The allegorical work of FSU Art Professor Carrie Ann Baade often includes imagery from art history and has often focused on themes of the apocalypse. “Hellmouth” was included in the 20th Anniversary of Fellowship Winners of the Delaware Division of the Arts Reunion. The exhibition featured former winners of the important artist prize. During this exhibit, “Hellmouth” became a staff favorite and was recommended to the Collection committee for purchase. The subject’s namesake was commonly depicted in the middle ages as the envisioned gaping mouth and entrance to hell. In Baade’s interpretation, two ornately dressed women assist with the retraction of the beasts gaping jaws with pointed teeth. Baade is a former recipient of the Delaware Division of the Arts Fellowship for Established Artist in Painting (2005–2006). She received the promotion of full professor this year at Florida State University where she is faculty in the Department of Art.
Other winners in the XX Anniversary exhibit included: Lisa Bartolozzi, Stephen Tanis, Alida Fish, Colette Gaiter, Eunice LaFate, Mary Putman, Chad States. As one of the most prominent art museums in the Mid-Atlantic region, The Biggs Museum of American Art houses a permanent collection of American fine and decorative arts as well as changing exhibitions throughout the year.
The exhibition history of the 36 x 48 inches, oil on canvas painting, “Hellmouth” includes “Cute and Creepy” at Valdosta State University, GA (2017), “A Foreshadowing of Events,” Gadsden Art Museum, FL (2018); “The Apocalyptic Orgasm,” La Luz de Jesus in Los Angeles, CA (2018); “Keepers at the Entry,” Albany State University, GA (2019); “Wondering and Wanderings,” Carrollton Arts Center, GA, (2019), and finally “Angels and Carnivorous Flowers” at the Mesa Contemporary Art Museum, AZ (2019). The piece’s exhibition history concludes at the Biggs Museum Awards Winners XX in Dover, DE (2020) at the time of her acquisition into their permanent collection.