Mattie lou o kelley biography for kids
Early life O'Kelley was born on a corn and cotton farm in Maysville, Georgia, in the northeast of the state..
O'Kelley, Mattie Lou (c. 1908—1997)
American folk artist. Born in Georgia, around 1908; died in Decatur, Georgia, in July 1997.
A self-taught folk artist who was said to have possessed "a unique vision," Mattie Lou O'Kelley took up her paint brush at the age of 60 and created a memoir of canvases depicting rural Southern life in the early part of the 20th century.
The seventh of eight children born to an extended family of farmers, Mattie left school after the ninth grade to help her brothers, sisters, and father tend to.
Her autobiographical paintings, with such titles as Papa Feeding the Stock at 4 a.m., Bringing in the Night Water, and her self-portrait, Mattie in the Morning Glories, document the hard work and simple pleasures of her youthful days in the Georgia countryside.
Initially, O'Kelley also served as her own agent, once traveling by bus to show her paintings to Gudmund Vigtel, the director of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Vigtel purchased a still life for the museum, which later came to the attention of Robert Bishop, who is now credited with discovering O'Kelley.
Bishop, an art dealer and later the directo