Episode 50 | Rare 1990s Folk Art Footage from Tom Wells
Before museums and collectors caught on, Tom Wells was documenting Southern folk artists on VHS in the early 1990s.
In this episode, Matt Ledbetter sits down with the longtime dealer to revisit those tapes and reflect on discovering artists like Z.B. Armstrong and J.T. McCord.
Tom explains how he first met these artists, how relationships developed, how work was sold, and what it looked like to build a market without the internet, price databases, or collector forums. Some of the footage captures artists actively working. The footage captures artists at work and preserves moments from an important era for folk art.
CHAPTERS
00:00 | Meeting Tom Wells in Thomson, Georgia
01:39 | First encounter with Z.B. Armstrong
08:24 | National exposure and Southern Magazine
12:19 | Jake J.T. McCord on his front porch
18:46 | Finding Ralph Griffin off a dirt road
27:09 | Jimmy Lee Sudduth and painting with mud
37:21 | Leonard Jones and painted tin
42:21 | Discovering Willie Tarver
46:45 | Meeting Richard Roebuck
Do you know a folk artist or have a picking story worth sharing? Leave your name and where you are from and you might hear yourself on a future episode.
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