Title and Ackowledgements

Like Water to a

Resurrection Fern

Unfolding the Life of Jack Adams

Rich Curtis

To the Reader

This book is the result of a year filled with accidents and conversations. It began when my wife, Lori, and I found a stack of drawings in an antique store. Her initial interest became my prolonged obsession.

I wrote this book as a pastiche of moments in the lives Jack and myself. The text is deliberately segmented and non-linear. Two untraditional non-fiction books inspired the structure of this text. The first is 39 Microlectures by Matthew Goulish. The second is The Accidental Masterpiece by Michael Kimmelman. Both are exceptional in their capacity to weave personal narrative with historical context and philosophical weight.

This project began as a quest to find out the identity of an unknown artist. It evolved into an act of reconciliation and redemption for a man I never met. Through the process of searching for who Jack Adams was I mostly discovered pieces of myself.

Rich Curtis

Thomasville, Georgia

2012

For Penelope, the one who kept his memory alive like an ember in her heart.

Very Special Thanks

This book would not have been possible without the generous support from the following individuals and institutions, listed here alphabetically:

Accidental Gallery (artists and friends of the gallery)

Ann Bynum

Ann McCrickard

Athens Public Library

Carter and Marge Crittenden

Cuthbert Public Library

Deanna and Richard Ramsey

Gill Griggs

Haile McCullum

Jane Simpson and Earlene Hamilton (Georgia Military Academy)

John Lawrence (Lamar Dodd Art Center)

LaGrange Public Library

Lori Curtis

Macon Public Library

Mary Ann and Jimmy Brown

Paul Manoguerra (Georgia Museum of Art)

Penelope Penland

Sandi Shaw

Sarah Curry

Richard Stewart

Sean Benjamin (Special Collections Library, Tulane University)

Tom Hill and Ephraim Rotter (Thomas County Museum of History)

Thomas County Courthouse

University of Georgia at Athens Special Collections Library

 “In our days we will say what our ghosts will say.” – Sam Beam

 The resurrection fern gets its name from its ability to seemingly spring back to life after lying dormant for a very long time. During periods of prolonged drought its foliage shrivels up and the plant appears to die. It has been said the resurrection fern is capable of surviving one hundred years of drought and still revive with a single soaking of water.