Echo McCallister: Museum in the Community
By Amy Williams with Charly Jupiter Hamilton
A striking use of color, intriguing shapes, crayons and markers used to make see-through cars and houses, funky figures going every which way — the work of West Virginia artist Echo McCallister has made it’s way in a big way to Museum in the Community in Hurricane.
The new exhibit is part of a traveling show for the National Art Exhibitions of the Mentally Ill (NAEMI). Museum director Kelli Burns co-curated the exhibit with Juan Martin from NAEMI. This is the MITC’s first national touring show and major catalog.
Discovered as an outsider artist through the help of Tim and Melody Urbanic of Cafe Cimino’s in Sutton, McCallister’s work has been seen in numerous group shows over the years. It has been shown in Washington, D.C., Miami, even London. The current exhibit, McCallister’s first one-man show, has already been seen in New Jersey and Florida.
“He has an international reputation and is one of the top five best-known artists from West Virginia. His art is good. His perspective is good. His abilities are great,” said Burns.
Seeing through things
A resident of Clay, McCallister’s work and story is remarkable on many levels. He has been able to create art and have it shown widely in spite of having autism. He has lived through child abuse and spent many years of his life in state institutions.
The fun and colorful creations he draws and colors feature all kinds of houses, trucks, people and interesting figures. You often see right into them — the inside of a car with its parts, the inside of a person or a house.
One might say McCallister’s work is childlike, and artist Charly thinks that is a good thing. “Frankly, I like the work that kindergarteners do. I want to approach art like a child. Where do we draw the line on beauty? The root of prejudice is that people say it’s not art because it’s child-like, or a woman did it, or it was done with a camera. To me, the best page in Sunday’s newspaper is the comics where kids send in their drawings.”
The exhibit features more than 30 pieces. The collection of drawings includes work that is both wild and contained, elaborate and yet simple. Charly relates to McCallister’s way of looking at the world. “I see that way: two dimensional, twisted. I like the way he looks at things, the car with the carburetor. It’s like that little dance music is going on in his head. I have that, too.”
Outsider art is an art world term for work created by technically untrained or not traditionally trained artists. Burns says of McCallister, “He is very communicative, but in a non-traditional way. He’s calming and gregarious in his own way.”
CHARLY CONCLUDES:
“Looking at Echo’s work makes me feel as an artist we’re kind of in a childhood… oblivious to the fact that the world already exists. So you create a new one. Not to destroy what you encounter, but simply not to find anything complete. So there are countless possibilities, countless ways of seeing, dreaming and drawing. It will never be done. Never have the seventh day. Never to see that all is good… so you draw on. Echo in me, Echo in you…”
If You Go: See the McCallister exhibit and meet the artist at an Alternative Health Fair, 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1 at Museum in the Community. Exhibit catalogs are for sale, $20 signed by the artist, $15 un-signed, and t-shirts and unframed art are available. The exhibit closes Jan. 21. Another exhibit and book signing with a dinner will be held at Cafe Cimino, Sutton, from 5 to 8 p.m., Oct. 22. Call 765-2913.
Photos of artworks by Mark Wolfe of Mark Wolfe Design
