Benny Carter’s Birdhouse
Cold paint transforms a Southern pottery birdhouse into a vivid work by folk artist Benny Carter.
Courtesy of Ledbetter Folk Art Auction/LiveAuctioneers.
One of the surest signs of spring is the sight of birds nesting. Another is the sight of amateur ornithologists setting up birdhouses to keep an eye on their feathered friends. While experts say simple wooden structures are the best for nesters, there are plenty of other options for those who just like them as decorations. This 10-inch-tall painted pottery birdhouse by folk artist Benny Carter, which sold for $204 at Ledbetter Folk Art Auction in Gibsonville, North Carolina, might not be the most practical, but it is certainly eye-catching.
Benny Carter (1943–2014), born Binford Taylor Carter, Jr., in North Carolina, was a self-taught artist, and his work is usually classified as folk or outsider art. (It appears that artistic talent runs in the family; his first cousin is photographer Carol M. Highsmith, known for her decades-long documentation of life across the United States.) He began painting in 1991, suffering from depression after being laid off from his job. He created thousands of pieces over his career, ranging in size from tiny pinback buttons to life-size human figures; painting in oils or acrylics on wooden boards, metal panels, clay sculptures, clocks, and more.
Despite the wide variety of materials, media, and subjects, Carter’s body of work is united by his distinctive style, featuring bright colors, stylized shapes, numerous small details, handwritten words and phrases (“Buy Art” was a favorite), and recurring themes. He often painted Biblical scenes and figures, influenced by his Baptist upbringing and faith. Contemporary cultural figures also appear in his paintings. Some of his best-known works are New York City scenes featuring motifs such as taxis and densely packed, brightly lit skyscrapers. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, he painted memorials to the victims.
Carter was also involved with another longstanding Southern art tradition: pottery. This clay birdhouse was made by Hewell’s Pottery in Georgia, a family business founded by Nathaniel Hewell (1832–1887). Carter decorated the birdhouse with a technique called cold painting, where paint is applied to a piece of pottery after it is glazed and fired. It is a simple, inexpensive way to decorate pottery, but it tends to fade with time and wear. Carter decorated several birdhouses throughout his career, often making them look like buildings, apartments, or, here, a restaurant.
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