Jessamine Shumate
Encyclopedia
Ada Jessamine Shumate was born on March 31, 1902 as Ada Jessamine White in Horsepasture, Virginia and is an American
Artist
winner of the "Award of Distinction" in 1955 from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
. She was a noted artist, historian and cartographer in Henry County. Jessamine Shumate died in Greenville, North Carolina
on December 16, 1990, and is buried in Martinsville, Virginia
.
Jessamine Shumate developed a number of different art styles during her career. "Her work covers a broad range of media including silk screen-printing
, pastel
, transparent and opaque water color, oil, collage, batik and serigraph. Some of her techniques involve oil and the use of a blowtorch. She uses her serigraphs and silk screens as part of her collage work. Mrs. Shumate also makes photographic prints of her original work." She did traditional portraits; still life; traditional bucolic and rural scenes of Virginia and landscapes. Most interestingly for the time and place, she also completed a number of abstract art
works, using cubism, orientalism
and found art
. However, during her time, she lived in artistic isolation. In southwestern Virginia, there were few other professional artists, and fewer people to discuss and exchange artistic ideas with. Those artists in the southwestern Virginia area during the 1940s and 1950s, were frequently very conservative in their tastes. They often concentrated only on traditional southern art paintings, such as family portraits, landscapes, or simply decorating utensils. Few other people in the region had the scope and range of Jessamine Shumate’s efforts, and she received much local criticism and disapproval for some of her modern art projects and accomplishments.
A still controversial series of art works was done showing the Broad Street Christian Church in Martinsville, Virginia (See: http://www.broadstreetchristian.com/) of which she was a member. Margaret Hadden said: "Her church, Broad Street Christian Church, in Martinsville, was very important to her and she taught the kindergarten class in Sunday school for many years." In this series of experiments, she did one oil painting of the outside of the church in the cubist style (See: Cubism
), showing an absract view of the church from different sides simultaneously. In another two pastels, she shows the light of the stained glass windows filling the inside of the sanctuary and coming forth out from the church, and illuminating the area around the church, passing through the brick walls.
Another two works were done in watercolor painting
of the Philpott Dam
in Henry County. These were done during the construction phase of the dam, and both paintings show the temporary cement factory that was constructed to make the cement locally, and then taken down and removed after the dam was constructed. Her paintings are the only representations from this period, since most other photographic work concentrated on the construction of the dam itself, and not in the engineering aspects of the construction site. These paintings have recently been given to the Philpott Dam. "Relatives of the late artist Ada Jessamine Shumate, who contributed two of her paintings of the construction of Philpott Dam to the dam’s visitor’s center. Shumate was a native of Henry County who painted the construction during the 1950s. Sharing the paintings with the public is a fitting tribute to her work and a good way for people to get a sense of what went into creating the dam."
Another series of paintings were done when she was a student at the Woman's College in Greensboro, North Carolina, now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro
. Some of these paintings show a cubist style of the gym and other buildings, showing images of the past and present brought together, so older buildings appear to overlap newer construction. Other paintings are pastels showing scenes of student housing and life in Greensboro, North Carolina
from the late 1940s.
Jessamine Shumate was also famous for some of her unusual works. One of the most interesting was a burned cookie sheet. "Mrs. Jessamine Shumate... is perhaps the only local artist to use a burned cookie sheet and a blow torch to do some of her painting." And another writer from Roanoke said: "When it come to experimental material it is quite possible that Jessamine Shumate takes some kind of cake for painting on a cookie sheet. For me this is actually one of the most delightful items in the show. No one would guess that her bright, “Pebbly Abstract No. 3” is the result of a near kitchen disaster. Jim Yeatts, gallery owner, tells us that the artist left the cookie tin in the oven too long one day and tried desperately to get it clean. When it didn’t begin to shine properly, she decided to paint it and frame it. “Cookie Sheet”, done in “mixed media”, is a delightful addition to the show. It may also be some sort of inspiration to other kitchen artists, who prefer paint brushes to scouring pads." The art piece is an example of “Found art
”, in that it is presented by the artist as a work of art, but the object was originally designed for an non-art function. Jessamine Shumate had taken something that was “found” and made it into another, more artistic, representation.
Jessamine Shumate has shown her works in the art museums of Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
in Richmond, Virginia
; the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia
; Bristol, Tennessee
, the Greenville Museum of Art in Greenville, North Carolina
, Tarboro, North Carolina
, the art museum of Springfield, Massachusetts
and others.
As a younger woman, she had never painted seriously, but said she had always wanted to. She had taught art at of the higher grade classes in my school. While her youngest daughter was enrolled in Lynchburg College
, she decided to drive to Lynchburg every week and take some art courses there. She enjoyed the classes, and later she went to Women’s College in Greensboro, North Carolina, now known as the University of North Carolina at Greensboro
, to take more advanced art classes. She also attended some courses at the Art Students League of New York
. Every month during the school session, she would ride the train to New York City and stay for a week. She learned a great deal from these classes, and enjoyed her painting and experimenting with many different kinds of medium.
She married Whitney Shumate on December 13, 1922. She said in her autobiography, "While I was going to school in Martinsville, I met a young man named Whitney Shumate. We started dating and went together for three years before we were married. The family teased me, because Whitney had a large car and when he came to Preston, Virginia to visit, always took me and a few members of my family for rides. When he bought a coupe, everyone said he was getting serious and wanted to leave my family at home when he took me for rides! It must have been true, because we were married on December 13, 1922."
Whitney and Jessamine Shumate had two daughters, Ada Margaret S. Hadden and Jessamine "Jeppy" White S. Calhoun. Her grandson, Whit Haydn
, is a performance artist.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
winner of the "Award of Distinction" in 1955 from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
The Virginia Museum of Fine arts, or VMFA, is an art museum in Richmond, Virginia, in the United States, which opened in 1936.The museum is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia, while private donations, endowments, and funds are used for the support of specific programs and all...
. She was a noted artist, historian and cartographer in Henry County. Jessamine Shumate died in Greenville, North Carolina
Greenville, North Carolina
Greenville is the county seat of Pitt County and principal city of the Greenville, North Carolina metropolitan area. Greenville is the health, entertainment, and educational hub of North Carolina's Tidewater and Coastal Plain and in 2008 was listed as the Tenth Largest City in North Carolina...
on December 16, 1990, and is buried in Martinsville, Virginia
Martinsville, Virginia
Martinsville is an independent city which is surrounded by Henry County, Virginia, United States. The population was 13,821 in 2010. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Martinsville with Henry County for statistical purposes...
.
Jessamine Shumate developed a number of different art styles during her career. "Her work covers a broad range of media including silk screen-printing
Screen-printing
Screen printing is a printing technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink-blocking stencil. The attached stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfer ink or other printable materials which can be pressed through the mesh as a sharp-edged image onto a substrate...
, pastel
Pastel
Pastel is an art medium in the form of a stick, consisting of pure powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are the same as those used to produce all colored art media, including oil paints; the binder is of a neutral hue and low saturation....
, transparent and opaque water color, oil, collage, batik and serigraph. Some of her techniques involve oil and the use of a blowtorch. She uses her serigraphs and silk screens as part of her collage work. Mrs. Shumate also makes photographic prints of her original work." She did traditional portraits; still life; traditional bucolic and rural scenes of Virginia and landscapes. Most interestingly for the time and place, she also completed a number of abstract art
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...
works, using cubism, orientalism
Orientalism
Orientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...
and found art
Found art
The term found art—more commonly found object or readymade—describes art created from undisguised, but often modified, objects that are not normally considered art, often because they already have a non-art function...
. However, during her time, she lived in artistic isolation. In southwestern Virginia, there were few other professional artists, and fewer people to discuss and exchange artistic ideas with. Those artists in the southwestern Virginia area during the 1940s and 1950s, were frequently very conservative in their tastes. They often concentrated only on traditional southern art paintings, such as family portraits, landscapes, or simply decorating utensils. Few other people in the region had the scope and range of Jessamine Shumate’s efforts, and she received much local criticism and disapproval for some of her modern art projects and accomplishments.
A still controversial series of art works was done showing the Broad Street Christian Church in Martinsville, Virginia (See: http://www.broadstreetchristian.com/) of which she was a member. Margaret Hadden said: "Her church, Broad Street Christian Church, in Martinsville, was very important to her and she taught the kindergarten class in Sunday school for many years." In this series of experiments, she did one oil painting of the outside of the church in the cubist style (See: Cubism
Cubism
Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture...
), showing an absract view of the church from different sides simultaneously. In another two pastels, she shows the light of the stained glass windows filling the inside of the sanctuary and coming forth out from the church, and illuminating the area around the church, passing through the brick walls.
Another two works were done in watercolor painting
Watercolor painting
Watercolor or watercolour , also aquarelle from French, is a painting method. A watercolor is the medium or the resulting artwork in which the paints are made of pigments suspended in a water-soluble vehicle...
of the Philpott Dam
Philpott Dam
Philpott Dam is a concrete, gravity dam on the Smith River in Franklin and Henry counties in the U.S. state of Virginia. It impounds Philpott Lake.Philpott Dam is located about 44 river miles above the mouth of the Smith River...
in Henry County. These were done during the construction phase of the dam, and both paintings show the temporary cement factory that was constructed to make the cement locally, and then taken down and removed after the dam was constructed. Her paintings are the only representations from this period, since most other photographic work concentrated on the construction of the dam itself, and not in the engineering aspects of the construction site. These paintings have recently been given to the Philpott Dam. "Relatives of the late artist Ada Jessamine Shumate, who contributed two of her paintings of the construction of Philpott Dam to the dam’s visitor’s center. Shumate was a native of Henry County who painted the construction during the 1950s. Sharing the paintings with the public is a fitting tribute to her work and a good way for people to get a sense of what went into creating the dam."
Another series of paintings were done when she was a student at the Woman's College in Greensboro, North Carolina, now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro , also known as UNC Greensboro, is a public university in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States and is a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina system. The university offers more than 100 undergraduate, 61 master's and 26...
. Some of these paintings show a cubist style of the gym and other buildings, showing images of the past and present brought together, so older buildings appear to overlap newer construction. Other paintings are pastels showing scenes of student housing and life in Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. According to the 2010 U.S...
from the late 1940s.
Jessamine Shumate was also famous for some of her unusual works. One of the most interesting was a burned cookie sheet. "Mrs. Jessamine Shumate... is perhaps the only local artist to use a burned cookie sheet and a blow torch to do some of her painting." And another writer from Roanoke said: "When it come to experimental material it is quite possible that Jessamine Shumate takes some kind of cake for painting on a cookie sheet. For me this is actually one of the most delightful items in the show. No one would guess that her bright, “Pebbly Abstract No. 3” is the result of a near kitchen disaster. Jim Yeatts, gallery owner, tells us that the artist left the cookie tin in the oven too long one day and tried desperately to get it clean. When it didn’t begin to shine properly, she decided to paint it and frame it. “Cookie Sheet”, done in “mixed media”, is a delightful addition to the show. It may also be some sort of inspiration to other kitchen artists, who prefer paint brushes to scouring pads." The art piece is an example of “Found art
Found art
The term found art—more commonly found object or readymade—describes art created from undisguised, but often modified, objects that are not normally considered art, often because they already have a non-art function...
”, in that it is presented by the artist as a work of art, but the object was originally designed for an non-art function. Jessamine Shumate had taken something that was “found” and made it into another, more artistic, representation.
Jessamine Shumate has shown her works in the art museums of Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
The Virginia Museum of Fine arts, or VMFA, is an art museum in Richmond, Virginia, in the United States, which opened in 1936.The museum is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia, while private donations, endowments, and funds are used for the support of specific programs and all...
in Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
; the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...
; Bristol, Tennessee
Bristol, Tennessee
Bristol is a city in Sullivan County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 26,702 at the 2010 census. It is the twin city of Bristol, Virginia, which lies directly across the state line between Tennessee and Virginia. The boundaries of both cities run parallel to each other along State...
, the Greenville Museum of Art in Greenville, North Carolina
Greenville, North Carolina
Greenville is the county seat of Pitt County and principal city of the Greenville, North Carolina metropolitan area. Greenville is the health, entertainment, and educational hub of North Carolina's Tidewater and Coastal Plain and in 2008 was listed as the Tenth Largest City in North Carolina...
, Tarboro, North Carolina
Tarboro, North Carolina
Tarboro is a city located in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. It is part of the Rocky Mount, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010, the town had a total population of 13,121. It is the county seat of Edgecombe County. Tarboro is located in North Carolina's Inner Banks region...
, the art museum of Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...
and others.
Life
Jessamine Shumate was born to a tradesman and general store owner in Horsepasture, Virginia, Nathan Mortimer White and Ada Bassett White, who was an elementary school truant officer. Her father was quite the country scientist and shade tree inventor, and she said of him in her autobiography, "Another memory is going with my father to the barn each night to feed the animals there. In 1910, when Halley’s Comet was seen, we watched for it and he told me all about it as we walked to the barn. He was very interested in scientific happenings and nature, and I was fascinated by the sight! What a thrill to know I had lived long enough to see Halley’s Comet again in 1986. This time, however, the sight was not as wonderful! Even the scientists were disappointed in the display of Halley’s Comet’s tail. The next time around, I suppose my great grandchildren will be here to see the comet."As a younger woman, she had never painted seriously, but said she had always wanted to. She had taught art at of the higher grade classes in my school. While her youngest daughter was enrolled in Lynchburg College
Lynchburg College
Lynchburg College is a private college in Lynchburg, Virginia, USA, related by covenant to the Christian Church with approximately 2,500 undergraduate and graduate students. The Princeton Review lists it as one of the 368 best colleges in the nation...
, she decided to drive to Lynchburg every week and take some art courses there. She enjoyed the classes, and later she went to Women’s College in Greensboro, North Carolina, now known as the University of North Carolina at Greensboro
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro , also known as UNC Greensboro, is a public university in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States and is a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina system. The university offers more than 100 undergraduate, 61 master's and 26...
, to take more advanced art classes. She also attended some courses at the Art Students League of New York
Art Students League of New York
The Art Students League of New York is an art school located on West 57th Street in New York City. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists, and has maintained for over 130 years a tradition of offering reasonably priced classes on a...
. Every month during the school session, she would ride the train to New York City and stay for a week. She learned a great deal from these classes, and enjoyed her painting and experimenting with many different kinds of medium.
She married Whitney Shumate on December 13, 1922. She said in her autobiography, "While I was going to school in Martinsville, I met a young man named Whitney Shumate. We started dating and went together for three years before we were married. The family teased me, because Whitney had a large car and when he came to Preston, Virginia to visit, always took me and a few members of my family for rides. When he bought a coupe, everyone said he was getting serious and wanted to leave my family at home when he took me for rides! It must have been true, because we were married on December 13, 1922."
Whitney and Jessamine Shumate had two daughters, Ada Margaret S. Hadden and Jessamine "Jeppy" White S. Calhoun. Her grandson, Whit Haydn
Whit Haydn
Whit "Pop" Haydn is an American magician, the winner of six "Magician of the Year" performing awards from the Magic Castle, the Hollywood clubhouse of the Academy of Magical Arts...
, is a performance artist.
Awards
- 1955- Award of Distinction, for her painting, “Joy”, from the Virginia Museum of Fine ArtsVirginia Museum of Fine ArtsThe Virginia Museum of Fine arts, or VMFA, is an art museum in Richmond, Virginia, in the United States, which opened in 1936.The museum is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia, while private donations, endowments, and funds are used for the support of specific programs and all...
, Richmond. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts bought one of her serigraphs for their permanent collection and several times she had paintings in their Traveling Exhibit. - 1956- 1st Prize, Virginia Highlands Festival, for her painting, “Soul Fluctuations”. The Virginia Highlands Festival, in Abingdon, Virginia, began in 1948 and, over the years, has grown and flourished. Today it is one of the top 100 tourist events in North America and one of the top 20 in the Southeast- offering plenty of entertainment, an enormous antiques market, juried art and photography competitions, and a juried arts and crafts show, as well as nationally-known writers, lecturers, and visual and performing artists.
- Received a Merit Award from the Association of University Women in Roanoke, Va., in 1956.
- She won a sterling silver bowl from the Piedmont Chapter of the Virginia Museum of Fine ArtsVirginia Museum of Fine ArtsThe Virginia Museum of Fine arts, or VMFA, is an art museum in Richmond, Virginia, in the United States, which opened in 1936.The museum is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia, while private donations, endowments, and funds are used for the support of specific programs and all...
at the Martinsville, Virginia, “Piedmont Art Show” on May 12, 1962. The silver bowl is inscribed with “First Prize- Oil”.
Works
- Historical Map of Virgnia, copyright 1959. Silk screen (see: Screen-printingScreen-printingScreen printing is a printing technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink-blocking stencil. The attached stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfer ink or other printable materials which can be pressed through the mesh as a sharp-edged image onto a substrate...
). Completed in 1959, this large map shows local history, important families and their coats of arms, and other features from Virginia’s four hundred years of Colonial and American history. This map took over 27 silk screens to print, and each one was hand corrected. Each copy says: “The Artist weeps and heaps piles of ashes on her head if your coat of arms is not on this map. Put it in the blank shield in the top left corner.” - Historical Map of Henry County, VirginiaHenry County, VirginiaAs of the census of 2000, there were 57,930 people, 23,910 households, and 16,952 families residing in the county. The population density was 152 people per square mile . There were 25,921 housing units at an average density of 68 per square mile...
and a separate broadside chronology of local history. Copyright 1957. "The cover of 'Our Proud Heritage' is reproduced from a silk screen print made by Mrs. Jessamine Shumate, of Martinsville." The map and chronology are both available at the University of Virginia, Special Collections Library, in Charlottesville, VA. - Historical Map of Guilford County, North CarolinaGuilford County, North CarolinaGuilford County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. In 2010, the Census Bureau estimated the county's population to be 491,230. Its seat is Greensboro. Since 1938, an additional county court has been located in High Point, North Carolina, making Guilford one of only a handful...
Using a silk screened process, this 1959 map showed the position and shape of the county, as well as local events, such as the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, and other local history. Copyright 1959. A copy of this map is available at the University of VirginiaUniversity of VirginiaThe University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
, Special Collections Library, in Charlottesville, VA. - Historical Map of Pitt County, North CarolinaPitt County, North Carolina-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 133,798 people, 52,539 households, and 32,258 families residing in the county. The population density was 205 people per square mile . There were 58,408 housing units at an average density of 90 per square mile...
, copyright 1968. This is also available as a serigraph, along with a printed chronology of the county. The map and a separate broadside chronology are avaialbe at the Sheppard Memorial Library, Local History Collection, in Greenville, North CarolinaGreenville, North CarolinaGreenville is the county seat of Pitt County and principal city of the Greenville, North Carolina metropolitan area. Greenville is the health, entertainment, and educational hub of North Carolina's Tidewater and Coastal Plain and in 2008 was listed as the Tenth Largest City in North Carolina...
. Copies are also available for viewing at the University of VirginiaUniversity of VirginiaThe University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
, Special Collections Department of the Alderman Library, in Charlottesville, VirginiaCharlottesville, VirginiaCharlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
. - Composition, copyright 1965. This was one of her favorites, and is an abstract composition of shapes in gray, yellow and red. She made a number of prints of this painting.
- Wind in New York This is a study in black and white, and shows the impressive winds that could blow between the skyscrapers of New York. When Jessamine Shumate was attending art school in New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, a gust of wind was so powerful that it picked her up and blew her against a taxicab. This event is also shown in this study. - Soul Fluctuations Awarded 1st Prize, Virginia Highlands Festival, 1956