Connecticut College
Piles of Inspiration: New book invites readers into the home and mind of artist Barkley L. Hendricks.
At first glance, the images in the blue-velvet hardcover book appear to show the home of an eccentric hoarder. Nearly every surface is covered in seemingly random objects and paraphernalia: There are piles of women’s shoes. Wigs, magnets, pins, paintings. Drums, a bass clarinet, a tambourine. Paint cans, used paintbrushes, cameras. Life-sized cutouts of Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Pages ripped out of magazines adorn the walls, along with ads featuring Vanessa Williams and artistic prints of Marilyn Monroe.
Keep looking, though, and you’ll also see photos of one man in various life stages. In one image, his salt-and-pepper beard and moustache frame his smile while a black bucket hat and sunglasses adorn his head. In another photo, he is younger; his beard and moustache are still dark brown. He dons a tuxedo and a red bow tie and holds a drink as a woman stands next to him.
The man is the artist and Connecticut College Professor Emeritus of Studio Art Barkley L. Hendricks, who died in 2017. The woman next to him is his wife and current estate manager, Susan Hendricks ’94, who earned a degree in art history from Conn. She and Hendricks’ former student David Katzenstein ’76, a photographer, spoke at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum on Oct. 9 about their recently published book, “Barkley L. Hendricks: Piles of Inspiration Everywhere,” as well as Hendricks’ life, career, legacy and the environment that inspired him.