Space One Eleven’s ongoing Mentor – Mentee Windows program honors our area schools and universities by showcasing art educators and their students.

This project is supported, in part, by The National Endowment for the Arts, The Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, and the Alabama State Council on the Arts. Additional support comes from SOE’s Board of Directors, friends of Space One Eleven, corporate and individual donors and volunteers.

 

 

 

 

Sacred Grove
Tony Bingham

2405 2nd Avenue North

tony-bingham

This assemblage of field posts connects to the legacy of the hush arbor, a sacred, hidden grove where African-American slaves forged a new faith system combined of African religious traditions with Christian beliefs and practice. The posts have been anointed with paint made of red clay mixed with mud from mud-dauber wasps. The posts are adorned with burlap sculptures whose forms resemble patterns found on African nkisi figures, and on the medicinal juju bags used in African-American communities in the rural American South.

Biography

Anthony Bingham has taught humanities and studio art at Miles College since 2006.  He received his B.A. in Communications from Antioch College, and his first Master’s Degree in Film and Community Media from Goddard College.  He received his second Master’s Degree in Fine Art from Georgia State University.  He has taught studio art and art history at Spelman College, Kennesaw State University, and Jefferson State Community College. He has been awarded artist residencies at the Caversham Center for Artists and Writers in South Africa, and by the Cultural Alliance of Birmingham. His work has been featured in numerous exhibitions, and he received a public sculpture commission from the Committee for the Centennial Olympic Games, Atlanta, 1996.  The sculpture, Reunion Place, is located in the historically African-American community of Mechanicsville in downtown Atlanta, Georgia.