b. 1910 d. 2007
Jimmy Lee Sudduth is both a blues musician and a storyteller of
considerable energy. Born in 1910, he has lived much of his life
near Fayette, Alabama, where he worked for many years as a farmhand.
He served in the army and married his wife, Ethel, in the 1940's.
Sudduth dates the beginnings of his art to his early childhood,
and throughout the course of his life he has always managed to find
time to make pictures. In his later years, with less to occupy him,
Sudduth has become a prolific painter, regularly producing several
paintings a day.
Sudduth paints primarily on plywood with a homemade mixture of
mud and pigment. He first sketches the image using what he calls
a "dye rock", a soft, porous claylike material that
after being dipped in water, leaves a dark, heavy line when pressed
against a hard surface. He then fills in the outline with a mixture
of mud and sugar-water. When dried, this "sweet mud"
creates a permanent ground onto which he applies color from various
fruits, vegetables, and plants. In recent years, Sudduth has begun
coloring his work with house paint brought to him by admirers.
His subject matter ranges widely, but most often depicts the people
and places of his hometown.
Sudduth's art has been exhibited in numerous museum and gallery
exhibitions. He appeared on the Today show in 1980. He died on September 2, 2007 in Fayette, Alabama at the age of 97.
|
