Working on the web site today and adding some info and art about Rev. JL Hunter. It is important to include Rev Hunter and his work in our list of artists, which I am bit by bit getting up on our site. But including Rev Hunter is like including the beautiful pearl you found in that best oyster ever on your best vacation.
We met Rev Hunter and his dear wife Ruby back in 1989 through a friend who saw through our taste that we would enjoy them and his art work. He was the first real deal folk artist we had ever met. Up until that time, we had a junk/antique shop in an old barber shop where we offered all kinds of oddness and handmade objects which we found in our travels.
Rev Hunter's work was a natural fit and we were charged in getting to know and talk to someone who made the kind of stuff we were looking for. Knowing Rev Hunter struck us out in a life and love of life that we will forever hold dear.
Rev. Hunter and Ruby both have long since passed, but their memory holds so much for us in love and example. When they were living there were many years we would visit them every Monday, take lunch, hear our own condensed version of Rev. Hunter's Sunday sermon, have wonderful discussions, see what Rev. Hunter had been creating, and nearly always purchasing and taking home a piece of his artwork.
This photo is one I have always loved. It is from one of their "homecoming" celebrations at their church, True LIght Baptist Church in South Dallas. We were always invited and hosted as some sort of celebrity friends of the Hunters. It was always a special day where the Hunters showed off their congregation and how they were admired and loved in their church. In turn they showed us and our love for them off to their congregation. It was truly a special day overflowing with happiness all the way around.