Arthur Dial facts for kids
Arthur Dial (born in 1930) is an American artist who creates paintings and sculptures. He lives and works in Bessemer, Alabama. He is part of a family of artists, including his older brother, Thornton Dial, and his nephews, Thornton Dial Jr., Richard Dial, and Ronald Lockett.
Life
Arthur Dial and his older half-brother, Thornton "Buck" Dial, were born in Emelle, Alabama. They were raised by their grandmother until Arthur was seven years old. After that, they moved to Bessemer, Alabama, and were raised by their aunt, Lillian Bell. Arthur Dial still lives in Bessemer today.
Dial went to school until the third grade. Then, he started working to help his family. His first job was at a sawmill. He later worked for Water Works, Jefferson County, and the Pullman Standard boxcar factory. He then found a job at U.S. Pipe, which was known as the "Pipe Shop." Dial worked there for thirty-seven years. He had to retire at 62 years old because of health problems related to his work.
Career
Arthur Dial enjoyed drawing as a child, but he became very serious about art as an adult. He looked for ways to relax after long, hard days working at the U.S. Pipe factory. He found peace in gardening, fishing, and making art.
He started using materials he found discarded from the factory, like scrap pipe and steel. He used these to create art pieces that looked like people, animals, and religious figures. His art studio is a shed next to his home. He called it his "home away from home." He said, "In the shed out back, my ideas get turned into something. That junkhouse shed is my home away from home. I got my spinners and tackle box for fishing, all my tools for gardening, all my chicken feed, medicine for the chickens, and my boards, paint and materials for art making. I got a lot of stuff out there. My shed is my pride and joy."
Dial created artworks that focused on a specific moment within a larger story. He used these moments, like Eve reaching for the forbidden fruit, or a historical event like George Wallace trying to stop students from entering the University of Alabama, to show times of great tension. Dial's focus on scenes of conflict comes from watching life in the southern United States throughout the 20th century. He describes his artworks as "a record of what went by."
Exhibitions and museum collections
Dial's art has been shown in many exhibitions:
- Living Traditions: Southern Black Folk Art. 1991, The Museum of York County, Rock Hill, North Carolina.
- Wrestling with History: A Celebration of African American Self-Taught Artists from the collection of Ronald and June Shelp. 1996, Baruch College, New York City.
- Testimony: Vernacular Art of the African American South: The Ronald and June Shelp Collection. 2000-2004, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, MI.
- Southern Spirit: the Hill Collection. 2000, Museum of Art, Tallahassee, FL.
- Stories of Community: Self-Taught Art from the Hill Collection. 2004, Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon. GA.
- Southern Folk Art from the Permanent Collection. 2012, Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA.
- Our Faith Affirmed- Works from the collection of Gordon W. Bailey. 2014-2015, University of Mississippi Museum of Art, Oxford, MS.
- History Refused to Die. 2015, Alabama Contemporary Art Center, Mobile, AL.
- History Refused to Die: Highlights from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation Gift. 2018, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Dial's artwork is also part of the permanent collections in these museums:
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- High Museum of Art
- Minneapolis Institute of Art
- Rockford Art Museum
- Gadsden Arts Center
