BESSIE HARVEY(born October 11, 1929 in Dallas, Georgia; died August 12, 1994)

Born in Dallas, Georgia in 1929, Bessie Harvey's childhood was one of poverty and hardship. She grew up during the Great Depression, the seventh of thirteen children. She is oft quoted as saying "The story of my life would make Roots and The Color Purple look like a fairy tale. There was nothing. In the morning, you'd just get up, go looking for whatever you could find, and if you had one meal that day, then you'd made progress." Bessie attended school through the fourth grade, then went to work as a domestic. She married Charles Harvey at the age of fourteen, so she was no longer a economic burden to her family. Bessie stayed married to Harvey into her early twenties. They separated and she independently moved away, eventually settling in Alcoa, Tennessee with their five children. There she continued to work as a domestic and later married Cleve Jackson. Over the course of a twenty year marriage which ended in divorce, the couple had six children.

Always deeply religious and attuned to the essential spiritual nature of the world, Bessie sought expression for her experiences and beliefs. She recalled creating toys and dolls,"something out of nothing", as a child. As an adult, she would do the same to bring her visionary experiences into the physical world. She began constructing sculptural assemblages from natural materials such as tree branches and roots, that she embellished with beads, paint and even clothing to "bring out" the spirit contained within the raw materials. Following the death of her mother in 1974, she soon went to work on the housekeeping staff at Blount County Memorial Hospital. It was there, in 1977, that she first showed some of her creations in the hospital's annual art show. Her work met with a very positive response and she was encouraged to continue. Bessie Harvey would increasingly devote herself to her art for the next 17 years until her death in 1994.

Bessie Harvey's work is as deep and complex as the worlds that she experienced and explored. Her art encompasses the personal and the profound. She worked at the direction of God through visionary experiences which allowed her to see the natural world in extraordinary ways. She was also deeply rooted to her own cultural heritage as an African American. Writing about this aspect of Harvey's art, scholar and curator Lynne Adele adds, 'Harvey’s work belongs to a widespread African American visionary tradition that has been described as a unique “collaboration between the artist, God, and nature.” The ability to see anthropomorphic forms in roots, limbs, and driftwood—materials held sacred by African artists for their great spiritual powers—is not uncommon among African American visionary artists, and points to the survival of cultural Africanisms on this side of the Atlantic. Harvey is one of many African American artists who echo the belief that their role is to give physical form to spiritual presences already inherent within the materials. The artist’s role is to “bring out” these presences, usually by adding elements that might include shells, hair, cloth, paint, and other found or improvised items. The resulting forms are raw, powerful, and charged with energy.'

From Intuitive eye

One Person Exhibitions:

1997 Awakening the Spirits: Bessie Harvey, Knoxville Museum of Art, organizedby Stephen Wicks, with catalog.

1995 Sculpture by Bessie Harvey, One Person Exhibition, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, NY

Going Home: Sculpture by Bessie Harvey, Jazzberry General, Maryville, TN

1993 Bessie Harvey, Community College of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

Bessie Harvey: Sculpture, Fisk University Galleries, Nashville, TN; curated by Troy Smith

1991 New Work by Bessie Harvey, Blue Spiral One Gallery, Asheville, NC; curated by John Cramm

1989: Spirit Visions, Carroll Reece Museum, East Tennessee State University Museum, Johnson City, TN

BESSIE HARVEY

CAVIN-MORRIS GALLERY

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1987: Bessie Harvey - Recent Work, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, NY

Group Exhibitions:

2015 Vodun, Vodou, Conjure: Animistic Arts of the African Diaspora, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, NY

2014 When the Stars Begin to Fall, Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, FL

When the Stars Begin to Fall: Imagination and the American South, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY

A Creative Legacy: African American Arts in Tennessee, Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, TN

2012 HomeGround: Art from the Pan-African Diaspora, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, NY

2011 No Ordinary Fold: Southern Self-Taught Artists, Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, GA

Outsider Art Fair, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, NY

2009 Approaching Abstraction, American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY

Ancestry and Innovation: African American Art from the American Folk Art Museum, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmingon, DE

On a Mission: KMA Collectors Circle Acquisitions, Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN

Plant Body Animal Body, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, NY

2004 Preview of Upcoming Exhibitions (introducing the work of Pushpa Kumari) Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, NY

Sisthus; Four African American Self-taught Artists, Intuit, Chicago, IL

2003 Insights: Self-Taught Artists for the 21st Century, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, NY

2002 Between the Nameless and the Named: The Art of Vernacular Homeground, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, NY

2001 Keeping the Faith: Works by Self-Taught Artists, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, NY

Transcendentally Material, Mystically Objective, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, NY

1999 By Any Means Necessary: Sculpture by Self-Taught African-American Artists, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, NY

1998 Sixth International Outsider Art Fair, New York, NY

Millennial Intentions: Post 20th Century Self-Taught Artists, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, NY

1997 Gallery 53 Group Show, Cooperstown, NY

Summer Group Show, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York,NY

Fifth International Outsider Art Fair, New York, NY

Redemption Songs: The Self-Taught Artists of Jamaica, Diggs Gallery, Winston-Salem, NC

BESSIE HARVEY

1996 Difficult Women: Bessie Harvey, Chelo Amezcua, Dorthella Branch, Evadney Cruickshank, Elijah, Minnie Evans, Mary Whitfield, Anna Zemánková, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, NY

Vision & Voice: Folk Art by Women of the 20th Century, Seton Hall University, Co-sponsored by the Museum of American Folk Art, South Orange, NJ

. . . my magic pours secret libations”, Florida State University Museum of Fine Art, Tallahassee, with traveling venue and catalog

Pictured in My Mind: Contemporary American Self-Taught Art, Birmingham Museum of Art with traveling venue

Labor of Love, New Museum, New York, NY, with illustrated catalog

Fourth International Outsider Art Fair, New York, NY

1995 The Tree of Life, Inaugural Exhibition, American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, illustrated catalogue

Sniper’s Nest: Art That Has Lived with Lucy R. Lippard, Center for Curatorial Studies Museum, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, NY

Important works by Self-Taught Artists, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, NY

Third International Outsider Art Fair, New York, NYMasterworks by Self Taught Artists, (Organized by John Ollman) Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, NY, in collaboration with Janet Fleisher Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Outsider/Contemporary Folk Art, Gallery L’Art 54, New York, NY; curated by Marcia Weber

Everette James Collection, National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis, TN 1994 Grouped Show, Cavin-Morris, New York, NY

Visionary Women, Cavin-Morris, New York, NY

Amulets, Dreams and the Voices of Gods: Works by Self-Taught Artists, Cavin-Morris, New York, NY

Bessie Harvey, Willie Massey, Henry Speller, Inez Nathaniel Walker, Gasperi Gallery, New Orleans, LA

African-American Experience: Five Artists from the South, Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC

Outsider/Contemporary Folk Art, Gallery L’Art 54, New York, NY; curated by Marcia Weber

1993 Passionate Visions of the American South: Self-Taught Artists from 1940 to the Present, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA, Traveled through 1995, illustrated catalogue

Animal Body, Cavin-Morris, New York, NY

Common Ground/Uncommon Vision: The Michael and Julie Hall Collection of American Folk Art, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI, illustrated catalogue

ÀSHE: Improvisation & Recycling in African-American Visionary Art, Diggs Gallery at Winston-Salem State University, NC, illustrated.

BESSIE HARVEY

Not By Luck: Self-Taught Artists in the American South, Lynne Ingram Southern Folk Art, Milford, New Jersey, illustrated catalogue

Black History and Artistry: Work by Self-Taught Painters and Sculptors From the Blanchard-Hill Collections, Sidney Mishkin Gallery, Baruch College, New York, NY; curated by Sandra Kraskin

1992 Dream Singers, Story Tellers: An African-American Presence, opened at the Fukui Fine Arts Museum, Japan, and closed at the State University of New Jersey, 1994

Other Drums, Cavin-Morris, New York, NY

Contemporary American Folk Art, The Balsley Collection, Marquette University, Milwaukee, illustrated catalogue

Diving in the Spirit, Fine Arts Gallery, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC; curated by Robert Knott; traveled to Ewing Gallery, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN

Folk Art Up Close, Metro Arts Commission Downtown Gallery, Nashville, TN; curated by Jim HedgesAfrican Images in American Craft, Folk Art Center, Southern Highland Handicraft Guild, Asheville, NC; curated by Andrew Glascow

1991 Redemption Songs II, Cavin-Morris, New York, NY

Syncretism, Alternative Museum, New York, NY

Art’s Mouth, Artist Space, Rothko-granted exhibition, New York, NY

Bessie Harvey and Lonnie Holley, Gasperi Gallery, New Orleans, LA; curated by Richard Gasperi

A Southern Folk Art Collection, Sawtooth Center for Visual Art, Winston-Salem, NC; curated by James H. Sanders III, catalogue

Folk and Visionary Art, Arts Festival of Atlanta, The Pavilion Exhibit, Piedmont Park, Atlanta, GA; curated by Tina Bucuvala

The Dr. A Everette James, Jr., Collection of African-American Folk Art, Carl Van Vechten Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts, Fisk University, Nashville, TN; curated by Liane Egan

Brooks Folk Art, Chattanooga, TN

Syncretism, Alternative Museum, New York, NY

Artist Space, Rothko Granted Exhibition, New York, NY

1990 Bessie Harvey and Sammie Nicely, Ralston Fine Art, Johnson City, TN; curated by Martha Alfonso

l989: Black Art - Ancestral Legacy: The African Impulse in African-American Art, Dallas Museum of Art, Texas; Caroll Reece Museum, East Tennessee State University Rose Center, Morristown, TN, illustrated catalogue

The Good and Evil Show, Cavin-Morris, New York, NY

Bessie Harvey, Sammie Nicely, Bennett Galleries, Knoxville, Tennessee

Democracy, Dia Art Foundation, New York, NY

From Africa to Appalachia, Rose Center, Morristown, Tennessee

BESSIE HARVEY

Spirit in the Wood: Bessie Harvey Sculptures/Spirit in the Paint: Deborah Muirhead Paintings, Artspace, New Haven, CT

Gifted Vision, Nashua Center for the Arts, Nashua, HJ

Spirit Visions, Carroll Reece Museum, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN; curated by Helen Roseberry

From Africa to Appalachia, The Rose Center Gallery, Morristown, TN; curated by Sammie Nicely

Tell the Children: An African American Legacy, Bijou Theater, Knoxville, TN

The Best Folk of Nashville, Metro Arts Commission, Nashville, TN; curated by Susan Knowles

Personal Show, Blount Memorial Hospital, Maryville, TN

Bessie Harvey and Sammie Nicely, Bennet Gallery, Knoxville

American Resources: Selected works of African American Artists and Outsider Artists, Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery, Nashville, TN; curated by Bernice Steinbaum Gallery

Arts Alive, Maryville College, Maryville, TN

Personal Visions: Bessie Harvey and Homer Green, Tennessee Arts Commission Gallery, Nashville, TN; curated by Robert Cogswell

Contemporary Visionaries, Mia’s Gallery, Seattle WA; curated by Mia McEldowney

1988 Art from the African Diaspora, Aljira Center Newark, NJ; curated by Allison Weld

Women of Vision, Black American Folk Art, Connecticut College, Storrs, CT; curated by Sal Scalora

Group Show, Harris Brown Gallery, Boston, MA

Outsider Drawing--Creativity Explored, Cavin-Morris, NY, NY

Shape Shifting, Cavin-Morris, New York, NY

Outside the Mainstream: Folk Art in Our Time, High Museum of Art at Georgia-Pacific Center, Atlanta; curated by Barbara Archer

Gifted Vision: Black American Folk Art, Atrium Gallery, University of Connecticut, Storrs

The Figure Redefined, Primitivo Gallery, San Francisco, CA; curated by Kathy Naylons

Visions and Voices, Mia Gallery, Seattle, WA; curated by Mia McEldowney

1987 Baking In The Sun: Visionary Images from the South, (From the collection of Sylvia and Warren Lowe), University Art Museum, University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, LA, Traveled through 1988, illustrated catalogue

Outsider Art, Cavin-Morris, New York, NY

The Naive Figure: Eccentric Visions, Robeson Center Gallery, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ

BESSIE HARVEY

American Mysteries: The Rediscovery of Outsider Art, San Francisco Art Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA; curated by John Ollman, Randall Morris, Shari Cavin and Donald Fontowitz

Materializers, Janet Fleisher Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Making the Mainstream, SVC Fine Art Gallery, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL

Neo-Alchemy: Visionary Works by Trained and Untrained Artists, Cavin-Morris, New York, NY

Janet Fleisher Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

SVC Fine Art Gallery University of South Florida, Tampa

Unsigned, Unsung...Whereabouts Unknown, Florida State University, illustrated catalogue

The Naive Figure: Eccentric Visions, Roverson Center gallery, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ; curated by Alison Weld

Fact, Fiction, Fantasy: Recent Narrative Art in the Southeast, Ewing Gallery, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, traveled

Galleria Wallner Fersenvag, Malmo, Sweden

1986 Visions of Heritage, Women's Art Registry of Minnesota, Thomas Barry Fine Arts, MN

Outsider Sculpture, Cavin-Morris, New York, NY

Bessie Harvey: Sculpture and Janyra Jones: Paintings, Harris Brown Gallery

Outsiders: Art Beyond the Norm, Rosa Esman Gallery, New York, NY

Black American Folk Art, Roberson Center Gallery, Newark, NJ; curated by Alison Weld

Making Do: Black Folk Arts in Tennessee, Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, TN, in conjunction with Fisk University; curated by Jessie C. Smith

Sources in American Culture, Temple University Center City Campus, Philadelphia, PA; curated by Julie Courtney

1984 Arts Mouth, Artists Space, New York, NY

Public Collections:

Carroll Reece Museum, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TNDallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TXMuseum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, Inc., Boston, MANational Museum of American Art, Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.C. Kermit Ewing Gallery, University of Tennessee, KnoxvilleWhitney Museum of American Art, New York, NYHigh Museum of Art, Atlanta, GAMuseum of American Folk Art, New York, NYKnoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN

BESSIE HARVEY