Viberations of Pasaquan explores the significance and influence that St. EOM’s vision has had on contemporary artists who have visited Pasaquan, located in west Georgia near Buena Vista. The exhibition featuring work by St. EOM, Eddie Dominguez and Martha Clippinger opened in the Albany Museum of Art’s West Gallery on July 9 and continued through Oct 24, 2020.
Thirty-three years after his death and three years after a complete, multi-million-dollar restoration of Pasaquan by the Kohler Foundation, St. EOM is now having his most meaningful impact in the art world with exhibitions in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and even Paris, France. Artists have come to visit Pasaquan from across the globe, from places as far-flung as New York, Los Angeles, and Brasília; many have left inspired and influenced by St. EOM’s vision. Pasaquan is once again a source of creative energy, encouraging emerging voices to feel the viberations and bring forward new knowledge and awareness of St. EOM’s significant contribution to American art.
Two artists who St. EOM influenced have works in the exhibition, Eddie Dominguez and Martha Clippinger.
“When I went to Pasaquan, I didn’t know what to expect,” Dominguez notes. “What I discovered was more than I could imagine. To see an artist whose work was so honest and sincere to his vision was moving. I have always been influenced by these kinds of artists, the outsider. Seeing Pasaquan, feeling it, and being a part of it was special. As I stood in the middle of that amazing place, I was possessed by the energy and vision of St EOM’s creations.”
Dominguez, a native of New Mexico, is is one of the leaders in contemporary ceramic and multi-media art in the country today. After receiving his BFA from the Cleveland Art Institute in 1981, Dominguez continued his education at New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, completing his MFA in 1983.
From the beginning of his career, Dominguez has received recognition from every facet of the art world: he is the recipient of two National Endowment of the Arts grants, many artist residencies, and numerous public art project grants. He has lectured and conducted workshops at over 100 leading institutions across the country including Anderson Ranch, Greenwich House Pottery, Rhode Island School of Design, and Cranbrook Academy of Art. His work is in many public and private collections including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, New Mexico Museum of Art, Sheldon Museum of Art, Albuquerque Museum, Detroit Institute of Arts, and Roswell Museum & Art Center. Currently, Dominguez is a tenured professor at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Clippinger discovered Pasaquan at a young age and it has had a lasting impact on the quilt-making she does today.
“My first childhood visit to Pasaquan ignited a love of color and pattern that continues to this day,” she said. “Beginning in high school, the symbols and motifs of its designs sparked a curiosity to learn more about non-Western cultures. St. EOM produced a unique hybrid of cultures, creating an iconography that is at once personal and universal. Pasaquan demonstrated the wonderful potential for creating art beyond the canvas and provided an endlessly inspiring model through its full-fledged integration of art and life.”
A native of Columbus, Ga., Clippinger received a BA from Fordham University and an MFA from Mason Gross School of Art, Rutgers University. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including a 2017 Durham Arts Council Grant in Craft, a 2014 American Academy of Arts and Letters Purchase Award, and a 2013 Fulbright-Garcia Robles research grant completed in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Her residencies and fellowships include an Arts and Industry Residency at Kohler Company, Sam and Adele Golden Art Foundation residency, MacDowell Colony, Edward F. Albee Foundation, and the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation. Clippinger’s work has been featured in The Brooklyn Rail, Burnaway, and Hyperallergic. Clippinger has had numerous gallery and museum solo exhibitions, including projects at The Columbus Museum and the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art. Her work is in several public collections, including the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Duke University, and The Columbus Museum. Represented by Elizabeth Harris Gallery in New York, the artist lives and works in Durham, North Carolina.
Viberations is one of the many invented words that St. EOM used to describe the aspirations he had for his artwork and Pasaquan. Eddie would often say that when viewers engage with his work, he wants them “to feel the viberations.” To Eddie, viberations were different from vibrations. Viberations were a feeling evoked by the visual stimulations you get from a work of art. They are internal vibrations, like tremors that happen inside your body. You see it, then you feel it. Viberations produce a quivering sensation in your arms or legs, maybe your chest or abdomen, but once a viewer feels them, they are connected to the optical frequencies present in the artwork.
This iteration of Viberations of Pasaquan has been interpreted by guest curator Didi Dunphy. Originally co-curated by Michael McFalls, Director of Pasaquan and Professor of Art at Columbus State University, and Jonathan Frederick Walz, Ph.D., Director of Curatorial Affairs & Curator of American Art at the Columbus Museum, Columbus Ga., Viberations of Pasaquan was originally shown at the Corn Center for the Visual Arts Illges Gallery at CSU.
