Hawkins Bolden at the age of 84 lives in the house he grew up in. When we first met Hawkins he lived with his sister Elizabeth. She was a piece of work all on her own having the gift of story-telling. She would capture our attention for hours with stories of the Bolden family history and her own colorful past. Hawkins lost his eyesight at age eight following a blow to the head. He had already shown signs of epilepsy and the blow to the head pushed his body over the edge. Along with blindness he grew up suffering seizures, which during a large portion of his lifetime was regarded as mental illness.

But Hawkins has always been a resourceful and creative person. Relying entirely on his sense of touch he has made visual/tactile art for most of his life. He also has the engineering abilities to build radios from the simplest of materials.

Hawkins has always enjoyed gardening. It is the act of planting, weeding, and experience of feeling the plants grown that he enjoys. With the patience of a Buddhist monk, Hawkins will cut the grass of his yard with a razor blade.

Bolden gathers a variety of discarded objects to assemble scarecrows, guardian figures, and abstract assemblages to protect his own backyard garden. He uses various objects as flaps to serve as tongues; and he also punctures holes in the pieces to serve as eyes. He starts this process with a drill and then uses handmade tools to work the holes larger and perfect to fill his needs.

Hawkins creates all of his pieces as figures to “keep away the birds”, but Bolden’s pieces follow classic Congo culture in the theme of “motion-emblems’ such as wheels,hubcaps, tires, hoops, and pinwheels being used to enhance the yard with gestures of protection and enrichment, thus guarding the owner of the house and yard; but we have known Hawkins and his family for the past 8 years and Hawkins has never referred to his pieces as anything expect pieces to “keep away birds”.

When we first met Hawkins his pieces were more simplistic with one or two surfaces containing “eyes” and “tongues”. Hawkins is aware of interest in his “scarecrows” and he gets enjoyment in this. He values his own pieces more and more, challenging himself to make the pieces more complex. The current pieces are amazing assemblages of multiple surfaces, many eyes and tongues, binding with wire, and arranged on a central surface.

Hawkins is currently in good health and very happy. He loves locking himself in his room of the house, beginning to hum old hymns, and entering his own world of creating scarecrows to keep away the birds.

Julie Webb, September 2001