{"id":1120,"date":"2024-11-05T05:28:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-05T05:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gator3096.temp.domains\/~julyandavis\/?post_type=jetpack-portfolio&p=1120"},"modified":"2025-03-23T14:33:42","modified_gmt":"2025-03-23T14:33:42","slug":"murder-ballads","status":"publish","type":"jetpack-portfolio","link":"https:\/\/julyandavis.com\/index.php\/portfolio\/murder-ballads\/","title":{"rendered":"Culture of Honor"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘Culture of Honor: The Appalachian Murder Ballad’ is a traveling museum show and discourse about violence and the \u2018culture of honor\u2019 in the American South. The traditional folksong of the Appalachians is close to my heart. I inherited an enthusiasm for such music from my father, and on his side of the family my descendants hailed from the Scottish Borders. With its Celtic origins, Appalachian music has provided my connection to the Southern landscape since my arrival here in 1988.<\/p>\n

\u2018One is occasionally tempted to abandon the role of historian and to frame what social scientists call a theory. Whenever a culture exists for many generations in chronic insecurity, it develops an ethic that exalts war above work, force above reason, and men above women. This pattern developed on the borders of North Britain, and was carried to the American backcountry, where it was reinforced by a hostile environment and tempered by evangelical Christianity. The result was a distinctive system of gender roles that continues to flourish even in our own times.<\/em>\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

From \u2018Albion\u2019s Seed\u2019 by David Hackett Fischer<\/strong><\/p>\n

See Below for Links and Past Museum Exhibitions<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Silver Dagger Oil on canvas (50×48) 201<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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To Grow in the Sick Tree’s Path Oil on canvas 2015 (62×184″) Based on Shelter interviews.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Left panel (To Grow in the Sick Tree’s Path) 60×36″ 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Omie Wise Oil on canvas 40×64″ 2012<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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What Makes You Sleep so Sound? Oil on canvas 48×48 2012<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A Twelve month and a Day (The Unquiet Grave) Oil on canvas 38×70 2017 <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Your Cage shall be of Beaten Gold (Young Hunting) Oil on canvas 48×50 2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Yarrow Oil on canvas 2018<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Yarrow, study Oil on panel 12×16<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Yarrow Oil on canvas 42×80 2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tom Dooley 2012 (Center panel)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A Fairer Maid than Me? (Young Hunting) Oil on canvas 50×48 2014\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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You Guessed about Right\u2019 (Pretty Polly) Oil on canvas 48×72 2012<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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She looked East, She looked West Oil on canvas 36×38 2012<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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By her Lily-white Hand (Banks of the Ohio) Oil on canvas 36×38 2012<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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October, 2014 Oil on canvas 2014 36×38<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Go Do the Best you Can (Little Maggie) Oil on canvas 60×72 2012<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Caleb Myer (contemporary ballad Gillian Welch) 2014 Oil on canvas 36×38<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Wildwood Flower Oil on linen 20×24<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The songs of this region have given me an old, familiar narrative and a human history that connects to my own background. Some artists are happy to record every alien vista and strange culture travel can provide, but I have found this old tie important in placing me in this new land. For many years I painted scenes; landscapes and urban views, old buildings and interiors, with not a figure in sight. Despite this, they were often described as being haunted by a human presence, and as places that somehow told a story. In these new works the figure has entered the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stories in these ballads are old, but one only has to pick up a newspaper to see they remain fully contemporary. Lovers still fall prey to despair and suicide, or end up in the crime report. These are paintings are set very much in the present, but nothing taking place in them is new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A past slideshow with music by Greg and Lucretia Speas is available on youtube at:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CONJURED GHOSTS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ALSO FOR BLOG LINKS AND DETAILS: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

View the gallery here<\/a>
 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CULTURE OF HONOR EXHIBITION HISTORY<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2024 Appalachian Studies Conference, Cullowhee, NC.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2019 Appalshop 50th Anniversary (\u2018Culture of Honor\u2019 touring show) Whitesburg, KY.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2019 Mars Hill University (\u2018Culture of Honor\u2019 touring show) Mars Hill, NC<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2019 Gormley\u2019s Fine Art, Dublin and Belfast.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2015 Spartanburg Art Museum (\u2018Culture of Honor\u2019 touring show) Spartanburg, SC.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2014 Myrtle Beach Museum of Art (\u2018Culture of Honor\u2019 touring show).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2013 Morris Museum of Art (\u2018Culture of Honor\u2019 touring show) Augusta, GA.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2012 Greenville Museum of Art (\u2018Culture of Honor\u2019 touring show) Greenville, SC.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
With ‘Mountain Bitters’ at Revolve, Summer 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
With Charlotte Metropolitan Human Trafficking Task Force (Jan 2015)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Ballad singer Lucretia Speas performing at the Greenville Museum of Art<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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At 2024 Appalachian Studies Conference, Cullowhee, NC. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was our great pleasure to exhibit the \u201cmurder ballad\u201d paintings of Julyan Davis at the Morris Museum of Art. Beautifully painted, they are thoughtful and provocative, and engaged the audience here on several levels. We find that it is a rare exhibition that generates repeat visitation. This was one of them. I\u2019m glad to say that the exhibition also brought Julyan Davis with it, and he proved to be every bit as engaging as his work.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/strong><\/em>Kevin Grogan   Director, Morris Museum of Art<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘Culture of Honor: The Appalachian Murder Ballad’ is a traveling museum show and discourse about violence and the \u2018culture of honor\u2019 in the American South. The traditional folksong of the Appalachians is close to my heart. I inherited an enthusiasm for such music from my father, and on his side of the family my descendants hailed from the Scottish Borders. With its Celtic origins, Appalachian music has provided my connection to the Southern landscape since my arrival here in 1988.Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"jetpack-portfolio-type":[13],"jetpack-portfolio-tag":[],"class_list":["post-1120","jetpack-portfolio","type-jetpack-portfolio","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","jetpack-portfolio-type-gallery"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/julyandavis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/jetpack-portfolio\/1120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/julyandavis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/jetpack-portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/julyandavis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/jetpack-portfolio"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/julyandavis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/julyandavis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1120"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/julyandavis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/jetpack-portfolio\/1120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2235,"href":"https:\/\/julyandavis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/jetpack-portfolio\/1120\/revisions\/2235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/julyandavis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"jetpack-portfolio-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/julyandavis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/jetpack-portfolio-type?post=1120"},{"taxonomy":"jetpack-portfolio-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/julyandavis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/jetpack-portfolio-tag?post=1120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}