Under the instruction of Professor Carroll Harris Simms, Texas Southern University art students created terracotta sculptures inspired by his travels to West Africa. Themes such as the mother-child relationship, animals, and shrines are frequently seen in this collection featuring their works, along with signature embellishments like swirls.
Harvey L. Johnson’s “Shrine” includes embellishments painted with white and brown slips, with small holes punched in various placements along the body of the sculpture. A variety of shrines are featured in the collection of student artists at Texas Southern University. These shrines were inspired by Professor Carroll Harris Simms’ travels to Nigeria.
Vital’s bust was created during his time as an art student at TSU. Under the instruction of Professor Carroll Harris Simms, artists would create self-portraits embellished with decorations like spirals and accentuated crown pieces, like in Vital’s sculpture. These busts are inspired by Nok terracotta sculptures and Ife busts, which Simms saw during his travels to Western Africa. Vital later became a member of TSU’s art faculty.
Jesse Sifuentes’ “Greater Hornbill” was created using the slab method, which was taught to students of Carroll Harris Simms. This method entails layering evenly rolled clay mixed with sand as artists build up their figures, working from the bottom layer to the top. Sifuentes frequently features hornbills, unique birds found in parts of Africa and Southeast Asia, in his art.
Taylor's maquette shows a mother tightly embracing one or two children. The theme of the mother and child was a recurring motif amongst the students of Professor Carroll Harris Simms, the ceramics instructor at TSU. Simms worked alongside Dr. Biggers to build TSU's art program.
This terracotta sculpture features a mother gorilla with a child clinging to her back. The mother’s head, face, and body are adorned with spiral embellishments. A common theme featured in Texas Southern University’s permanent collection of terracotta sculptures is the relationship between mothers and their children.
This sculpture is of a mother wrapping her arms around a childlike figure. The artist uses geometric shapes and line work to decorate the bodies and facial features and animate their embrace. Parental protection and the mother-child relationship are frequent subject matters displayed in students' work at Texas Southern University.
Green’s sculpture is a maquette for his terracotta, which depicts the head and upper fins of a fish. The fish is decorated with ornamental swirls, holes, and ridges. Professor Carroll Harris Simms required his students to add these additional embellishments to their sculptures.
Hubbard, a student of Carroll Harris Simms, created “Figure With Turtle and Bird” in 1966. This terracotta depicts a bird, atop an abstract tree, surrounding a tortoise. These animals are often paired in folktales, including an Igbo tale where a tortoise fools birds and is punished by having his shell broken. The fable says this is the cause of the irregular shape of tortoise shells.
“Fertility” shows an abstract female figure with breasts, an enlarged belly, and oversized hands. Like nearly all students of Professor Simms, Thomas covered his piece in various embellishments, particularly spirals. Oversized hands are also a characteristic of John Biggers’ artwork. The piece has discolored over the years since its creation.
This unknown student’s bust was created during their time as an art student at TSU. Under the instruction of Professor Carroll Harris Simms, artists would create self-portraits embellished with decorations like spirals and accentuated crown pieces, like in this sculpture. These busts are inspired by Nok terracotta sculptures and Ife busts, which Simms saw during his travels to Western Africa. This bust is different from others due to its black ceramic and large rectangular base.
Jafar’s terracotta depicts a mother figure carrying her child on her back. The exterior of the sculpture is smooth and lacking any of the motifs that are normally featured on Texas Southern students’ terracottas, perhaps suggesting the sculpture was left unfinished. The mother and child relationship is one of the most frequently featured themes in the artwork of students of Dr. Biggers and Professor Simms.
“Shrine,” by Curtis Watson Jr., features a duck-like creature surrounded by various embellishments, including spirals, a commonly used visual motif in the student terracottas. Unfortunately, the head of the figure is missing, leaving only the body in view. The full sculpture can be seen in archival photos shot by Dr. John T. Biggers of the artist at work.
Walker’s bust was created during his time as an art student at TSU. Under the instruction of Professor Carroll Harris Simms, artists would create self-portraits embellished with textures, like those seen in the hair of this sculpture. While most were made from terracotta clay, this one is made from plaster. These busts are inspired by Nok terracotta sculptures and Ife busts, which Simms saw during his travels to Western Africa.
This maquette, created by an unknown Texas Southern University art student, shows a feline creature at attention. There are various swirl patterns and textures on the figure. The swirls are a required component for the maquette project, as Carroll Harris Simms pushed his students to richly embellish their works.
Settles, a student of Carroll Harris Simms, created the sculpture “Camel” in 1978. The creation of a large terracotta sculpture was a part of each art student's curriculum. The design features include a huge hump and embellishments, including spirals, on the exterior. Sculptures lacking sufficient ornamentation were often not retained for the collection.
Erma Gordon’s “Bison” sculpture includes two-toned clay with a smooth finish on the body. The hair of the bison is carefully sculpted on the top of its body, lending a realistic, soft texture. The artist depicted herself creating this sculpture in her Hannah Hall mural. Wildlife are frequent subjects of TSU student terracottas.
Elizabeth Montgomery Shelton’s terracotta is made up of a variety of colored clays with embellishments that have been painted using black and tan slips. The top half includes layers of plates extending out from the surface, while the bottom half is evenly decorated with pressed circular clay. The structure perhaps mimics an instrument or a bird feeder.
Johnny Jones’s sculpture, “Armadillo,” features decorative embellishments along the body of the animal, especially the shell. The spiral motif is often found on the sculptures of student artists taught by Carroll Harris Simms. Armadillos, which utilize their shells for protection, are commonly found in Texas.
Lacy’s terracotta tower sculpture features cut-outs throughout the body. The top bears an abstract, smiling face with conical ears. The work is decorated with spirals and rolled balls of clay, both of which are among the signature embellishments used by students of Professor Simms. Lacy features this sculpture prominently in her Hannah Hall mural, where it appears as a building.
This is an abstract work featuring adornments like swirls, eyes, and pyramids. This blend of symbols suggests themes of hybridity and the fusion of cultures. Professor Carroll Harris Simms' terracotta tradition was inspired by the shrine sculptures of the Nok and Ife peoples of West Africa. In diasporic contexts, the sculptures' significance evolves.
