Great River: Evolution of a Painting (plus a love letter to Greenville, Mississippi)

In 1979, I was born in Greenville, a small-ish town on the Mississippi River in the heart of the Delta. Our family lived in Greenville until I was eight and my brother was two, and then we moved 120 miles south to Jackson, Mississippi’s capital city. Before I was a year old, I had already met my two of my very best friends in Greenville, and after we moved, I would go back to the Delta two to three times a year for decades to visit them. 

There was always something different about Greenville and the Delta in general. I knew this intuitively, but I couldn’t really put my finger on what it was until much later in life. My father, the consummate Southern storyteller, describes Greenville culture in a way that really rings true. In Jackson, a dinner party goes something like this. Folks arrive at six o’clock, eat dinner at six-thirty, and head home promptly by eight-thirty. In the Delta, folks are invited at six and arrive at eight, drink until dinner’s served at eleven, dance until two, home before dawn. 

Great River, acrylic on wood, 36" x 48" x 1.75", 2024.

(The word Mississippi is derived from the Ojibwe or Algonquin word “misi-ziibi,” meaning “Great River.")

This past summer, I had a show at the E.E. Bass Cultural Arts Center, home of the Greenville Arts Council. As I was prepping for the exhibition, it occurred to me that I didn’t have any pieces of the Mississippi River itself.

Which is embarrassing and shameful, for the following reasons: 1) I’ve lived within 150 miles of this behemoth for 40 of my 45 years on the planet, and 2) the Mississippi River makes Greenville, Greenville.

(reasons #3 and #4: I have exactly zero tattoos because I have commitment issues, but if someone put a gun to my head, the Mississippi would be it. We also named our dog after this river.)

Underpainting of Great River, i.e. a nod to Harold Fisk and his 1944 maps - see below.
(Fisk was commissioned by the Army Corps of Engineers to illustrate the meandering paths of the Mississippi River over the centuries.)

But back to Greenville.

In a sentence, Greenville's cultural wellspring is its people.

Greenville was an easy riverboat stop for all sorts of folks traveling between Memphis and New Orleans, and because of this, has always been a cosmopolitan and diverse community.

Greenville, via the river, attracted Chinese, Lebanese, Italian, and Jewish immigrants, who have in turn shaped the local cuisine and the regional economy.

The town’s first elected mayor in 1875 was Leopold Wilczinski, a Polish Jew.

Sam Stein, a Russian Jew, created Stein Mart in Greenville in 1902.

Greenville at one time boasted more than sixty Chinese grocery stores in the early twentieth century, and Greenville’s How Joy, Mississippi’s first Chinese restaurant, opened in 1968.

According to locals, Greenville has had more published writers per capita than any other town in the nation.

(Case in point. Notable writers that have called Greenville home are Charles G. Bell, David C. Berry, Larrison Campbell, Betty Werlein Carter, Hodding Carter, Hodding Carter III, Philip D. Carter, David L. Cohn, Ellen Douglas, Shelby Foote, Brooks Haxton, Angela Jackson, Bern Keating, Kate Keating, Beverly Lowry, Walker Percy, William Alexander Percy. Julia Reed, Jessie Rosenburg Schell, Caroline Stern, and Ben Wasson.)
 

According to the Mississippi Encyclopedia, Doe’s Eat Place, the totally-worth-taking-a-trip-unless-you-are-vegan, James Beard Award winning restaurant, evolved from an itty-bitty grocery store owned by Carmel Signa, a Sicilian immigrant, in 1903.

Below you can check out a short video of the process of Great River. Chaotic to serene. I was deciding as I was painting just how stormy I wanted the river to appear. Hoping folks can see remnants underneath.

P.S. If you like watching short process videos, I’ve got a bunch. Find them all/ here.

P.P.S. If you are tempted to visit Greenville, I've compiled a list for must-do list for you.