Recently I was invited by the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson to talk about a film that has influenced my work. The screening of the film I chose, Baby Doll, and my presentation took place November the 10th at the museum.

Baby Doll was released in 1956. Tennessee Williams wrote the screenplay. The director of the film was Elia Kazan and the stars were Carroll Baker, Karl Malden and Eli Wallach.

By chance I found the derelict Burrus house, which served as the set for the film, almost fifty years later. I made several paintings of both the interior and exterior of the house. In 2006 the entire Baby Doll Suite was exhibited at the Cheekwood Museum in Nashville. Click on Baby Doll Suite on the website to see the series.

It was an honor to have the National Trust for Historic Preservation visit the studio in April. The Trust visited three places in Holly Springs including the studio.

Probably the first two story brick home in Holly Springs, Mississippi, the structure was built about 1839. An addition was added about five years later. The house has many features often found in a typical artist loft and which make it an especially appealing place to work. High ceilings (fourteen feet) and an abundance of natural light create a wonderful space to generate and exhibit art.

Pollard Vineyard in Washington State commissioned a painting for their first label. Here is the mock up. The wine just became available in 2017.

Robin Pollard grows her grapes near Zillah, Washington in the Yakima Valley. She lives on Vashon Island near Seattle. Robin's partner, Chris Camarda, is well know for his Andrew Will Wine.

 Earlier Andrew Will also commissioned a painting for the Sorella label.

This painting, in the collection of Eason and Ellen Leake, was included in the Mississippi Bicentennial exhibit in 2017 at the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson.

This new history of Mississippi features a painting from the "Baby Doll Suite" on the dust jacket. The painting, Doorway with Column, is in the collection of Dr. Hal and LaMarr Winn.
 

Spraying the wasp nest

as I began to run

my pants fall to my ankles