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Pasaquan Collection (MC 327)

Paintings of Georgia outsider visual artist, St. Eom, dating from the 1920s to the 1980s.

More About This Collection

Creator
Martin, Eddie Owen, 1908-1986

Contributor to Resource
St. EOM, 1908-1986

Date of Original
1920/1980

Subject
Outsider art
Spirituality in art
Painting

Location
United States, Georgia, Marion County, Buena Vista, 32.31904, -84.51714

Medium
paintings (visual works)

Type
Still Image

Description
Pasaquan is an internationally renowned art environment located in Buena Vista, Georgia, some thirty miles southeast of Columbus. It is situated on seven acres of gently rolling property and is comprised of six buildings encircled and interconnected by nearly four acres of masonry walls. Buildings and structures at Pasaquan are characterized by highly idiosyncratic construction methods and decorative motifs, largely executed in masonry bas-relief which has been painted in a wildly colourful palette.
Pasaquan is the passionate life's work of an eccentric artist named Eddie Owens Martin (July 4, 1908- April 16, 1986) who later adopted the moniker of St. EOM. Over the course of some thirty years, in various campaigns and with what materials were available to him, St. EOM transformed a small, rural farmhouse he inherited from his mother into a rambling estate resplendently decorated with motifs and forms representing his visionary ideal. In an article on the outsider artist, Tom Patterson describes Pasaquan as "one of the most remarkable folk art environments in America – a sort of mock pre-Columbian psychedelic wonderland of brightly painted totems, curved and angled walls and walkways, and wildly ornamented structures that [Martin] called "temples" and "pagodas."
The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. A complete restoration of the site was completed by the Kohler Foundation in 2016. The site is currently under the stewardship of Columbus State University and the Columbus State University Foundation.
The Pasaquan Collection is comprised of a rich variety of resources regarding not only St. EOM's creation of Pasaquan, but also the thirty year-long preservation effort of various groups and individuals (most notably the Pasaquan Preservation Society) and the recent restoration completed by the Kohler Foundation. These materials are divided into sections based upon type and subject matter.
Textual resources are divided into two sections: Correspondence and Financial Records. Correspondence relates largely to St. EOM's art exhibition and sales, as well as his family and personal matters. Included here are letters to his brother Joe, a note from Rosalyn Carter about an 1978 exhibit of St. EOM's art in Washington, D.C., and letters from people seeking his fortune-telling expertise and bestowal of luck in various situations. There is a separate folder for his medical issues. There are also letters concerning films, photographs and slides of his house, grounds and artwork. In most cases the images are not with the letters but are probably among the loose films, slides and photos. Martin and many of his correspondents were erratic in the use of dates. In general the correspondence is in chronological order. If an undated letter is with an envelope, and the postmark is legible, that date is written on the letter in brackets and is used for filing. Undated material is grouped without order at the end of the series. Envelopes without contents are filed by postmark
Financial records include routine bills such as utility bills; auto repairs; purchases at Sears; bills for mail-order purchases of supplies for his art; bills of sale for his crops to Tom's Peanuts; cotton factors and other buyers; insurance coverage and property tax payments. In the case of bills from the Blessing Oil Company of Brooklyn, which supplied him with the oils used in various rituals he performed as part of his fortune-telling practice, a decision was made to include them in the Correspondence since Martin developed a personal relationship with the vendors there.
The records of the Pasaquan Preservation Society, including minutes, visitors books, financial records and other materials documenting their 20 year existence as the managers of the site and its contents, are treated as a separate collection (MC 368).

Metadata URL
http://digitalarchives.columbusstate.edu/collections/show/21

Original Collection
Pasaquan Collection (MC 327), Columbus State University Archives, Columbus, Georgia

Holding Institution
Columbus State University. Archives

Rights