Creator Record
Metadata
Name |
Dulaney, Burgess |
Notes |
Burgess Dulaney was born in December of 1914 in Itawamba County in North Mississippi. He was one of twelve children. Due to economic hardships, Dulaney was forced to stay home and work on the family farm raising hogs, corn, and cotton. As a result, he never attended school nor learned to read or write. In his lifetime, Dulaney never traveled more than a few miles from the place of his birth. Dulaney began making mud sculptures in the 1970s with clay dug from pits behind his family home. An abundance of local clay allowed him to create an array of forms from stylized creatures and humans with marbles for eyes to forms resembling pre-Columbian and American Indian artifacts. Dulaney did not use any substructures in his sculptures and did not bake them in the sun; rather, he put them in closets or shady places to dry slowly. He experimented with cement but preferred the stickiness of clay. Dulaney died on June 27, 2001, leaving behind a body of fascinating art. His work is held in numerous private collections and in a variety of institutions, including the Mississippi Museum of Art and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History in Jackson; the Art Museum of Southeast Texas in Beaumont; and the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. |
Nationality |
American |
Occupation |
Subsistance farmer |
