March Issue 2000
Hartsville Folk Artist To Have First Exhibit At Furman University in Greenville, SC
Willie B. "Big Mock" Johnson, a 63-year-old folk artist from Hartsville, SC, who only began painting five years ago, will exhibit his paintings and drawings at Furman University's Roe Art Building in Greenville, SC, through Mar. 24.
It is the first exhibit for Johnson, who began painting as a hobby after retiring from Sonoco Products Company in Hartsville in 1995. The exhibit is part of the university's celebration of Black History Month.
Johnson was born in Hartsville in 1936, and graduated from Butler High School in 1954. He served three years in the US Army and began work at Sonoco in 1959. He is married to the former Sarah McPhail and the couple has three daughters. After retiring, Johnson began to develop an interest in drawing and painting, He now works almost daily, from early afternoon through much of the night.
Johnson's primary medium is pen and acrylic paint on paper, but he also uses water-based marker, wax crayons and collage. His subjects include still life, portraits of local and national celebrities, self-portraits, pictures of landmark monuments in Hartsville's black community, commentary on black-white relations (through depictions of situations in which the races intermingle), Biblical figures, and sailing ships.
Dr. Carolyn Watson, an associate professor of art at Furman who is in charge of the exhibit, says that Johnson's style "varies from relatively naturalistic to strongly abstract and features the flatly applied intense color and crisp line-drawing which is often the hallmark of self-taught artists. Many pieces include areas of dense, intricate pattern which show the influence of African art as well as his own distinctive aesthetic."
For further information check our SC Institutional
Gallery listings or contact Furman's Department of Art at 864/294-2074.
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