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SELECTED WORKS
9ft TALL by 7ft WIDE! 100,000 Toothpicks & 37+ years of work! LIVE at AVAM!
Scott Weaver’s Rolling Through The Bay
1974–2011, Toothpicks, Collection of the Artist. Photo courtesy of Exploratorium’s Tinkering Studio.
Scott Weaver’s internet sensation “Rolling Through The Bay” is a tribute to San Francisco and a
marble run that allows ping pong balls to take a tour through The City by the Bay. Containing over
100,000 toothpicks, Weaver’s 37+ year labor of love will be a sight to behold this October at AVAM!
See it in action online – http://youtu.be/76GYFurrs8Q
VISIT avam.org/news-and-events/media-info.shtml for high-res PRESS IMAGES; email [email protected] for password.
There is nothing strange in the circle being the origin of any and every marvel. —Aristotle (384–322 BCE)
Why Galaxies, Eyeballs & Karma?
G A L A X I E S • At the micro atomic level it’s all a spin dance of electrons encircling a nucleus. At the mega scale,
it’s planets orbiting around some central sun. Everything that exists gets expressed via some grand circular or
spiraling motion. The circle, be it manifest as an egg, cell, DNA helix or cosmos, is always at the center of LIFE.
E Y E B A L L S • We read these words and take in the wide world via two round gelatinous eyeballs that feature
telescoping and concentric circles—an iris and a pupil.
K A R M A • A philosophy of life that states what you do matters. Simply put, “What goes ‘round, comes ‘round!”
WELC
ME
to our American Visionary Art Museum’s 17th original mega exhibition,
All Things Round: Galaxies, Eyeballs & Karma—our most voluptuous art exhibition to date! Spinning
dizzying visions from master visionary artists like Scott Weaver and his 100,000 toothpick wonder,
‘Rolling Through The Bay’; Adolf Wölfli and his intricate mandala-like works; and the micro dot sockthread embroideries of Ray Materson.
Seventy plus visionaries—artists, inventors, tribal elders and philosophers—join in exalting ALL
that’s circular, spiraling, mysterious and bubbling throughout the elixir of life. Featured is a scholarly look
into cyclical notions of time including the 2012 Mayan Calendar; the visual wonder of crop circles; and the
celebration of circular inventions of all stripe—from industrial wheels, cogs, and cyclotrons to hula hoops
and balls in play and sports. How powerful is a circle? One hurricane’s wind force can equal the energy of
10,000 atomic bombs.
Exhibition films pay special tribute to Simon Rodia’s grand spiraling L.A. Watts Towers and to
Wild Wheels’ art cars, along with free 3-D guest glasses for use here. (Don’t steal ‘em, please!) There is also
OOPart—ancient artifacts that contain ‘out-of-place’ modern images resembling UFOs that inspire us to
question our notions of history. Sight-impaired artists help us all to exalt the curve in human touch.
I cannot say adequate-enough fabulous things about my guest co-curator—Mary Ellen “Dolly”
Vehlow—she never tired of going around and around to help make this exhibition dance in total joy. The
result in All Things Round is a feast of circular delights in form, function, fun and food (including Chef
Mario Batali’s edible ball recipes) with its visitors of all ages always at our center ring table.
We all live together upon a very swiftly spinning ball. Earth rotates at a speed averaging just over
1,000 miles per hour! Consolation for our imperfect human condition comes as a verbal hug from comic
genius, Mel Brooks: “As long as the world is turning and spinning, we’re gonna be dizzy and we’re gonna
make mistakes.”
Here’s to not being afraid to make mistakes in the visionary effort to birth more new wonder.
Thank you all for a most intensely full, first sixteen sweet years of life for our American Visionary Art
Museum here in Baltimore, a place truly unlike any other on ‘blue ball’ Earth.
With a very full heart,
Rebecca Alban Hoffberger, Founder & Director
SELECTED WORKS
J.J. Cromer
A Study of Passing Events (detail)
2007, Mixed Media, Courtesy of Grey Carter–
Objects of Art, Photo by Dan Meyers.
Ted Gordon
Untitled “Doodles”
1990–1996, Colored ink on on paper,
Permanent Collection, Gift of the Artist.
VISIT avam.org/news-and-events/media-info.shtml for high-res PRESS IMAGES; email [email protected] for password.
AMERICAN VISIONARY ART MUSEUM
OCT 7, 2O11 – SEPT 2, 2O12
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 1, 2011
ALL THINGS ROUND: Galaxies, Eyeballs & Karma
October 7, 2011–September 2, 2012
The American Visionary Art Museum’s seventeenth annual, thematic mega-exhibition “ALL
THINGS ROUND: Galaxies, Eyeballs & Karma” opens to the public on Friday, October 7, 2011, and
runs through September 2, 2012.
“ALL THINGS ROUND: Galaxies, Eyeballs & Karma” is a celebration and call to awareness of the
circular and voluptuous nature of life. From the micro-atomic spin of electrons encircling a nucleus, to the
macro orbit of planets rounding our sun, “ALL THINGS ROUND” delights in the curves, spirals, orbs,
and bubbles of full-bodied beauty that playfully manifest throughout art, science, and beyond.
This wholly original art exhibition features the exuberant works of 70+ inspired, intuitive artists including: Scott Weaver’s 100,000 toothpick wonder, “Rolling Through The Bay;” Adolf Wölfli’s intricate mandalalike works; spherical sculptures of artists who are sight-impaired; and the micro dot sock-thread embroideries of Ray Materson. Don’t miss Frank Warren’s all-time best true karmic “PostSecrets;” the 3-D sacred
yarn paintings of the Huichol Indians; and a cosmic tribute to cyclical notions of time – including an
exploration into the fast-approaching 2012 Winter Solstice “end” of the Mayan Calendar!
Co-curated by Museum Founder & Director Rebecca Hoffberger and Mary Ellen ‘Dolly’ Vehlow – awardwinning graphic designer & founder/sponsor of Washington, D.C.’s H Street Festival, “ALL THINGS
ROUND: Galaxies, Eyeballs & Karma” is a lively circle dance with its visitors of all ages at its center!
CIRCLE these dates On your Calendar:
• Media/Press Preview: Wednesday October 5, 2011 • 10 a.m.–12 p.m.
• All Things Round Preview Party: Thursday October 6, 2011 • 7 p.m.–10 p.m.
(Free to members, $20 General Public - tickets available through MissionTix.com)
• Exhibition Opens to the public October 7, 2011, and runs through September 2, 2012
All Things Round Preview Party: Thursday October 6, 2011 • 7 p.m.–10 p.m.
Be the first to witness the spiraling, circular wonders of The American Visionary Art Museum’s seventeenth annual, thematic mega-exhibition, “ALL THINGS ROUND: Galaxies, Eyeballs, & Karma.” An
exclusive peek before we open the doors to the public! Meet ‘Round’ artist Scott Weaver as he shows off
his 100,000 toothpick marvel “Rolling Through The Bay” and other visionaries! Join our lenders, curators,
and staff in taking a round-trip through this wholly original exhibition. Music, Entertainment, Beverages,
Light Fare and Fantastic Art! Museum members are FREE (so why not join today?)! Open to the public;
Tickets: $20 at MissionTix.com. For more info visit www.avam.org or call (410) 244-1900.
SELECTED WORKS
Greg Mort
Fabric of Space
1985, Watercolor on paper,
Collection of Greg and Nadine
Mort, Photo by Dan Meyers.
Adolf Wölfli
Untitled
1918, Mixed media on paper, Collection of Tim and Nancy Grumbacher, Photo by Jill Fannon.
VISIT avam.org/news-and-events/media-info.shtml for high-res PRESS IMAGES; email [email protected] for password.
AROUND
R UND
1st floor:
Galleries & key areas of special interest wihin ALL THINGS ROUND
OM MANI PADMI
entrance ramp
Welcome & Introduction, Shawn Theron’s “One Year/SOGH” photo diary, spinning Tibetan Prayer
Wheels, & “Bubble Manifesto” by Felix Cartagena, The Bubble Guy.
O SAY CAN YOU SEE
1st floor niche – Emily Duffy’s mega “Bra Ball”
1st floor hallway: Jack Savitsky, Herbert Singleton, & Brian Pardini.
Stairwells:
1st–2nd: PostSecrets: Frank Warren selects his all-time best *true* karmic “PostSecrets;” Clarence & Grace
Woolsley’s Bottle Cap Creatures. 2nd–3rd: Crop Circle Delights!
2nd floor: 2nd floor niche–Vollis Simpson’s “Bicycle Man”
EARTH IS A BLUE BALL
Cosmic paintings by astronomer/artist Greg Mort, Scott Weaver’s 100,000+ toothpick marvel “Rolling
Through The Bay,” & Hawkins Bolden.
MANDALA AND ENSO
Jung Fest! Spherical explorations by Adolf Wölfli, J.J. Cromer, & John Landry.
MARIO BATALI’S EDIBLE BALLS
Mario Batali’s recipes, plates & more!
DIVINE FEMININE OO VESICA PISCIS
Noche Crist boudoir, Paul Lancaster, & premiering Stephanie Lucas.
TIME: Cyclical, Linear or All-at-Once? rear hallway (Key hwy side) & rear half-moon gallery
Amazing OOPArt, 3D Sacred Yarn Paintings of the Huichol Indians, Wendy Brackman’s “Paper Plate Mandala,” Rabbi Joanne Yocheved Heiligman, Shawn Ware, & Mayan calendar exploration–2012 here we come!
In hallway: Robert Seven, Shane Van Pelt, & William Thomas Thompson.
ReCYCLE: Reuse, Reinvent, Renew
Mark Swidler’s carved styrofoam cups, Ray Materson’s micro-dot sock thread embroideries, & Danny “The
Bucketman” Hoskinson.
CIRCLE THEATER
Scott Weaver’s “Rolling Through The Bay” in-action, Light-Saraf Films’ “Grandma’s Bottle Village” & more!
ROUND INVENTION
Candy Cummings, Charles Dellschau, & Jimmy Descant.
NEW PERMANENT COLLECTION AREA
Matchstick wonders of Gerald Hawkes, Ted Gordon’s Obsessive-Compulsive Delight, Judith Scott, Ody
Saban, Gregory “Mr. Imagination” Warmack, James Harold Jennings, Malcolm McKesson, Albert Louden, &
more!
Of course this list is just a tiny handful of the spiraling, dizzying wonders that appear in this voluptous exhibition!
SELECTED WORKS
Noche Crist
Morning Glories, Evening Glories
1958, Mixed Media, Collection of Olga
Hirshhorn, Photo by Dan Meyers.
Stephanie Lucas
Mother
2011, Acrylic on
Canvas, Collection
of the Artist, Photo
by Dan Meyers.
VISIT avam.org/news-and-events/media-info.shtml for high-res PRESS IMAGES; email [email protected] for password.
ARTISTS
Karen and Steve Alexander
Anonymous artists
Z.B. Armstrong
Mario Batali
Harrod Blank
Bob Benson and Rick Ames
Deborah Claire Berger
Hawkins Bolden
Wendy Brackman
Macario Matias Carrillo
Felix Cartagena
Raul Casillas
Allen David Christian
Deepak Chowdhury
Loring Cornish
Noche Crist
J.J. Cromer
Basilia De La Cruz
Candy Cummings
Damanhur artists
Carolina Danek
Patrick Davis
Charles Dellschau
Jimmy Descant
Brian Dowdall
Emily Duffy
Josephus Farmer
Ted Gordon
Grace Bashara Greene
Judy Keen Hagen & Louis Hagen
Gerald Hawkes
Rabbi Joanne Yocheved Heiligman
Danny Hoskinson
Huichol Artists
Johnnie Rae Jackson
Laura N. James
James Harold Jennings
Jas Johns
Nancy Josephson
Carl Jung
Patty Kuzbida
Paul Lancaster
John Landry
Light-Saraf Films
Patrick Long
Albert Louden
Charlie Lucas
Stephanie Lucas
Ray Materson
Christine McCormick
Malcolm McKesson
Vincente Carillo Medina
Autumn Skye Morrison
Greg Mort
Brian Pardini (Art Direction by Patty Baldwin.
Technical Advising by Nick Geiger)
John Raymond Peper
PostSecret
Michael P. Rivera
Bill Romeka
Ody Saban
Jack Savitsky
Judith Ann Scott
Robert Frito Seven
Vollis Simpson
Herbert Singleton
Ron Sloan
Starroot
Mark Swidler
Shawn Theron
William Thomas Thompson
Terry Turrell
Shane Van Pelt
Riyaz Uddin
Various unknown artists
Shawn Ware
Gregory “Mr. Imagination” Warmack
Scott Weaver
Mona Boulware Webb
Adolf Wölfli
Clarence and Grace Woolsley
Stan Wright
SELECTED WORKS
Anonymous Huichol Artist
Huichol Yarn Painting
Date unknown, Yarn, glue, plywood,
Collection of John B. Carlson, Photo
by Jill Fannon.
Ray Materson
Swallow’s Nest (Black Sea)
2009, Embroidered Sock thread, Collection
of Victoria Wilson, Photo by Jill Fannon.
Materson’s work is made up of 1,200
stitches of sock thread per square inch,
with the total work measuring around
2-3/4 x 2-1/4 inches!
VISIT avam.org/news-and-events/media-info.shtml for high-res PRESS IMAGES; email [email protected] for password.
ESSAYS
LEFT: 1948, Poland. Teresa, a child in a residence for disturbed children, grew up in a concentration
camp. She drew a picture of “home” on the blackboard. Photo by David Seymour/Magnum Photos.
RIGHT: The “Enso”
MANDALA AND ENSO
The Circle of Inner Life
On the left, the late legendary photographer David Seymour, himself a Holocaust survivor,
captured the wordless turmoil reflected in the eyes and frantic chalkboard circle drawings of
Teresa, a nine-year old resident of a WWII Polish concentration camp. This photo hauntingly
speaks volumes about about her inner life and experience. In contrast with this war child’s
dramatic expression of personal chaos, the Enso (Japanese for “circle”) drawing depicted on the
right, beautifully expresses a Zen Buddhist master’s disciplined practice of painting a near perfect
brushed circle, reflective of a high attainment of inner tranquility. Often, the students of these Zen
masters would meditate upon these peaceful circles for their own enlightenment, or attempt to
produce their own. Enso painters were also adept at making concise spiritual poems to accompany
their simple circle drawings. With few words, they might express some beautiful observation of life
or nature. At times, their poems evidence an ironic, even humorous human truth, such as: “AFTER
THE ECSTASY, THE LAUNDRY!”
Mandala comes from the Sanskrit word for “circle.” Mandalas are a centuries old favorite
traditional form in both Hindu and Buddhist sacred painting and embroidery.
Students of the teachings of the great intuitive Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Jung (1875–1961),
utilize the therapeutic creation of personal mandalas both with their patients and themselves.
Taking a dinner plate, comparable to the size of an adult human head, to trace a circle on paper,
they then fill-in the circle to reflect a wordless expression of their own inner psyche. Often,
mandalas contain a ‘squaring of the circle,’ with four directions of the round construct highlighted
by division into four equal quadrants. This instinctive homage to the four part world is also found
in Native American medicine wheels.
Carl Jung was fascinated by the mandala-like voluminous drawings of Swiss mental patient,
Adolf Wölfli. He owned two of Wölfli’s works in his personal collection.
Below is Sonu Shamdasani’s magnificently edited manuscript of Carl Jung’s Red Book. It
constitutes an exquisite presentation of the earliest, most deeply personal, mandala studies and
notes created by Jung while he was still a very young man—images and thoughts that Jung chose
to keep hidden from the public eye during his lifetime.
THE “HOLE” TRUTH
As you go through life my friend,
whatever be your goal,
Keep you eye upon the donut
and not upon the hole.
—Anonymous, spotted in the early 1960’s
on the wall of a Los Angeles Donut shop
When you woke up this morning did you grab a bagel, shove a donut in your mouth, or float
crunchy Cheerios in a round bowl of milk? Are there Lifesavers in your pocket, have you ever worn
an inner tube, wiggled inside a Hula Hoop, or changed the tires on your bike or car? That one
shape with an enormous surface area and mega range of active potentials is a tubular circle called,
a “Torus” (Tori is plural)—perfect when applied to food shapes to tickle your taste buds. The torus,
derived from projecting a 3-D connecting tubular shape from a circle, has other forms of magic that
engineers and physicists continue to uncover. Magic that might one day solve our energy crisis.
Passively, O-Ring type tori make reliable seals in machinery. When torus-shapes are wound with
wire and/or magnets, they can generate powerful electrical fields. Tesla’s famous coil invention is
donut-shaped.
O, the glories of THE TORUS, a form ideal for electrical induction, magnetism, wheels, bagels,
donuts and candy!
O is for OVUM
Ovum, a Latin word meaning egg, is a female reproductive cell alive in female humans, animals
and some plants. The ovum is one of the largest cells in the human body, even visible to the naked
eye. A healthy baby human girl is born with one to two million ova. By maturity that number has
dwindled down to about 400,000+ ova or eggs, stored in ovaries, of which only about 480 will be
released during the whole of a woman’s reproductive years.
Be we destined to be a toad, giraffe, elephant or human being—we all commence life as a circle
with a small dot at the center, chuck-full of encoded information, waiting for a fast swimmer.
Divine Feminine
OO
Vesica Piscis
The almond-shaped, Vesica Piscis symbol that emerges from the mid-point section of two
interlocking circles, is universally recognized as the emblem for feminine grace and fertility.
The miraculous Virgin of Guadalupe painting, inspired by the 16th century vision of a simple
Mexican peasant, depicts Mother Mary enveloped in this sacred geometric form. This special
pointed oval shape was widely used throughout medieval Christian art as an aureole to surround
a sacred figure, male or female. Far earlier, the Greek philosopher Pythagoras proclaimed the
shape sacred and mathematically expressive of the square root of three. Gothic architecture widely
incorporated the vesica piscis in pointed arches and embellishments. The shape of the vesica piscis
stylistically represents a woman’s life-entry anatomy, the idealized form of an eye, Holy Grail or
chalice.
The ancients bore witness to one truth—all life emerges from the body of a mother. Not
surprisingly, among many of earth’s first peoples the dominant concept of Creator was one of a
nurturing and life-giving Great Mother, not a Father Creator.
Even with the later, more male-dominant major religions—Judaism and Islam—the key
descriptors of a masculine God’s attributes of Divine Mercy and Compassion have their linguistic
roots, both in Arabic and Hebrew, in their respective words for womb—one purely female attribute.
TIME
Cyclical, Linear, or All-At-Once?
Twenty-two years ago, PostSecret creator Frank Warren wrote his graduate thesis exploring the
ways that human beings view time and how those views impact the way their time gets used. For
thousands of years, volumes have been written attempting to define time by classical philosophers,
famed physicists like Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking, poets, and even rock stars. Many
cultures have collectively addressed time as central to their understanding of reality. Notable
among them are: the African Dogon, Maya, Hopi, Eskimo, Hindu and Austrailian Aboriginals with
their consciousness-shifting notion of ‘Dreamtime.’ Frank summarized some key considerations in
our communal contemplation of time:
1. The invention of electric light changed long-established sleep and work cycles.
2. The proliferation of clocks in schools, workplaces and homes standardized work and living rhythms, at times at high cost to
personal liberty, pride in workmanship, and enjoyment. The adage, “Time is Money,” the stopwatch, and idealization of
machine-like productivity in humans all came with the age of industrialization. Church bells, factory whistles, and other
forms of repetitive, timed, calls to worship or work attempt to unify and dictate collective behavior.
3. Booze and clocks—surprisingly it was Benedictine Brethren who evolved mechanical clocks to increase efficient
production of their famed Brandy!
4. Natural, faithful, and universal repetitions: day follows night; seasonal and weather cycles; agricultural planting and
harvesting weather windows; lunar waxing and waning; female fertility cycles; the precession of equinoxes and solstices;
trans species conception to birth gestation periods; solar flare, comet and planetary cycles.
5. The English word for time has its root in the word for tide. The verbs used to describe the behavior of both water and time
share close ties - clocks, faucets and rivers ‘run and flow.’ Observing the nature of time, Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote,
“You cannot step twice into the same stream.” Geoffrey Chaucer observed, “Time and tide wait for no man.”
6. Hesiod, one of the early (700 BCE) Greek poets, wrote about five grand cycles of humankind—the earliest or first age
conceived as the most idyllic ‘Golden’ era—with subsequent ages downhill from then on. What is surprising is how many
disparate ancient peoples (Hindu, Buddhist, Norse, Huichol, Hopi, Maya, Aborigine) have held very similar beliefs in grand
scale cyclical realities composed of three or four prior worlds, with today’s being the fourth or fifth. All agree that this
current age is the most corrupt, vibrationally challenged, of all the ages!
7. Judaism and Christianity respectively ushered in the view of linear time—time as a progression, not a cycle, and focused
on leading either to a climactic birth, or return, of a Messiah or Judgment Day.
8. Philosophers Kant and Durkeim believed that standard notions of time units can’t be seen as givens, but are rather social
constructs.
9. As people age, they often feel that time seems to speed up. As perception of time is relative to some fixed experience or
place, the more days an individual has lived gets divided by a greater percentage of prior total days than when they were
young. Maybe this is one reason memories of childhood summer days seems so suspended in time and kids seem, as in the
advice of Ram Dass, to live more in the “Be Here Now.”
10. A romantic inscribed a watch for his wife, “Time is more precious that I have you to love.”
continued...
TIME: Cyclical, Linear, or All-At-Once? (continued)
One of the largest and most famous visionary environments in the world was created by a simple
French postman, Ferdinand Cheval. He called it his “Ideal Palace of Dreams.” In it, Cheval
sculpted his own sundial inscribed with this thought, “Ce n’est pas le temps qui passe, mais nous.”
Translated, “It is not time that passes, but us!”
Mick Jagger sung the lyrics of Jerry Ragovoy, “Time, Time, Time is on my side, Yes it is!” May it
be always on yours, too.
ReCYCLE
Reuse Reinvent Renew
Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. —New England Proverb
Listen up, you couch potatoes: each recycled beer can can save enough energy to run a television for 3
hours. —Denis Hayes, environmental activist/coordinator of the first Earth Day
Here’s what you need to know about the Styrofam cup: The formula to manufacture them is
so secret that its inventor and maker, Kenneth Dart and his family business Dart Container
Corporation, wisely, would never file a patent on the process because patents run out, and then
anyone could then learn to produce them. Precious few Dart employees are entrusted with ‘the
knowledge.’ Here is the estimate on how many Styrofoam (expanded polystyrene, “EPS”) cups are
thrown away each year in America alone—a staggering 25 TRILLION—that is the number 25 with
12 zeros that follow!
It is estimated that 30% of the total solid waste volume dumped in landfills is derived
from some sort of polystyrene/styrofoam packaging, peanuts, or cups. Environmentalists and
oceanographers have noted that EPS is also one of the main ocean pollutants. You shouldn’t burn
Styrofoam because it gives off gases toxins like Benzene. The good news is there are many creative
ways to recycle EPS. Many of our Visionary Museum’s finest Kinetic Sculpture Race vehicles float
over the Baltimore Harbor waters each May buoyed by recycled Styrofoam slabs, cups, and cut up
coolers.
A society is defined not only by what it creates, but by what it refuses to destroy. —John Sawhill
Mark Swidler
30 Styrofoam Cups (detail)
1990’s, Styrofoam cups, Private Collection, Photo by Jill Fannon.
THIRTEEN FASCINATING FACTS
ABOUT THE MAYA
1. More than two thousand years ago, the Maya independently developed a complete hieroglyphic writing system,
the most visually poetic form of writing in the ancient world.
2. The Maya created the most complex, elegant calendar system the world has ever seen.
3.
The Maya calendar included a unique divinatory almanac of 260 days, the ritual length of the nine-month human
span from conception to birth. They took part of their name from the day they were born which was also the same day
that they were conceived. This calendar still survives in highland Guatemala, continuing in lock step with the ancient
calendar of their ancestors.
4. Time for the ancient Maya was cyclical and reckoned in awesome spans that make the 13.7 billion years of our
Big Bang Universe a mere blink of an eye compared with their grand vision of the eons of creation.
5. The ancient Maya were among the Mesoamerican peoples who gave us chocolate. Our word cocoa derives from their
word “cacao.” In the Maya royal courts, feasting included drinking frothy chocolate beverages, probably alcoholic,
spiced with chile rather than sugar.
6. The planet Venus, an aspect of the Feathered Serpent deity they called Kukulkan—Quetzalcoatl to the Toltecs and
later the Aztecs, was a male god of warfare and sacrifice rather than a goddess of beauty and love.
7. The Maya played a deadly game with a solid, heavy rubber ball, where the defeated players and other captives of war
were ritually executed by decapitation. There is evidence that the game was occasionally played with the heads of the
victims.
8. The Maya used a base 20 (vigesimal) arithmetic system complete with place notation and “zero” (or completion).
They were among the first civilizations of the ancient world to have the sophisticated and useful concept of zero.
9.
Quite independently of the Egyptians and the Chinese, the Maya (and other Mesoamerican peoples) created lofty,
stepped temple pyramids that served as shrines for their gods and tombs for many rulers. Twice a year, at the time
of the Spring and Fall Equinoxes, massive crowds of global tourists arrive at the Maya-built Chichen Itza to witness the
ever-faithful appearance of a giant golden serpent of light and shadow that descends the sunset-facing side of the
north stairway balustrade of this nine-step pyramid, to culminate in a joining with a great stone Plumed Serpent head
sculpture located at the pyramid base. This interactive, giant solar sculpture constitutes an act of architectural
engineering that, to this day, has no equal anywhere in the world.
10. The Maya people did not disappear more than a thousand years ago at the time of the fabled “Maya Collapse” in the
central lowlands of Mesoamerica. Today there are several millions of Maya peoples speaking almost 30 surviving
Mayan languages.
11. The land of the Maya, the home of an ethnic group speaking Mayan languages, spanned an area of Mesoamerica
including the Yucatan Peninsula and Chiapas in Mexico, the countries of Guatemala and Belize, and parts of Honduras
and El Salvador. Their descendents still live there today.
12. There was never a Maya Empire, ruled by one Emperor. The Maya world was always a system of independent often
warring city-states that formed constantly shifting alliances with their neighbors.
continued...
THIRTEEN FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT THE MAYA (continued)
13.
One grand 5,125-year cycle of the ancient Maya calendar, known as the “13 Baktun” cycle or the “Long Count,”
will come to completion on 21 December 2012. Although there is no clear evidence that the ancient Maya would have
prophesied either a violent destruction of the world or a transformation into a beautiful perfect new world, there is
little doubt that they would have prepared for the date with extraordinary anticipation.
—Dr. John B. Carlson, Director, The Center for Archaeoastronomy, founded at the University of Maryland
www.archaeoastronomy.net
Maya-built architectural wonder Chichen Itza, Getty Images
OM MANI PADME HUM
The six syllables of the Buddhist mantra, “Om Mani Padme Hum,” can be literally translated,
“Behold! The jewel in the lotus!”
However, the multi-century popularity of repeating the purifying Om prayer stems from the
belief that these primary sound vibrations act as exquisite aid to increasing compassion and
generosity among all living beings.
Thus, prayer wheels have stood at the entry of Buddhist temples the world over for passerbys of all faiths to spin and thus greatly magnify the transformative written blessing contained
therein.
His Holiness, the current Dalai Lama put it, “Thus the six syllables, Om Mani Padme Hum.
. . can transform your impure body, speech and mind into the pure body, speech, and mind of a
Buddha.”
For those of any faith system, the wheel can remind us to be more mindful of the powerful
nature of thoughts that go round and round in our own heads and repeated in our daily speech
with others.
TURKEY MEATBALLS alla Napoletana
Recipe courtesy of Mario Batali
3 cups Basic Tomato Sauce (recipe below)
3 cups fresh breadcrumbs
2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey, dark meat if possible
3 eggs
3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup grated pecorino cheese, plus more for serving
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted (baked for 8 minutes in a 400° F oven)
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Parsley leaves, for garnish
2 tablespoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Serves 6
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
In a large, heavy-bottomed skillet, bring tomato sauce to a fast simmer.
Put the breadcrumbs in a medium bowl and pour the milk over. Set aside.
In the bowl of a countertop mixer fitted with a paddle or dough hook, combine the ground turkey and the eggs. Grate the garlic over the bowl using a microplane. Add grated pecorino, toasted pine nuts, parsley and salt. Mix briefly just to combine.
Add the milk-soaked breadcrumbs to the meat mixture and mix for about one minute until it comes together, but still has some texture and moisture.
Form the mixture into 12 to 15 meatballs, each smaller than a tennis ball but larger than a golf ball. Gently add the meatballs to the sauce and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer and cook for 25 to 30 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through.
Top the meatballs with parsley leaves, freshly grated pecorino and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.
Recipe note: The sauce can be saved for another use.
Basic TOMATO SAUCE
Recipe courtesy of Mario Batali
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, cut in 1/4-inch dice
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, or 1 tablespoon dried
1/2 medium carrot, finely grated (preferably carrots with tops, which can be left unpeeled)
2 28-ounce cans peeled whole tomatoes, crushed by hand and juices reserved
Kosher salt, to taste
Makes about 4 cups
1.
2.
3.
In a 3-quart saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat, add the onion and garlic and cook until soft
and light golden brown, 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the thyme and carrot and cook 5 minutes more, until the carrot is quite soft.
Add the tomatoes and juice and bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce the heat and simmer
for about 30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Exhibition Ambassadors
Mario Batali, Master Chef, Restaurateur, and Author
Daniel Baumann, Curator and Expert on Artist Adolf Wölfli, Adolf Wölfli Foundation,
Museum of Fine Arts, Bern Switzerland
Josh Charles, Emmy Nominated Actor and Art Collector
Olga Hirschhorn, Museum Founder and Art Collector
Vivienne M. Lassman, Curator and Expert on Artist Noche Crist
Thomas J. McCabe, Mathematician, Entrepreneur and Author
Sonu Shamdasani, Editor, Red Book by Carl Jung
Yolanda Maria Welch, Chair, Governor’s Commission on Hispanic Affairs
Leading Academic Maya Scholars:
John B. Carlson, The Center for Archaeoastronomy and University of Maryland, College Park
John W. Hoopes, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas
Mark Van Stone, Southwestern College, Chula Vista, California
Exhibition Sponsors
PLATINUM: M&T Bank • Whiting-Turner
GOLD: Corfu Foundation • LasikPlus • Max’s Taphouse • Elisabeth Roche • Urban Chic • Frank
& Jan Warren
SILVER: Brown Advisory • Thomas McCabe • Jim and Patty Rouse Charitable Foundation • Just
Folk with Marcy Carsey and Susan Baerwald • Kiwanis Club of Baltimore City • Venable, LLP
BRONZE: Joan Develin Coley and Lee Rice • Arnold and Alison Richman • Peter Snell •
Two Boots Pizza
MANY THANKS TO OUR EXHIBITION SUPPORTERS: Maryellyn Lynott • Mary Ellen Vehlow
AVAM WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE FOLLOWING PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS FOR THEIR
GENEROUS ANNUAL OPERATING SUPPORT:
The State of Maryland • The Maryland State Arts Council • The Maryland State Department of
Education • The Baltimore County Commission on Arts and Sciences • The Baltimore County
Council • Baltimore City • The Baltimore City Council • Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake and
Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts • The Howard County Arts Council • The Howard
County Government
AVAM 101
THE AMERICAN VISIONARY ART MUSEUM
THE AMERICAN VISIONARY ART MUSEUM is America’s official national museum and education center for self-taught, intuitive artistry (deemed so by a unanimous vote of the U.S. Congress).
SINCE ITS OPENING IN 1995, the museum has sought to promote the recognition of intuitive,
self-reliant, creative contribution as both an important historic and essential living piece of treasured human legacy. The ONE-OF-A-KIND American Visionary Art Museum is located on a 1.1
ACRE WONDERLAND CAMPUS at 800 Key Highway, Baltimore Inner Harbor. Three renovated
historic industrial buildings house wonders created by farmers, housewives, mechanics, retired
folk, the disabled, the homeless, as well as the occasional neurosurgeon – all INSPIRED BY THE
FIRE WITHIN. From carved roots to embroidered rags, tattoos to toothpicks, the visionary transforms dreams, loss, hopes, and ideals into POWERFUL WORKS OF ART.
WHAT IS A VISIONARY? Visionaries perceive potential and creative relationships where most
of us don’t. English writer Jonathan Swift put it simply, “Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.” Such vision lies at the heart of all true invention, whether that special vision manifests as an
astonishing work of art like those created by the intuitive artists featured at the American Visionary Art Museum or as a medical breakthrough, a melody never before sung, some deeper understanding of the cosmos, or as a way in which life could be better, more justly lived. Visionaries have
always constituted human-kind’s greatest “evolutionaries.”
Without visionaries’ willingness to be called fools, to make mistakes, to be wrong, few new
“right” things would ever be birthed. Visionaries are brave scouts at the frontier of the unknown.
They explore their visions with a passionate single-mindedness. Albert Einstein rightly observed,
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
Creative acts intended to uplift, defend, and enlighten fulfill every function that can be asked of
a work of art. They inspire us, make us think in new ways, and birth new beauty and dignity into
our world.
WHAT IS ART? The ancients—the Greeks, Egyptians, Hopis, and New Guinea tribesmen—were
among earth’s most prolific art-making peoples. Yet, none had any word for “art” in their respective
languages. Rather, they each had a word that meant “well-made” or “beautifully performed.”
Our American Visionary Art Museum believes that this view of what art really means is as
perfect an understanding of art as ever was. It speaks to an art incumbent upon all its citizens,
pervasive throughout all the acts of our daily life. Its emphasis is on process and consciousness, not
mere artifact.
Martin Luther King, Jr. expressed his profound respect for the true artistry each member of a
society can uniquely evidence to bless our communities, “If a man is called to be a street sweeper,
he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the Hosts of Heaven and earth would
pause to say, Here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.”
AMERICAN VISIONARY ART MUSEUM • 800 KEY HWY • BALTIMORE, MD • 21230 • 410.244.1900 • www.avam.org
SOME HANDY
INFO
AMERICAN VISIONARY ART MUSEUM (AVAM)
800 Key Highway • Baltimore, MD • 21230 • 410.244.1900
www.avam.org • facebook: www.facebook.com/theavam • twitter: @TheAVAM
OUR HOURS
REGULAR ADMISSION
*Open Monday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as
AVAM’s tribute to teachers–Everyone is Free!
GROUP RATES
Tuesday–Sunday (Closed on Mondays*)
10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
Closed: Christmas Day & Thanksgiving Day
PARKING
Abundant metered parking on Covington Street
and Key Highway. Handicapped accessible.
AMERICAN VISIONARY ART MUSEUM
(AVAM) is America’s official national museum
for self-taught, intuitive artistry. Since its
opening in 1995, the museum has sought to
promote the recognition of intuitive, self-reliant,
creative contribution as both an important
historic and essential living piece of treasured
human legacy.
ALL THINGS ROUND:
Galaxies, Eyeballs & Karma
Main Exhibition Space – Oct 7, 2011–Sept 2, 2012
Our 17th annual, thematic mega-exhibition is a
celebration and call to awareness of the circular
and voluptuous nature of life. From the microatomic spin of electrons encircling a nucleus,
to the macro orbit of planets rounding our sun,
‘ROUND’ delights in the curves, spirals, orbs,
and bubbles of full-bodied beauty that playfully
manifest throughout art, science, and beyond.
This wholly original art exhibition features
the exuberant works of 70+ inspired, intuitive
artists, and is a lively circle dance with its
visitors of all ages at its center!
GRETCHEN FELDMAN:
LOVE LETTER TO EARTH (1934-2008)
Third Floor Gallery – Opens April 2012
This luminous retrospective of 40+ vivid
paintings exalt the exquisite, eternal themes
of “Perfect Unions:” where land meets sea, day
embraces night, sky kisses earth – opposites
inherent to life’s sacred cycle of union and touch.
Adult
Senior (60 & up)
Student
Group Rate (Adult)*
Group Rate (College)*
Group Rate (K-12)*
Children 6 & under
*Groups of 10 or more people
$15.95
$13.95
$9.95
$10 ea.
$8 ea.
$6 ea.
Free!
PERMANENT COLLECTION GALLERY
First Floor Gallery – ongoing
Works selected from a collection that includes
visionaries such as Paul Darmafall (The
Baltimore Glass Man), Martin Ramirez, Mary
Proctor, James Harold Jennings, Wayne Kusy,
Antonio Alberti & more.
CABARET MECHANICAL THEATRE
Jim Rouse Visionary Center – ongoing
A collection of whimsical, interactive automta
from the Cabaret Mechanical Theatre of London.
SCREEN PAINTERS OF BALTIMORE
Jim Rouse Visionary Center – ongoing
A celebration of screen painting–the uniquely
Baltimore art form. Full-size replica rowhouses
house screens painted by Baltimore’s finest. A
documentary film, shown in a theater within the
rowhomes, shines a light on the artists and their
desire to paint.
PUBLIC ART
Throughout Museum Grounds – ongoing
A three-ton, four-story Whirligig by Vollis
Simpson; Nancy Josephson’s mirror-mosaic
“Gallery-A-Go-Go” bus; Andrew Logan’s “Cosmic
Galaxy Egg;” Adam Kurtzman’s Giant “Golden
Hand;” David Hess’s Bird’s Nest Balcony; Dick
Brown’s “Bluebird of Happiness”; the glittering
Community Mosaic Wall – the work of a
wonderful apprenticeship program for at-risk
youth; Wildflower Sculpture Garden featuring
Ben Wilson’s wooden meditation chapel/wedding
altar; “critters” by Clyde Jones; Ted Ludwiczak’s
stone fountain heads; and more.