Portfolio > Oil Paintings/Charcoal Drawings_Old Time Songs & Stories

"Intersections" is about how the banjo might have been a religious object in West Africa and later in the Caribbean among enslaved Africans, and still later in North America among the enslaved Africans. I must give credit where credit is due for my inspiration for this painting: Kristina Gaddy in her wonderful book "Well of Souls," posits this idea, that the banjo and its closest ancestors, West African Spiked and Semi-Spiked Lutes, where religious objects that functioned in religious rituals to conjure and contain the souls and spirits of ancestors. Thus, I think--and I think "Well of Souls" says this, too--that the banjo might have been a conduit that conducts spirits (via the banjo neck) into a safe space and place while visiting this earthly plane (into the banjo head, which originally was not a hoop but a gourd and thus more container-like). According to "Well of Souls," containers, too, are spirit-holders.

My painting represents this intersection: I learned 14 tunes of the late Joe and Odell Thompson, who hailed from Mebane, half an hour east of Greensboro. In "Intersections" I am delighted--and awed--that they descended from heaven and are present to encourage me in my efforts to play their tunes with their characteristic vigor and energy. Joe and Odell Thompson have had a huge impact on my music and my art.

Joe and Odell are heroes of traditional black country and old-time music. They preserved and celebrated their ancestors contributions to this musical genre, which until recently had been overlooked and neglected. In "Intersections"

Color plays a big role. The sky is iridescent, suggesting heaven and the domain of spirits, and the secular, earthly plane painted in a very different color harmony that suggests the red clay of the Piedmont of North Carolina. Odell's and my banjo heads are iridescent, which I hope suggests the power and spiritual nature of this marvelous instrument, invented by enslaved Black Caribbeans of the 17th century.

Color is symbolic, but also has a distinctive painterly function, that pairs two entirely different color harmonies whose clash I hope will resonate and vibrate like a struck or plucked banjo string followed by an energetic brush or pinch!