Southern Artist

Southern artists are primarily storytellers regardless of medium. Most of the pages for the following works of art contain stories or short vignettes, or at least comments about how growing up in the South influenced the artwork. Actually, right now there are more stories on the pages for Mississippi Delta Artist and Mormon Artist than on this page. I am collecting these stories and scenes for an illustrated book I am writing called The Painted Book: Scenes from Mississippi.

Here are some works by Southern Artist Joe Moorman

Daddy and the Bulls is a mosaic illustrating an incident when I was five, and two Brahma bulls almost trampled me.
Sweet Potato Momma Kitty is a relatively simple image, but it was a real breakthrough for me in terms of exploring style.
Georgia Map is mosaic map of the rivers of Georgia made from found objects and tile.
Lord Have Mercy was painted in response to Hurricane Katrina and the tragedy of the Federal government failing to respond adequately.
Mosaic Door is less of a mosaic and more of a three-dimensional sculpture made from found objects.
Where the Old House Was is a painting of dogwoods and wisteria blooming around old homesites in the woods of Mississippi.
After the Rain is a painting of the wet fields behind my Uncle Tee's house up in the hills.
Moonlight is a painting of a stand of ancient cypress trees in the moonlight.
My Father and the Bluebirds is a painting of an old memory, my father sitting at the picnic table of the welding shop.
Kudzoo House is a picture of one of the old houses overgown and falling apart.
Skinny Dippers and Fisherman is a picture of hiding in the trees along the bank until the fisherman trolled away.
Pursued is an illustration of some family stories.
Mardi Gras is a painting of the urge to get in the car and drive down to New Orleans every time Mardi Gras rolls around. It has been painted over and the canvas reused.
River Meanders is a mosaic of river meanders made from objects found in creek beds.
Father of the Bride is a painting of my wife Darlene and her father at our wedding.
Edge of Town Sunrise is another early painting from back when I didn't know the first thing about painting.
Distance Memory, Sycamore Creek is a landscape painted from memory out of frustration over not having taken a picture to capture the quality of light.
Turtle Baptism is a painting of celebrating old rites spontaneously with joy.
Tote Frog Night is a stylistic experiment with a story about Mississippi diction.
Armadillos at Whispering Mound is an illustration from one of my "camping trips" in Mississippi during college when I slept rough in fields and creek banks.
Memory Jar was a mosaic installed post 9-11 with African-American memory jars in mind.
North Mississippi Backyard Ro-mance is a painting and a poem.
Blue Jay Bridge is a picture of a blue jay flying home to Mississippi.

Southern Artists of any medium are primarily storytellers.

Southern Artist