Joe Minter (born March 28, 1943) is an African American sculptor based in Birmingham, Alabama. His ''African Village in America'', on the southwest edge of Birmingham, is an ever-evolving art environment populated by sculptures he makes from scrap metal and found materials; its theme is recognition of African American history from the first arrivals of captured Africans to the present. Individual pieces from Minter's thirty-year project have been in major exhibitions in the United States and are in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others.

Early life

Minter was born in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

, the eighth child into a family of ten. His father was a mechanic during World War I, but after the war, was unable to find a job in his field. Minter's father instead worked for thirty years as caretaker of a white cemetery. Joe Minter attended local Birmingham schools, was drafted in 1965 and discharged in 1967. After the military, Minter took a series of low-paying jobs, from dishwasher at a drive-in, to messenger and orderly hospital work. Minter also worked in metals, constructed school furniture, did work on cars, and with crews building roads. As a result of his fabrication work, Minter got

asbestos Asbestos ( ) is a group of naturally occurring, Toxicity, toxic, carcinogenic and fibrous silicate minerals. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous Crystal habit, crystals, each fibre (particulate with length su ...

dust in his eyes in the 1960s and ‘70s. Minter had one eye operated on to mediate the asbestos; however, he wouldn't let the doctors operate the other eye. Minter never lost the feeling of grit in his eyes and was forced to retire. Upon retiring, Minter rediscovered an artistic practice dormant since childhood.

Artistic practice

''African Village in America''

Located on the southwest edge of

and begun in the late 1980s and built over the course of thirty years, Minter's ''African Village in America'' is part sculpture garden, part history museum, and part memorial. The ''African Village in America'' is an ever-evolving art environment, populated by sculptures made from scrap and found materials from footwear, lawn decorations, toys, old sporting equipment, to baking utensils, and more. Although Minter's sculpture have a variety of themes and influences, from one commemorating the

Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting On December 14, 2012, a mass shooting occurred at Newtown Public Schools, Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, United States. The perpetrator, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, shot and killed 26 people. The victims were 20 children bet ...

to one dedicated to the victims of

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

, Minter's overriding message is to provide a recognition for the 388,000 Africans shipped in bondage to America, and to their descendants who helped to build and defend America. The sculptures in the ''African Village in America'' tell the stories of African-Americans over the centuries, from the

griot A griot (; ; Manding languages, Manding: or (in N'Ko script, N'Ko: , or in French spelling); also spelt Djali; or / ; ) is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, and/or musician. Griots are masters of communicatin ...

s and warriors of West Africa to the deadly 1963 bombing at the

16th Street Baptist Church The 16th Street Baptist Church is a Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. In 1963, the church was bombed by Ku Klux Klan members. The bombing killed four young girls in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. The church is stil ...

Exhibitions

*2022 – ''Called to Create: Black Artists of the American South'' –

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

– curated by Harry Cooper *2019 – ''

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932; the first biennial was held in 1973. It is considered ...

'' –

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

– curated by Rujeko Hockley and

Jane Panetta Jane Panetta is a New York City, New York-based curator and art historian. Panetta is currently an associate curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Career Curating Before working at the Whitney, Panetta spent five years in the Painting and ...

*''2018 – History Refused to Die: Highlights from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation Gift -''

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

*2018 - ''Revelations: Art from the African American South -''

de Young Museum The de Young Museum, formally the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, is a fine arts museum located in San Francisco, California, named for early San Francisco newspaperman M. H. de Young. Located on the West Side (San Francisco), West Side of the ci ...

, San Francisco, CA *2018 - ''Joe Minter: Once That River Starts to Flow -'' Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta, Georgia *2017 - ''The Road Less Traveled Exhibition Series. American Sites: Art Environment Photography -'' The John Michael Kholer Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI *2015 - ''History Refused to Die -'' Alabama Contemporary Art Center, Mobile, AL *2014 - ''When Stars Begin to Fall: Imagination and the American South'' -

Studio Museum The Studio Museum in Harlem is an African-American art museum at 144 West 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. Founded in 1968, the museum collects, preserves and interprets art created by African A ...

in Harlem, New York *2007 - ''Alabama Folk Art'' -

Birmingham Museum of Art The Birmingham Museum of Art is a museum in Birmingham, Alabama. Its collection includes more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts representing various cultures, including Asian, European, United States, Amer ...

, Birmingham, Alabama *2004 - ''Coming Home: Self-Taught Artists, the Bible, and the American South -'' Art Museum of the University of Memphis, Memphis, TN

Permanent collections

, Washington, D.C. *

, New York, NY *

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

, Washington, D.C. *

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. FAMSF's combined attendance was 1,1 ...

, San Francisco, CA *

High Museum of Art The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (28, ...

, Atlanta, GA *

, Birmingham, AL *

Minneapolis Institute of Art The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the List of largest art museums, largest ar ...

Selected publications

* Finley, Cheryl; Griffey, Randall R.; Peck, Amelia; Pinckney, Darry. ''My Soul Has Grown Deep: Black Art from the American South''. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018 * Anglin Burgard, Timothy (Editor), Thornton Dial (Contributor), Lonnie Holley (Contributor), Joe Minter (Contributor), Lauren Palmor (Contributor). ''Revelations: Art from the African American South'', Prestel, 2017 * Horace Randall Williams (Author), Karen Wilkin (Author), Sharon Holland (Author), William S. Arnett (Introduction), Bernard Herman (Contributor). ''History Refused to Die: The Enduring Legacy of African American Art in Alabama'', Tinwood Books, 2015 * Crown, Carol, ed. ''Coming Home: Self-Taught Artists, the Bible, and the American South'', Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2004 * Conwill, Kinshasha; Danto, Arthur C.;Testimony: ''Vernacular Art of the African-American South''. Harry N. Abrams, 2002 * Arnett, William and Paul Arnett, eds. ''Souls Grown Deep: African American Vernacular Art of the South, vol. II'', Atlanta: Tinwood Books, 2001

References

External links

soulsgrowndeep.org – artist profileOutsider Art Comes to the Metropolitan Museum – Hyperallergic
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minter, Joe 1943 births Living people African-American artists Artists from Alabama American contemporary artists American outsider artists Recycled art artists 21st-century African-American artists 20th-century African-American artists