Juanita Rogers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | May 12, 1934 Tintop, Alabama |
| Died | January 26, 1985 (aged 50) Montgomery, Alabama |
| Nationality | American |
| Movement | Folk art |
Juanita Rogers (May 12, 1934, in Tintop, Alabama - January 26, 1985) was a self-taught American folk artist. [1] She was born in Tintop, Alabama to Thomas and Sally Rogers, although she claimed she was adopted after arriving in North Montgomery by carnival train at the age of five. [2] Her mother was part Creek Indian, and died when Juanita was about twenty. [2] Juanita attended a Catholic mission school. [2] She was married to Sol Huffman, who died in 1980. [2]
Rogers claimed her neighbor, famed Montgomery blues singer Clarence Carter, taught her to "make mud" at the age of five. [2] She is known for her clay sculptures of human, animal, and vessel forms, and uses mud, bones, and shells in her art. She made watercolor paintings. [3] She is also known for pencil and tempera drawings, whose style has been compared to Hogarth by the New York Times. [2] [4] [5] Her works draw from Native American and traditional African American cultures. [2]
Some of her work was based on television images, such as the Coneheads characters of Saturday Night Live . [5] [6] By one estimate she created 300 works. [1]
Her works have been displayed at London's Outsider Archives, the Art Brut Museum, in Lausanne, Switzerland, at the University of Mississippi, and at the Smithsonian Art Museum Renwick Gallery. [4] [7] [3]
