Who wouldn’t want to visit an artist in a town called Hazelhurst, Mississippi?

We had seen Mary Tillman Smith’s work in exhibits and books as we entered the magical world of self taught art in the 1980’s. Our early exposure was Rev. JL Hunter, Rev. Swearingen, Jimmy Lee Sudduth and others who lent a straightforward approach to art for us as untrained yet bowled over collectors. We were hooked and kept coming back to images of stronger work in the likes of Mary T. Smith and Hawkins Bolden. Their art was deep in how it felt in your heart and how you filtered it in your mind. All the artists we were visiting and collecting in the 1980’s were each individual in their work, but this was different and made us want to run to Hazelhurst and meet this lady artist who executed such powerful mysterious work.

We first visited her in the late 1980’s following her suffering from a stroke.

I remember she laughed and smiled but had trouble getting around. She had trouble with her speech but wanted us to see her yard and worried about how her hair looked.

We have spent years searching for work of Mary T Smith’s that we felt most conveyed that power in her work.

We are lucky to have some lovely pieces in our collection which remind us of her smile, laughter, and joy.

*inquire for pricing for the below pieces.