Untitled (Bottle People Series)

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A mixed media sculpture created from a painted glass bottle, gourd, and other materials. The bottle has a wide, round body with a tall and slender neck. The bottle has been painted brown, with ivory paint around the neck, dripping down to mix with the brown. There are dots of bright red paint forming two partial, oval-shaped vertical loops from the neck to just below the shoulder. A cylindrical gourd has been inserted into the mouth of the bottle and wrapped tightly with natural fiber cord to form what appears as a curving head and/or neck. A small, brown bird ornament is adhered to the back where the cord meets the gourd. At the other end of the gourd is a large cowrie shell mouth or eye just above a wrapped strand of brown- and ivory-colored beads and two “tentacles” of natural materials. There are two Velcro circles attached to the bottom of the bottle.

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