L.V. Hull: Love Is a Sensation is the first major museum exhibition devoted to the art and life of the self-proclaimed “Unusual Artist” Ms. L.V. Hull (1942–2008). Born in McAdams, Mississippi, Hull merged artmaking and the Southern art of “visiting” to craft a creative practice that allowed her to commune with her inner spirit, her Creator, her community, and visitors from around the state, region, and world. Using found objects and paint and glue from Walmart, Hull produced a vibrant, immersive, and evolving art environment at her home of 34 years in the small town of Kosciusko, Mississippi. She adorned every surface and corner of her house, front porch, and garden with carefully arranged assemblages of everyday objects and signs, often painted with her signature dot pattern.
Love Is a Sensation celebrates Hull’s legacy through selections from her vast creative output, documentation of her home/studio environment, ephemera from her personal archive, and layered installations of her work. This exhibition at the Mississippi Museum of Art is presented in partnership with the L.V. Hull Legacy Center, a project of the Arts Foundation of Kosciusko in Kosciusko, Mississippi, which will present a parallel exhibition and related programming concurrently with Love Is a Sensation.
Black, female, and self-taught, L.V. Hull represents a long tradition of rural Mississippi artists who work outside the mainstream artworld and who have been historically marginalized, resulting in an incomplete account of American creativity and art history. Love Is a Sensation contextualizes Hull as an important Mississippi artist who was deeply rooted in community, but also a creator engaged in the significant global tradition of placemaking.
Love Is a Sensation will coincide with the April 9th Mississippi premiere of a documentary film of the same name by Hull’s friend, Yaphet Smith, who is also a core member of the team developing the L.V. Hull Legacy Center. The film offers an affectionate home movie portrait of Hull that complements the exhibition’s presentation of her work.
L.V. Hull: Love Is a Sensation at the Mississippi Museum of Art is presented with support from Teiger Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Thomas G. Ramey and Peggy Huff Harris Fund of the Community Foundation for Mississippi, Feild Co-Operative Association, Mississippi Humanities Council, Visit Mississippi, and Visit Jackson.
