Avoid Housework Hell—It's "No Housework Day"!

Abandon that weekly drudgery in favor of our show, Contemporary Folk Art: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, opening today at the Tacoma Art Museum in Tacoma, Washington.

Leroy Almon's painting, Hell, is featured in both the traveling and online exhibitions.

A triumphant Christ has chained "Mr. And Mrs. Satan" in their own inferno and promises salvation for lost souls from all races. In this dramatic interpretation of the Harrowing of Hell, Almon shows the crucified Christ, who has descended into hell, claiming victory over death and evil. This nondenominational evangelical preacher from Tallapoosa, Georgia, began carving his inspirational interpretations of spiritual and contemporary secular themes during an apprenticeship with Elijah Pierce, a well-known African American lay minister and wood carver in Columbus, Ohio.

Source: Lynda Hartigan. Contemporary Folk Art: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (exhibition text, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1999).

Pictured: Leroy Almon, Sr., 1938–97, Hell, 1990, enamel on redwood with nails, 36 x 22 1/2 x 3/4 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of an anoymous donor.