By Michele
Roldán-Shaw
Amos Hummell is
one of the most recognizable artists in Bluffton. He recently embarked on a new
project, a sort of down-home local theatre production he calls Living Colors.
Performances are held outside his studio on Calhoun Street at about 7:30 PM on
the third Friday of every month. Admission is free to the public.
Bluffton Breeze:
Who is Amos Hummell.
Amos Hummell:
Amos Hummell is a composite.
BB: Of?
AM: I don’t
know, they won’t tell me their names.
BB: Good one
Amos. Were you born to make art?
AM: I’m
starting to believe that, yes. I’m not sure what I was put here for, but I
know I’ve always wanted to be an artist. A picture is worth a thousand
words, I learned that very young.
BB: What were
you like as a kid?
AM: I was an
un-guided missile. I got into trouble all the time.
BB: What’s
the worst thing you ever did?
AM: I got in a
lot of trouble with my artwork at school, making visual and written art using
teachers as targets.
BB: Is that why
now you only paint oysters, because the oysters can’t fight back?
AM: Yes.
Oysters.
BB: How many
different jobs did you have before this?
AM: A bunch,
probably at least five or six different terrible jobs.
BB: What was the
worst?
AM: Vacuum
cleaner salesman. What a nightmare. Sold cable vision. Drove a third-shift
taxi. Worked at a video store. Then I pretty much leveled out in food and
beverage for a couple decades.
BB: Why do
people like your art?
AM: Because
it’s happy. People just can’t get enough color. It also has a certain
innocence that doesn’t intimidate people. A lot of it is humorous, some of
it is weird.
BB: What is art
anyway?
AM: Art is a
catalyst for emotion. Any emotion, even if it’s an emotion to go do a math
equation. Art evokes.
BB: Is that the
only criteria?
AM: Well, that
would be the pinnacle. The actual verb of arting...
BB: Arting
isn’t a verb.
AM: Okay, fine.
But art evokes some sort of emotional response, be it ever so strong or ever so
humble. Good art, bad art, anything that gets into your brain and was designed
to do so—music, food, painting, sculpture—it gets the art label in my
book.
BB: Is art
essential to human existence, or is it a luxury?
AM: I think
it’s a form of therapy, like we have to talk to a priest or a dear friend.
I think we need it because it helps us shed light on things.
BB: So if there
was no art, everyone would die?
AM: No, but I
don’t think that humans, with the horsepower they’ve got, would be
capable of not creating some sort of art. I don’t think it’s possible
to be human and not create. Even people that are debilitated or have dementia,
they still have a creative impulse and a desire to express. It’s just part
of our nature, like a dog sniffs.
BB: How do you
feel about being on a billboard?*
AM: That’s
as close as I’ll ever get to being the Marlboro man.
BB: What is your
least favorite thing to paint?
AM: Belt loops.
Shoelaces. Anything with too much detail drives me nuts.
BB: I noticed
that since you started Living Colors, you haven’t made as many paintings
that are designed to mess with people’s minds.
AM: Those were
experiments.
BB: So what
conclusions were you able to draw from those experiments?
AM:
People’s insatiable desire to be entertained was the main lesson I got out
of that. I realized that for years stuff was hanging in here and it was
actually being used to entertain people and start conversations, everything
from philosophy to, you know, outright befuddlement. But don’t worry, the
human nature experiment will continue.
BB: Okay, I
won’t worry. If you were independently wealthy, what kind of art would you
be doing?
AM: I wonder if
I’d be doing any art at all. If I was filthy rich, I would probably be
doing some sort of message/entertainment art, only instead of using things I
find off the ground, I would just have very nice toys.
BB: Don’t
you think your art would lose something if you weren’t using pieces of
trash off the ground?
AM: Absolutely.
BB: So really,
it’s a good thing you’re not filthy rich.
AM: Absolutely.
Art is this: you take a dozen sheets of plywood and some fence posts, some
quarter-inch panel, and then you create something like that out there [pointing
to the Living Colors stage]. Whenever you can take nothing and turn it into
something of value for people, that’s art. That’s out of thin air.
Living Colors was started with a clipboard, a posthole digger, and $500.
BB: Do you think
that Living Colors is actually what your art has been building up to for many
years, only you just didn’t know it?
AM: Oh yeah,
man! All of a sudden I’m using everything I’ve ever learned.
BB: So as of
right now, Living Colors is the culmination of your career as an artist?
AM: Oh yeah. I
know that it’s appreciated. And nothing amps me up like doing something
that is appreciated. I appreciate appreciation.
BB: Okay, but
aside from other people and what they think, just you judging yourself, is this
Amos Hummell at his finest?
AM: Absolutely.
I feel like I finally turned a corner in my life here. Finally it makes sense,
finally I’ve got something that draws on every creative drop, not to
mention every people lesson I’ve ever learned. Call it the work of the Art
Angel, but right now, this spot, this group of people, all the elements have
lined up for this to be possible. I wouldn’t even have tried this last
year because I wasn’t ready. It started with me daydreaming about doing a
play, and it was in the wintertime when of course there’s nothing to do
but daydream. I started making up this play in my head and I was having more
fun than I’ve had, probably since I was in high school. Then I thought, I
could do this. I realized I would have to start it up myself, out of pocket, so
I looked at what was available around me. There’s a saying, Bloom where
you are planted, and that’s exactly what we did. I just knew I had to do
this, it was like when God told Noah to build the Ark. I’m not sure I want
to make that parallel, but really it was like somebody said, go build your ark.
BB: In terms of
success, has it already exceeded what you thought it would do?
AM: Oh yeah,
absolutely. We’re calling this Cottage Theatre because it’s simple
and it’s down-home, it’s got a good feel to it. It’s happy and
bright like a cottage, and it’s all about giving back. It’s all about
the people and the opportunity for expression.
BB: What kind of
art are you going to be doing when you’re 92?
AM: Who knows? I
may be into music by then. I’m a repressed rock star.
BB: What will
you be doing when you’re dead?
AM: I’ll be
floating above the surface of the earth scouting for people who are working
really hard and they’ve got a good heart and they’re painting their
brains out, and I’m going to take the gifts that I’ve accumulated and
give them back.
BB: You’re
going to turn into the Art Angel!
AM: I’m
going to turn into the Art Angel.
BB: What will
humans be doing in 10,000 years?
AM: Paying way
too much for my artwork.
BB: Good answer.
What’s your favorite color?
AM: Red. But if
you said, alright, you’re leaving the planet, take a color with you,
I’d probably grab a big handful of blue.
BB: Who is your
biggest fan?
AM: My son Clark
wrote a story for school about who his hero was, and he said I was his hero.
Just little things, like I try to be honest with him and guide him and make his
breakfast every day and make sure he’s got gum in his lunchbox.
BB: Did you cry when
you read it?
AM: I probably
welled up, yeah. Then I put it in a frame and sold it for $400.
BB: Top three
things about Bluffton.
AM:
Open-mindedness. Willingness to act crazy. And the fact that people aren’t
afraid to come out in all sorts of weather and brave the bugs and stuff. I
think the people are wonderful, and I mean that. Plus I like the Twilight
Zone-ness. I really don’t think I could pull this off anywhere else.
BB: I think of
you as a very keen observer of humanity, like you really just know what’s
up with people. Break people down to their ultimate purpose in life. Why are we
here?
AM: I think that
the wise men learned a long time ago that we have a responsibility to be the
caretakers of this planet, and if we execute that whole-heartedly and
unselfishly then we can be very proud and we’ll get along handsomely. But
right now I think the world has become a desperate place and we don’t have
the luxury of doing anything more than just taking care of ourselves and maybe
cleaning out a ditch or taking in a stray gerbil now and then. People are
pretty strapped to just keep afloat themselves.
BB: So
what’s going to happen with that?
AM: The earth
takes care of it’s self. It’s a living organism and if it has a
disease…
BB: So
who’s going to be the first to go?
AM: The good.
BB: That’s
kind of a depressing note to end on. Tell me something happy.
AM: Well, I
think these are very exciting times. I haven’t worked this hard or been
this fired up about anything since I was in my very early 20’s. This is a
very magic moment, with my family and where they are in their ages, and with
what I’m doing in my art.
BB: Is there
anything missing? Anything that could make it better?
AM: What I would
ultimately like to see is for Living Colors to become a useful tool to other
people. It’s been really good for me; it got me out of a bad rut.
It’s such a natural, organic type of production and it’s from the
heart. It’s giving theatre back to the people. You don’t need a
million dollars and you don’t have to scrap and claw into auditions. I
think people are ready for this kind of theatre, and I’m hoping that it
lives on long after I’m gone.
* A stock picture of Amos painting an oyster recently appeared on a “Come Visit Historic Bluffton” billboard on I95. Amos found out because his cousin was driving by and saw it.