Bessie Harvey
Born to Homer and Rosie Mae White in Dallas, Georgia, Bessie Harvey (1928-1994) became a respected folk artist who brought together Afro-Atlantic vernacular traditions with a distinctive personal vision. One of thirteen children, she married Charles Harvey at the age of 14 and moved to Buena Vista, Georgia in 1942. A victim of spousal abuse, Harvey later returned with her children to Knoxville, Tennessee. Throughout most of her adult life, Harvey experienced visions she thought revealed the divine presence in nature.
Bessie Harvey. Photograph by William S. Arnett, 1987. Courtesy of Souls Grown Deep.
After the death of her mother in 1974, Harvey’s interest in art evolved. She began painting faces she saw within the branches and the roots near her home in Aloca, Tennessee. She believed her newfound talent was God-sent, saying, “God is the artist in my work.” Suffering an accident in 1977, she found herself with more time to commit to her artwork. Broadening the materials she worked with, Harvey began experimenting with beads, costume jewelry, spray paint, shells, putty and cloth, in order to express her visions. Harvey named her compositions after the spirits she envisioned. Harvey’s work is even more meaningful when seen in the context of both the religious practices of the African Diaspora such as Congo root medicine known as ‘nkisi.’ This became hoodoo in the American South.
Along with the addition of new materials, Harvey began developing small dioramas entitled Africa in America for African American children to better understand their heritage. Harvey’s work can be found in several important group exhibitions including Dream Singers, Story Tellers, (Trenton, NJ State Museum, 1992). She was honored posthumously in the 1994 in New York’s Whitney Biennial exhibition. A retrospective of her work occurred in Awakening the Spirits: Art by Bessie Harvey (Knoxville, Tennessee, 1997).
Submission composed by Lexus Houston, April 20, 2016.
References and Further Reading
Borum, Jenifer P. “Bessie Harvey,” Souls Grown Deep: African-American Vernacular Art of the South, I (Atlanta, 2000), pp.168-71
Borum, Jenifer P. “Spirit from Head.” Raw Vision, no. 37 (Winter 2002): 42-49
Cavin Morris, Shari. “Bessie Harvey: The Spirit in the Wood.” The Clarion (spring/summer 1987): 44-49.
Wicks, Stephen C. Revelations in Wood: The Art of Bessie Harvey. Knoxville, Tenn., 1997.