| Ruby C. Williams, born in 1928 in Bealsville, Florida, is a farmer, missionary, and artist who creates art that is didactic while sometimes remaining ambiguous. There is a palpable conflict present in her artwork and identity. This dissertation analyzes Williams's artwork as an element of her identity as an African-American, Southerner, and tenant of her homeland. Her art is unique yet has aesthetic similarities and cultural congruities to other Outsider and Visionary artists thus defining her within that group.;To understand the conflicts and context of Williams with respect to her artwork, a review of her life and family is presented as an introduction to her unique art space, farm stand and homeland. An overview of contextual information such as African-American stereotypes, influences of women and religion, and ideas of double identity aid in more fully revealing the conflicts present in Williams's art. Current and past scholarship is reviewed and a new term, Visionary Art Minister, is introduced as a means to define Williams. A Visionary Art Minster is an artist whose artwork stems from, aids in, and is essential to her ministry. Her aesthetic and subject choices are analyzed with respect to relative cultural contexts such as that of African and Christian symbolism. Williams's Bonnie Bon Bonnie doll is analyzed using D. W. Winnicott's theories on play, reality, creativity, and transitional objects. A review of Williams's annual "Folk Art Gallery" celebration is presented and analyzed coupled with an evaluation of Williams as a brand and commodity.;This dissertation concludes that Ruby C. Williams is a Visionary Art Minister who resolves her many identity conflicts through her art and uses her art to preach her beliefs. The aesthetic and stylistic consistencies in her work reveal a symbolic currency. She also uses her marketability to spread her messages and continue her ministry. |
