Memory Pieces
Where storytelling, creative writing, and folk art come together.
Memory Pieces & More: A Folk Art Exhibition With Workshops
Well-known West Virginia writer and artist Bob Henry Baber presented his first full exhibit of ‘Memory Pieces’ at the Glenville State College Fine Arts Gallery — an interdisciplinary exploration of folk art, haiku, and personal memory that drew visitors from across the region.
During the opening, Baber read a selection of his short ‘haiku’ and ‘lowku’ poems that adorn many of his pieces, creating a new literary and arts hybrid. Attendees were then invited to make their own memory jars as keepsakes, using materials including marbles from Marble King — West Virginia’s last marble company.
A Living Legacy of Memory Jug Making
For over ten years, Baber has conducted ‘Memory Jug’ workshops based on an antique jug he found in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. The workshops include storytelling, creative writing, and the making of memory pieces by elementary school students and adults in residencies held throughout West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio.
Memory pieces have been around since at least the Victorian era, when nobility covered vessels with jewelry as a decorative diversion. A grass-roots revival swept through Appalachia and the Afro-American South in the 1950s and ’60s. In the Afro-American community, memory jugs sometimes served as memorials for poor families that could not afford headstones for loved ones who had passed away.
“Regardless of culture, all memory jugs served the purpose of celebrating people’s lives and families through permanently recycling their personal trinkets.” — Bob Henry Baber
Painted by a Master
Baber’s ‘Memory Jar’ was the subject of one of America’s most famous living realist painters, Daniel Sprick, whose work is held in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Art, the Denver Museum of Art, and many other venues. The piece sold in New York City.
Baber and Sprick met at Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Colorado in 1972 — a friendship that would span decades and result in one of Sprick’s most personal works.
Among the pieces displayed at the GSC Fine Arts Gallery was “Verb Tenses Make Me Tense,” from the art collection of Governor Joe Manchin and First Lady Gail Manchin.
Book a Memory Jug WorkshopGSC Fine Arts Gallery Exhibition, 2008
Bring Memory Jug Making to Your School or Organization
Half-day and full-day workshops available for elementary through adult groups, combining creative writing, storytelling, and folk art.