Artist, columnist, and poet Gertrude McCarty Smith (1923-2007) of
Collins, Mississippi, carried herself as a demure and proper
southern lady, yet this was deceiving as she was a prolific,
creative trailblazer who had collectors and dedicated readers from
coast to coast, and even in Europe. She grew up during the Great
Depression with only some vivid storytelling and pictures from the
family Bible to inspire and kindle her artistic spirit. However, at
the age of ten, her career launched when her grandmother coaxed her
with a box of crayons to milk the family cow-her seventy-year love
affair with the arts was born. Over the years, she would express
her creativity in many forms, resulting in thousands of paintings,
sculptures, songs, poems, and newspaper columns and along the way a
variety of artful cakes, as she ran a celebrated twenty-five-year
cake business. Her art appeared in all shapes, sizes, materials,
and "eatability." For most of her early career, Gertrude dabbled
with a variety of styles-with subjects mostly centered around life
in rural Mississippi and her spiritual life. But in 1980 at the age
of fifty-seven, she attended her first Mississippi Art Colony at
Camp Jacob in Utica. Over the next fifteen years, she would make
her pilgrimage twice a year to be inspired by celebrated guest
instructors from around the nation and connect with fellow artists.
The Colony was a major catalyst, exposing her to new styles, giving
her encouragement and freedom to experiment. Gertrude said of the
Colony, "I never knew anything about abstract art, but it
fascinated me to no end. Abstract art to me is like a beautiful
melody without words. In mixed media, I am in another world and
often am surprised at the piece that evolves from the torn
watercolor papers. The effect is a kaleidoscope of colors that
makes the retinas dance." This book features more than 150 images,
a dozen poems, insightful essays from New York art dealer Stephen
Rosenberg, acclaimed southern cultural scholar and curator Pat
Pinson, and artist, curator, and instructor Rick Wilemon, along
with a foreword by Tommy King, president of William Carey
University, and a chronicle of her life's journey by her
son-in-law, Thomas R. Brooks. As Rosenberg has said, "Gertrude
Smith is a remarkable and authentic American woman who teaches us
that talent and creativity combined with a humanistic spirit is
both a state of mind and a state of grace-at any age." Book
proceeds will benefit the Gertrude McCarty Smith Foundation for the
Arts to bring access and passion for literature, performance, and
visual arts to children in underserved communities throughout
Mississippi.
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