Richard Hyatt: St. EOM would be pleased

Too bad the elected bigwigs and assorted Ph.D.s who gathered under the historic rotunda of the state Capitol last week in the name of art did not have a chance to present an award to Eddie Owens Martin in all his glory.

This was the day Gov. Nathan Deal and first lady Sandra Deal handed out the Governor’s Awards in the Arts & Humanities. Instead of ordinary trophies or plaques, they presented handcrafted pieces of blown glass in partnership with the Georgia Council for the Arts and Georgia Humanities.

Among the recipients was the Pasaquan Preservationist Society, a Marion County group determined to keeping alive the story and the art of Martin, a self-taught artist who refused to paint inside the lines or follow the conventional paths.

The self-ordained St. EOM was a visionary that some called a bodacious badass. He was the lone missionary for a mythical culture that he created and inspired on a blacktop road near Buena Vista, Ga. Years after his death, an artistic community that shunned him is slowly recognizing the gifted artist hidden behind the unkempt beard and uneven walls of the place he called Pasaquan.

After his death in 1986, friends and neighbors took ownership of St. EOM’s unique collection of paintings, drawings and handmade jewelry, along with the imposing totem poles and pagodas he built on land that used to be his family farm.

Weather and the passage of time caused the colors to fade and the walls to crack, but local preservationists continued to fight the elements and an arts community that never gave Eddie Owens Martin the respect he deserved.

A year ago, patrons passed ownership to the Kohler Foundation and, overnight, there was hope. Kohler’s artisans started to work their magic, promising that when it was totally restored, Pasaquan would be given to Columbus State University. That transaction should take place in early 2016.

Kohler brought to the table its deep pockets and its devotion to outdoor art. CSU brought inspired plans for the future of an attraction long taken for granted.

St. EOM must be pleased, and with a turban on his head and bells on his shoes, he would have stolen the show from the politicians and professors had he been there last Tuesday.

And as the future of Pasaquan unfolds, his outrageous memory must be preserved.

— Richard Hyatt is an independent correspondent. Reach him at hyatt31906@knology.net

This story was originally published October 10, 2015 at 9:14 PM with the headline "Richard Hyatt: St. EOM would be pleased."