Sunday, June 10, 2012

Old South Folk Art Prints by Artist Floyd Gordon


I have admired Floyd Gordon's vivid and colorful paintings and prints for many years. I first met him at a Farm and Gin Show in Memphis, TN, where he sets up a booth each year. He is from South Carolina but his paintings are reminiscent of our own Delta farm life history. 


Floyd  was one of 19 children. He paints his experiences growing up on a farm surrounded by cotton, corn, soybeans--also the three of four major crops in the Delta. It's a colorful look at farming and everyday domestic life of the sharecropper.


In March, I bought the two Floyd Gordon prints you see here. 
I was absolutely thrilled to find them. . .

My interest for the past five years has been the influence of  African American quilts, such as the Gee's Bend quilts, on our own locally made tenant/sharecropper quilts. In my research, I've found that African American quilts of this type are not limited to Alabama and Gee's Bend. They are found in virtually every Southern state.


I asked Floyd where he got the inspiration for the patterns of his painted quilts. His answer was, "From my childhood and what I saw growing up."
I got goosebumps when he related these were the quilts the women of his community made and the type he slept under each night.

Thanks to Floyd, I gained another piece of history of these unique quilts--and I now have prints inspired by them.

I sure look forward to next year's Farm and Gin Show. . .The men go to see the latest in farming equipment and methods. . .I go to enjoy all the artwork. . .
And, I'm never disappointed. . .


1 comment:

Carlene @ Organized Clutter said...

Quilts are so comforting. I see why they were a happy memory from his childhood!

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