Bessie Harvey

Bessie Harvey (born Bessie Ruth White; October 11, 1929 – August 12, 1994) was an American artist best known for her sculptures constructed out of found objects, primarily pieces of wood. A deeply religious person, Harvey's faith and her own interest in nature were primary sources for her work.

Early life and family Born Bessie Ruth White in Dallas, Georgia, she was the seventh of 13 children born to Homer and Rosie Mae White. As a child, she made toys and sculptures out of twigs. Overtime, these once simple structures grew in complexity - into the sculptures we see today. At the age of 14, Bessie married Charles Harvey and settled in Buena Vista, Georgia.

In addition to having 11 children, Harvey had 28 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. She entered one of her sculptures, a work entitled "Banda", into the hospital's yearly art show which then sold, beginning her artistic career. One of the staff doctors introduced her to the directors of the Cavin-Morris Gallery in New York City, which continued to sell her work exclusively for several years. She began creating art in 1974, shortly after her mother, Rosie White, died.

Harvey's work belongs to a larger tradition of black vernacular art created in the American South. The assemblage aspect of her work, the use of found materials, and emphasis on religious themes are common to the black vernacular art tradition. As a creator of visionary art, she often claims that God is the main source for her work, even to the extent that He is working through her: "I’m really not the artist. God is the artist in my work; nature and insects, they shape my work for me, because they belong to God. I belong to God, and all things belong to God, because it’s in his Word that all things are made to him, that without him there’s not anything made." According to Harvey, God allowed her to see anthropomorphic forms within the wood she worked with, and with that help she could give physical shape to the spiritual presences within these tree roots, limbs, and pieces of driftwood. Her interest in nature was due in part to her belief that she could access or see the spirit of her ancestors within trees, for example, and her general belief in transcendentalism.

Her work often reflected specific biblical stories, including stories from Genesis and Revelation. She also created a series of works inspired by the African-American experience in the United States. When naming her works, she frequently used an African-English dictionary to provide a direct connection to her African heritage. She was also the subject of a major retrospective in 1997 at the Knoxville Museum of Art. Her works are in the permanent collections of the Knoxville Museum of Art the American Folk Art Museum, New York, and KMAC Museum in Louisville, Kentucky. Some of Harvey's works were also purchased from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco as part of an acquisition of the works of African American artists from the Southern United States. This work was displayed in an exhibition called Revelations: Art from the African American South from June 3, 2017 through April 1, 2018. Harvey's work continues to be featured in exhibitions in museums such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Turner Contemporary in England as part of exhibitions on African American artwork from the American South.

Harvey has been cited as an influence by Alison Saar, and a street in Alcoa has been named after her.

Selected exhibitions Called To Create: Black Artists of the American South, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, September 18, 2022 – March 26, 2023.