Dink" art - childlike drawings on clear plastic sheets that shrink when baked. Back on the controversial side are works by several prisoners in U.S. jails, most impressively the detailed, wistful Americana of Vincent Nardone, serving a life sentence for a crime committed in Maryland more than 30 years ago. "There is very little here of art that is meant to experiment with color or say something about how light looks on someone's face," Manley says. "This is art about making a difference, about improving things. It's what I call art that matters." If you go "Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness" opens Saturday and runs through Sept. 5, 2010. Admission is $8 to $14 (free for children 6 and younger). There will be a preview party at 7 p.m. Friday; tickets are $20. For more information, call 410-244-1900 or go to avam.org. Copyright © 2009, The Baltimore Sun ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EMORYWHEEL.COM----- Emory University's student newspaper----- Atlanta Arts Festival, Not Just Another Walk in the Park By Malcolm Tariq----- Posted: 09/14/2009----- Jennifer Myung/StaffAlmost 200 artists came to the Atlanta Arts Festival, many showing off live metal work and art creations like metal sculptures and colorful glass works. For the past three years the Atlanta Arts Festival has taken place in Piedmont Park and this year was no exception. And with such clear skies, it was easy for visitors to spot the trail of white-topped tents that lined the paved walkway. The annual affair took place on Saturday and Sunday, a cool weekend that was neither too hot nor humid, making it easier for art lovers to enjoy the art booths and demonstrations featured throughout the festival. The free event, which showcased almost 200 artists from all over the country, drew in mass crowds during all hours of the day. The mood of the festival was tranquil, but not too quiet. Some people walked from booth to booth quietly and patiently examined the different aspects of the diverse arrangement of artwork. Others talked to the artists extensively about their approaches to a certain piece, previous work they’d done and even inquired about making future purchases. To accompany the sights, several vendors came ready with funnel cakes, kettle korn and of course the all–American hot dog. The artists in attendance presented not only traditional art such as photography and painting, but also some less common practices, including glass work and metallurgy, or metal creations. One of the most attractive collections featured belonged to artist Athlone Clarke. A resident of Douglasville, Ga., Clarke said that though he has been an artist since birth, art has only been his primary source of income for the past five or six years. His collection of mixed media art included collages combined with elements of musical scores, photographs, dolls and a variety of other materials. But what made this collection even more special was the beautiful way in which it used these materials from the present to portray historical stories. For example, while some pieces focused on slavery in the United States, others were themed with remnants of the Holocaust. And just as each collage was composed of different material, each composition told a different story. Although his artwork drew a very interested crowd, others had opposing views toward it. One viewer commented that the work was too bloody and gory. But Clarke knows his work is not for everyone. “My work is heavy,” he said. “It’s not home décor.” The festival also showcased musicians across many genres, with Saturday’s musical highlights including performances by Tyler Herrin, Steve Monce and Francisco Vidal. But among the other performances featured that day, percussionist Chris Harris created one of the brighter spotlights for himself by offering festival goers an upbeat and engaging show. The Bucket Man, as Harris is sometimes known, set up his stage on the street close to the crowd of passersby. Drawing eyes with his peculiar set of instrument — three buckets and two drumsticks — Clarke also drew ears as he repeated, “I have something you’ll never see again in your life!” A crowd quickly gathered around and listened as Clarke began to play his vibrant musical rhythms. And then, just as his set was coming to a close, Clarke took the audience off guard, awing them with an unexpected one-handed drum roll. The onlookers were floored. But he assured them once more that they would never see it again in their lives. “Unless you see me do it again,” he joked. Harris said what drove him to become a part of the festival was that it gave him a sense of belonging, something local artist Vickie Martin totally agreed with. Martin invited audiences to take part in the creation of art. In lieu of showcasing and selling her own work, Martin hosted a demonstration booth in which she invited people to help build a collage of the Atlanta skyline. Piece by the piece the collage came together by the hands of various art enthusiasts and other intrigued onlookers. At the end of the day, Martin said she would give the piece away to one of those that took part in the project. The peace project, led by Julie Ross and Tommy Lee, also enlisted the help of festival attenders. The project required partcipant to paint in green spherical “pea” shapes as they worked together to depict the theme of world peace. The Atlanta Arts Festival was not only a place to enjoy art, but to experience people who wanted to enjoy it just as much. It truly displayed the fact that artists work in many forms in many ways, but at the end of the day they all meet along the same path.----- — Contact Malcolm Tariq ---------------------------------