back ... next ... State Senator © 1985 Tom Ferguson ... oil on canvas, 27 x 23" -
George Herbert Institute of Art, Augusta, Georgia

back ... next ... I realized, doing these heads, that if I just went w/my inclinations i'd end up w/ white male heads. So I made a deliberate effort to be inclusive and to stick a little political dig in, like titling it State Senator... how many female Senators are there? Lead guitarists? CEOs? The ol' glass ceiling.  This painting was in a show I had at the George Herbert Institute of Art in Augusta, GA. The ceiling was plaster applied to hardware cloth nailed to the beams. The nail heads apparently rusted out and the whole shebang dropped to the floor, damaging this painting. They paid me for it and, hopefully had it restored. The night before it happened the room was full of patrons gathered for an event... got lucky.