The Story Behind the Painting

My Aunt Sybil’s eclectic home in southern Louisiana was always lively with craft projects like crocheting, quilting, antique doll displays, woodworking, and painting. The large, bricked floor of her sunroom was spattered with the memories of painting gourds with her grandchildren.

A forgotten, distressed cupboard became her art supply cabinet. Every kind of brush filled slightly chipped coffee mugs and rusted coffee cans on the sideboard next to her wicker chair. This is where she also transformed cypress knees into holiday-themed art for local gift shops. Each year when I decorate my Christmas tree, I smile when I hang the Santa face she painted on an oyster half shell and signed simply “Nanny.”

Clementine Hunter
Aunt Sybil could paint anything on anything. I guess thatʼs what first drew her to the work of African American artist Clementine Hunter, who grew up at Melrose Plantation in Natchitoches, Louisiana, until her gift for “making a mark on paper” was discovered by Francois Mignon.

Like many other folk artists, Hunter painted on available nontraditional surfaces like gourds, boards, and even flour canisters. Hunter’s work perfectly captures life in her community. Her style was simplistic, colorful, and to the point. When she died in 1988 at the age of 102, she left a legacy along with many stories that continue to enrich the lives of those who see her work.

Following the narrative style of Clementine Hunter, my aunt painted a series of events that she experienced growing up with my mother and eight other siblings in the little sawmill town of Elizabeth, Louisiana. I knew most of those stories myself, having listened to them huddled with my cousins around Granny’s kitchen table. Aunt Sybil titled her series Lessons from Daddy, and she gifted a different painting to each of her surviving sisters.

The one I now have, that was my mother’s, tells the story of my grandfather’s kindness to a traveling stranger who showed up at their farmhouse. All of the siblings are pictured observing their father’s generosity.

Narrative and Folk Art
As a former classroom art teacher and workshop instructor, I have shared this painting as part of a lesson on narrative art and folk art. Students connected with the story of this painting and saw how it compares and contrasts to the work of Clementine Hunter, facilitating their own ability to reveal a personal narrative through visual art.

Narrative art is defined simply as “art that tells a story.” Folk art usually relates to regional art based on stories or community experiences passed down through tradition. Folk art can also be decorative or simply functional.

In her article “Folk Art in the Urban Art Room,” Donalyn Heise, associate professor of art education at the University of Texas at Austin, writes, “Folk art provides an authentic, inclusive learning environment that is culturally relevant, thereby inviting all students into the circle of conversation.” I witnessed this type of engagement as students realize that this lesson focuses more on the message and emotional expression than the technical skills involved in representational art.

Considering Favorite Memories
After a brief presentation of several folk artists, students were asked to reflect on a favorite and significant family memory and then to write down a description of that memory. Next, students were asked to think of images that come to mind when they recall that event.

In keeping with the tradition of some folk artists working with available materials, I distributed an inexpensive bundle of lumber scraps from a local hardware store to students. After students selected the scrap of wood on which they wanted to illustrate their family story, they were instructed to sketch out the plan in their sketchbooks and then to sand and prepare the woodblock for painting.

Most students primed the surface with gesso while others used the natural patterns and rings of the wood to help tell their stories. Several students painted family memories that took place around holidays and others pictured events connected to a setting like a backyard tree or a picnic. One student pictured a funeral and explained that even though it looked like a sad memory, he had a sense of joy being around so many family members.

Sharing Stories
Once the paintings were complete, students presented their narrative pieces to the class and shared their stories. Students later reflected on the project, sharing that they were surprised that their peers found their family stories so interesting. They also said that expressing these stories through art helped them to realize the significance of family stories. Perhaps by telling these stories through mark-making, they also realized a way to connect to a grander plotline.