From Staff Reports
The Americus Times-Recorder
BUENA VISTA
October 18, 2008 08:43 pm
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For many years, people have traveled to Buena Vista for the annual Rural America Festival. This fall event has provided wholesome times for families to share the great views of the Courthouse Square as they survey the works and treats of many are vendors. Rural America activities will begin at 8 a.m.
The leadership and direction of the restoration of Pasaquan has brought local, area and nation notoriety that cannot not be denied. At 10 a.m. Nov. 1, Pasaquan will be open to boast diverse creativity as many invited artists from this area, Georgia and other states, set up their displays at the increasingly luring home of the late Eddie Owens Martin.
Martin, the creator of Pasaquan, was born "at the stroke of midnight" on July 4, 1908. His father was a Southwest Georgia farmer. Eddie, however, was "born different" from the other five children in the family. Assisted by his mother, he learned to read despite little formal schooling. By the time he was in his early teens, he contemplated an existence far beyond that of the back-breaking day labor in the fields of Marion County.
At 14, following an incident during which his father cruelly killed a puppy that young Eddie had received as a gift from a neighboring black family, he left home. After wandering around Georgia and Florida for several months as an itinerant fruit picker, he drifted north. He eventually found New York City, where he stayed until the mid-1950s.
In New York, Martin's creative individualism developed beyond that which could scarcely have been imagined by the young farm boy in Georgia. He quickly became a savvy street character in Greenwich Village. He connected with the city's provocative underground culture and the struggling artists, the musicians, the poets, the beggars and bums of lower Manhattan all became members of his newly found family.
For more than 30 years he survived in New York, employing whatever means was necessary to get by. He often worked as a fortune teller in Manhattan tea rooms, and he prepared and sold meals of soul food to other displaced Southerners. At a time in the late 1930s, during an extended and fever-ridden illness, Martin experienced the first of a series of phenomenal visions that would prompt and continue to drive his artistic efforts for the rest of his life. In the initial vision, he was confronted by a trio of extraordinarily tall personages who identified themselves as people of the future — special envoys from a vaporous land called Pasaquan, a place where the past, the present, the future and everything else all come together. The empowered visitors in his vision offered him extensive instructions on how to ritually prepare for the proper conduct of his personal daily existence. The most compelling instruction that he received from them was this: To "return to Georgia and do something."
That is precisely what he did — for over 30 years. The result is St. EOM's Pasaquan, an internationally renowned art site, consisting of six major structures, including a redesigned 1885 farmhouse, painted concrete sculptures and four acres of painted masonry concrete walls.
In September 2008, Pasaquan was accepted for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Several locals of Marion County have kept the dream of Eddie Martin alive. Now, these enthusiasts have coupled with the Buena Vista Garden Club’s Rural America Festival to lure additional visitors to Marion County. This listing on the National Register will open grant avenues that are sure to lead to the dream of total restoration of Pasaquan! Additionally, the recent visit of Sean Gibson, great-great-grandson of the famous Josh Gibson, has added a sharpening dimension of the faceted offerings of Buena Vista and Marion County. Josh Gibson’s name is known throughout baseball as “the black Babe Ruth." Josh Gibson was born in Buena Vista. Plans call for possible establishment of a satellite office for the Josh Gibson Foundation in Buena Vista.
On Nov, 1, souvenirs and current information on Gibson will be provided for guests. Event reminder coupons will be presented at each site for maximum guest information and involvement. Additionally, posters and these promotional coupons will be distributed in Southwest Georgia. As the Buena Vista/Marion County Chamber of Commerce examines avenues for industrial and population increase, long-time citizens and new discoverers of Buena Vista can unite to share the attributes of Buena Vista and Marion County.
Come to Buena Vista and Marion County on Nov, 1. Have a breakfast cup of coffee and a barbecue lunch by the Buena Vista Lions Club, on the Buena Vista courthouse square, before you travel a short distance to Pasaquan for a day of visual fulfillment!
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