{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"House of Folk Art","title":"Episode 62 | Mike Smith Was There: Rare Photos from Folk Art History","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3430,"description":"Mike Smith returns to the House of Folk Art with something remarkable: a collection of photographs he took while visiting folk artists across the South during the 1990s.\nMike estimates that he has photographed thousands of works, artists, homes, studios, and folk art environments over the years. In this episode, Matt sits down with him to look through around 50 of those images, many showing artists at home and surrounded by work that has since disappeared, changed hands, or been lost entirely.\nThe photographs include Benny Carter sitting in his living room and standing among the carvings in his backyard, Mose Tolliver painting from his bedroom, Mary T. Smith outside her home, Jimmy Lee Sudduth working with mud, leaves, and whatever else he could find, and Howard Finster walking through the early days of Paradise Garden. \nAs the photographs move across the screen, Mike shares what it was like to visit these artists and spend time inside their worlds. He remembers Raymond Coins describing dreams while a mouse crossed the kitchen, James Son Thomas sitting beside his bed and playing blues songs, Royal Robertson sending visitors into town with a grocery list, and James Harold Jennings throwing a threatening letter into the fire after the man he threatened brought it back to him.\nSome of the photographs reveal details that Matt has never seen before. A rare image of Anderson Johnson leads to the discovery that the painted portraits hanging throughout his church were intended to fill the room like members of his congregation. Another photograph shows Benny Carter’s backyard environment in better condition than Matt had ever seen it, including a carved Adam and Eve that Matt suddenly realizes may have once belonged to a piece in his own collection.\nThe episode becomes more than a slideshow. These photographs add context to the art, document environments that no longer exist, and preserve the personalities behind work that is often separated from the people who made it....","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/V9-9EJUZ9R45flfIBnsuQ4AwapFGe_rYKiVr1IMQwbU/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzUxNTk0LzE3MTE3/Mzc2MTktYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}