Today, Thursday, Feb. 5, the Teer Gallery at Kentuck Art Center in Northport will host the opening of “The Auguries of the Planter.” Comprised of ten works by Perry County–based textile artist Casey Roberts, the show’s theme centers on the cosmic connections present in agrarian communities for generations. This show also serves as an ode to the rural farmers and preachers that comprise much of Roberts’s heritage.
The show statement reads:
“So it was in the beginning, when our feet had tread over the unscathed whole, glistening green with newness. Came the dark and the light that passed over them in repetition. Their eyes observed clouds and clarity–they numbered the stars.
We named these lights and their passage; to know them, to grasp such heights. In the daylight, the planter sows his seeds. When the sun plunges to its watery depths, the planter also waters the tilled earth. This, so the sun does not drink from the thirsting babes with its yellow heat.
The moon, a sharpened disk, shows the dagger’s shape ’til its shadow is the only light. The returns the milky silver–to brighten the season in scarlet or gold. The planter sees a red moon, its call for the reaping–and the planter obliges.
Beneath a shimmering tablet does the planter heed. Soon the flaming sky will lick the earth, to warm the planter’s feet, to taste the harvest. Soon bare arms will trace the smoke back to the skies, then a blossoming.
All this the planter sees, even in the darkest night, for he has numbered the stars; for he knows them.”
Reared in Marengo County, Roberts has remained a faithful resident of the Black Belt, with much of his art reflecting the scenes and sensibilities of the small towns he’s called home throughout his life.
Five new quilts will be featured, as well as three “shrines,” a doll, and a coat inspired by the Biblical story of Joseph and his coat of many colors. This marks Roberts’s second solo exhibition since his 2022 show “25” at the 5&Dime in Selma.
The show coincides with a solo exhibition of folk artist Scott McQueen’s work in Kentuck’s Main Gallery space, neighboring the Teer Gallery.
The opening reception begins at 5:00 PM, with an artist talk at 5:30, given by Roberts. Scott McQueen will give an artist talk beginning at 6:30 PM. This event is free and open to the public, with refreshments and other entertainments available at Kentuck.
