Q: The last thing I expected to find in a coffee-table book about art were recipes. So, I gave her carte blanche to display it however she saw fit. Leatrice wanted to put it in the show but it’s too fragile to be on exhibit in a public place. In our lives, we don’t really get to start over.” With a quilt, you are connecting existing pieces to create a whole new thing. Says Carroll: “I like quilts as a metaphor for our lives. I almost carried it around the world like a little binky.
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It’s tattered because I carried it from place to place - Pine Bluff to Denver to Indiana when I went to Perdue, and to San Francisco when I was playing professional ball. What’s the significance of the quilt?Ī: My father died when I was almost 10 years old and that hand-stitched quilt with Dutch maidens was my only inheritance from him. Q: The show is comprised of 37 paintings and one photograph of a quilt. I try to make subjects relatable, by focusing on our shared values and our shared human experience. I try to approach subjects in a way that makes others want to draw near, pull up a chair, look and listen. Worst case, it doesn’t work out - which often directs me to the next thing. The risk of failing is no reason to forfeit trying something new. Q: As a self-taught artist, did your accumulated knowledge make it easier or more difficult to stare at a blank canvas and start painting?Ī: Living a public life has taught me that some people will praise you, and others won’t be so impressed. “Bow” - Writes Carroll: ‘During my workday, there are times that I retreat to the kitchen while I wait for the stock market to settle down if I am working as an investor, or for paint to dry if I am in the middle of a composition. Miles Davis is another example of someone who was so good at one thing, then chose to do another thing and became just as good. Ernie Barnes, a football player, wound up being more famous for the wonderful expression he gave us with his paintings than what he accomplished in the NFL. I was impressed not only that this cat painted, but that he was still reaching for something.
For example, I was on a flight with Tony Bennett once, but he wasn’t coming to town for a concert. Was there a turning point that marked your shift from wanting to look at art to wanting to make art?Ī: Little things moved me forward.
Q: You were the number one draft pick in the NBA in 1980 and played professional basketball for 11 years, spending much of your downtime in galleries and museums. Leatrice is still at the Apollo, but she has family ties to Atlanta and remains a friend of the museum. Earlier this year, they circled back, visited my studio, looked at the work I was doing and decided it was a go. I had conversations with Leatrice and Donna Watts-Nunn about doing a show at Hammonds House then the pandemic came. Q: Leatrice Ellzy Wright, who resigned as executive director of Hammonds House in May of 2021 to become senior director of programming at the Apollo Theater, curated “My View From Seven Feet.” Was your exhibition planned prior to her departure?Ī: Yes. In advance of his talk about the companion coffee-table book, “My View From Seven Feet,” on July 28, Carroll spoke to ArtsATL about the benefit of being a self-taught artist, the childlike qualities that endear him to little kids and finding gratitude in the clutch.
His Hammonds House exhibit is on view through September 18. Sue-girl remained my dear little puppy dog, no matter her age or condition.” “In later years, there came a time that my dear Sue could no longer run fast or jump high (nor could I). “For 12 years, Sue and I lived a fun-filled and eventful life,” Carroll writes.