Spiritual American Trash: Portraits from the Margins of Art and Faith
In Spiritual American Trash, Greg Bottoms goes beyond the examination of eight "outsider artists" and inhabits the spirit of their work and stories in engaging vignettes. From the janitor who created a holy throne room out of scraps in a garage, to the lonely wartime mother who filled her home with driftwood replicas of Bible scenes, Bottoms illustrates the peculiar grace in madness.

Using facts as scaffolding he constructs intimate narratives around each artist, painting their poor and difficult circumstances on the outskirts of American society and demonstrating struggle's influence on their largely undiscovered art. Both mournful and celebratory, these profiles embrace these compulsive creators with empathy and visceral sensory details.

Each sentence reads with the cadence of a preacher who engages the art of the spirit and passion that often strays into obsession. Raised in the working-class South as a devout Christian with a deeply troubled brother, Bottoms understands how these eight outsiders "made art for a higher power and for themselves."
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Spiritual American Trash: Portraits from the Margins of Art and Faith
In Spiritual American Trash, Greg Bottoms goes beyond the examination of eight "outsider artists" and inhabits the spirit of their work and stories in engaging vignettes. From the janitor who created a holy throne room out of scraps in a garage, to the lonely wartime mother who filled her home with driftwood replicas of Bible scenes, Bottoms illustrates the peculiar grace in madness.

Using facts as scaffolding he constructs intimate narratives around each artist, painting their poor and difficult circumstances on the outskirts of American society and demonstrating struggle's influence on their largely undiscovered art. Both mournful and celebratory, these profiles embrace these compulsive creators with empathy and visceral sensory details.

Each sentence reads with the cadence of a preacher who engages the art of the spirit and passion that often strays into obsession. Raised in the working-class South as a devout Christian with a deeply troubled brother, Bottoms understands how these eight outsiders "made art for a higher power and for themselves."
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Spiritual American Trash: Portraits from the Margins of Art and Faith

Spiritual American Trash: Portraits from the Margins of Art and Faith

by Greg Bottoms
Spiritual American Trash: Portraits from the Margins of Art and Faith

Spiritual American Trash: Portraits from the Margins of Art and Faith

by Greg Bottoms

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$16.95 
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Overview

In Spiritual American Trash, Greg Bottoms goes beyond the examination of eight "outsider artists" and inhabits the spirit of their work and stories in engaging vignettes. From the janitor who created a holy throne room out of scraps in a garage, to the lonely wartime mother who filled her home with driftwood replicas of Bible scenes, Bottoms illustrates the peculiar grace in madness.

Using facts as scaffolding he constructs intimate narratives around each artist, painting their poor and difficult circumstances on the outskirts of American society and demonstrating struggle's influence on their largely undiscovered art. Both mournful and celebratory, these profiles embrace these compulsive creators with empathy and visceral sensory details.

Each sentence reads with the cadence of a preacher who engages the art of the spirit and passion that often strays into obsession. Raised in the working-class South as a devout Christian with a deeply troubled brother, Bottoms understands how these eight outsiders "made art for a higher power and for themselves."

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781619020597
Publisher: Catapult
Publication date: 04/02/2013
Pages: 234
Product dimensions: 5.53(w) x 8.21(h) x 0.72(d)

About the Author

An essayist, memoirist, critic, and story writer, Greg Bottoms is the author of The Colorful Apocalypse, Fight Scenes, and more. He teaches creative writing at the University of Vermont.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Patron Saint of Thrown-Away Things: A Portrait of James Hampton 6

Ghosts in the Mirrors: A Portrait of Geraldo Alfonso 28

A Place Where the Tears of the Forgiver and the Forgiven Mingle: A Portrait of Annie Hooper 54

Do You Think Your Soul Believes in You? (from a commonplace book) 79

Mountainous Harmony and Everlasting Peace: A Portrait of Clarence Schmidt 84

Residential Chief Artist of Nothing: A Portrait of Frank Van Zant (a.k.a. Chief Rolling Mountain Thunder) 110

We Are Made in the Image of the Image We Made (from a commonplace book) 131

The Only One Here: A Portrait of Tressa "Grandma" Prisbrey 138

In the Devil House: A Portrait of Frank Jones 168

The Importance of Good Company: A Portrait of James Harold Jennings 192

Only in Human Terms (from a commonplace book) 217

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