Jessie LaVon
Hale County
Folk Art Painting
Jessie LaVon’s statements regarding her paintings are her own and not edited.
I was born a sharecropper’s daughter in 1955 to Geneva Yelverton. My paintings show a forgotten past and reflects the disappearing scenes of the south. I capture my family’s way of life from the early 1900’s to the late 1970’s.
My first canvases were made when mama and nanny boiled rabbit bones to make a glue and they would dip pieces of white linen cloth in the rabbit glue. My paint was made from post hole muds, berries, plants and coffee grounds.
My family has always had the snake tree. They would go down to the creek and kill a snake then hang it up on a hollored cypress tree then do the ceremonie to make it rain for the much needed crops. My snake tree is copyrighted.
I use life and nature to gather inspirations for my art. I am at peace when I paint. Painting is a haunting beauty to me. The south feeds my soul.
My art is dedicated to my late nephew fallen hero Spec4 Andrew Hand who died on July 24, 2010 in Afghanistan. He was 25 years old. And to my late beloved mama who is dancing in the sky with Andrew.