Columbus native makes art from old t-shirts, TV, more with references to GA city lore. Take a look
Columbus native, Coulter Fussell may have left decades ago, but the community never left her. Her latest exhibition, Hot Water, at the Bo Bartlett Center, is specifically inspired by the Chattahoochee River Valley.
It is a mixed media installation featuring pieces made from quilts, hand-me-down t-shirts, an old console television and many references to Columbus lore. In her own words from a recent Bartlett Center talk: “Even though I’ve lived in Mississippi longer than I’ve lived here, there is endless inspiration from Columbus.”
Telling a local story
Her large work quilts tell a local story and are influenced by and referential to Columbus and the area.
One such piece, titled “Jump School” is a nod to the United States Army Airborne School at Ft. Benning. It’s big in scope, stretching 99 x 88 inches, and, like all her work, is made up of all donated materials and textiles.
One of her most revered pieces, “Steam Mill” is inspired by Columbus’ history as a mill town. After reading “Red Clay, White Water and the Blues” by Virginia Causey, she shared, “I drew from that idea of the town powered by these mills.”
Her chosen medium for these pieces are scavenged fabric and found materials, stitched together to reveal a deeply personal history that is so obviously intertwined with her family and her community.
Her parents, Cathy and Fred Fussell are artists in their own rite. Fussell used her father’s photographs to impose them on some of the pieces and her mother has an exhibition at the Columbus Museum right now.
Unconventional materials for an unconventional process
She describes her method as something like a jump and a spin, vague but targeted, and her process is relentless. Although she saw her mother sew her whole life, she decided to use what felt right to her.
The traditions she learned are honored, she assured, but rarely followed to the letter. She admits, “I just don’t use the traditional way.” She has to do “an insane amount of sewing,” which she does mostly by hand, but when she does use a machine, it is just a plain Singer brand from Walmart.
She stresses the importance of mechanics, saying its “90% of the work,” and finds freedom in the limitations of the chiffon material she used in the collection. She called it “expansion from limits.”
The work is both memory and improvisation
She has a very practical process, but Fussell wants her work to be “vague and a mystery,” so that it doesn’t close anyone off, but still feel authentic to her.
Fussell’s work at the Bo Bartlett Center is a homecoming and a conversation between generations. The pieces are deeply personal, packed with family, town lore, and her unique style of tradition.
The new installation, with its bright colors, big braids and bold subject matter, invites visitors to engage with their own stories. You can feel Columbus in its seams.
Have you seen the show? What is your favorite piece? Email me at srose@ledger-enquirer.com or find me on social media.