New Laney Contemporary exhibition spans decades of sculpture by Atlanta-based Curtis Patterson
Photograph by Adam Kuehl
SAVANNAH NOW
April 9, 2022
By Bill Dawers
When visitors open the grand front doors at Laney Contemporary, they are met by Curtis Patterson’s “Montgomery Bus Stop,” a magnificent 10-foot-tall bronze sculpture that conveys the courage of Rosa Parks.
Like so many other pieces in the solo exhibition “A Notable Journey,” “Montgomery Bus Stop” (1989) has elements of surprise. A savvy viewer can lift the seats of the stop to reveal inspirational quotations on mirrors. The movable arm atop the sculpture might seem at first to have an abstract form at one end, but the shape references both a Ku Klux Klan hood and a Yoruba ax.
“Water for Mandela” (1987) in an adjacent gallery honors the South African leader’s years in prison. A base shaped like a sawhorse supports a bowl of water and other symbols. Nearby, “Shadows from the Past” (1986) evokes an ironing board that that seems to be supporting a bird spreading its wings.
Patterson earned degrees in art from Grambling State University and Georgia State University before becoming a professor at the Atlanta College of Art, where he taught from 1976 to 2007. Patterson has done large-scale public commissions across the United States, including in Atlanta, Dallas, Columbus, St. Paul and his native Shreveport, Louisiana.
I was fortunate to be among a small group that toured “A Notable Journey” with Patterson, his wife and his three adult children on the day before the opening reception. The artist spoke humbly of his work and the intricacies of the processes that produced such extraordinary work.