A Remembrance from the Consignor: Self-Taught Art in the South | February 20, 2024

Brunk Auctions is pleased to be working with the Oliver family to bring their carefully assembled collection to you. Over the course of several auctions you will have an opportunity to engage with and acquire all of the greats in American self-taught art. The first of these opportunities will be November 14, 2025, view the collection here.

“People, by nature, are acquirers of objects that they find interesting. Art collectors, however, gather with a deeper vision. Each work enters a collection with purpose and meaning, shaped by the discerning eye and passion of the collector. 

Our focus was to bring together a body of work that offers a unified view of Southern culture. This Collection reveals the values, memories, visions, and belief systems that distinguish the people and places of the South in the 20th and early 21st centuries. 

Over the course of more than twenty years, we traveled extensively throughout the region in search of contemporary Southern folk artists. This was never a passive pursuit. We often drove down gravel roads and through winding countryside, following directions that might end with “past the big tree after the fork in the road.” Along the way, we had the privilege of meeting the artists in their homes, often spending hours on their porches in conversation. 

We came to know each artist by name, learned about their lives and inspirations, and in many cases, photographed them alongside their work. These moments of connection—of listening and learning directly from the artists—are an essential part of the provenance of this Collection. Each piece is accompanied not only by the artist’s vision but also by the story of their life, their place, and their time. 

All of the artists represented here are self-taught, each creating with a voice uniquely their own. While certain themes recur, every work reflects the particular history, environment, community, and beliefs of its maker. Together, these works form a vivid and authentic record of Southern life—sometimes joyful, sometimes challenging, always deeply human. 

For us, collecting has been a labor of love, an act of persistence, and a devotion to preserving the voices of these artists. This Collection is not only a record of art but also of relationships, travels, and the enduring spirit of the South.”

 – Ann and Ted Oliver 

Ann and Ted Oliver devoted more than two decades to building their collection of Southern folk art, a labor of love shaped by both passion and persistence. Prior to the opening of their gallery, Ann Oliver finished her graduate studies in Art History with an M.A.from Ohio State, was an intern at the then gallery of art of the University of Miami and Curator of Education at The Center for the Fine Arts now known as the Perez Miami Art Museum. In 1992 she joined the High Art Museum as their Curator of Education. Teddy Joe Oliver was a distinguished educator and leader who served as President of the Georgia Art Education Association, sat on national and international arts education boards, and held numerous leadership roles across Georgia and beyond. In 2005, following his retirement, he and Ann relocated to Hendersonville, North Carolina where they opened Olivers’ Southern Folk Art. 

Through their work with the gallery, Ann and Ted accumulated an immense collection of Southern folk and self-taught art. Unlike many collectors, the Olivers did not rely on the services of a dealer or go-between; they sought out the artists themselves. They traveled extensively across the Southern United States and spent hours in conversation with the artists, listening to their stories, learning about their lives, and capturing photographs that preserve the moments of connection.

In addition to their involvement with the artists on a personal level, the Oliver’s were significantly involved in the expansion of awareness and appreciation of Southern folk and self-taught art. Ann and Ted were contributors to numerous exhibitions throughout the years such as “Outsider Visions”, Boca Raton Museum, 2011, “Response and Memory: The Art of Beverly Buchanan”, Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, GA, 2010 and Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC, 2010, and “Contemporary Folk Art in the Southern United States”, Hendersonville, NC, 2009. Works from the Olivers can also be found in the collections of multiple institutions across the South, including but not limited to the Hickory Museum of Art, the Morris Museum of Art, the University of Georgia Art Museum, and the Asheville Art Museum.

Pat Gallagher of Southern Stories watching and listening as Mose completes a batch of cross art. Pat was making a documentary film on folk artists of the Southeastern US.

Jimmy Lee Sudduth

“Jimmy Lee kept a big bucket of mud-paint beside his chair. He went on walks to collect his art materials. He showed us how he collected and used the elements around him. Poke berries were used to create purple. His studio was outside or on his front porch in the sunshine and he most often used his fingers and other natural objects like sticks and rocks as painting tools. We watched him thumbprint red heads on the figures in his lively painting of the Washington Monument.”

B.F. Perkins

“Reverend Perkins was a military veteran, he was very patriotic and painted flags to show his devotion to his country. He graced the entrance to his property with them. Flags, crosses, and nautical symbols were his frequent icons. He lived in remote woods and the birds visited in flocks so he hung his painted gourds everywhere for them. A dynamic preacher, he was also a kind and generous man recognizing and celebrating the goodness he saw in the world.

Sometimes B.F. Perkins painted outside on a picnic table but usually painted on his kitchen table. As with each of the outsider artists, creating was an every minute of every day experience. Reverend Perkins loved company and could paint and carry on a conversation at the same time.”

Jake McCord

“Jake was a one-man yard crew and all round handyman. He was the kind of person you’d want for a friend and I was honored to have him paint my portrait. Jake McCord referred to these types of portraits as “Pretty Ladies”, portraits inspired by women he would see around town and on the television.”

“All of the artists we visited loved people, loved that people were interested in their art and what they had to say and actively lived lives of artistic expression every day.”

The Gassenheimer collection will accompany other pieces of Outsider & Self-Taught Art which you can view here