Cooperative Living June 2017 - 12
CoverStory |
By Audrey T. Hingley, Contributing Writer
Paintings by Eldridge Bagley
Blue Chair with Grapes, 2006
Eldridge Bagley, Folk Artist Extraordinaire
'All Kinds of Things Are Still Possible'
A
s Eldridge Bagley surveys the 60acre
farm he's called home his
entire life, pointing out an ancient
tree and outbuildings he wants to restore,
his love for place is evident.
Named Artist of the Year in 2011 by the
Folk Art Society of America, the
unfailingly polite, soft-spoken Bagley, 71,
admits his journey from third-generation
tobacco farmer to acclaimed artist
surprised him, explaining, " I did not
dream this would unfold the way it has. "
His work is a smorgasbord of people
and places, filled with everything from
pastoral landscapes to farm harvests,
pickup trucks and lonely buildings, often
with vivid colors. Like life, some pieces are
joyful, some evocative of a simpler time,
some haunting. He works from
imagination and memory, each piece
telling a story.
10 | Cooperative Living | June 2017
" One inspiration is the satisfaction of
creating. But I'm also inspired that people
seem to be so receptive to my work. It
seems to speak to them, and that inspires
me to want to continue, " he says.
Bagley, wife Beth, 58, and son Wade,
20, live on the land where he grew up,
smack in between Lunenburg County's
only two towns, Victoria (pop.: 1,725)
and Kenbridge (pop.: 1,253), in a modest
1915 white farmhouse moved to the
property in the 1970s. An addition was
added later, as was a separate studio
behind the house where Bagley creates
the artwork that catapulted him to artworld
fame.
Along the rural drive to Bagley's farm,
neighbors' mailboxes are adorned with
biblical scriptures like " to be carnallyminded
is death " and " to be
spiritually-minded is life and peace. "
The atmosphere seems fitting for a
man who talks about being raised by
godly parents, his Christian faith and his
passion for preserving rural life.
" My vision is to tell the story of this
land, especially this rural part of
Southside Virginia and the people who
inhabit it, ordinary people; but when you
look and think about their lives, they are
anything but ordinary. They're
extraordinary and unique, " Bagley says.
He remembers stories his parents told
him about the 10 years they went
without electricity, explaining, " When
[electricity] came, the house was
illuminated with the flip of a switch;
water came into the kitchen and
bathrooms on call. Before, they toted
water from the spring up the hill to the
house; suddenly, they had a refrigerator,
lights and running water. "
www.co-opliving.com
AUDREY HINGLEY PHOTO
http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living June 2017
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cooperative Living June 2017
Cooperative Living June 2017 - 1
Cooperative Living June 2017 - 2
Cooperative Living June 2017 - 3
Cooperative Living June 2017 - 4
Cooperative Living June 2017 - 5
Cooperative Living June 2017 - 6
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