Run Toward the Sun: Remembering Juanita Rogers
By Anton Haardt
SATURNO PRESS
PRESENTS OUR NEXT BOOK!
Run Toward The Sun: Remembering Juanita Rogers a supernatural true story of Juanita Rogers,
a black self- taught artist from the South This is a story about a African -American woman
and a young priviliged white woman -both artists . Behind this double biography is a soulful sub-text that acknowledges the force of friendship,and the fears and strengths that shape andchange the lives of not only these two women, but all of us. A story of two bold women,
both who chose not to make safe choices. One is rich and one is poor. Both are from the South, and both are
artists. They become friends. Through their friendship, each on their personal quest, they travel through their own a rite of passage and gain a better understanding of themselves and each other.
It is a story woven with
a curious thread...and the devil may care duet of this unusual friendship is true.
Juanita Rogers born near Montgomery, Alabama, in 1934 began "making mud"
as a child. Using cast-off materials and easily found material such as mule and cow bones, fossil shells, and mud dug from
the woods near her house, her primitive existence was reflected in her work. Although Juanita firmly denied any connection
with voodoo or hoodoo, perhaps in her work she unconsciously nurtured a dwelling place for a spirit, giving it an identity
and personality. She treated her mud work with an unwavering sense of mission, even though her eccentric ways and compulsive
urge to create segregated her from the outside world. A select retrospective of Juanita Rogers' work is planned
in the near future, and the book Run Toward The Sun: Remembering Juanita Rogers by Anton Haardt will be published
soon. Saturno Press is looking for a Distributor for the upcoming book.
Juanita Roger's work has been accessioned by museums in the United
States and Europe, including such prominent collections as L' Aracine Museum in Paris,the Art Brut Museum in Lausanne,
Switzerland and the Outsider Archives in London. Her sculptures and drawings began to arouse interest even before her death,
and knowledge of her story has increased every year since.
Baking in the Sun (1982) and Retrieval: Art in the South (1984) were among the first exhibitions to highlight her work. As
interest in the “mud woman” increased, her works became more sought after by private collectors as well. She was, for example, one of the celebrated artists included
in What It Is:
Black American Folk Art,
a survey of the private collections of the folk
art scholar Regenia Perry (1982) and Parallel Visions, a touring exhibit of the Rosenak Collection (1995)
Juanita’s work has garnered the acclaim
of many collectors and curators. Her work was included in such exhibitions as:
Baking in the Sun: Visionary Images from the South (1987)
Curator Sal Scalora’s Women of Vision: Black American Folk Artist
Gifted Vision: Black American Folk Art (both 1988)
Passionate Visions of the American South: Self-Taught Artists from 1940 to the Present, assembled by New Orleans Museum
of Art Curator Bill Fagley (1994)
Andy Nacisse’s
Mojo Working (1999)
Are We Alone (2000) American Visionary Museum Exhibit
of Extraterrestrial Visions.
