Aaron Sanders Head's truly unique fabric pieces can be seen at Kentuck's Gallery at Hotel Indigo from May 3, 2023 to July 30, 2023. Aaron's work is a modern interpretation of a traditional art form; combining his love for rural Alabama and its native foliage with fiber arts.
Aaron Sanders Head is a Southern, Alabama-based textile artist. Aaron was raised in both rural Grady, AL and Hope Hull, AL. He is the youngest of three children from an artist mother and an agricultural worker father. His grandparents were both rural mail carriers and accompanying them on their routes awakened some of the inspiration for his later works.
Aaron's upbringing cemented early on a fondness for rural areas and the importance of connection however it can be found. Aaron achieves this connection by growing or foraging dye materials used in his work from Greensboro, AL, located in Hale County.
"I use traditional methods of coaxing color from these materials, forging a direct connection between the work, the history of the land, and the material itself."
The dye materials (including indigo, sumac, and goldenrod and many others) have complex regional histories. Along with their powerful usage in Indigenous, African American, and rural medicine practice, the materials also recall the horrors of forced labor and enslavement which were historically used to harvest them. The history of the region in which Aaron works combined with inherited family traditions of textile and agriculture inform the unique visual language Aaron works in today.
"I like to use similar colors to use a visual language, that's what I am trying to develop with a lot of these pieces."
Aaron's works tells the rich story of not only where it was made, but the history of its maker and those who came before him. His exhibition features an example of Alabama's state quilt, the pine burr or pinecone quilt. Don't miss the opportunity to see Aaron's work at Hotel Indigo from May 3, 2023 to July 30, 2023.
Aaron also has an exhibition titled Ain't Gonna Study War No More in Kentuck's Museum Gallery until July 2, 2023. For further details about his work, please read this blog post.
Available Work:
Please call Kentuck at 205-758-1257 to inquire about purchasing Aaron's work.
