<description>Thirty-five years ago, Joe Minter received a vision. Soon, his half-acre property outside Birmingham, Alabama, began to fill with sculpture—reflections on everything from slavery to 9/11 to climate change—fashioned out of junk: car parts, toys, industrial detritus, gizmos of all sorts. An elaborate example of the Southern Black tradition of the “yard show," with Minter as its genial showman. Now, it's among the last of its kind, and as museums and collectors come calling, the race is on to determine the fate of Minter’s art and how to think about it.

You can read more about Minter's art, and that of his fellow Alabama autodidacts, now on view at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University, here: https://jcsm.auburn.edu/exhibitions/black-codes-art-and-post-civil-rights-alabama/

You can see one of Minter's creations, now at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, here: https://collections.artsmia.org/art/131461/old-rugged-cross-joe-minter</description>

Thirty-five years ago, Joe Minter received a visi…

Thirty-five years ago, Joe Minter received a vision. Soon, his half-acre property outside Birmingham, Alabama, began to fill with sculpture—reflections on everything from slavery to 9/11 to climate change—fashioned out of junk: car parts, toys, industrial detritus, gizmos of all sorts. An elaborate example of the Southern Black tradition of the “yard show," with Minter as its genial showman. Now, it's among the last of its kind, and as museums and collectors come calling, the race is on to determine the fate of Minter’s art and how to think about it.

You can read more about Minter's art, and that of his fellow Alabama autodidacts, now on view at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University, here: https://jcsm.auburn.edu/exhibitions/black-codes-art-and-post-civil-rights-alabama/

You can see one of Minter's creations, now at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, here: https://collections.artsmia.org/art/131461/old-rugged-cross-joe-minter

Yard Show: The World According to Joe

<description>The premiere of Season 6! When the work of a brilliant but forgotten artist falls into the lap of a curator, it suggests something uniquely human: pleasure is good, unexpected pleasure even better. But when the surprises keep coming, years later, the story becomes both a mystery and a meditation on patience.

You can see the art of Richard Holzschuh here: https://collections.artsmia.org/search/Holzschuh</description>

The premiere of Season 6! When the work of a bril…

The premiere of Season 6! When the work of a brilliant but forgotten artist falls into the lap of a curator, it suggests something uniquely human: pleasure is good, unexpected pleasure even better. But when the surprises keep coming, years later, the story becomes both a mystery and a meditation on patience.

You can see the art of Richard Holzschuh here: https://collections.artsmia.org/search/Holzschuh

Wait for It

<description>One week until Season 6 begins (March 11)! Here's a bonus encore episode, a highlight from a couple seasons ago about Georgia O'Keeffe and the loner legend that followed her to the end. In the early 1970s, when an ambitious curator comes calling, it seems the head ghost of Ghost Ranch is in fact the host with the most—and hardly ever alone. A fresh look at a myth we can’t stop believing.</description>

One week until Season 6 begins (March 11)! Here's…

One week until Season 6 begins (March 11)! Here's a bonus encore episode, a highlight from a couple seasons ago about Georgia O'Keeffe and the loner legend that followed her to the end. In the early 1970s, when an ambitious curator comes calling, it seems the head ghost of Ghost Ranch is in fact the host with the most—and hardly ever alone. A fresh look at a myth we can’t stop believing.

Encore episode: The O'Keeffe We Never Knew

<description>It was a mystery: two dancers—one white, one Black—captured on stage in 1959 in a photograph found in a museum archive. Who were they? But a search for their identity uncovers much more: a forgotten history of art and integration. When the pursuit of modern ideals promised a better world, and the pursuit of art promised personal freedom. The farther from the New York spotlight, the better. You can watch Martha Graham's 1959 TV broadcast of "Appalachian Spring" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmgaKGSxQVw And Katherine Dunham's "Ballet Creole" from 1952 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSTuO5E9_1g</description>

It was a mystery: two dancers—one white, one Blac…

It was a mystery: two dancers—one white, one Black—captured on stage in 1959 in a photograph found in a museum archive. Who were they? But a search for their identity uncovers much more: a forgotten history of art and integration. When the pursuit of modern ideals promised a better world, and the pursuit of art promised personal freedom. The farther from the New York spotlight, the better. You can watch Martha Graham's 1959 TV broadcast of "Appalachian Spring" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmgaKGSxQVw And Katherine Dunham's "Ballet Creole" from 1952 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSTuO5E9_1g

Bonus Episode: Dance Like Everyone's Watching

<description>They are illusions, no more real than someone being sawed in half onstage. Yet the veiled ladies that Raffaelle Monti sculpts in the 1800s are very real to him. Poignant symbols of an identity he’s forced to conceal, even as they make him famous. As we prepare for Season 6, it’s an encore episode that first aired in 2021, a story of pride and prejudice and dreams just out of reach.

Here you can see Monti’s Veiled Lady, c. 1860, in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, a visitor favorite for more than half a century: https://collections.artsmia.org/art/12092/veiled-lady-raffaelo-monti</description>

They are illusions, no more real than someone bei…

They are illusions, no more real than someone being sawed in half onstage. Yet the veiled ladies that Raffaelle Monti sculpts in the 1800s are very real to him. Poignant symbols of an identity he’s forced to conceal, even as they make him famous. As we prepare for Season 6, it’s an encore episode that first aired in 2021, a story of pride and prejudice and dreams just out of reach.

Here you can see Monti’s Veiled Lady, c. 1860, in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, a visitor favorite for more than half a century: https://collections.artsmia.org/art/12092/veiled-lady-raffaelo-monti

Encore episode: Secrets of the Veiled Lady

"The Object" podcast explores the surprising, true stories behind museum objects with wit and curiosity. An object's view of us. Hosted by Tim Gihring, produced by the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

The Object

Details

Recent Episodes