16 Facts About Bessie Harvey

At the age of 14, Bessie married Charles Harvey and settled in Buena Vista, Georgia.

Bessie Harvey divorced Harvey in 1968 and relocated independently to Alcoa, Tennessee, where she was raising 11 children by the age of 35.

In 1977, Bessie Harvey began working at Blount Memorial Hospital as a housekeeper.

For extra income, at night while everyone was asleep Bessie Harvey would make dolls.

Bessie Harvey entered one of her sculptures, a work entitled "Banda", into the hospital's yearly art show which then sold, beginning her artistic career.

Bessie Harvey's sculptures are made of found materials, predominantly wood branches and roots, which she then decorated with paint, glitter, jewelry, and other materials.

Bessie Harvey began creating art in 1974, shortly after her mother, Rosie White, passed away.

Bessie Harvey's work belongs to a larger tradition of black vernacular art created in the American South.

Bessie Harvey created a series of works inspired by the African-American experience in the United States.

Bessie Harvey's work has been included in over 50 exhibitions, including a posthumous inclusion in the 1995 Whitney Biennial.

Bessie Harvey was the subject of a major retrospective in 1997 at the Knoxville Museum of Art.

Bessie Harvey's works are in the permanent collections of the Knoxville Museum of Art the American Folk Art Museum, New York, and KMAC Museum in Louisville, Kentucky.

Some of Bessie Harvey's works were purchased from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco as part of an acquisition of the works of African American artists from the Southern United States.

Bessie Harvey's work is in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, and included in the exhibit of Black American Artists of the American South Called to Create.

Bessie Harvey's work continues to be featured in exhibitions in museums such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Turner Contemporary in England as part of exhibitions on African American artwork from the American South.

Bessie Harvey has been cited as an influence by Alison Saar, and a street in Alcoa has been named after her.