FARMERVILLE, La. (KNOE) – The Union Museum of History and Art is celebrating the life and work of Clementine Hunter, a world renowned African American artist, with an exclusive exhibit.
The exhibit includes 50 pieces of original art work, 47 paintings and three sculptures. Tom Fields, UMHA archeology director, says having this exclusive collection for a season means a great deal to the community.
“It does mean a lot. When we were down at the Louisiana archaeological society and we mentioned or referenced Clementine Hunter, everyone was very surprised. Small town museum, and to have an exhibit such as this, 50 pieces of Clementine Hunter, is quite unique,” Fields said.
The Director of the Union Museum of History and Art Vicki Wheelis discussed the niche and unique history of Hunter’s life and work with KNOE.
“She was uneducated and she was not traditionally trained in the painting, so she really picked up all on her own,” Wheelis said.
She was born in the 1880s into a sharecropper family and resided the majority of her life at the Melrose plantation in Natchitoches, Louisiana.
“They opened up Melrose plantation as an artist salon. It was during that time when Clementine was cleaning the house, then she would collect those tubes of paint and those used paint brushes and that is what she actually got started with,” Wheelis continued.
She not only had unconventional materials to work with, but so was her model, she did not have one. She painted all of her work from memory.
“She’ll tell everybody, ‘I painted my memories. So when you think about her paintings, they have captured an era, that had she not put it down the way that she did, that era would be lost,” Wheelis explained.
Since her passing in the 1980s, Hunter’s legacy will live on for generations and continue to spur conversations surrounding African American art and heritage.
“I’m very fortunate that Clementine was able to paint the way that she did to tell her stories, and to really capitalize on that piece of the black history,” Wheelis said.
You can visit the exhibit until March 5 at 5 p.m. Admission to the museum is free.
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